April 27, 2024
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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
Check your PBS listings. The POV series is premiering a terrific doc, “The Education of Shelby Knox,” in most markets tomorrow night.
I have a hankering for some TomKat.
And you?
I wonder if the travesty that is Cruise the past month will effect the box office of his mega movie opening in 2 weeks. Last week I’d have said no way. But everyday that we hear something else from this guy makes me think, maybe.
I think he thinks that the more publicity the better. For him and the film. He may be TOTALLY nuts. But hes giving us all some great laughs.
The studio and the moneymen and even Spielberg have some slight trepidation about the opening because of their star. But any film with that kind of budget will have some apprehension about it.
2 Questions on the Bat Business
1) How much will Batman Begins have to gross domestically to be considered successful?
2) What is the best movie to compare Batman to in terms of Box Office?
The decision to make Batman so dark and adult makes the movie (to me and most critics) a huge creative success, but will the tone alienate women and children ticket buyers?
I hope at no point WB regrets their decision to make an adult movie and ponder lightening the tone for sequels. The failure of Batman and Robin began with the desire to appeal to as mass an audience as possible. Let Superman chase after Spiderman’s Box Office.
In terms of Box Office, for me, the picture to compare Batman to is Matrix Reloaded. Matrix Reloaded was an R rated picture with a built in, although “limited audience”, (due to the R rating) which opened to $91,774,413 and ultimately grossed $281,492,479 (USA).
BB is slightly behind with a 71M opening and probably will have a tough climb to beat the Matrix. I think Batman Begins needs at least 200 million domestic to not be considered disappointing. Passing X2’s 214 Million is a nice goal.
This will be interesting. I’m rooting for Nolan and the caped crusader. I am really impressed with the creative choices made in this film and I sincerely hope the Box Office ultimately justifies them.
Anything over 180$ million will be seen as a big success. It is really early. This doesn’t look like a one weekend wonder.
I think the recent “water squirting” incident might help Cruise – he seemed to handle it in a very calm, human manner. Sort of the antithesis of Russell Crowe.
Lets face it. Those pranksters wouldn’t have the stones to do that to Crowe.
I’m not sure I would describe a $71 million opening as “slightly behind” a $91 million opening.
20 million is a lot of cash. But I think Batman is that good of a movie that it will continue to march on. I think a lot of people who were burnt by the Schumacher versions are taking it slow and will come back as they hear word of mouth.
Be careful what you wish for: If Warners decides to go “safer” (i.e., lighter) for the next “Bat” movie, maybe it won’t be the kind of sequel you want.
It definately won’t be the sequel I want. My hope is that the Box Office permits Nolan to continue his vision.
Perhaps Nolan should move aside in favor of someone who knows how to shoot action scenes. Not only were the set pieces incomprehensible, but they were boring.
Warner’s should use their cache with the W. brothers and get them to do the next Batflick. Wouldn’t that be a good fit?
OK, I think the point of this page was to come up with something new to talk about. The “Batman Begins” and TomKat stuff is already discussed on several other threads. Here’s something fresh:
Did anybody see the Forbes list of the top 100 people in entertainment? When sorted and ranked by pay (not power), the #1 actor in the world is …
WILL FERRELL!
I love the guy to death, but who’da thunk???
Check it out at http://www.forbes.com/lists/2005/53/Actors_Pay_1.html
The page lists the top 20. The top 10 are all men while 11-20 are all women.
Also, I’m curious as to how Johnny Depp became the highest-ranked actor (#7) on the overall Forbes power list. Does Depp now have more industry clout than Tom Cruise or Will Smith?
They can’t go “safer” if they bring back Nolan and Goyer and the principle actors, who all have contracts. This won’t be X Men 3.
And Depp has never opened a movie. He doesn’t deserve to be ahead of Matt Damon.
Because I am the head of WB, I can say that yes, I have greenlighted the sequel to Batman Begins, but I’ve asked Chris Nolan to give the movie a reverse timeline like “Memento.” This will be a precedent-setting move on my part, and I am confident soon all superhero movies will have the same reverse timeline.
