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 should they care? They’ve got FRAGGLES!!
Wrecktum beat me to the punch, word for word.
Half of me wants to say it with sarcasm, the half wants a Fraggle movie that takes off like Transformers.
“Of course, you rarely get to be the good guy when you keep coming back from the dead.”
…Except for one special dude.
At the risk of sounding like one of those people, the nag in me is compelled to point out that Jason was in “Friday the 13th” and Michael Myers was in “Halloween”
Oh well, maybe they will be easier to remember when the inevitable Broadway musical versions hit.
I kid.
Fried brain… fixing… thanks, Earl.
The Weinsteins simply need to focus on making the Miriam Collection a rival to Criterion. It seems some what pointless that they keep this whole charade going on, when everyone knows they should take a breathe for a while. Nevertheless; we live in a world… where even high grossing doc gets a sequel. Oy. Like I need to sit through two hours of a film telling me how much W fucked up in the last four years. I watch Olbermann. I get it already Mike.
Must say that I agree 100% with IOIOIOI. A rival to criterion’s monopoly right now is perfect timing, especially with BD coming into its own. The brothers need to take a step back and concede needing to re-plan.
David, The Weinstein Company is still involved in Michael Moore’s next film.
Harvey and Bob Weinstein will be this film’s executive producers of this film, and The Weinstein Company will get an “in association with” credit on this film.
The Hollywood Reporter story
(edited by david only to make the url a link)
Correction for my second sectence in previous message:
Harvey and Bob Weinstein will still be the executive producers of Michael Moore’s next film, and The Weinstein Company will get an “in association with” credit on this film.
I’m sorry for the stupid grammar mistake I made.
Criterion’s monopoly on what, movies they have the rights to? I don’t think the Weinsteins and their library of Samuel Bronston movies is going to get them ver far.
I am surprised that it has taken Moore this long to make a sequel to Farenheit…Politics aside….It is the most popular doc of all time and it’s main subject has record low approval ratings. Though I think that the timing is off. January. It wouldn’t affect the election and by January it would be like beating a dying dog. If he really wants to make a statement(or at least increase the box office) release it during the election.
If you really want to see a GREAT Doc check out No End In Sight.
Jeff: Criterion lease the rights to many of their special editions from the studios. There are some films — I would assume — that they own, but most of these they lease. The most recent Ice Storm Criterion representing one of those films they lease the rights for from FOX.
So the Brothers should honour their mom’s brand by creating special editions for films that either Criterions or the studios do not want to make. Always remember: there are still 1000s of good to great films sitting in a vault somewhere.
IOI, the vast bulk of what Criterion puts out are titles from the Janus Films library. This includes all the old Kurosawa, Bergman, Ozu etc. films. A number of their higher-profile titles have come from licensing movies that the studios didn’t want to develop and distribute, like Universal and the Lubitsch movies or Disney and the Wes Anderson movies.
I’m unaware that either (a) the Weinstein home-video subdivision is anything special, or (b) that the Weinsteins want to put their energies into specialty home video when they seem to have a real hunger for actually making and marketing movies and winning Oscars.
Jeff: my boss likes to use the words “CRITERION LASER DISC” on a daily basis. So I know how they are set-up. Hell. He had to tell them that they were about to make more DVDS than Laserdisc. They even sent him a t-shirt because they forgot and were grateful he informed them. So I know how they roll. Nevertheless; The Miriam Collection have put out two serious deluxe editions of El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire over the last few months. So they are serious about the Miriam Collection. It’s also something else than can do, that being the point Jeffery.
Yeah, but the point is those are a couple of movies they’ve had sitting around in their possession for years without doing anything about them, which doesn’t suggest (a) that they were keen on putting those DVDs out, or (b) that other companies would want to license their films to them. Besides, all of the Weinsteins’ films are released on video through partnerships with MGM/UA and Genius Products anyway, so why not cut out the middlemen?
The “F9/11” sequel would get lots more mileage had Par Vantage been on board for domestic release. Vantage is doing international only, no doubt to please Sumner Redstone.
Speaking of Redstone, ask him why CBS is practicing omerta when it comes to the Pentagon Pimps.
Still, Par Vantage is the co-financer of this movie; you will still see Par Vantage’s logo when this is released in US.
By the way, Harvey’s response:
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/05/16/2008-05-16_less_of_michael_moore_for_harvey_weinste.html
[But Weinstein said via a rep: “We have have a great relationship with Michael.” He added that he and his brother, Bob, were “flattered” even to have the smaller role of executive producers for the sequel. ]