The award is now the Linda Partridge 'don't call me lady' award after Julianne Moore in Magnolia, having passed from Ruffalo to Saul Rubineck (as transcribed); the first answer is that nobody is overacting and Bardem is acting just right.
The award was named after Mark Ruffalo despite Zodiac and You Can Count on Me, so it is not a positive award, and the Bardem performance is called the performance of the decade; the boat captain who sticks his head in to say they should push off is offered instead.
The counter-case is that overacting is a skill, that Bardem seems outsized because everyone else is muted, and that he is doing a lot without ruining the movie; the Bardem voter admits being outvoted as always, and the award goes to the boat captain so everyone stays friends.
Development history; Ford ligament injury; Dillsboro wreck site; crash and dam costs; unscripted parade chase; Richard Jordan replaced; improvised donut line; Pantoliano and Ward lobbying; love-interest rewrites
The script took five years, with nine screenwriters and more than 25 drafts, and Tommy Lee Jones ad-libbed his lines anyway. — Bill Simmons
Ford damaged leg ligaments filming the woods scenes and delayed surgery so his character would limp, prompting a riff that Ford is unbreakable.
The wrecked train and bus remain a tourist attraction in Dillsboro, North Carolina, leading to jokes that it is the home of Tate Frasier (as transcribed). — Bill Simmons
The crash cost $1 million to film and the dam scene cost twice as much, $2 million. — Bill Simmons
The St. Patrick's Day parade chase was not scripted; Andrew Davis, a Chicago director, followed Ford and Jones with a Steadicam without permits, and parade-goers were genuinely reacting to Ford. — Bill Simmons
Richard Jordan, originally cast as Dr. Nichols, fell ill with a brain tumor and died three weeks after release; Ford refilmed his first scene with the replacement, whose beard looked slightly different. — Bill Simmons
Tommy Lee Jones improvised 'think me up a cup of coffee and a chocolate donut with some of those little sprinkles on top.' — Bill Simmons
Joey Pants lobbied for Cosmo Renfro to survive in case of a sequel, and was in the sequel; Sela Ward reportedly lobbied for her character to be in a coma instead of dying. — Bill Simmons
Sela Ward is thought to have deserved a bigger career.
Julianne Moore's part was reportedly meant to be a love interest, and Jane Lynch's researcher possibly too; deleted scenes may exist on a later release.
Two Cosmos in 1993: Cosmo Renfro and Cosmo Kramer. — Bill Simmons
Alec Baldwin was the first choice to play Richard Kimble; he had also been first offered Ford's Patriot Games role, which suggests Baldwin had more juice than Ford in 1992-93.
Baldwin reportedly wanted control of his career and too much money and did not want to be a franchise pawn; Patriot Games is contrasted with Hunt for Red October.
A correction: this was not the end of Ford's heyday because Air Force One was still ahead; Six Days, Seven Nights, overshadowed by a controversy around its co-star, is called the real end.
Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner and Andy Garcia were also considered for Kimble; only Costner is found believable because Kimble needs something wholesome, while Douglas and Baldwin seem like they might have done it.
Walter Hill wanted to direct with Nick Nolte, who thought he was too old; one participant would have loved a Walter Hill version but thinks it worked out.
The opening graphics have an early-90s look compared to X Files and Twin Peaks.
The Crawford-Clarice relationship feels as if it is missing a scene, such as a late-night hotel bar where he half hits on her, called one host's biggest nitpick.
The trans material has not aged great given what we now know, though one host notes a serial killer is never going to flatter whatever group he belongs to.
Hannibal, which nobody but a well-paid Hopkins wanted to make, with Julianne Moore as Starling, and Red Dragon with Ed Norton, where Lecter looks ten years older in a prequel, taint the film slightly for one host; people love the Hannibal TV show, the rights are split, and the story never became the franchise people expected.
Final choices: the Crawford-Clarice relationship for one host, the title graphics for the other.