As for Tom Cruise, off the record, I think we can all agree that his career is beginning to fade (in spite of WOTW). Just like Julia Roberts. On the other hand, Johnny Depp will still have a strong career when he’s 50. And how can anyone argue that Matt Damon is bigger than Johnny Depp? That’s just crazy talk. I will agree though that Damon was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Team America: World Police. Usually the Academy recognizes actors who portray mentally retarded individuals, and Damon’s poignant portrayal of himself in Team America was truly remarkable, even better than Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?
Lastly, I would like to confirm that no one is going to see Sylvester Stallone in another Rambo movie (or another Rocky movie). Feel his pain.
A few things I would like to bring up:
Batman Begins Box office will not be considered a failure based ‘just’ on the domestic box office.
Over paid (and underpaid) copycat Journalists will print whatever checkbook hype they want. People love doom and gloom box office stories. The news is built on the negative and the shocking – at least that is what they want us to believe.
The bean counters at WB will decide the ultimate outcome. The foriegn box office could be as much as $600 million on Batman Begins. Even if this film sank at $140 million domestic, another $400 -$600 million foregin would more than pay for it.
Then you must factor in strong DVD business: which is also a critical part of budget forecasting and why loans are given in the first place. All ancillary markets are taken into account. The hype over the American domestic market is silly. Although such success helps, strong DVD and stellar foriegn markets are enough to push films into strong profits these dats. Take Bridget Jones 2 as an example. It grossed abouted 50 million domestic, (considered a flop) and made around 250 million foreign! No flop at all. Troy and The day after tommorrow, King Arthur and the Last Samuari all saw foriegn grosses of between $250 million and $600 million. Each were considered lower domestic earners and were marked by critical panning (some worse than others).
My thoughts on Why Batman Began? The Monday Edition.
— Why must David “Blade 3” Goyer write such innane dialogue? Why must every action be explained and re-explained. Why must he every plan and every bad guy tell us each of their motives?
Why must Katie Holmes be given long soliloquies explaining in a James Bond fashion why she is doing what she is doing? Show us, don’t tell us.
Why the heck is Katie Holmes being cast in the first place? Situated around a group of big leaguers who could act the pants off her. Why is she given long lines of dialogue that she muddles through her two trademark droopy styles of facial expressions?
— Why must great actors be middled by terrible summer blockbuster plot devices such as ‘poison gas’? I know it’s a Batman film, but we already covered the Gas plot in Batman (1989), and the ‘terror’ plot from the riddler in Batman Forver.
— Why must Gary Oldman pressume that he is a podrace, stating ‘I gotta get me one of these’. Ahh, I’m too old for this shit.
– Why Must Nolan, for all his filmmaking abilities, shoot action in an even more incoherent fashion than the Bourne Indentity 2 was? Is the famous handicam action scenes becoming some kind of classy new wave look?
Even when we are watching scenes without Batman, action is handled in a dizzy unclear manner. (That includes the scenes in the prison).
Why must there be a love story in every Batman film? Why!?
Why did they hire Hans Zimmer to even compliment James Newton’s obvious composing abilities? Zimmer brings the same style of composing to every film. Where is the theme? Where is the Danny Elfman rousing climatical sound? Why must Zimmer compose a ‘drum beat’ soundbed for 70% of Hollywood’s blockbusters? In Zimmer’s world, sound just exists as a ‘musical background’. It usually has little thematic revenue.
………….
Good luck, Chester. I brought up the Forbes list last Thursday to change the subject when Poland had his “final word” on TomKat, and no one wanted to talk about it.
I think they’re just pulling those lists out of thin air, myself.
Luckyrooster, you’re right in one respect – the lack of any powerful theme was my primary criticism of the film. That’s the only category in which the 1989 version beat this one (though, thankfully, there was no Prince this time around).
As for the #1 actor – whether you like it or not, the #1 movie star in the world right now is Will Smith. And, quite frankly, I believe that is inarguable.
