Winning The PGA
I gather that all five producers of Little Miss Sunshine took the stage at the PGA Awards and that all five spoke. (Hopefully, Ron Yerxa got some stitches and is healing from his Sundance wound.)
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April 25, 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” ā 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 ā 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 ā he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā I was with her at that moment ā 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 namedā” “Yeah, sure ā 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 Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās 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 didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā if that were what the accusation involved ā 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. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās 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
Congratulations to Little Miss Sunshine. That’s all I got. I still need to see DG. Maybe after it’s nominated for 16 Oscars, I’ll have a reason to. š
I expected Dreamgirls to win PGA with The Departed coming in second or winning PGA in an upset.LMS winning is a bigger surprise to me then Moulin Rouge winning as MR had no chance of winning BP and I think LMS can win BP.I think PGA was Dreamgirls best chance at a major guild win since I don’t see Dreamgirls winning DGA, SAG ensemble and the film was not nominated for WGA.With no support from any of the major guilds I don’t see how Dreamgirls wins the Oscar for BP.When was the last time a film won the Oscar for BP without winning at least one major guild?
The PGA win is rather shocking. I loved the movie. I laughed till I cried watching it. But I just don’t see it as an Oscar winner for best picture. If Oscar wanted to give a rare win to a comedy, “Sideways” would have been a better choice. I think the LMS PGA win will give real hope to all five best-picture nominees, whoever they may be. The nominees might be predictable this year, but the eventual winner doesn’t appear to be.
I don’t think it will win Best Picture, but I definitely see it as a possible sneak-in in Departed and Dreamgirls cancel each other out. Definitely good for these guys winning at PGA. That’s a knockout for them.
Babel – Globe
Dreamgirls – Globe
Little Miss Sunshine – PGA
The Departed – DGA most likely
With SAG ensemble going to either LMS or The Departed. And The Queen or LMS winning the Original WGA and I can’t remember what’s nominated in the adapted category. So all over the place. And that’s not even mentioning the critics prizes won by United 93 and Letters from Iwo Jima.
Weird and kooky, but I like it.
Of course, this means the PGA becomes much less “relevant” if LMS loses the Oscar.
Interesting quote from theenvelope.com:
But let’s not get too carried away and start predicting “Sunshine” at the Oscars just yet. This victory could be the result of the PGA’s large TV contingent falling for a film that has a kind of made-for-TV feel to it. You know what I mean. That’s not a slap at the film, just an observation about its deliberate light touch. The guild has about 3,100 members. About half of them are TV producers who get to vote in the feature-film category. The percentage of TV members has grown significantly in the past five years or so. You need to keep that in mind when trying to evaluate the best-pic prize. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences doesn’t have that contigent, of course. However, this same TV factor is also a key issue at the Directors Guild of America. No, a far bigger one considering TV helmers dominate film peers there five-to-one. The helmers of “Little Miss Sunshine” not only received rececent nominations at DGA, but they actually bumped out Clint Eastwood who had TWO major movie releases.
I just saw LMS last night, maybe should have seen it on screen, but it was “ok”, it was quirky cute I laughed in some parts, but at the end I could care less about the family.
Good performances from Kinnear, the son, and Amy Breslin – cutest thing on earth. The Academy should consider a “breakthrough child actor” award.
“It’s a long way down, the holiday roooaaaddd…”
Somewhere, Chevy Chase is very pissed and depressed.
Oh. My. God. This needs to stop right now.
Earlier in this blog, I said LMS had no chance at the Oscar. It may still not win, but I guess now it has a chance.
Question is: does this suggest LMS will get a Best Director nomination? Until now, I’d been considering it secure for a BP nom, but that the Director slot would go to Eastwood or Greengrass. But maybe it’ll secure Director as well, and we’ll get another 5 for 5 match-up of the Picture and Director nominees?
Where is the BIG Hollywood picture? Where did they go? the LOTRs, the Titanics? the Gone with the Winds? Sweeping epics? Great crime stories? (hello Chinatown anyone?)
