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
People laughed at the trailer when I saw this in the theater two weeks ago….so you never know, we might be surprised with its numbers this weekend.
“it qualifies as an epic of misogyny, made all the more irritating by pretending to have girl power at its core”
Well that’s nothing new. Too bad people keep wasting money trying to push it into new disingenuous shapes.
Those are the kinds of movies where the only humorous bits fit easily inside of a trailer.
I’m looking forward to this, but my tastes are hardly representative of the average movie goer, so I won’t be surprised if it bombs.
The Break-Up was better than I expected it to be.
Have no interest in Dupree.
Would rather see Super ExGF than Lady in the Water.
But first, CLERKS 2!
I have no idea if Super-ex is misogynist but if Dakota Fanning’s people/parents are cynically telling her to take the, as reported on MCN ‘rape’ role so that she can win an Oscar…
…that is pure misogyny/child abuse with a capital M.
No other comment needed.
I too liked The Break-Up more than I expected, and I have an inkling to see My Super Ex-Girlfriend even though I’m sure it’s crap. I just think the plot is great.
I’m expecting similar numbers from Girlfriend that we saw for Little Man and You, Me and Dupree last weekend. Low 20s, or high teens. Can’t see it going above $25mil.
In Australia this week Girlfriend is also opening, but looks like it’ll be beaten by the also debuting Jindabyne starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne. Saw it yesterday (opening day) and it is absolutely spectacular and brilliant. I’d say it was just a shade off of Lantana, which isn’t faint praise at all. Lantana is routinely considered of the the greatest Aussie films ever made.
When Jindabyne makes it to your shores (which it should considering it’s Linney and Byrne) y’all should check it out.
Quite possibly the worst trailer I’ve ever seen, and in its brief duration, I came to the same conclusions you reached for the entire film.
Will be skipping.
Poland, you hit this one pretty much on the head. An epic of misogyny, indeed. I saw it tonight, and beside all the “jokes” that left the crowded audience stone silent (the Statue of Liberty gag especially), I couldn’t get past how unlikable the women in this film were.
I thought the film was being clever at first, making Uma’s “secret identity” an insecure crazy girl, just as Superman makes Clark Kent to be a bumbling dork. Then it dawned on me, though – Uma’s character really is supposed to be like that. It’s not a front!
Plus, Rainn Wilson and Anna Faris were so much more interesting than the two leads (even if Anna’s character made no sense, as you alluded to).
Re: Dakota Fanning – Tasteless and crass, yes. Misogynistic? Child abuse? Hard to tell without seeing the movie. It sounds exploitative, but those don’t sound like the right words quite yet.
Oh, and by the way, how do you “spin” out a fire? I’m not sure of the science behind that one.