Lucky, Im coming here to readily stomp a mud hole in you, and walk it dry. People complaining about the action in BB. Are either total idiots in the realm of Bats and the way he beats people down. Or just like talking crap about things they know nothing about. You want horrible action? Go watch a Doug Liman film when he does not have Frank Marshall as an producer. The action in Mr. and Mrs. Smith easily ranks as the worst action in a film since Uwe Boll directed House of the Dead. Horrible geography. Horrible blocking. Just all around bad action sequences. Bats fights in the shadows. Unlike Tim Burton, Nolan realized this, and filmed action that way. If you do not like it, then go watch a bloody Spider-Man flick. Since Spidey fights does not have to use the night to his advantage the way Bats does. You bloody daft wanker. You even insult the dialogue? Im sure you are a regular talking ASP, JW, or even David Mamet. I bet your dialogue is real catchy. I bet all the ladies love listening to Captain Inane talk about his life. People who diss dialogue are beyond pathetic but border on ridiculous. Get over it, understand that’s just a part of film, and try to understand it’s more a visual art than a verbal one. Now, you have a mudhole in your ass. What are you going to do about it?
Yup. Aggrevating me never the best thing to do. If you want a central theme to this flick Josh, then maybe you should pay more attention to the end of BB. It’s there. A really nice theme. Classy. It builds. Besides that, Joe, recommending a PBS show demonstrate you are an older man. You nice older man you. Besides that; I just saw Land of the Dead. Easily one of the better films of this year. Since it deals with the moral complexity in which we currently in habit. It also deals with what it means to be human, and what having a purpose has to do with that. This film demonstrates the utter crap that has the title DAWN REMAKE. While that movie has a lot of unintentional comedy. It lacks characterization that GAR has such an abilty to put into characters. A very good film that everyone should see. It only cost 20 million with probably marketing of 10. If it gets 60 or more, then the story of continue.
Here’s something to talk about – is ANYBODY watching Mutiny City News?
Not me.
LDB, you should start your own rants and raves blog. It would save you time and effort if we knew everything that you thought was horrible and brilliant up front.
Monday. I don’t want to talk about anything on Monday except to wish I had time to eat five pounds of chocolate to assuage the despair of starting another endless work week.
Batman: maybe the action scenes were a little slow…but Nolan has the right Batman vibe. We’ll see if they can get the funding for #2 & #3. Batman Begins will do fine.
The Bigger fight up ahead is one Bewitched will lose–Herbie’s one of the few movies parents can take their kids to now that all the public schools are out. Cinderella Man is screwed. Karma coming back to visit Ron Ho.
and L&DB, that was really licentious penitentiary-style threatening up yonder in your post. are you posting from “inside”?
and nothing doug liman directs could ever be as hopeless as anything by Uwe Boll. for shame in saying so. I don’t have enough vodka in the freezer to make me forget you said such a heinous thing. May your DNA punish you for generations to come.
Jeff, why dont you do the same? Mr. Ducker you easily act the same way on occassion, but that retribution had to occur. Since few things are more irritating than people not filling in the blanks for themselves. Especially when the answers can be found right in front of their face. Again, jeff, stop throwing rocks into my glass house from across the street from yours. Lota, youre comebacks are very tiresome, but the thing about generations haunted because I dissed a mid-level talent. That’s a good one. I think Liman should realize his limitations like Kevin Smith. He’s perfect for films like GO. Not perfect for films with any action in them. And if I am inside Lota. You are right there with me involved in a bad 70s prison flick. WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
You always talk about filling in the blanks…is that your game plan? To be the James Joyce of movie blogging? Like Hitchcock, are you trying to intrigue us with what we don’t see?
See, the thing is, I like you, LDB. Underneath your disjointed inability to communicate is passion. You’ve got spunk.
Mutiny City News: Not funny. The name isn’t even funny. If a pun is going to be that lame, don’t bother making one. I haven’t watched it since the first one; has it gotten better or worse.
These people must be friends of Poland’s because my friends and I could upload shit better than that.
Anyway, didn’t we just have a Batman discussion? Perhaps DP was prompting us to choose a new subject…
Anyone see Howl’s Flying Castle? Inferior to Spirited Away but still better than 99% of the animated films I’ve seen. The Incredibles was great, but from an artistic and imaginitive standpoint, this blows even Pixar’s finestr work out of the water.
What does geography and “blocking” have to do with the fight scenes in Mr & Mrs Smith? I thought the action there was actually extremely well done, and for a PG-13 movie it was considerably violent. I can only imagine what Liman could’ve (and would’ve) done if he could have an R rating. It would’ve been Bride Vs Elle Driver for the entire last half of the movie.
