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
Potter V?! You went to the future to find out what the second Friday total for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be? What’s the MCN budget nowadays???
Dave, I want my TARDIS back.
I would give it to you if I knew what it was…
It’s the time machine from “Doctor Who”.
2004, 2005, and now 2006 have all had movies that have come THIS close to making $200 million in seven days.
2007 will surely be the year that the record is broken. Otherwise, nice for Pirates. Many people were expecting it to rise today… As to how or why, I haven’t a clue. This weekend isn’t a holiday weekend, so no one was getting off work early.
Will Pirates have a $65+ million second weekend? Will it take the second weekend record?
Er… When I say “today”, I mean “Thursday”.
…
Doesn’t feel like the weekend yet around here.
You know I don’t much like the film at all but I really do enjoy the heat that’s coming off its success. It’s nearly enough to make me rejoin HSX after beign away for 7-8yrs. Nearly.
I don’t think P2 will snag that new 2nd Friday record. Nor is it going to get the best 2nd weekend. If it increased on Thursday, to $15+, it might’ve had a chance. As it is, I think it ends up in the high teens or just over $20 million Friday on its way to a huge, but not record-breaking, $60+ million second weekend.
And yeah, it’s really fun to track a movie that consistently challenges a lot of box-office records.
The only annoying thing is that it’s name is so long! It was fun to write Spiderman held the record, now it’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
They really should just make the third installment “PC3”
Shame on the supposedly TV-savvy Dave for not knowing of Doctor Who. Let’s put it in box-office terms, i think the main reason why POTC:DMC didn’t break the opening-weekend record in Britain (apart from the World Cup final on Sunday night), was the Doctor Who series finale last Saturday night on the BBC. It got a staggering 43% audience share and kept many families in front of the small screen rather than out at the big one.