May 9, 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” — 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
So I watched Persona yesterday afternoon. I’m still digesting it – I liked the performances of the two lead actresses, but I’m not sure how I feel about it as a whole. To those that have seen it, what do you think?
Wow, the cast for Scorsese’s Shutter Island is getting pretty good. Michelle Williams just got added to the cast with DiCaprio, Ruffalo, and Kinglsey. Has anyone read the Lehane book? Is it any good?
What 2008 releases are you most excited about seeing?
for me, it’s
Doubt — Streep, PS Hoffman
The two Che movies — del Toro
Revolutionary Road — di Caprio, Winslet
The Duchess — Fiennes, Knightley
Young Victoria — Blunt
I read it Noah.
I’ve read all of Lehane’s books, and this one was my LEAST favorite. I’m curious how it’s attracting such a wonderful cast. But what let me down most about the book was the ending and its build-up. The premise, location and ideas behind it are solid, so I have hope it can be a terrific movie.
Oddly though. The ending didn’t work for the book, it might actually work better for a movie. Not to get into specifics, the ending is exactly how I thought a thriller in a MOVIE would end, not a novel. so take that with a grain.
Good one Adorian,
Well, the obvious:
Indiana Jones: kingdom of the Krystal Skull
Walle
The Dark Knight
Where the Wild Things Are
Synedoche
Here’s hoping Frost / Nixon is well worth it too.
In honor of the great Michael Mann finally having a project get the green light, check this out. It’s a King Britt watch commercial. Classic Mann.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOw8-R2CsC4
Thanks Hopscotch, I appreciate it. Can you also tell me if it’s closer in spirit to Mystic River (which I didn’t really love) or Gone Baby Gone (which I liked a lot)? I think the reason the cast is so great, though, is because of the man behind the camera. What great actor doesn’t want to work with Marty?
Aladdin, I’ve seen Persona (although not in a good long while) and I remember being more underwhelmed with that one than I was with most other Bergman films. I thought it was a bit too hyped up and while the acting was solid, it was one of the few Bergman films where the pace really bothered me (interestingly, Wild Strawberries, a film whose deliberate pace irks many, was a pleasure to sit through for me). But, I definitely need to re-watch it and it’s been sitting unloved on my shelf for quite a while.
Shutter Island, the book, is even more potboiler-y than Mystic River or Gone Baby Gone. Not sure what Scorsese will do with it. What’s funny is that, when I read it, I pictured Mark Ruffalo’s character as Mark Ruffalo.
Who the hell is Michelle Williams playing? I remember three female roles from the book, but they’re all pretty small.
The two major projects people seem to be talking about are the Mann one and the Scorsese.
I can’t believe I am saying this, but I’ll take the Mann project anytime.
Scorsese has really cheapened his legacy with his DiCaprio fetish. It is so painfully obvious that he casts him in every project because he likes the American Box Office rewards that come with having lil’ Leo attached to his projects.
And he dropped Frankie Machine with DeNiro for this.
wonderful. genius. brilliant.
The Mann/Depp project will be much more sophisticated, complex and worth waiting for.
Tarantino was right when he said in EW a few years back that he hopes he can quit before he becomes Scorsese now. It was arrogant…but true.
I don’t know, Nicol, I think DiCaprio is one of the finest young actors out there right now (with Damon, Gosling and a handful of others) and other than his somewhat weak performance in Gangs of New York, he’s never been less than riveting. I actually think Scorsese has been revitalized working with DiCaprio, making movies that matter once again (to the general public; Scorsese’s movies should always matter to cineastes). I think Gangs and the Aviator are imperfect films, sure, but I think they have hints of greatness in them and I think DiCaprio actually saves the Aviator (which was, incidentally, supposed to be a Mann film) with his exceptional performance. I happen to love The Departed, everything about it, and I think DiCaprio’s performance in that is hands-down one of the best of that year (along with Damon in The Good Shepherd).
But, if you haven’t been a fan of Scorsese’s last three films and preferred Bringing Out the Dead and Kundun (two films I like, but don’t love), then I can see how you might feel like he’s losing it. But personally, as much as I love Mann for making some terrific pictures, he also made Ali and Miami Vice, two films that I think are worse than anything Scorsese has done in the last ten years.
