… there is a good reason for the Elizabethtown trailer being cut like any dumb studio romantic comedy instead of accentuating the fact that this is a Cameron Crowe film?
Addition, 6:52p, Fri – My guess is that you who are responding are not refering to the trailer, linked above, but the “internet preview,” which has all the Crowe earmarks and looks wonderful.
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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” ā 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 ā 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 ā he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā I was with her at that moment ā 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 namedā” “Yeah, sure ā 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 Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās 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 didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā if that were what the accusation involved ā 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. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās 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
Where’s the trailer? The only thing I’ve seen is the online preview/Elton John video, which I thought was very effective.
Just what Elton John song is that, by the way? Thanks.
Scott Mendelson (wow… shortest post ever)
My Fathers’s Gun (from Tumbleweed Conection)
Because Poland, they have to sell this flick to teenagers. Who could give two shizers about the director. Of course, the people who love Crowe, will find this flick. The reviews will also mention it being a new Crowe flick. So they have to sell Bloom to his audience, and Dunst to her’s. Of course, Poland hated the RENT trailer. I am starting to believe Poland does not have the greatest perspective on marketing sometimes.
BTW: This is a terrific trailer. Dave, sorry, you’re just wrong on this one. (And I’m not saying that just because “Tumbleweed Connection” is one of the best albums ever recorded by anyone at any time.)
Got to agree. Sorry Dave. Not your good point marketing… What is by the way?
I haven’t seen the official trailer yet (for some reason it won’t load on my computer) but I saw the long Internet preview yesterday. I liked it but didn’t see all that much to love there, and IMHO the filmmakers should be grateful if it does as much business as Crowe’s financially disappointing “Almost Famous.” Frankly, the preview’s funereal background gave it the same vibe as any episode of HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” And Crowe lost his aura of infallibility after the insufferable travesty that was “Vanilla Sky.”
anyone see that CNN poll about this wknd’s openers? Out of 115,000+ pollsters a mindblowing 44% wanted to stay at home and watch a DVD instead. See Dave NYT is always right š
Trailer or not. It is going to be a great movie.
If I would marketing the film, I would at least want a “from the director of ‘Jerry Maguire'” tag in there somewhere.
This is Bloom’s chance to show he has what it takes to be a star. If you drop the ball in a Crowe directed movie? Then forget it.
*watched only the trailer*
I’ve managed to never see a Cameron Crowe movie, but the trailer is only decent. I laughed at the “is there such a thing as partial cremation” line and the “you’re always trying to break up with me and we’re not even together / we’re not?” lines. The Tom Petty song is perfect. Kirsten Dunst looks like an adult now (about time).
What don’t I like??
HATE THE END OF THE TRAILER: Have we not seen the coffin awkwardly slipping into the grave about a million times by now? To me that screams “this movie is going to suck.” And do we have to see the corpse in the casket earlier? This isn’t Land Of The Dead, why would you want that in an upbeat trailer? I found that jarring.
So Dave should be happy that the trailer works for me as a “dumb studio romantic comedy” once my suggested cuts are made (cut the corpse and the end). Why wouldn’t you want a trailer like that? Everyone can find out it’s a “Cameron Crowe Movie” once they’ve paid their money and they’re sitting in the theater.
I’ll agree with Chester though, because from what I’ve seen, they’ll be lucky if “Elizabethtown” grosses as much as “Almost Famous.”
Sky captain, check out all of Crowe’s filmography. If you can name yourself after a friggin half-assed, goofy CGI serial, then you should be able to accept Lloyd Daubler into your life.
I’m not one of Crowe’s biggest fans. Jerry Maguire is my favourite of his, Almost Famous underwhelmed me and Vanilla Sky I hate with with a passion (yes I really like Abres Los Ojos. strange)
I couldn’t be bothered downloading this trailer but I’m sure with Kirsten it’ll be decent.
Kirsten is 100 times the actress that Kate Hudson is.
Ug. Not good. Cameron Crowe has left the building.
Wait is Dunst’s character supposed to be one of those quirky flight attendants who makes 14K a year but has the gaul to keep you up when you just want to get some sleep with asenine questions about “so stranger, where’re ya headed” – bitch where do you think I’m headed…now shut da f*ck up and let me sleep…
Louiville my ass!
The extended internet trailer is interesting. Tho’ the casket/funeral gag was funnier on Twin Peaks.
Much like Stripes before it. Elizabethtown actually had most of it’s shooting schedule right in freakin Louisville. Even here in the hood for a week or two. Thank god Crowe loves to use locations. Because nothing worse than director’s who use LA and TO for everything.
Everytime I read, hear, or see the words “Twin Peaks.” I want to get all Peter Griffin and yell; “BUFFY AND ANGEL, FACE!” Such animosity towards David Lynch, and I havent a clue why. Hold on. Little dude with an oddly masked voice just pisses me off.
I quite honestly liked “Vanilla Sky” more than “Almost Famous.”
/ducks
Ahh, that little dude (Michael Anderson). The backward stuff was sorta reverse backwards forwards. In other words, the dialogue was written and performed backwards (dereviled sdrawkcab) and then played, erm, backwards. Which made it forwards. In a weirdly backwards kinda way.
I have a headache.
Um, hello, I already made this movie? And I had the much hotter Natalie Portman in mine. I’ll bet Tom Cruise loved my movie, too.
Do You Think…
… there is a good reason for the Mutiny City News shorts being cut like any dumb film student’s first project? Instead of explaining what the hell this crap is supposed to be, it just sits there, pointless, lacking wit, grace, coherence, and style.
