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
Best to wait for the December 22nd and December 29th week reports. Home Sales are voodoo even then.
It’s great to see how well received it was around the world. I think Blu Ray is going to have an uphill climb, though i think with the more expensive price tag comes the avoidance of “glut”
what killed dvd was “glut”. too many titles, too much crap, flooded the market, splintered it, fractured it, and eroded the market.
though the 2 for $10.00 bin at Wal Mart is always heavily trafficked.
Damn, I didn’t know that about my country. Hmmm. Not surprising, mind you, but still… wow. This movie continues to remain the biggest surprise of the year.
“You know she wants it” — that’s how U has advertised this DVD during NFL games.
What would have been even better? Not cursing the theatrical run with “Academy Award Winner” in the trailer.
Yeah, without that “curse,” Mamma Mia might’ve become the most successful movie musical of all time. Oh wait…
Hey, Dave.
I’m no film snob as I love me some great shlocky genre movies, but Dear God, Mamma Mia, the movie, had me clawing my eyes out. Besides, it’s a musical, and for me the only musicals that work or that I can bear are either Disney live action-animated combo movies or fully animated movies.
This past summer, my (very recent) ex-girlfriend wanted to really see Mama Mia and complained that I dragged her to Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones 4 AND Dark Knight. I figured it was only fair, so I went. Oh, the agony. I think somewhere, in a theater in Forest Hills, Queens, the echoes of my screams can still be heard.
Chucky, you’re insane. Why do you keep ramming this absurd idea down our throats?
It was only in the last week or two, while piddling around at Box Office Mojo, that I noticed the foreign gross of Mama Mia. Astonishing.
Theseus, you’re such a generous fuckin’ gentleman. How nice of you to indulge your girlfriend like that. A martyr is what you are!
“Mamma Mia, the movie, had me clawing my eyes out.”
My eyes liked the movie. It was my ears that were in pain.