Aaanyway, on the Batman front I sorta love that WB has dropped Katie from the sequel for “a better actress” and that they were pissed because she and tom took all the attention away from the movie. It was sort of offensive when she said SHE DIDN’T CARE IF HER LOVE LIFE OVERSHADOWS HER FILMS.
Yeah, say that to the other actors in the movie (of which there are 13 Oscar nominations!) and director (who also has an Oscar nod) as well as Christian Bale who should feel royally offended by Katie. I hope they never work with her again. Blah.
Oh, and for what little it is worth, Batman Begins is currently sitting at a strange (and obviously up front) #64 on the Top 250 Of All Time list… say wha?
But anyway, if this film doesn’t do as well, then they can look forward to the sequel which doesn’t have to have any of that pesky exposition and character development!
Crispin Glover for Joker!!!
Aaanyway, I totally had something else I wanted to say (on a different topic) but have forgotten all about it!
…so, I’ll say this: OMGTHERE’SANAMERICANPSYCHOSPECIALEDITIONDVD
…i think I just died a little.
Whoa, okay, I totally just remembered what I wanted to ask and it’s sort of creepy but it has something to do with American Psycho!
random…
When is Mary Harron going to make a new movie? Did she think that American Psycho was enough of a masterpiece to justify never making another movie. Add to that I Shot Andy Warhol being pretty damn excellent.
…:(
Why? Because you love the movie or you hate the movie?
Re: Smiths, I thought the fight scene in the house between Pitt and Jolie that ends with them having sex was good, but the “climactic” scene at the end with all the guns was not very good, and somewhat reminiscent of how House of the Dead was 50% swirling around someone holding a gun
Sorry, your post beat mine.
I was hoping you disliked American Psycho, as I did.
Jeff, you might duck questions, and have really bad comebacks most of the time. Yet you seem like good people. Even though, if you think I poorly communicate things, then you are just being dicky. Stop being dicky man! We could be friends! Have picnics! Yet, you always have to go and throw me under the bus. UNDER BUS THROWER! Camel, geography has to do where the bullets land in a fight scene. If you watch any of the Matrix films. You will see that one shot of a person firing good goes perfectly into the next shot of the person being shot. At the end of Smith, those bullets were hitting people the Smiths werent even aiming at. I did like the house scene. Even if it ripped off a bloody Buffy episode that said; “au revoir Miseur Metaphor.” At least jeff gets the Uwe Boll connection. How he got that, through all of my fast typing/talking communicating, a mystery for all the ages. God. If Jeff ever watch Gilmore Girls. His head would pop off.
American Psycho is pretty much the perfect dark comedy for me. I don’t really know why, it just is.
and now doug liman and that wastrel kevin smith in the same breath L&DB? Pass the hemlock…to L&DB.
american psycho was saved by a great performance by bale
The problem with Mr. and Mrs. Smith was continuity. The movie allegedly takes place in New York, so after they have the big fight in the house and are in the car chase, why are they on an L.A. freeway? I saw signs on the road that said L.A. turn here and things like that and it just blew the whole movie for me.
There were more problems with that movie than continuity. Plot was one big one.
I thought Bale should have been nominated for an Oscar for American Psycho. As well as Newsies.
There are three essential elements missing from Batman Begins. The most crucial element is fear. Like a magician who shows the audience how it does its tricks, when Batman finally starts “terrorizing” the criminals and we see the “fright” on their faces, we don’t feel it from the audience. There’s not tangible fear created by the film so the actors appear to all be acting scared:
a) The costume isn’t scary. In fact, it’s kind of silly looking in person, as most superhero comic costumes are.
b) The supernatural aspects of Batman have all been explained by the endless “making of” sequence that came before it.
c) Using Liam Neeson was too “Star Wars” to be scary. (“Embrace the dark side, Bruce.”)
Secondly, there was no sense of fun in the movie. It was striving so hard to be dark that it forgot to be scary. So, instead all we got was dark. Dark without scary isn’t dark.
Thirdly, Batman is a detective and it never felt like I could follow the clues he was figuring out. He just seemed to figure them out without our participation. So, it wasn’t scary or fun or involving, for me. I was glad they took the story seriously, but I left the theatre feeling like I’d just seen an extended trailer.
Man I hate being gone for a few days. You really feel out of the loop when you return. But, I’m sure everyone will sleep well tonight knowing that I am back.
i was sleeping better thinking u had left us all
It’s good to know that you matured in my absence bi-bob.