Addition, 6:52p, Fri – My guess is you all agree the latest one is even worse than ever before. A bunch of bad handheld ass shots of a porn actress who’s so not famous I’ve never heard or beat off to her. Everyone knows that I prefer to beat off to Hollywood jail bait like Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan, then make snide comments about their existence to cover it up by linking to articles about them.
I’ve watched the ‘My Father’s Gun’ preview about four times now. It’s a real shame that they couldn’t tack that on the beginning/end of some film this summer. I’ve only shown it to one other person but she fell in love with it too.
As for the ‘real’ trailer, it’s effective. It doesn’t seem to be marketed wrongly. They need to sell Bloom & Dunst, and I’d say they’ve succeeded. I actually think this will be the film that Bloom grows up in. For all intents and purposes ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ overwhelmed him. This seems to be something that is more suited to his style of acting.
joefitz is right. Heaven help you if you drop the ball in a Cameron Crowe film. I’m a huge fan of Crowe though, so I’ll admit that it’ll take a lot for me to be underwhelmed by Crowe (I even enjoy ‘Vanilla Sky’). If this approaches either ‘Jerry Maguire’ or ‘Almost Famous’ in terms of quality he’ll have a hit on his hands. Of course another ‘Say Anything’ isn’t too bad at all either.
Uh, Pave… you are welcome not to like Mutiny… I think Jamie is talented… still evolving… and I think suporting the growth of young filmmakers is part of what we should be doing at MCN.
Of course, you certainly have the option not to watch. Such is the nature of the web.
Hey Dave, with all due respect, I’m a film student and the Mutiny stuff is pretty much what you would see in a first-semester class at USC. I’m sure Jamie’s a great guy, but there’s nothing worse than bad comedy.
ummm….it’s Garden State. Though it looks a little cutesy to me.
I liked the trailer. Too romantic comedy ish and not enough Crowe but it does its job as a first trailer.
Just watched the most recent Mutiny City News. Three big problems. It’s pointless. You have an Asian-American guy doing a stupid Uncle Tom impersonation of an Asian stereotype. And you have an average-looking girl doing an impersonation of a hot girl. Each of which proves that this Jamie guy is an idiot. Oh, but he can edit like a music video editor, so never mind.
It’s not Garden State. It seems to me more like Big Fish. The preview with Elton John pretty much makes no damn sense. It sells 14 different films and Judy Davis. Sans Judy Davis, it remains absolutely befuddling. The trailer, though with silly TRAILER VOICE # 2, sells the movie pretty well. Speaking of pretty, Dunst has never looked this pretty in any film.
Pave –
Thanks for giving me permission to agree with everyone that Mutiny City News is pointless and awful. I had already come to feel that unashamedly.
I’m just wondering what the point of it is.
I’m also wondering why there’s a ridiculous stereotype of an Asian named Chinkasu. What if Jeff Wells had a short on his site that featured a Lebowski loving Jew named Kikebraham Moskovitz?
Also, all we gleaned whatsoever from the latest: Jamie likes this chick’s ass, can’t shoot for shit on the move, likes to shoot her from under her face so she looks horrendous, and also since he had a bunch of coverage that wasn’t funny or interesting he decided to make it music videoish.
Seriously it’s really, really awful.
whoa, saw the trailer on ET… how… Garden State.
Just, not as good by the looks of it.
Dunst looks charming and so does Bloom but it all doesn’t feel very interesting or fresh. And, yeah, the coffin gag was done better in Twin Peaks. But we never know, Elizabethtown may just have Ray Wise jumping up and down on the coffin while Grace Zabriskie screams to the heavens (we can only hope that it does)
Back to Mutiny, I just watched another one and yeah, I’m confused. They’re not well-shot (horrible handheld), they’re not well-edited (each one goes on about twice as long as it needs to), they’re not well-performed, they’re not well-written.
To this Jamie guy’s credit, he has managed to find a venue to promote himself across the world, and I suppose MCN pays for his $20 dollar a week DV tape budget.
jeffs a first yr film student. explains so much
I can’t believe someone can come here and post and enjoy movies and have never seen a Cameron Crowe movie. Blows my mind.
Not first, a little after that. And what are you? Fishmonger? Shoe salesman? data analyst? Male gigolo?
I sure hope it’s better than Garden State. That is one of the most overrated movies in years. Maybe the studio decided to cut a trailer that’s sort of generic because Almost Famous didn’t do so hot at the box office.
My take on Dave’s original question: Why edit this like a generic rom-com?
Answer: Trailers are about selling a movie to the widest possible audience. The average person might remember Jerry Maguire, might remember Say Anything, etc, but they won’t remember Cameron Crowe’s name. The average movie goer will respond to the generic rom-com advertising (“oh aren’t they cute,” “that was funny”, “this would make for a good date”, “I could get laid after that”). The average movie goer will not get a kick out of Crowe’s thinking man’s romance, and you can’t sell that in 2.5 minutes.
How was Garden State overrated? Who rated it? It was a cute little film. It wasn’t trying to be Braveheart. Take it for what it is.
What do you mean who rated it? That doesn’t make any sense at all. How was it overrated? Um, it’s pretty obvious actually. Or at least it should be. It was heaped with praise and many said he spoke for an entire generation and movie buffs under 30 acted as if finally someone understood them. It wasn’t trying to be Braveheart? What does that even mean? Do you even know? It’s an awful movie, as far as I’m concerned.
I absolutely LOVED Garden State. Maybe since I am a Jersey girl. But still. Zack B wrote a really good script and we haven’t seen Natalie P that good since Beautiful Girls.
Really liked Garden State too. Not as much as everyone else my age, but still a definite B+. Natalie was excellent!
portman was great. good story. even zach braf was good. peter sarsgard is always great. what were u expecting stella? why do u hate it so much? doesn’t jibe with ur elitistism?