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
Ooooohhhh NOoooo!! No celebrities or big names on hand??!! What an outrage! It’s almost like Telluride wants atendees to see some movies they never heard of and might like! The frigging nerve! What is this, a film festival?? I mean, I’m now even more pleased that I’m not there. If I had gone I might have no one to schmooze and would spend the whole time watching movies. Blech.
Have fun David! š
Wish I was there…
I’m much happier with the list this year than I was last year. This is gonna be fun. If I see you, can I say hi?
Telluride, like practically every film festival, has a bad case of PR-itis. It’s no longer enough to be able to bring a bunch of new titles to film lovers. It has to be a group of high-profile films which will help get the festival more press, and will help draw high-profile names which will help the festival get more press. That’s one of the nice things about CineVegas. It might not have the biggest titles out there on the festival circuit, but it does get a number of World Premieres and North American Premieres of truly independent cinema.
I only saw four films at CineVegas this year, my first year attending: two were exceptional (The Living Wake and LOOK!), one okay (Choose Connor) and one truly worthless excuse of cinematic waste (Loren Cass), but I wouldn’t have seen them at most other festivals because they all have B-list casts or less and don’t get the panties of the press wet quite like a Maggie Gyllenhaal or a Pamela Anderson.
Dude, THE LIVING WAKE is bar none one of the BEST festival films I’ve EVER seen…and it’s not doing squat. What’s up with that? The film is brilliant and DEMANDS to be seen!
In fact Edward, I could have wrote what you wrote. CHOOSE CONNOR was *very* good and LOREN CASS pissed me off like no film has before. Annoying, lame, pointless crap. (I was at Cinevegas too…I think we met, no?)
telluride is a great event. a great networking opportunity. however, with so many new and old festivals taking place in september and october, the hollywood publicity corps are no longer willing to provide their product to telluride as they used to in past years.
telluride is a great event. a great networking opportunity. however, with so many new and old festivals taking place in september and october, the hollywood publicity corps are no longer willing to provide their product to telluride as they used to in past years.
I don’t know if we met, Petaluma… unless you are either the incredible Andy Klein or the talented Sol Tryon, because those are the only two people I met at CineVegas whom I hadn’t met before.
Hmm….well, we’ll have to meet there next year then.
I’m glad that Kevin Macdonald is back to documentaries. I really loathed The Last King of Scotland, but thought his One Day In September was one of the best films of 1999.
Agreed on Last King, and I thought Touching the Void was one of the best films of 2003.