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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Posted Friday, September 1st, 2006 - 1 Comment »
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The Feeling is 'Mutual': Bujalski and Co. Celebrate New Film's NYC Release

The Reeler caught up Thursday night with Andrew Bujalski, whose acclaimed, self-distributed sophomore film Mutual Appreciation lands at Cinema Village today. Zink Magazine hosted the film’s release party at Joe’s Pub, where Bujalski welcomed cast (leading man Justin Rice’s band Bishop Allen provided the music), crew, friends and fellow filmmakers Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden, Phil Morrison and, all the way from Chicago, some guy named Joe Swanberg, who was celebrating his 25th birthday.

Appreciation society: Filmmaker Andrew Bujalski (L) with LOL director Joe Swanberg at the Mutual Appreciation release after-party Thursday at Grassroots Tavern (Photo: STV)
“You know, it was nice,” Bujalski said of the event. “It was great to see a lot of friends, it was great a lot of people could make it out, it was great there were people who starred in the film. I hope people come see the film. I had a good time. I loved the band. Am I answering the question or am I avoiding the question?”
I think so. Is he answering the question, Joe?
“He is,” Swanberg said.
“I didn’t get to see enough of the band,” Bujalski continued. “It was always in the corner of my eye when I was talking to people. Which is fine. I saw them last week; they got my full attention.”
Great. Of course, I always have to ask filmmakers who shoot in New York about the way they see it for their movies. How did Bujalski approach his first go as a New York filmmaker?
“I live in Boston!” he said. “I live in Jamaica Plains, Massachusetts.”
But you shot in Williamsburg, so I mean–
“Yeah, I like New York,” he said. “Every time I come here I have a better time. I was scared of New York for a long time; I’ve never really wanted to move here. But sometimes I come here and have such a great time over a weekend or whatever and I think, ‘What the fuck am I doing? I should move to New York.’ There are a lot of exciting young women in New York, and that’s great. But I hate competition.”
“Andrew is a regional filmmaker,” Swanberg said.
“I am a regional filmmaker,” Bujalski said. “Although I shot my second film in New York.”
So, like, urban provincial filmmaking?
“Fung Wah filmmaking,” Bujalski said. “Put that in the blog.”
Done.

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1 Comment »

One Response to “The Feeling is 'Mutual': Bujalski and Co. Celebrate New Film's NYC Release”

  1. Aaron Hillis says:
    September 1, 2006 at 2:29 pm

    Hey! What were you saying last night about taking other people’s scoops? I told you it was Joe’s b-day, mister.
    You could have at least posted a full-page photo of me for that tip.

Quote Unquotesee all »

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