Uncle Fran’s Oscar nod
Posted January 17, 2014 8:43 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SEATTLE (NEWS1130) – If you’re a fan of the old Seattle-based sketch show Almost Live! then you will probably remember characters like embittered children’s entertainer Uncle Fran, played by Bob Nelson.
Nelson, who is still a resident of the Pacific Northwest, is now an Oscar nominee, getting the nod for writing the screenplay for the movie Nebraska.
Nelson lives on Whidbey Island and says the original draft was written 10 years ago, well after Almost Live! wrapped up in 1996.
“I was looking for work and a friend in LA said to come on down and he’d help me find TV work, and if I had a movie idea I should write it up,” he tells News1130. “This was the only idea I had.”
Full of deadpan humour, Nebraska is a story about an aging, booze-addled father who makes a trip with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize. They get waylaid in a small town in central Nebraska where the father grew up and has scores to settle. Turns out it is not-so-loosely based on real people and events.
“It’s a personality-driven road trip with all the little family dynamics. When you visit extended family, there’s always something a little strange going on and this one is based on my family growing up and visiting Nebraska,” says Nelson. “My aunts and uncles out on the farm and some in town and I used some real occurrences that happened when I was growing up. My dad is actually the inspiration for the main character played by Bruce Dern.”
Nelson is still taken aback that his story is getting such widespread recognition. Nebraska is up for five Academy Awards, while the screenplay was also nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award and various other festival and critic awards, including an Independent Spirit nod.
At the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, Bruce Dern won best actor for his role in Nebraska while director Alexander Payne was nominated for the Palme d’Or.
“It’s surprising that my odd and loveable people and all the things that make up human beings, whether its in the Midwest or on the coast could be made into a movie. That’s incredible to me,” says Nelson. “I’m very thankful, especially to Alexander Payne who really knows how to combine humour and pathos in an entertaining way. He always takes it to another level.”
Nelson is also thankful to all the Lower Mainland fans of Almost Live! who still show a lot of a love for the show, which also starred John Keister, Pat Cashman and Bill Nye, who went on to great success with his character Bill Nye the Science Guy.
“In the 90s I would get recognized in Vancouver once in a while and I was always shocked. It was amazing to have that kind of response in a town over the border. When we were doing the show we did not know for a long time that there was this big BC audience. When we found out, we got in the van and did a High Fiving White Guys visit to Vancouver, which was really great.”
Nelson hasn’t given up on sketch comedy either, making an appearance on The 206 — a reboot of the old Almost Live! — and hinting there might be more to come.
“Pat [Cashman] has been talking to me about writing a bit. If everything works out, maybe we’ll do it this coming Monday.”
The 206 airs on Seattle’s KING-TV after Saturday Night Live and on Sundays after the 11 p.m. news.
