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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Tuesday, May 5th, 1998 - Comments Off on Trend-O-Rama
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Trend-O-Rama

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Stanley Kubrick is not only following his own trend by re-shooting significant portions of Eyes Wide Shut after wrapping for, essentially, the third time, he’s one again dumped an actor over scheduling conflicts with other films. First Harvey Keitel got cut because the ever-extending schedule smacked up against his obligation to another film and was replaced with director/actor Sydney Pollack. Now, Jennifer Jason Leigh is out (she started production on David Croenenberg‘s eXistenZ), and Swedish star Marie Richardson is in. Seems like Tom Cruise is about the only star who has enough control of the world around him to survive the rigors of Kubrick’s whims. That said, T.C. is lucky to have added Kubrick’s name to his resume before the master hangs it up. There is no director that has done more genius-level work than Kubrick. Even his crap holds your attention.
DANCE, YOU BASTARD, DANCE!: Sony has Dance with Me ready to hit theaters. Miramax, who scored in a low-key way with the Japanese Shall We Dance?, is prepping an English-language version. And now, PolyGram is in for Mad About Mambo, about a soccer player who uses dance to enhance his athletic performance. Disney, of course, was the last studio to kill the musical, with Swing Kids, the Nazi Musical (its unofficial title). Maybe they’ll manage to add Bosnia Side Story to their year 2000 line-up.
UP, UP & AWAY: Despite Batman & Robin, stars are lining up to try on superhuman skills. True, Superman delays and Harry Knowles is the only person pushing the “Kurt Russell is Batman 4 in Batman 5″ rumor. (A story that is made even more unlikely given that Russell would be the most expensive Batman yet and the studio, which will not make another Batman with Joel Schumacher, is unlikely to hand the franchise to another director so soon. To give Harry his due, he keeps calling the rumor “BS.” But he still keeps running it). But flying seems to appeal to this generation of stars. Most recent signee: Will Smith, who will work for ID4′s Devlin and Emmerich (this time only as producers) on The Mark, about a regular guy who gets superhuman powers from a dying stranger. The difference between Smith in costume and all the others? He makes the costume look good, not the other way around.
OY, IRVING!: John Irving movies are cropping up again. Of course, when this starts happening, it usually means most of them will never get made. A Prayer for Owen Meany will finally hit screens this fall (I hope) as A Small Miracle. Perhaps. (It’s the third title, the other one being Angels and Armadillos). Lasse Hallström just signed on for Miramax’s version of The Cider House Rules. No actors yet. And Jeff Bridges is attached to Son of the Circus, which is desperately seeking financing. In the meantime, rent Garp and bide your time.
SEX & HONOR: I hated the movie Dangerous Beauty, but loved the idea for the story. I guess maybe Steven Spielberg felt the same way. He has now set Memoirs of a Geisha as his next film, the story of a woman, sold into slavery at 9, who overcomes all by becoming a geisha. Like, Dangerous Beauty, it’s a love story. At least it will be when they hire a screenwriter.
SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE: After signing Mandalay Entertainment to a production deal a few weeks ago, Paramount showed that it’s sticking with its “the more the merrier” plan for financing its projects. Mandalay has signed away Japanese exhibition rights to 16 or so films over the next four years in return for $100 million or more in upfront dollars to be spent on production of the films under the deal. Paramount continues to answer the question, “Is it worth gambling in the world’s highest stakes casino if you aren’t willing to go all the way?” (Answer: Probably not.)
READER OF THE DAY: Kate.H.: “I saw City of Angels, Sliding Doors and The Object of My Affection this weekend, which make for a collective miserable outlook for single women. What’s with that? Meg Ryan pulled off the surgeon role in City of Angels much better than I expected — she portrayed the intelligent focus to render it believable (as opposed to, say, her role in The Doors, where she was miscast as drug-addled). I don’t know about Nicolas Cage as an angel though… a bit hairy and mouth-breathing for that. Or something. Gwyneth Paltrow’s popularity continues to confuse me. And why cast her in a British role? Sliding Doors has an interesting premise, but I’d have liked to have seen what a more powerful actress could do with the role. The Object of My Affection was… I dunno. Not bad. Jennifer Aniston acquits herself nicely. Paul Rudd’s role is written as a milquetoast. Would’ve been interesting to have the two men (Rudd and John Pankow) more equal. Pankow is such a stinker (the role, not the actor) that it’s hard to see why Aniston would ever end up with him.”

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon