April 16, 2024
BYOB
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BYOB: 235 Years Of Relative independence
BYOB Weekend: Hop, An April Fool’s Gag?
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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 snowing here and Milk opens in my town on Friday. Finally. I guess I coulda gone to Vancouver to see it, but the time just slips away.
Anyone hearing anything about any of the films to be shown at Sundance? I want to buy some tickets in advance and I think they go on sale next week if you registered. I am partial to dramas.
just rented Priceless, easily the best comedy I have seen so far this year. I’m behind on a lot of titles so maybe Pineapple Express can take the title but Damn has it been a crappy year for studio comedies. I got more laughs out of OSS’s poultry gags than out of Get Smart, Step Brothers, Leatherheads and Sarah Marshall combined.
Just watched the 5 hour (or so) Eclipse 1934 version of Les Miserables. I had never even heard of it before but I’m a fan of the novel. I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. Granted, I watched it in two sittings. Kinda hard to just watch 5 straight hours of anything anymore, but for a movie made 75 yrs ago, it looked pretty good, minus a few things here and there.
Caught The Visitor last weekend and enjoyed it a lor, but I been a Jenkins fan for years now.
Glad to know there’s another OSS fan out there!
Just saw CADILLAC RECORDS. Anyone know off-hand why Bo Diddley was not depicted in the film? He was certainly one of their top-selling artists.
Got an email from Box Office Mojo today: “Box Office Mojo has been acquired by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc…”
RIP, objectivist editorials. We hardly read ye.
That’s one film critic I won’t mind seeing out of a job.
So Jeremy Piven just stops showing up to his Speed The Plow engagements on Broadway 2 days in a row, and tells Mamet it’s because he’s not feeling well due to a “high mercury count”. Is cocaine made of mercury?
Anyways, here’s Mamet’s reply. Love him.
Now that I’ve seen it and loved it, I have a “Che” question: This version is essentially the same one that was shown at Cannes, right? (The one Todd McCarthy said would never be seen.)
(Oh, and “OSS” is WAY funnier than “Priceless.)
I am watching Law & Order on NBC — and I just saw a spot for Doubt that makes the movie look like… a holiday-themed comedy. WTF?
The Starter Wife has to be the worst show I’ve ever had the waken nightmare of viewing. I caught the last ten minutes, and couldn’t turn it off because it was easily the worst-produced show I’ve seen in years. Sci-Fi Channel cheap with a 90’s maudlin sensibility. Judy Davis looks like someone ran a zombie through Earl Scheib and Messing…wtf happened to this woman? Ned and Stacey, where she looked great, only ended a decade ago. I can’t think of another actress whose looks dissolved this quickly.
Well, I thought Get Smart was decent, I liked Step Brothers and loved Sarah Marshall. Also enjoyed Role Models, Zohan, Tropic Thunder. Loved Pineapple Express and found things to like in Baby Mama. The Foot Fist Way (technically a 2006 film) was good, especially Danny McBride’s performance. Not saying any of the above are timeless comedy masterpieces, but there have been worse years.
I didn’t see The House Bunny, but I was just wondering if someone missed the boat by not finagling a Golden Globe nod for Anna Faris. She got oodles of great press for the film, and even critics that didn’t like it seemed to love her.
I just watched The Foot Fist Way yesterday, and while Danny McBride is terrific in it, the rest of the movie around him is pretty lame. Too many close-ups, completely limp story structure, bad performance from the lead actress, etc.
Was it just sitting around on a shelf until Will Ferrell got behind it?
I for one cannot believe how many chances Debra Messing gets to be “a star.” She was the 4th best character on “Will & Grace” and has had copious guest roles and failed shows. Yet, still…she comes back again and again. I do not get it.
Joe-
I saw the same ads and thought the same thing. WTF are they trying to do??
Re: DW and the money issue. That’s the first piece to move Spielby and co into the head chairs at Uni. This is more than likely going to end up as what most thought the DW/Par deal was originally going to be, DW as leader-by-proxy. The 150 Mil Uni back-end loan will now become a front buy into DW, to offset JP Morgan’s weak first-round as organ grinders. That way, Reliant still has to put up the 500 mil. I still wonder if they have that kind of captial, but I don’t think Spielby will ever let us find out otherwise, lest it reflect poorly on his choosing.
Now, we have to wait for Quantum to hit BR/DVD, then it’s time for MGM to ante or fold. MGM did a massive blunder with that Youtube deal. Completely undercut its best position. We also have the sale of Lionsgate coming.
Personally, I can’t wait for things to get crazy. When the sinister six turn on each other, it could simply end with the obvious merger of SONY/CBS, or go F’in nuts, especially if NBC sells it TV stations and becomes more of a cable mega-station. Then, they would be free of any possible FCC issues. Hell, maybe CBS will beat them to it.
How are any of those going to be good things, except in terms of morbid spectacle?
jeff: my understanding is that Ferrell and Adam McKay saw Foot Fist at Sundance ’06 and loved it. At some point, when they realized it never got picked up for distribution, they picked it up themselves.
I don’t think it’s a real laugh-out-loud film, but a respectable entry in the “comedy of embarrassment” a la The Office. Probably wouldn’t be much without McBride.
Anyone see the STATE OF PLAY trailer? What’s the buzz on that?
Incredible, A-list cast… but kinda looks like “Changing Interpreters: Breach Clayton.”
Foot Fist Way is so far my second least favorite film of the year (Why I rented 10,0000 BC is a question I can’t quite answer). Foot Fist reminded me a lot of Napoleon Dynamite with its delusional pathetic charactors except that McBride was more of a bully than a complete loser making him a lot less sympathetic to me.
The Office comparision is apt except that while both Brent and Scott are obnoxious bores, they also show that they are walking open wounds of neediness and their terrible actions are a result of their pain and lonliness. McBride is simply an odious schmuck ruling over his little feifdom with an iron fist.
and Martin a couple questions.
Would Lionsgate be bought by someone trying to enter the industry other than being folded into another studio? I can’t see the upside of someone like Fox spending any real money to get what is basically a lot of second rate video titles.
Are local stations still profitable for the networks? As recently as a few years ago they were still cash cows, but with the upcoming end of the rabbit ear era will they eventually be phased out to create a single national network feed? and if so can the media companies afford to lose the revenue stream even with the cheaper costs it would bring?
And so with Paramount and CBS being split apart, Sony can take the network and cable channels leaving Paramount free to be sold to Disney (Paramount has the deep pre 90’s television library that Disney lacks and their film production could replace the Touchstone label that Disney can’t seem to figure out if it wants to continue or not). The only thing is that Redstone is more of a TV person right? Wouldn’t he want to hold on to CBS and lose Paramount as opposed to the other way around?
And if Martin S is not the Wall Street guy, sorry about all the inane questions.
HA! Leydon’s post up above and DOUBT:
Yep, I was watching Letterman tonight, and on came a WHIMSICAL, **WACKY** preview for “Doubt,” which totally makes it look like a light comedy; Having seen it only once, I’m going by faulty memory here, but I wanna say the voiceover guy is lighthearted and says something about “this holiday season, spend it…” (something zany), followed by comical shots of Streep arching her eyebrows and, again, LIGHT COMEDY MUSIC.
They seriously are making it look like some off-kilter comedy about a quirky, zany nun foiling PSH’s good time.
This can only mean this thing is tanking like a motherfucker in limited, no?