April 26, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
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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
never go full retard
As if to almost reference your post below, the first WGA awards season screening schedules arrived in the mailbox today – “Blindness” and “Happy-Go-Lucky” from Miramax.
It’s just under six months ’til Oscar night!
P.S. “Trouble the Water” rulez.
Has anybody seen The American Astronaut? It’s got a limited midnight right at the Centre of the Moving Image down here and was thinking of trying to coax somebody to see it with me. Looks… surreal. A black and white surreal sci-fi musical western from 2001 that I’d never heard of before until it got a midnight screening last year and has since returned again and again.
RE: TRAITOR
Steve Martin (yes *that* Martin co-wrote this) and Don Cheadle and Guy Pierce are first rate actors – looks like a smart thriller – anyone seen this here? Any good?
My Oscar list so far:
Christopher Nolan for director for Dark Knight.
Ben Stiller for director for Tropic Thunder.
Robert Downey Jr for actor for Tropic Thunder-with a hat tip to his performance in Iron Man.
doug r, if downey jr. is by some miracle oscar nom’d for his turn in ‘tropic’, i just hope and pray they use the scene from which my line above came for his performance clip…i’m still laughing out loud whenever i think about it
OK I want to ask a question here.
Has anyone seen this preview for some wack looking comedy with Simon Pegg and Jeff Bridges? Everything about it looks lame and unfunny but then Kirsten Dunst and MEGAN FOX show up. IN THE SAME film. Are you understanding what I’m saying?
TOTAL HOTNESS. Hotness times a million. So if you were a filmmaker and you got Dunst and Fox to be in your movie, why would you make a movie that looks like some lame comedy? They should have made something that would totally rule. Once those two signed I’d immediately change my script to ensure that the final product befits two silver-screen legends. They should be like modeling swimsuits and hanging out with Jason Statham in 2.35:1, not doing some flat-shot comedy bullshit.
When I pay to see people who own I want a movie that owns. I want what I pay for.
I liked Tropic Thunder, but I’d put Stiller’s chances for a Best Director nod at about zero. And if Downey has a shot, it’s in Supporting, not Lead (for TT, that is. Longshot for Lead in Iron Man, I guess).
Aww, I didn’t think that Simon Pegg movie looked so bad, Lex. Sure looks a helluva sight better than that frigging Dane Cook/Kate Hudson rom-com opening a few weeks earlier.
Downey deserves nods for “Iron Man” (Best Actor) AND “Tropic Thunder” (Best Supporting Actor), but the sad thing is that if he receives any recognition at all this year it’ll probably be for his work in Joe Wright’s Oscar-baiting “The Soloist.” Unless that turns out to be a grown-up version of “August Rush…”
…and am I the only one who got an “oh-oh” sensation when Weinstein announced they were opening “The Reader” at year’s end for “awards consideration”?
Sure hope that Kate Winslet doesn’t wind up the victim of Weinstein-ian muscle-flexing by splitting votes for “Revolutionary Road” and “Reader” and end up empty-handed.
I was really hoping that this would finally be her year.
Did anyone happen to catch the Don Cheadle skit on the Jimmy Kimmel Show last night? It was a goofy behind-the-scenes look at his new film Traitor, and it had me laughing non-stop! He’s such a great actor, and it’s nice to see he has an awesome sense of humor too! Traitor is in theaters now. If you missed the skit, you can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wzOOwvRJ_E
Did anyone happen to catch the Don Cheadle skit on the Jimmy Kimmel Show last night? It was a goofy behind-the-scenes look at his new film Traitor, and it had me laughing non-stop! He’s such a great actor, and it’s nice to see he has an awesome sense of humor too! Traitor is in theaters now. If you missed the skit, you can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wzOOwvRJ_E
james12=PLANT! PLANT! PLANT!
I keed…I keed…
movieman, considering the Academy have had no qualms whatsoever in the past of calling lead performances supporting, I’m sure her role in The Reader will be qualified as such, while Revolutionary Road will be a lead.
Lest we forget that Jamie Foxx was marketed as a supporting actor in Collateral despite being one of the most obvious examples of a lead performance all that year (and a good one too boot, better than he was in Ray that’s for sure).