Noah:
Just want to second Hopscotch on Shutter Island being Lehane’s weakest book. I also strongly recommend reading Lehane *now*. Gone, Baby, Gone is my favorite Kenzie/Gennaro, but you need to start with A Drink Before the War. I cannot recommend the books highly enough. You’ll have more fun reading the 5 Kenzie/Gennaro books than watching any movie this year.
Honestly, I’ve never not looked forward to a Scorsese movie, but this one will probably be a rental for me. The novel suffers tremendously in the third act, ruining a great setup.
I’m actually curious to see the critical response if the script doesn’t deviate from the novel. Anybody but Scorsese and the movie, if filmed as written, would be dismissed by most major critics I think.
Adorian mentioned Revolutionary Road and you gotta ask yourself if awards groups can resist the urge to give the best actor and actress prizes next year to DiCaprio and Winslet. Irresistible, almost. But, still, that’s next year. Yikes.
“He also made Ali and Miami Vice, two films that I think are worse than anything Scorsese has done in the last ten years.”
Yeah, I’d think that too…
IF I WAS A COMPLETE DOUCHE.
Man the fuck up, BONEWICK. MIAMI VICE isn’t just a great stylistic exercise and awesome crime story, it’s a fucking ROLL-CALL DOCUMENTARY of ALL THAT IS AWESOME IN LIFE:
NEON.
TECHNO.
HIP-HOP.
SUNGLASSES.
COLIN FARRELL’S STACHE AND HAIR.
JAMIE FOXX OWNING ALL.
GLOWERING VILLAINS.
FAST CARS AND BOATS.
GET CRUNK, MOTHERFUCKER.
Anyone who’s not down with the VICE makes Kamizake Camel look like fucking LEE MARVIN. Miami Vice is what every movie– nee, every HUMAN BEING– should aspire to.
But figures some pasty, sheltered douche-ass film critics can’t relate to LIVING HARDCORE and MANNING THE FUCK UP. Yeah, guess you’re not cruising for HOT SQUACK while Linkin-Jay-Z mashups are blasting in NEON-DRENCHED CLUBS when you’re fat pasty ass is tooling around in movie theaters and the blogosphere.
VICE is a SHOT PURE FUCKING TESTERONE.
Go GET ON YOUR KNEES and PRAY TO LUIS TOSAR’S AWESOME BEARD that someday you’ll be a KING, not a WEAK MOTHERFUCKER.
Fucking BUSTERS.
I ask this every few nights here and on any film blogs I frequent, but why don’t all NON-GOD drones rise up TYLER DURDEN STYLE and COMMAND SHIT? Are you all really happy being a PASSIVE OBSERVER IN LIFE?
I have a film degree, a Journalism degree, and a Lit degree… and I’ve put it to use fucking DICTACTING AND PROOFREADING for a fucking living.
So the sight of HARDCORE COPS and BAD-ASS MOTHERFUCKERS *OWNING SHIT* and BANGING FUCKING CHICKS while FUCKING METAL plays is the MOST EXCITING THING IN THE WORLD. YEAH KNOW IT
Embrace your inner MASTER. Stop being a pushover bitch. LISTEN TO METAL. BANG HOOKERS. GET CRUNK, ALL PUSSIES.
KNOW IT.
GIVE ME MY OWN FUCKING SITCOM…. OR BETTER YET, A COLUMN ON MCN.
I’M FUNNIER AND BETTER THAN ANYONE.
You guys don’t live on the edge at all.
VICE 4 LIFE.
Whoa…
You’re…amazing…dude.
I feel rather PLAGIARIZED at the moment. Hmmm… it makes me wonder. Nevertheless… on MAY 2nd… THE REAL FUN BEGINS. Fuck your award season. BRING ME THE IRON-MAN!
Not to drudge up a year old debate, but I would easily put Miami Vice higher than anything Scorsese has done in his Leo period. The problem with Leo period Scosrsese is that the films are not important. They are just well crafted flicks that can get nominamted and sometimes win Oscars due more to thier pedigree and politics (ie. Scorsese is due for his Oscar type politics).
Vice actually pushed the art form in terms of narrative style, form and cinematically in terms of depth of field and composition.
Nothing in Leo Scorsese has come close to that, even though I own all of those on disc and I admit they are entertaining. Just not important.
20 years from now we will talk about Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Last Temptation of Christ and Goodfellas. I am confident we will not talk about Gangs and Aviator.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, brilliant as he is, seems like a bad choice for Doubt to me. He just screams “GUILTY!”. I think Matt Damon fits the role better. Anyway, I bet Amy Adams will be terrific in it.
