Bravo to James Spader; We Want More of Him!

Bravo to James Spader for winning the Emmy last night for best lead performance by an actor in a dramatic series. He's sensational as lawyer Alan Shore in David E. Kelley's brilliantly original and quirky Boston Legal. As Shore, Spader exhibits a fierce intellect, dry humor, and some of the authority and mystery of the sadistic boss he played in the movie Secretary, all while being an advocate for progressive views.

Hollywood success is dicey, because along with wealth, it often brings a lack of privacy. Spader is known for preferring to fly under the radar to hold onto his privacy, and who can blame him? But nor can I blame the media for asking him personal questions, like these that E!'s Guiliana Rancic asked him live on the air, following last night's Emmy's:

"Who are you here with?"

"My girlfriend."

"What's her name?"

"Leslie."

"How long have you been together?"

Spader either really couldn't remember (which I doubted) or he pretended not to remember in order to skip the question. He hemmed and hawed. Rancic moved on to another question.

"What do you like best about your girlfriend?"

Spader refused to answer, saying it was personal.

It will be interesting to see how Spader's newest Emmy (his third) will affect his career. It ought to get him a nice raise. But according to press accounts, he's also been hoping Boston Legal will add lots of new actors so he can have more time off. With this latest win, will David E. Kelley really let him have less show time? We viewers want to see more of him, not less!

Boston Legal and Dolphins Referring to Themselves By Their Own Names

"Bob's in a Picture!"

This Newsweek article says that dolphins name themselves with "their own unique signature whistles and clicks." That's not surprising, because they're known to be very bright. What I like even better is that, according to this article, dolphins say their own names a lot. This scientific discovery gives David E. Kelley new options for storylines for the next season of the wonderful Boston Legal. Does Bill Shatner's Denny Crain have a long-lost dolphin doppleganger who goes around proclaiming to other dolphins, "Denny Crain, Denny Crain"? Maybe the dolphin seeks Denny's representation in a defamation lawsuit?

Catching up with James Spader's body of work--and what a body!

Since I only fell in love with Jimmy recently (where was I all those years?), I've been renting or buying his movies and catching up with them.

So far I've seen:

White Palace
I found the storyline unbelievable, not because of the age difference between Jimmy's and Susan Sarandon's characters but because of their class difference. Also I didn't feel there was much chemistry between them.

Alien Hunter
(I happened upon this TV one night) I liked what Jimmy did with the role, although it's not my favorite film genre. Plus, I found the visuals too dark (color-wise, not thematically)

Secretary
I really enjoyed this, in spite of the strange subject matter. Jimmy did a great job, and so did Maggie Gyllenhaal. They were perfectly cast. I was surprised to see that the screenplay was based on a novella by someone I once worked with when I lived in NYC (Mary Gaitskill), only because I hadn't heard that her writing had turned into a big deal film. She and I were freelance legal proofreaders on the midnight shift, when she became a famous and critically acclaimed writer.

Pretty in Pink
Although there's not enough Jimmy in this film for me, I loved what there was, and really enjoyed the movie. Molly Ringwald is excellent and so is Jon Cryer, especially his lip-synch dance. The film also features the cute Andrew McCarthy.

Stargate
A woman who works in the local Blockbuster raved about this one. Jimmy plays a shy, good-hearted linguist. I loved Jimmy in it--I love him in anything--but this Star Wars clone was not the type of movie I can sink my teeth into.

[By this point, having watched all of the above films plus TV's Boston Legal, I was seeing how incredibly versatile Jimmy is from one role to the next. Unlike some actors who are the same from role to role, basically playing themselves, Jimmy's always a different character.]

Sex Lies & Videotape
I had seen this ages ago when it first came out in theaters and had forgotten much of it. It was quite wonderful seeing it now. And the screenplay was brilliant. I