May 3, 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
I can’t see Shopgirl getting any awards. It was just ok. Nothing great.
Ethan Hawke was nominated for Training Day….
You never know…
Not many could have held their own vs Denzel there.
The Shopgirl thing has to be a ploy to get publicity. And hey! It’s working!
Someone ought to tell Movie City News that their Choire Sicha pull quote on the main page that describes “Brokeback Mountain” as a “porno soap opera” is actually referred to in the article as a “pomo soap opera,” that is, a post-modern soap opera. But an amusing misread nonetheless.
I see that they fixed it by making sure to keep “porn” in the headline. Gotta get those page hits!
So, I’ll be the first to say it — Is “Walk the Line” dead except for acting awards? I know, it’s still early, but the initial reviews on rotten tomatoes and metacritic seem to be pretty mixed, and even the “fresh” reviews don’t seem overwhelmed by it. I know that “Ray” didn’t exactly have an eye popping critical response, but it’s looking to me that “Walk the Line” may end up even a rung below that one.
its not as dead as jarhead. at least it’ll get two acting noms.
Looks like Jennifer Hudson got cast in Dreamgirls ahead of Fantasia. Both American Idol contestants. Role of a lifetime.
I think the comparison of Gong Lee to Zellweger is way off Poland. They gave Renee the Oscar because she was really good in a very tricky role. Take another look. It’s a showy part but it completely rings true and, like all great supporting roles, excentuates the story in way different from the rest of the cast.
I read “Geisha” 6 years ago back when Spielberg was toying with directing it, and I can tell you the Hatsumomo character made the most impression. (Obviously if still remember that funny name) If they honor Gong, it’ll probably be because she nailed a very good role.
Holy shit, I’ve just become one of those book to movie snobs! Goddamn it.
I hated Zellweger with a passion in CM, and I can’t imagine sitting through it again to check and see if I misjudged her performance. I really don’t think she’s a very good or a very appealing actress.
It feels like Walk the Line is very much alive. Recent Metacritic and Rotton Tomotoes reviews are positive. LA Times is positive, Rolling Stone is positive, Roger Evert is positive. I’ll be in line tommorow. Everythingj I’ve heard is great.
Gong “Lee” of course the pseudonym for GONG LI.
Stella, when you say CM do you mean Cold Mountain or Cinderella Man? I agree that she was laughable in the Minghella movie, which was too mediocre to really merit another viewing. But Premadator, I’d be interested in hearing more from you to make your case on her performance there.
Oh god, Renee was horrible in Cold Mountain. And that she took the award from much more deserving women (mainly Shohreh Aghdashloo) was shameful. Ugh.
I thought there was a really smart balance on her part between character and caricature. In much the way Twain conceived Huck Finn. It’s very well nuanced, and some can’t look below the fire to see the carefully placed kindling. I saw it… the academy saw it… but saying it was rewarded to simply pay off a debt is priggish.
And the film, also underrated, boasted my favorite exchange of that year:
“What have you got on your side?”
“I got the confidence of youth.”
You may have a good argument for liking her performance in sort of meta-cinematic terms, but I doubt that the Academy voters were thinking about that. I think that when it comes to the Academy, it’s best to assume the least creative motives for their choices.
I meant Cold Mountain jeff. Sorry. But I’d probably add Cinderella Man as well. I preferred the former to the latter, but I didn’t care for her in either. And not the “I saw something and you didn’t” argument. That’s just silly and weak. Nuanced? I strongly disagree. Maybe you’re seeing something that isn’t there?
“It feels like Walk the Line is very much alive. Recent Metacritic and Rotton Tomotoes reviews are positive. LA Times is positive, Rolling Stone is positive, Roger Evert is positive. I’ll be in line tommorow. Everything I’ve heard is great.”
Rotten Tomatoes:
“Ray” 81% fresh, 7.3/10, 85% coc, 7.7/10
“WTL” 81% fresh, 7/4/10, 71% coc, 6.8/10
Metacritic:
“Ray” 73/100
“WTL” 70/100
Looks like overall it’s pretty even, but with the ‘top’ critics, “WTL” is still a rung below “Ray.” Of course, this year is also likely a weaker year for movies. Box office #s this weekend should be interesting.
ugh. If Ray could make it into the Top 5 for both Film AND Director (how the hell did that happen?) then surely Walk The Line can, which looks infinitely better. But even if it is only as good as Ray, then it can still make it due to the poor amount of candidates there appears to be. Plus, most of the enthusiasm for Ray was based around Jamie Foxx’s performance. Walk The Line sounds like a more even affair across the board.
But I don’t want to be reminded of Jamie Foxx’s performance or the movie so I’m gonna stop.
On the matter of Cold Mountain, I am a supporter of the movie except when it comes to Renee Zellweger.
“the academy saw it”
Hah. No way did they see anything other than the homogenised nature of the awards season and their desperate desire to please Ms. Zellweger.
Although, I suppose one reason we can be thankful for Renee winning is that there is essentially no hope of her now being given a token nomination for “Cinderella Man” or any other half-assed baitish attempts. And definitely will not be seeing her win again any time soon. She needs to gain some weight, open her freakin eyes (who is she kidding with that squinting?!) and get back to her early ’00s type of roles. Ya know, endearing, well-written and joyous.
In retrospect, people have really backlashed against Jamie Foxx’s performance in “Ray,” haven’t they? Why is that? What could he have done better?
One thing I’ve noticed in the “WtL” reviews that mention “Ray” is that people are saying that Joaquin “inhabits” the character instead of doing an impersonation — which is sometimes a direct jab at Foxx. But do they only call Foxx an impersonator because he was known primarily as a comedian and did impersonations on “In Living Color”? Is that really fair to him? I mean, his “Ray” performance seemed as note-perfect as the movie would allow, and he didn’t have his eyes to work with to bring you in further — it was all accomplished with movement and voice.
What’s another movie where the point of view character has his eyes hidden the whole way through?
The human eyes might be the most important aspect of filmed drama, and not seeing them can really put you at a distance. Film as the most visual of arts may subconciously be about us watching what the characters watch. To not have that in Ray keep the audience at a distance.
It’s not like Darth Vader — where concealing the “windows to the soul” was the whole point.
So…you’re agreeing that Foxx gave a great performance then…right?
Great? What’s great? I dunno. But I thought it was very good.
Daniel Day Lewis in “Gangs of New York.” That was great.
What WETA & Sirkis did with Gollum in “The Two Towers.” A brand new kind of great.
Renee Z didn’t “take” anything. She was voted the award. Why should she apologize to anyone?
So Panda, you would have voted for too?
insert ‘her’ between ‘for’ and ‘too’
I thought Jamie Foxx was good but not GREATGREATGREAT like most seemed to think.
James Leer, that’s sort of the opposite though. er. Like, all the reviews said that Foxx wasn’t just impersonating, but became Ray Charles and all that bullshit. He didn’t BECOME anyone. He’s an actor, he impersonated. That’s what a lot biopic perfs are (those based on people with very destinguishing aspects such as Charles, not like, oh say, Kinsey – also not a great film). He didn’t inhabit Ray Charles. He did a great impersonation of him but I didn’t see much else. That and the movie was actually quite bad. What on earth happened there? At least the music was good.
Plus, i became bitter towards Foxx for his behavious during the awards season. Get over yourself, man.