Friday, February 1, 2013

The "I Dreamed A Dream" Spoof Has My Oscar Vote

Posted By on Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 10:25 AM

Anne Hathaway might need to watch her back at her next casting call.

Hathaway’s Oscar-nominated turn as downtrodden prostitute Fantine in Les Misérables prompted moviegoers everywhere to dig out their tissues (the Weekly’s Bob Grimm included), but a viral video parodying the actress’ rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” skips the heartstrings and goes straight for the funny bone.

“For Your Consideration” is meant to be a good-humored nod to the actress as she rounds the final lap of awards season to the Academy Awards. (She’s already taken home a Golden Globe, Critics' Choice Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for the role). This spoof would fall flat if actress Emma Fitzpatrick wasn’t sporting a voice practically on par with Hathaway’s, and her delivery of lines like, “I already have my speech, ‘Oh God, is this really happening?!’” are so spot-on of Hathaway’s irritating over-eagerness on the podium as of late.

I think Hathaway was worthy of the praise she’s received, but I can’t help but feel rankled whenever an actor/actress sweeps up awards for roles that peak 30 minutes into the film. And upon hearing that Hathaway told Vogue in December's issue that she ate nothing but “two squares of dried oatmeal paste” each day to lose 25 pounds for the role, citing that “(she) had to be obsessive about it, the goal was to look near death,” I felt a little queasy. If post-production can Magic Eraser-away remnants of microphones and wires from recording the singers live, couldn’t they whisk away a little extra weight as well? Fitzpatrick takes on the torch of hungry frustration for Hathaway, singing “I lost half my body weight, but then they never did a wide shot.”

The best line of the video comes at 1:57, when Fitzpatrick belts, “And though I had to blow my nose, I did it all in one take, bitches.” I thought I would be mocked by pointing out that rather embarrassing observation in the theater as everyone was weeping into their popcorn, so I’m glad Fitzpatrick went there.

The actress told The Hollywood Reporter she hopes Hathaway sees the spoof, but regardless, Fitzpatrick’s final shout out to the Academy (“Members of the Academy, please don’t forget Anne with an ‘e’”) makes it one hell of an Oscar campaign video.

Watch the full video above and weigh in on whether you think Hathaway should take home the Academy Award in the comments below.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,