{"id":10152,"date":"2020-05-05T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=10152"},"modified":"2020-05-05T15:00:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-05T13:00:58","slug":"a-for-hugh-jackmans-career-best-performance-in-bad-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2020\/05\/05\/a-for-hugh-jackmans-career-best-performance-in-bad-education\/","title":{"rendered":"A+ for Hugh Jackman\u2019s \u201cCareer-Best Performance\u201d In Bad Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The times they are a-changin. Bad Education was the biggest sale of last year\u2019s Toronto International Film Festival and features Hugh Jackman\u2019s best ever performance, but will never screen in cinemas, and isn\u2019t eligible for Oscars, even after the Academy changed the rules this year. Instead, the film chose to stream first on HBO (and, a week later, on Showmax in South Africa) – a decision that Variety describes as \u201ca sign of the future\u2026 a game-changer, a cutting-edge example \u2014 or maybe you could call it a casualty \u2014 of the shifting sands of movie distribution,\u201d where great movies will compete \u201cnot for the Oscars but for the Emmys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bad Education is based on the real-life scandal that went down at writer Mike Makowsky’s high school, where the single largest public school embezzlement scheme in American history was uncovered \u2013 by a student journalist, no less. What\u2019s more, as the movie tells it, she was encouraged in her investigation by the school supervisor, a dedicated and highly respected educator, and the very man her article would ultimately land behind bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the lead role of charismatic school supervisor Dr Frank Tassone is Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner Hugh Jackman (The Greatest Showman, Les Mis\u00e9rables, X-Men). Oscar, Golden Globe and seven-time Emmy winner Allison Janney (I, Tonya, Mom, The West Wing) and Golden Globe nominee and Emmy winner Ray Romano (The Irishman, Everybody Loves Raymond) co-star. The cast also includes MTV Movie + TV Awards nominee Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Geraldine Viswanathan (Miracle Workers), and Kathrine Narducci (The Irishman, Godfather of Harlem).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know the film is called Bad Education,\u201d Makowsky told Vanity Fair, \u201cbut it\u2019s a bit of a misnomer\u2026. I had an incredible education there. And I think it\u2019s in large part, strangely, due to this man, Frank Tassone\u2026 It was a\u2026 complicated, awful thing: this very affable, charismatic person who placed a real emphasis on the quality of education and helping students, then at the same time, you hear that he\u2019s been taking money from the coffer and was part of this $11.2m scheme. It really shocked everyone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s what drew me to it,\u201d says Jackman. \u201cHow can people who spend their lives dedicated to kids and education end up going so far off the rails? How does that little white lie or whatever it began with snowball?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bad Education, which premiered to critical acclaim at last year\u2019s Toronto International Film Festival and has had a similar reception on HBO, has a 93% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Much of that praise is for Jackman. Rolling Stone calls it \u201ca career-best performance\u201d, Variety says \u201cit\u2019s the best work he\u2019s ever done\u201d, and awards-watch site Gold Derby calls both Jackman and Janney \u201cstrong contenders\u201d for the Emmys, where they predict Bad Education will be \u201ca major Emmy contender in the race for Best TV Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Time Magazine put it, \u201cHBO\u2019s gripping Bad Education tells the story of a truly epic scam\u2026 It\u2019s fun to put ourselves in the hands of expert bamboozlers, and in Bad Education, Janney and Jackman are exactly that\u2026 These are people we can\u2019t trust, played by actors we trust implicitly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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