Aladdin,
I actually found Persona to be one of my least favourite Bergman films once I started watching more Bergman. Maybe this is just me, but it doesn’t have the relevance of Cries and Whispers, the weight of Wild Strawberries or the visceral nature of The Virgin Spring.
For me, the best Bergman transcended “art-house” to become something more. Persona, did not transcend for me. I know I may be in the minority and there certainly are things to glean from it about the basis of art and acting more specifically, but it is not one of my Bergman favourites.
It makes me think of the line from u2’s The Fly, “Ever artist is a cannibal, ever poet is a thief.”
“Anyone who’s not down with the VICE makes Kamizake Camel look like fucking LEE MARVIN.”
I don’t know what that means but I liked Miami Vice. Not as much as Collateral or Heat, but I liked it nonetheless. I saw it with about 10 other people and I was the only one who did. Such is life.
Chalk me up as a Miami Vice fan too.
And as for 2008, there are a few films I’m really looking forward to – Batman, Indy 4, Bond 22, etc.
But nothing even comes close to my anticipation for Season 5 of The Wire. This will rule so much that I don’t really envision any ’08 movie topping it. McNulty’s drinkin’ again – that’s all I really say. What a way to kick off the New Year.
Persona is definitely one of my favorite Bergman films. I can’t quite pinpoint what it is that just grabs me so hard about it, but whenever I see it I can’t stop thinking about it for days. The theme of co-dependence and loss of self is a very strong one and resonates with me in a fundemental way.
Plus, I find the scene where Bibi Anderson recounts her sexual encounter on the beach to Liv Ullman to be probably the most painfully erotic scene I’ve ever seen in a film.
Since the death of Bergman, I’ve been rewatching some old favorites (Fanny & Alexander, Virgin Spring, Wild Strawberries, Cries & Whispers, Persona and Winter Light…all excellent) and have become more convinced than ever that he truly is one of the best filmmakers of all time, even though he’s not in vogue at the moment.
Now if that blu-ray copy of Seventh Seal I ordered could arrive soon, I’d be happy. It’s supposed to look spectacular.
“Revolutionary Road” definitely sits high on my list of most anticipated ’08 movies. The book is amazing, anything Mendes chooses to direct automatically engenders interest and I’ve been waiting for a DiCaprio/Winslet reunion since “Titanic.”
My only fear is that AMC’s great “Mad Men” may have already stolen its thunder.
Also eagerly awaiting season five of “The Wire,” Mark, as well as season deux of “MM” next summer.
But don’t forget Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk with Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and (the recently added) Emile Hirsch. Sounds like one of
the key Oscar flicks we’ll all be talking about next December.
LexG: You forgot to add: ONE OF THE TRULY GREAT FUCK SCENES THIS SIDE OF HARD-CORE PORN. POST-COITAL BLISS AT ITS MOST TRANSCENDENT.
Hell, after watching Colin Farrell and Gong Li go at it, I wanted to walk outside and have a cigarette.
Is it possible to love Miami Vice and Ali, and still think Scorsese’s 00’s work is better?
Nicol, I totally disagree about Gangs of New York, and to a lesser extent, The Aviator. They ARE important films, but current cine-snobs can’t see past the Leo-hearthrob thing, Cameron Diaz’s involvement, or what they perceive as some quest by Marty to win Oscars. All of which are total fucking bullshit. I know a handful of people that are Gangs fanatics, and I hope there are some here that will agree the film gets better with each viewing, and eventually the messiness of the cut doesn’t annoy as much, and even seems to fit the theme and the film.
This is a film that people are going to be going back to many times, not just for the scope and imagination of the production, but for Marty’s energy and his distillation of pretty much everything he’s learned over his long career. And it won’t matter that two starlets (who even if not superlative still earned their casting) were cast in it. People won’t know or care about Harvey Weinstein’s meddling and awards pimping. There are so many brilliant flourishes in that film I can’t imagine how one could think it minor.
…and I didn’t even mention Daniel Day-Lewis, which will ensure the film’s place in history regardless, as it’s an all-time iconic performance.
My question is this:
Will The Golden Compass’ b.o. performance (or lack thereof) be the official final nail in Bob Shaye’s coffin?
Well said, lazarus.
