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” â 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 â 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 â he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” â and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging â I was with her at that moment â 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 namedâ” “Yeah, sure â 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 Iâm on the phone with you now, after all thatâs 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 didnât seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereâs not a case of that. He wasnât using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had â if that were what the accusation involved â 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. Iâm not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, âYou know, itâs not this, itâs thatâ? Because â let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, thatâs what it lacked. Thatâs 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
Brett Ratner didn’t completely fuck up the X-Men franchise? That’s definitely debatable.
I’m thankful that I don’t need to post what I’m thankful for on the internet to justify why I’m thankful for them. đ
Just kidding…have a great Thanksgiving, David!
Will you be doing Ammo’s Annual Thanksgiving Supper Special? đ
As long as there’s some kvetching going on, on that list of directors that being with Alfonso Cuaron and ends with Ron Howard, I would say that the big ‘one of these things is not like the others’ name is Wolfgang Peterson, who made a huge, impersonal, hacky movie with no effort to ‘swing for the fences’.
Mr. Howard’s inclusion as an auteur is pretty debatable too.
Mr. Poland, I’m thankful to you for fostering some of the best discussions I’ve seen on the internet. Ditto on the Todd Field comment…I loved Little Children.
I’m thankful that studios shut down early on Wednesday. Bye all!
Yeah, gotta agree with Eric, X3 was pretty much a disaster from the fanboy perspective, and from regular folks, well I didn’t meet too many regular folks that liked it either. And those that did, probably list Top Gun as their favourite film of all time.
To the commenters who have made The Hot Blog an interesting place to hang out.
Awwwwwwwwwww. Anywho, X3 was on the same quality level as X1, and while Top Gun is far more ambiguously special than one may remember, it is still Tony Scott’s most well shot and watchable flick around… Okay, okay, after True Romance, sheesh.
I’d like to thank Dave Poland for turning me on to THE BEST MOVIE BLOG EVER.
“X3 was on the same quality level as X1”
No, no, no no no. One was made by a guy who actually was interested in the characters and the story’s issues, the other was made by a competent hack.
Where was that, Crow?
I am thankful for Jessica Biel, her awesome stems and those lacy tights she was wearing tonight.
If Singer “was actually interested in the characters and the story’s issues” why did he bail out at the end and jump ship to a rival franchise?
I just got back from The Black Dahlia. God, that was amazing. So hilariously inept, I just loved it. Another for the so-bad-it’s-good file. Fiona Shaw’s performance was one of those rare once-in-a-lifetime things I think.
It’s possible to be interested in the characters in one movie and still be lured away to launch a bigger franchise.
Black Dahlia is a crazy movie, but sections of it are legitimately good – including Fiona Shaw’s performance.
I’m in Canada, where Thanksgiving has come and gone already, but what the hell — thank you, Mr. Poland, for the lovely post.
I am thankful Akiva Goldsman can make $4 million for a script. Because if he can make that, imagine what people that can actually write are worth.
“If Singer ‘was actually interested in the characters and the story’s issues’ why did he bail out at the end and jump ship to a rival franchise?”
1. Just because franchises are rivals doesn’t mean only one has an exclusive hold on good characters, stories and issues.
2. Initially Singer had planned to return to X3 after shooting Superman Returns. Numerous reports have mentioned that it was Fox that chose to go ahead without him, and move the release date back to the Memorial Day weekend to challenge Singer’s film.
i’d say thanks for Little Miss Sunshine which I happily discovered 2 days ago and still brings a smile to my face when I think of it! ;o)
and to Dave for hosting this awesome place where those of us who aren’t in the movie business can come and discover a treasure chest of info as well as a place to speak our minds! :o)
One thing I’m certainly not thankful for this year, that Sony is having the same team who made Da Vinci Code work on Angels and Demons. I know they got really rich on that film, but please… just the thought of another one like it and I’m sick.
“If Singer ‘was actually interested in the characters and the story’s issues’ why did he bail out at the end and jump ship to a rival franchise?”
I think you can be interested in characters without being so interested as to devote eight years of your life exclusively to them. I think if you decide to draw the line at five years, that still counts.
Singer interested in the characters? That’s rich.
At least, we can tell who has actually read the source material here and who has not.
Or, we can tell who actually watched the movies vs. who got hung up on decades-old minutiae.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Michael Bay and McG didn’t make movies this year. If that ain’t worth thanks, what is?
Good point Cadavra. How often do we get so lucky?
And add my thanks to Atmospherium for the marvelous transitions it causes!
I will also add my thanks to some gung ho people getting unexpectedly tired of war (and hope it will help end it)
…and for rediscovering films I hadn;t seen in a long time (Army of Shadows, Quai des Orf
Huh? McG’s We Are Marshall is getting released December 22nd.
You jinxed it!
“I will also add my thanks to some gung ho people getting unexpectedly tired of war (and hope it will help end it)”
I didn’t know this had happened, and don’t think anything will change anytime soon.
Tofu, and it stars Matthew Macauonghihgnhey, too! Double jinx!
As a matter of fact, Lota, there already is a campaign underway to get Dassin a special Oscar this coming year. Keep your fingers crossed!
oooh Thank you Cadavra for letting me know. I have been asking anyone and everyone to do something bout that. They don’t have much time to lose! Mais non, He’s 95 isn’t he?
He IS so worthy. Rififi is still the best Heist movie ever.
by the way…can’t keep my fingers crossed but I will cross my claws as best as I can.
Tofu: you’re correct, I forgot about MARSHALL. Inspirational sports movie + plane crash + McG = (to quote Pat Hingle in THE SUPERCOPS) not if they hung me from the top of the Empire State Building by my prick.
Happy freakin’ to you, too, Cadavra.
And thank you, David Poland. It’s good to be here.
Thanks, Justine. I think. :-\