Anybody notice that boxo on even the winning movies is way down? that boxo is not that spectacular with the BP noms? I get the feeling that Hollywood is in turmoil, competing against itself because there are so many venues for people to see movies.
I saw LMS through movielink download – who would have thought it years ago? And it cost $3.95 – not $8 for the matinee, but would have preferred seeing it on the big screen.
Financially, it feels like the race to the bottom for Hollywood – make it for a little as possible…maybe Robt Rodriguez has the right idea, he’s the writer-producer-director-cinematographer and he keeps the costs DOWN and makes big boxo profit.
To me these were the best movies I saw this year and none of them have a chance at BP:
Dreamgirls
the Departed
inside man (what happened? Too early release? That was a great movie)
Water
I don’t know, I’m afraid for Hollywood esp. after reading DP’s opinion of Sundance.
It’s a wide open race. Any film could win, even LMS. Last year, everyone said the same thing about Crash – it was too small, no way could it win, etc. And it opened the door for these dinky indies to win – in other words, the gap is thinning between the IFPs and AMPAS – never thought i’d see the day. Departed’s prod. won two years ago. Dreamgirls seemed to have this in the bag. Going back over history, the PGA used to go to the film that hit at least top three with the BFCAs voting. Never did it pick number 4, which is where DG was, and certainly not sixth, which is where LMS came in, totally unheard of. The times they have a-changed.
You remain a little delusional about this, BiP. But at least no one would throw self-serving bullshit about you wanting it this way for some false motive.
Could I have that again in English, please?
Thanks to Nicol D I have “Holiday Road” stuck in my head.
Mr. D? Please meet me in the fight thread. Gloves off. No surrender.
“Crash – it was too small, no way could it win, etc. And it opened the door for these dinky indies to win – in other words, the gap is thinning between the IFPs and AMPAS – never thought i’d see the day.”
Dinky? “Crash” was a “big theme” movie with a bigger cast and a sprawling storyline set in the Los Angeles area. And importantly, when comparing it to “Little Miss Sunshine”, it was a drama with a capital D.
My memory might suck on ice, but I don’t recall “Crash” being considered too small; especially when the frontrunner at the time was a film about a pair of gay cowpokes in Wyoming.
Seems to be a melding of 2 different discussions – the PGA awards as prognosticator for best picture, and who was the best producer. Some comments and the quote from theenvelope.com seem to presume PGA members were voting on the best picture of the year. They voted for best producer of the year. TV producers would be voting on the producing efforts, not the “made for tv feel.” In this case, members ostensibly considered the efforts of Big Beach and Bona Fide, that Turtletaub put in his own money when Focus backed out, whatever feats of budget wizardry, bang-for-the-buck and production values on screen, etc. Re producers, how did the other PGA nominees measure up – Babel, Departed, Dreamgirls, The Queen? Did the PGA get it right with those issues?
With LMS, you get an indie underdog with a good ratio of producer’s war stories to critical and financial success. Producer winner? Maybe. Oscar winner? Dunno.
Szasa,
Hmmmm. I won’t bring gloves. I’ll just segue into ‘Dancin’ ‘cross the USA’.
Something tells me I’m glad I’m not familiar with that one.
And if you try to remind me why I would be familiar with it, you won’t even make it into the ring.
Fair warning.
“You remain a little delusional about this, BiP. But at least no one would throw self-serving bullshit about you wanting it this way for some false motive.”
False motive, you wrote the book.
What about those of us who have no ‘self-serving’ reason but agree with the basic premise?
Yes, BiPed… everyone who disagrees with you has to have a false motive. Right or wrong, honest or full of shit, you don’t much care… as long as you are agreed with. Charming.
And J-Mc… agree away… please…
You have always misunderstood where I was coming from, never admit when you’re wrong and you always think you’re right. About everything. Most of the people I talk to every day disagree with me. I don’t have to put others down the way you do for doubting that Poland the UberGod might have his head up his ass.
You have to admire the way that DP suggests it is somehow a moral victory for himself that two of his critics agree with each other.