I still don’t understand the disdain for Gangs of New York. IT DOES get better on repeat viewings and, at least for me, I marvel and respect the epic tale that it is. Additionally, I don’t understand why people say Leo is weak in the film. The persona of his character is far different from Bill the Butcher. Bill is supposed to be over the top, therefore, much more showy and prominent. Where Leo’s character shares the same, quiet and calculating characteristics that his father – Liam Neeson – had. Anyway, I’m all for the Leo/Marty pairing. Why? Because every movie they’ve made together – especially The Departed – have been great. Honestly, they can make twenty more movies together for all I care. Bring on Wolf of Wall Street, bring whatever Marty and Leo decide.
Great post, LexG. The directors cut of Miami Vice is sooooooo much better. The opening shot: WOW. I love Michael Mann. Vice 4 life is right.
BTW: Laeta Kalogridis? Really? Please tell me Bill Monahan is secretly rewriting Shutter Island…please…
Ah, the Gangs of New York lovers. Lazarus, Mr. Gittes, I admire your tenacity and your conviction on that film despite popular opinion….though, I couldn’t disagree with you more. Gangs of New York has some moments of inspirational filmmaking, but a lot of it is pretty forgetabble. Some of it is just bad. How they keep cutting back to the characters we literally saw ten minutes earlier just in case the audience had a lobotomy and forgot. The accents. The music, which for me was the worst part because I think that’s Scorses’s best trademark. The election of the sheriff??? for me it gets worse on repeated viewings.
WHOOPSY DAISIES!!!
“the Blood stays on the Blade…”
I’ll state again that I loved most of Scorses’s movies, and while I didn’t like the novel Shutter Island per se, I think the premise and the location and some of the ideas in it could make for a great movie.
Here’s what I don’t get regarding GANGS and other movies where we know the director had their own cut and then the studio or a producer bullied them….why not MORE directors cut DVDs? I mean, many people agreed that ALEXANDER and especially KINGDOM OF HEAVEN were much better films in the directors cut. And if I’m not mistaken, alot of the studio cuts had to do with how frigging long these films were.
My point is, I would just LOVE to see GANGS OF NEW YORK the way Scorsese intended it to be seen and why shouldn’t they? They’d make more monry via DVD and maybe small theatrical re-releases. I don’t get it.
^ David Poland has the director’s cut of Gangs locked in a hidden vault under his bed. He “acquired” it and now can’t give it back.
Just kidding, Dave!
LexG, please start up your own blog. You have a unique voice and even though I don’t think I agree with you about _anything_, reading what you say is pleasing in an odd way.
I’m a GONY fan. It’s a terribly uneven movie and a lot of the editing choices are bizarre, but it has enough moments of brilliance to make it ultimately a thumbs-up movie for me.
Persona, meanwhile, is an odd duck because it’s best viewed, I think, after seeing a bunch of the Bergman movies that preceded it. It’s not as immediately accessible as Wild Strawberries or Virgin Spring, but I think it’s ultimately better than either of them. Nicol will probably also be glad to hear me say that I think some of its avant-gardism is dated.
“My question is this:
Will The Golden Compass’ b.o. performance (or lack thereof) be the official final nail in Bob Shaye’s coffin?”
I saw it yesterday and, while I know quality have nothing to do with Box Office performance, I was bored. I don’t think the film can sustain 2 hours of attention from kids. And the religious aspect seems to be causing such a scene. I hardly felt it and that really frustrated me. They are being too careful on these things, but then again, I am not a christian. How is it tracking there?
I read Ebert’s review and I totally disagree. Then I read some more at Rotten Tomatoes and many pointed out the things that I felt was wrong with the film. It was too rushed – too many characters and plot lines competing for a spot in a 2-hour movie; things being dumb down for audiences so much I felt like they were directly insulting my comprehension skill. The worse offense, for me, is that it lacked the love and soul I felt in LOTR and being made by New Line and marketed as another epic, well, too much hype for such a mediocre film.
Why would anyone be curious as to why SHUTTER ISLAND is developing a great cast? It is Martin Scorsese! What actor wouldn’t want to work with him?
Based on the one-sheet for “The Happening” who else thinks it is “the rapture”? I wonder though….
The Happening? Do you mean:
Is it real?
Is it fake?
Is this game of life a mistake?
Hey, anyone know if there’ll be even a minimal for-your-consideration return run of IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH? Even another week a the freakin’ Beverly Center? I’m usually pretty good about catching things quick, but I somehow missed it during its one-month-then-gone run in L.A., wrongly assuming it’d laze around through at least part o’ the Oscar season or turn up at a second-run house like the Academy, but no luck.
