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
Why does Disney hold back on Ratatouille for so long? Is this common practice for their animated fare?
I can’t imagine that Knocked Up will have big international legs.
Another movie that has made significantly more than it did in the U.S.: Hostel 2, closing in on $60m worldwide (sorry to bring up old wounds).
In Thailand, school isn’t out until early October. But we’ve had Ratatouille for a few weeks now. (which is unusal as we normally have to wait until October for Pixar movies.)
Aladdin, as Ployp alluded to, many kids films are saved for school holidays. What’s annoying is when Ratatouille opened in America was school holidays here, yet we have to wait until the end of September (I think) to see it. Grrr. During the school holidays (er, there’s four lots of them, three of which are two weeks plus the longer one over Christmas if our system is different) we’re usually inundated with a back catalogue of kids films. Amazing holds for Ratatoiulle in France and Japan though, no matter what the trends are.
Perhaps a reason for The Simpsons Movie‘s big international is that it rates better? I know in Australia it routinely makes it into the Top 20 programs each week whereas in America it’s barely in the Top 60 (right? or did I read wrong). It’s made $26mil here, which would be the equivelant of $260mil in America. Harry Potter has made $33mil.
One of the anomolies of Australia’s box office is the European film As It Is In Heaven is #15 after being on the chart for 54 weeks. It was nominated for an Oscar a couple of years back I think. For some reason it’s just still playing. Crazy.
Not sure why you think the Transformers international gross is surprising. The toy line started in Japan, and the film is a big-budget action/sci-fi romp–exactly the type of film that typically does well globally.
“Perhaps a reason for The Simpsons Movie’s big international is that it rates better?”
That is correct. Simpsons is an excellent overseas TV property for Fox. It’s a big reason why the show is still on the air.
Hey David,
I don’t know if you’ve seen this but the-numbers.com now has a weekly DVD sales chart. Is this the start of something? Will DVD sales numbers evolve into the same craziness that surrounds boxoffice numbers? If these numbers were out there more, how would that change the residuals debate? Or would it even?
http://www.the-numbers.com/dvd/charts/weekly/thisweek.php
There have been DVD/VHS sales/rental charts for a very long time, haven’t there? It’s just that in the last couple of years people have realised sometimes there’s plenty more cash in these areas than there can be in the cinema.
I’ve seen plenty of DVD sales charts but never one that included actual amounts of money made. Usually they just list what the top selling DVD’s are for the week and maybe how many units were sold if it was a particularly high number which I suspect were studios bragging. But DVD sales numbers is something new to me. DVD’s being cash cows hasn’t been a secret, but the actual money numbers have been kept pretty close to the cuff. Even if this list is just an educated guess, where is all this heading? Is Katie Couric going to be ‘reporting’ DVD sales numbers on the evening news as if it was the weekend box office? Watercooler talk, “Man, Wild Hogs made $50 million in DVD sales.”