The crucial element missing is fear? Did you even watch that movie buddy? The scarecrow wasn’t scary? I think you watched the Schumacher versions.
You ever notice how quickly Bob answers any post by Stella? You’d almost think he’s constantly lying in wait, ready to pounce… Like a stalker…
Unless, of course, they’re really the same person…
bi-bob does want to be me, but we are most definitely not the same person.
Bike Bob and Stella as the same person. I vote on that.
Thanks Joe.
the real truth is me and stell are best friends. i put up with his far left wacko views and his elitist movie likes and dislikes. its a great friendship
You put up with me? More like I put up with your non-stop rantings about the greatness of Rush Limbaugh and your insistence on calling me an elitist without even knowing what the word actually means (since I am no more an elitist than you).
Joe, I think you’re right. Stella’s Boy is Bob. Actually for Bob’s sake I hope I’m wrong. Way wrong. Lol.
Yes, that would be so terrible for bob. Poor guy.
Count me as one who puts up with Stella’s rants too. But I did miss his takes on things. It is always good to have one like him around. I can imagine him and Bob hanging out. It is like a sitcom.
Put up with my rants? Is that a joke?
stella tell them all how i had to pick u up off the floor after u had two beers on friday. that stella. we’re like best friends and he avoids me because he hates star wars
Did someone say Limbaugh?
Hmmm…
I’m sicke and tired of sleazy liberals bashing people like Rush Limbaugh that make America the greatest country in the world. I understand oxycontin is now even known as “Limbaugh Rock” in Rush’s honor. Take that you sleazy America-hating liberals.
But I think what’s really important here is not that Rush Limbaugh was a slobbering drug addict who broke into Robert Downey Jr.’s house and fell asleep in his bed, but the question of privacy. As Limbaugh said on his show, “Not only are black quarterbacks overrated, but hispanic maids are overrated too. I long for the days of a traditional America when blacks were our maids, not hispanics. You know, they really knew how to keep a secret. They weren’t very good quarterbacks though. Still aren’t.”
I missed Rush’s show that day, but I had a member of british intelligence confirm that quote for me. I believe everyone of us here, even liberals, can agree that the loyalty of the British to America is very touching.
As Vice President Cheney said in his recent guest column at moviecitynews, “The British are the faithful, loyal servant Alfred to America’s crime-fighting Batman.” Right you are, Mr. Vice-President.
I think I may have to see BB now. But is it worth $6 for a matinee??
liberals are scared of rush. hes a talk show host! and u got the leader of their party referring to him in speeches saying he isn’t scared of him anymore. u also have their #2 talking about him on the senate floor. can u picture any republican ever in their right minds ever referring to al franken unless to laugh at? never
Who hasn’t missed Stella Girls ramblings and Lefty pontificating?
Can you PLEASE limit your discussion to movies? That goes out to both sides of the debate.
Yeah. What Jeff said.
Coming from Jeff that is what you call funny.
Who made jeff the boss especially after his rantings and ravings and mind numbing posts???? God….calling God….
If you want to talk politics go to some political blog unless it’s a politically oriented movie.
Why don’t you mind your own business and let people have discussions? Is that so hard? I can go back and find almost every single one of your posts and 90% of them are not about movies. If people want to discuss movies and politics and baseball and hygiene and Tom Cruise’s love life let them. Where do you get off trying to play GOD?
Please, tell me everything about your hygiene. I don’t think God bothers with irrelevant conversations.
My problem is that whenever someone goes off onto a political tangent on this blog, it always always degrades into simple name-calling. Maybe you like reading those kinds of things.
jeff u want ur bottle?
“I thought Bale should have been nominated for an Oscar for American Psycho”
He should have WON, god damn it. Fuck – he rules in American Psycho. Like… it boggles the mind.
Er, sorry.
It’s also kind of sad when you simply can’t ENJOY a movie because you’re too busy pointing out it’s little flaws. I mean, if you didn’t like the movie to begin with then it’s fine (i think this is more the case) but to decide you don’t like it because you can see the strings is kind of lame. Whatever.
He would not have been there to accept. He had to return some videotapes.
nitpicking is no way to enjoy a movie or even hate it