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
I’d have to say the little spoof was in bad taste. Kid directors love to be “outrageous,” but he could have had his 300 crew lampooning another film.
The incident portrayed in UNITED 93 was just too critical and heartfelt (let alone the devastating impact on world events and lives) to be made fun of. The victim’s lives and heroism isn’t a joke. This is a situation that the overused term “too soon” really applies.
I have to admit I laughed when the Spartans and terrorists obediently sat down and buckled up when the Fasten Seatbelts Sign came on…but there was something more than a bit icky about parodying UNITED 93 (as you say, in an effort to be outrageous) and then not having the courage of one’s “outrageous” convictions. The terrorists were re-cast as generic Euro-Villains so as not to offend anyone.
Some of the other trailers, though, I just didn’t get the joke – they were all over the place or parodying too many movies. As rude as it was, the winning trailer juxtaposed two familiar movies and it did, I have to say, look awfully sharp for an “amateur” production.
Come on now people. The movie spoofed two movies and did fine job at it. Yes, it may have been “too soon” but eventually we must all come to conclusion that we can’t live in the past forever. The movie in no way demoralized the images of people who tragically lost their lives. In some cases, humor is a way for us to cope with loss, to forget reality and enjoy descent entertainment.
People loosen up, it was a genius spoof and a great “amateur” production.
End of Story.
Come on now people. The movie spoofed two movies and did fine job at it. Yes, it may have been “too soon” but eventually we must all come to conclusion that we can’t live in the past forever. The movie in no way demoralized the images of people who tragically lost their lives. In some cases, humor is a way for us to cope with loss, to forget reality and enjoy descent entertainment.
People loosen up, it was a genius spoof and a great “amateur” production.
End of Story.