“IT DOES get better on repeat viewings”
Which, for me, is the one of the worst defence mechanisms possible. Why would I want to watch something again when I didn’t like it the first time. It’s like when critics or people like Dave say they saw a movie for the second, third, forth time and it was “even better than before” or “you need to see it five times to really understand what the director is doing” I’m like “but I can’t see it twenty-seven times. I can see it once” at least while it’s at cinemas anyway.
The poster for The Happening is quite funny. “You sensed it. You saw the signs. Now it’s happening”. Teehee. Are they kidding with us or do they not realise the joke there?
I neglected to mention that I saw MARGOT AT THE WEDDING today and WOW….what a truly awful, mean, vindictive and unsavory little film. And not in a good way.
It’s as if Baumbach (who, by the way created probably my favorite movie ever…KICKING AND SCREAMING) thought we all didn’t get that we were supposed to hate his characters and sympathize more with him and his horrible childhood in THE SQUID AND THE WHALE so he made the characters in MARGOT even more insufferable and irredeemable. I seriously cannot think of one redeeming quality about the film…aside from Jack Black doing Jack Black only in a faux-dramatic role.
Bad all around.
I saw Wild Strawberries in the spring. I loved it. I’ll have to check out the other two you mentioned. I also have to give Fanny & Alexander another spin. I gotta admit I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I popped in the DVD.
Fanny and Alexander really is magnificent, and it works on multiple levels. I just wish it wasn’t five hours long.
Bergman films get better with multiple viewings.
Uh, no, I liked it the first time. And then when I saw it again, I liked it more. And then when I saw it a third time – at home – I picked up additional details that I didn’t catch before resulting in liking Gangs of New York even more. That’s what I meant by ” IT DOES get better on repeat viewings.”
That is not a defense mechanism nor did I say it was. Moreover, there’s nothing wrong with not liking a film the first time you see it and then, maybe a couple years later, see it a couple more times and then liking it. That happens…
After seeing The Bucket List — once — all I can say is, anyone who doesn’t think it will appeal to Academy voters is, well, short-sighted.
But that doesn’t mean anything to people who didn’t like Gangs the first time around. And considering most of us hate it with a passion. What I was saying that I never understand why people use that to defend maligned movies.
Well I don’t know about you, but for me there are some movies that I hated on first viewing, but then when I saw that other people loved them or gave them rave reviews, I decided to go back and see them again to see if there was something I missed. Sometimes there is (Meet Me in St. Louis seemed cutesy and annoying the first time, but now I think it’s heartfelt and warm) and sometimes there isn’t (Gus Van Sant’s Psycho is still bewildering and pointless to me).
Joe Leydon is spot-on about “The Bucket List”. Warner Bros. makes sure to state “Academy Award Winner Jack Nicholson” and “Academy Award Winner Morgan Freeman” in the trailer.
AMPAS must get a kickback every time a trailer and/or poster goes Oscar-whoring.
The problem is that for most, GONY doesn’t get better on repeat viewings. I’ve seen it a few times, and the unthinkable happened – I started to become annoyed with it. DDL is still awesome. The opening scenes are amazing…but the movie loses its way. It becomes too much. I dunno, somewhere in the near 3 hour runtime there is a great movie. It probably doesn’t involve Diaz or DiCaprio though…
The only things that gets WORSE with repeat viewings are Joe’s posts.
Chucky, you’re not making sense. Joe is telling us that the movie is better than people are expecting. Is that what you’re telling us? Have you seen the movie?
If it’s a crappy movie, I guarantee it has more to do with non-Academy-Award-winner Rob Reiner than Nicholson or Freeman (do you want them stripped of their four awards?)
Ripping a brother off, and you want him to have his own blog? Now you know why you are on the list. Nevertheless; GONY does get better on multiple views… as long as you focus on Daniel Day Lewis and Brendan Glesson’s characters. They make that movie worth watching again and again on STARZ!!
My liking or disliking The Bucket List is almost entirely irrelevant. Go back and read my posting: All I’m saying is, I think it is short-sighted to assume Academy voters won’t warm to the movie. I think it’s entirely possible that the movie actually will appeal to a significant block of Academy voters. Anyone wants to take issue with that, fine, go ahead. I can remember people on this blog mocking me when I suggested that Crash would be a serious Best Picture contender. The Checkered Demon just smiled.