ELLE: You are a powerful woman in Hollywood, Nikki. A lot of moguls there are scared of you.
ELLE: How do the male executives treat you? Do they think of you as a woman?
ELLE: Do you swear when you talk to them?
ELLE: Moron. I’ve seen you call them morons.
ELLE: When you write something incendiary, it does free up other reporters to follow you.
ELLE: What have you suffered?
ELLE: So that they can justify whatever
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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” — 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
It’s always a source of frustration for me to read about people who write about movies for a living and learn that they hate everything about movies.
my favorite part is the editor’s note in the middle of the interview about having been nikki’s editor. whatever you do, don’t be upfront about it.
and i guess that’s why jamie tarses, amy pascal, gail berman all failed. too busy raising families. what a wonderful perspective!
Maybe you should have linked to the whole thing:
http://www.elle.com/featurefullstory/12428/nikki-finke.html
Noah; that’s why the net is good in terms of finding people who love film. Especially in light of discovering most critics are freakin haters towards film. Blasted haters.
I agree with you IO. It troubles me that Nikki is like a parasite, feeding off the foibles of these studio execs that she can’t stand yet she’s more than happy to make money by spending all her time talking to them and reporting it. She makes a point in the Elle article about not being impressed by power and money, etc. Then what exactly is her motivation? To show everyone that agents are sharks and that studio executives are idiots? Has anyone ever stated otherwise?
Well, you can get to the whole thing through the link I mistakenly put up, Bobbo, but thanks, now corrected.
I like her. I like her style of writing and the fact that she takes on the big boys. She’s not perfect but neither are the men doing the same thing. And it’s always a hoot to see her call out guys like Jeff Wells on their pure sleaziness. God knows there’s anough sleaze floating around Hollywood to fuel a dozen cynical female bloggers.
Yeah, I like her too. She’s got moxie. She gets a lot of attention and traffic and seems to drive content to a degree. Not sure I agree with her assessment about torture porn (certainly that won’t stop as long as there is money to be made) being stopped any time soon but certainly don’t see her as a parasite. Good lord. What an awful thing to say.
I didn’t say she WAS a parasite, but that she acted like one by having such a hatred for the very thing that she covers. She seems to have such a disdain for the film industry, but she certainly doesn’t mind cashing the checks that she gets from reporting on it. I just feel like if she can’t stand these “morons,” then why doesn’t she spend her days reporting on something that she feels matters?
To be fair, Noah, there are plenty of film producers and executives who are openly disdainful of the movies they make too, but they cash those checks as well.
Noah, do you really think that having disdain for film executives who make stupid decisions that end up being BAD FOR MOVIES in general means you hate films? I don’t get that she hates movies at all. Poland writes critically about Hollywood and the media, two things he himself is smack dab in the middle of. Finke cashes a paycheck for breaking controversial stories. I don’t think any of you men have any idea how hard it is for women on both the web and in Hollywood. It’s a man’s man world. So I respect someone like Finke who works hard to get scoops no one else can get – I don’t care how she gets them. Plenty of male journalists exploit their personal relationships to get scoops.
Well, I didn’t bring sex into the discussion and I don’t think that Nikki should be lauded just being a female. I definitely don’t have any idea how hard this is and I do respect her as a journalist who seems to work very hard and has an entertaining writing style. I was simply responding to what she says in that Elle article and while it’s ballsy, it also comes across as condescending. She’s so much better than these studio executives because…why exactly? Because she makes fun of how stupid they are? Like I said earlier, stupid studio executives making dumb decisions and greenlighting the wrong movies is an old joke that’s been told so many times. The real controversial take would be to defend them. But I digress…
I take back my parasite comment because that is unlike me to call anyone a name. I read Nikki’s column often, but I am always upset when people who spend their lives writing about something have nothing but disdain for their subject. It makes me certain that I cannot trust this journalist because she has made the blanket statement that all execs are morons; so I can rest assured that in the future, if there is ever a smart decision made by a studio exec, Nikki will not give them credit for it.
I think it’s a blanket statement about her – after all, many studio execs have relationships with her and clearly she is kind to some. So she doesn’t hate all. Believe me, Wells and Poland would cut off one of their nuts to get some of the scoops she gets.
“I don’t think that Nikki should be lauded just being a female.”
You might not think so but you ought to try being a woman or a minority and you might see things differently. Try stepping outside your comfort zone some time, Noah. Not to be condescending or anything but you’re a 24 year old white guy and film student. Life is just beginning for you and no one grabs their purse when you get in an elevator and no one wants to know what you look like before they read their stuff. You get a pass almost every time. People hate on your cause you’re young but it’s a great advantage in this culture to be you. You should see it from the other side some time. That she even considered posting what she posted about women in Hollywood shows she even thinks about it at all.
Christ, Anne Thompson and Kim Voynar notwithstanding, almost all of the people who run breaking news sites or blogs are men. So what do they care about women in Hollywood. Before you decide what is what about the world, step outside your comfort zone or maybe even just think outside of it.
YOUR stuff, I meant. Not their stuff.
Sasha, I absolutely agree with you that this is a hard business and a hard world for women. Believe me, I went to a college where I basically minored in feminism and I think that Nikki definitely deserves credit for being a female in this business (or any business for that matter) and succeeding in the way that she has. Absolutely, full credit given to her and especially to you, a woman who has worked just as hard, does not condescend and yearns to improve.
The thing is, I didn’t make that blanket statement about studio execs, she did. And if she was just generalizing, then she should be a little bit more clear about that. I try to step outside my comfort zone quite often in my personal life, but that is neither here nor there and I don’t know how you could know whether or not I do so. If you meant to step outside my comfort zone in terms of my work, I think I do because I’m not a film student. I was a creative writing major and I’ve written two novels, both of them told from a female perspective. But watching film and reviewing film, that’s what I love to do and I got into this because seeing good films and talking about them was what I was passionate about. You are passionate about the Oscars. What is Nikki passionate about? As far as I can tell, it’s journalism. And I think that she would be far better served to report on things that she actually thinks matters instead of reporting on the “triviality” of studio executives and acting like she’s so far above it.
“Believe me, Wells and Poland would cut off one of their nuts to get some of the scoops she gets.”
Wow… talk about talking out of your ass, BiP.
And the woman thing… really… in journalism… you are kidding, right?
You should feel free to root for her if you feel the need based on her sex. But that is your bias and no one else’s.
And if your enthusiasm makes it okay for her to spin, twist, and lie, so be it.
I like Nikke Finke too. She’s smart, funny as hell and has a terrific writing style.
Figures.
I like her too. From what I’ve seen her focus is on resporting on the industry, rather than trying to pass herself off as a critic or a professional reviwer. And that type of seperation is a good thing IMO.
I meant reporting, not resporting.
I apologize, DP, for dragging you into it. Very sorry. I do talk out of my ass half the time and it’s a bad affliction. I do believe I’m right about the woman thing, though. The cutting off of the nuts, though, was wrong of me to say.
bipedalist – unless you share certain traits with jim carrey that i’m unaware of, don’t be so hard on yourself.