Is Universal Going Gangster?
With American Gangster near wrapping, Universal has a few more gangster scripts in the hopper. Still around is Jim Sheridan
May 19, 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
If Dave pitches unholy screaming fits when the LATimes writes coverage/gossip columns about screenplays why is it okay for him to write a coverage/gossip column about screenplays?
He’s not writing about the screenplays, he’s writing about a possible production trend. If in fact this trend is due to the success or perceived success of The Departed, which is an Oscar contender(one of Poland’s key subjects of discussion), then it’s entirely relevant.
So, who out of Denzel and Russell will go Lead and who will go Supporting. You know it’ll happen.
Denzel is the title character. I don’t think he’d ever expect to be considered for anything other than lead. Then again knowing Crowe’s ego, he probably feels the same.
Starpower may factor into it as well. With Inside Man a hit (and Deja Vu a probable hit), Washington is still considered an audience favorite. Crowe’s a brilliant actor, but his PR problems have been steadily killing his audience appeal. Cinderella Man was a considered a box office failure, and the signs are that A Good Year is going to be a huge flop. By the time American Gangster comes out, Denzel is going to be by far the main box office draw in the film. And considering how huge Crowe was around the time of Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, it’s almost unthinkable how much Crowe’s starpower has dwindled.
Who the hell knows. They may just both go lead. One thing I’m certain of is that Denzel and Crowe are two of the most reliable actors on the planet, and will almost certainly both give oscar calibre performances.
With hip-hop — particularly the ‘gangsta’ sub-genre — being one of the best-selling musical styles of the past 15 years, the studios should have been exploiting this type of film for a while now. Instead, it’s been a genre done primarlily by indie filmmakers (who have probably used it more interestingly, anyway).
Um, wouldn’t FACE be more likely to be 1997, not 1977?
Locke – Pete pretty much handled it, but I don’t want to just lurk in my own shadows and not address it directly. You can get me for writing a trend piece here, but not for script reviewing, which is what I raised holy hell about re: Scriptland.
As I wrote amidst that holy hell, I was happy for the LAT to be writing weekly on screenwriting and screenwriters. But the opening “Charlie Kaufman doesn’t want you to read about his script, but fuck it, we’re going for it” was shit as journalism and abusive from human to human. The details of scripts before they are produced is not news. And there is gossip that is reasonable and gossip that is unreasonable. I don
Yes, Cad… typo… thx…
Universal seems to be scaling down in their budgets after the huge cost overruns of Miami Vice, Kong and Evan Almighty. I think they realize that they can create Bourne size tentpoles with gangster flicks without breaking the bank. After Hulk, Van Helsing, Grinch, Dante’s Peak, WaterWorld, Howard the Duck, 1941 and the like, it seems whenever Uni tries to swing for the fences in terms of budget the result is always a film of subpar quality. Every studio has big budget mistakes but each of the other studios have had some successes. I cant think of any uni titles that cost over 100 mil that would be considered part of their canon.
“Cloak and Dagger” was a damn fine film.
Dabney Coleman was never better.
Variety reported a project about a year ago based on the terrific book Public Enemies about the crime wave in the US during the 1930s. The film is to be directed by Michael Mann starring Leonardo.
Public Enemies is a fantastic book. I could barely put it down.
Agree Public Enemies is a fantastic book.It’s nonfiction that reads like a novel. If it ever gets filmed it will make a great movie.