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
As in, “Obama Nominations”? Whuh?
Oh, duh. never mind.
supporting actor is the most interesting category.
The Reader getting a Best Picture nomination is a bit of a joke, huh? It wasn’t even all that well-reviewed. I guess the Academy fell for the Harvey magic again. Unbelievable…
I’m guessing this will be another down year in ratings for the ceremony, too.
I think it’s already clear that the biggest surprise will be if this *isn’t* the lowest-rated Oscar telecast in history. If the over/under is 30 million viewers, I will take the under.
With 13 noms, Paramount should be able to get BB over 150m, and Searchlight might get Slumdog close to 100m with its 10 noms.
Overall, I’m please with the nominations. I haven’t seen BB yet, but I hear it’s tremendous, and I really loved Slumdog. It’s nice when deserving films get recognition, which doesn’t happen every year at the Oscar’s unfortunately.
timothy gray at variety has eastwood listed as best director for “changeling” instead of van sant. how did that fuck up happen?
Deserving films such as another weird movie about Nazis getting a BP nom over WALL E? REALLY? Come on. The Oscars are… say it out loud to make it real… IRRELEVANT! Good going Oscars. You can’t even get 2008 right! Boneheads.
Yikes. I thought the era of Weinsteins pushing mediocre films into nominations, complicit with voters’ mediocre tastes, was on the wane. The Reader is truly worthy of such WTF nominees as Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, and Ray (that last one isn’t Weinstein, I know).
Also interesting that picture/director went five-for-five when there were so many easy candidates to displace Daldry: Nolan, Demme, Eastwood, even Academy favorite Mike Leigh. That really gives me pause; I can accept that the general voting body might enjoy The Reader for whatever dumb reasons, but the directors really ought to know better.
But hooray for In Bruges, Downey, and Shannon. I agree, Martin, that supporting actor is the most interesting category. Imagine, a category where all five nominees actually deserve it!
I’ll admit the one I’m most ticked off about:
NO Bruce Springsteen!!! that song practically makes the movie!!! Are you F-ing SERIOUS????
Haven’t seen The Reader but can’t commment.
I have seen The Vistor and Rev Road, and bravo to Shannon and Jenkins.
Oh, hello bullshit…
I made my peace with The Dark Knight not getting nominated for Best Picture until I saw The Reader come up on the screen. Seriously? The Reader? TDK can’t even get beat out by something like Revolutionary Road or WALL-E? Big, weary sigh…
One more time just cause: IRRELEVANT! Good on you Academy. Good on you. I hope you enjoy those ratings.
The more you label something as irrelevant, the more you argue against your own case.
No Springsteen, no Sally Hawkins, nothing in the big cats for Revolutionary Road. The Golden Globes didn’t synch up too much this year, did they?
Wait… am I reading this right? Wall-e for original SCREENPLAY? really? what screenplay? The silent, oh-look-at-the-cute-robot-collecting-shit part, or the completely predictable, ironic as a knee to the balls mankind-waking-up-from-their-ignorance second part? Good grief.
The first part.
This is going to be one of the lowest rated Academy Award shows ever…not one crowd pleasure among the nominees (I liked SLUMDOG but it’s no E.T.) can’t believe they shut out DARK KNIGHT and gave the Best Picture nom to THE READER.
I mean even THE TOWERING INFERNO got nominated for Best Picture in ’74.
Very dissapointing year – although I am happy for Heath Ledger, Frank Langella and Mickey Rourke.
Saying the telecast is going to be low-rated because your beloved Batman movie wasn’t nominated shows an “I’m taking my ball and going home” level of maturity.
I think four out of the five best pic nominees are 3-star efforts at best (Milk being the exception), but I at least respect voters for choosing what moves them, instead of what will interest those who would otherwise be watching Extreme Home Makeover.
While I’m thrilled at some noms (Shannon, Hathaway, Rourke, Tomei, “In Bruge” screenplay and others) I’m absolutely miffed Academy voters baaaaa-ed along with Ben Button. Ridiculous.
“Saying the telecast is going to be low-rated because your beloved Batman movie wasn’t nominated shows an ‘I’m taking my ball and going home’ level of maturity.”
Er, no, it’s merely a reflection of the secular decline of the Oscar telecast’s ratings. The Dark Knight would have given the ratings a boost, but it’s questionable how big. At the same time, it’s unclear how great the erosion of the audience will be, since the audience has already eroded so much. The trend is likely to continue. The only issue is how big the drop will be this year from last.
I’m not arguing that the ratings are on the decline – network ratings are on the decline for just about everything. I’m sure they’lI be low this year.
I just don’t understand why the TDK fanboy crowd is taking this “You’ll be sorry!” approach, as though Joe Academy Member even cares what the ratings are, or should vote in order to maximize ratings.
It has nothing to do with FANBOYS! Why on earth do some of you not realize that the Batman logo is one of the more RECOGNIZABLE LOGOS ON EARTH! The entire planet on which you are sitting in case you missed the point. So the Academy missed a chance to make a populous decision. This has always been my assertion outside of the fact, that the movie is tremendous.
So I agree with Cloud for once. The show would have been given a boost. Now it’s viewership is simply going to erode more. Seriously; people the worldwide know the Bat. They had a chance to work with that sort of embedded knowledge, but went against it. It is a ridiculous and dangerous choice to make.
A “dangerous” choice?
IO, I don’t know if a Best Picture nom would have increased the ratings. At best it probably would have arrested the decline for a year. We’ll never know. As it is, they are likely to drop. The Oscars ain’t the Super Bowl. Hopefully we will now see the end of that braindead comparison. After all, people actually watch the Super Bowl.
“Why on earth do some of you not realize that the Batman logo is one of the more RECOGNIZABLE LOGOS ON EARTH!”
I see your point. So…if they make a biopic about the Hamburgler, it should be nominated too?
This bodes very well for Ridley Scott’s Monopoly movie.
Rob: ha ha. I did not mean North America. I meant the WORLD. It goes: Coke, Supes, and the Bat. Those are the three most popular and familiar logos on earth. People know the fucking Bat, but the Academy with with a movie about a Nazi. RICKY GERVAIS IS FUNNIER THAN I ORIGINALLY THOUGHT HE WAS!
Cloudy: I always saw it as a stoploss, but I also saw it as a way the Academy could possibly get more of an audience for the future. If this show is to go on. It will need more of an audience. Nominating the Bat for Best Picture could have got some of those YOUNGSTERS to watch, and got them interested for years to come.
Now they made a DANGEROUS choice (Joe: drawing more unique viewers to the Oscars would not have hurt advertising. The fact that they did not go with the EASY CHOICE NOMINATION is a DANGEROUS choice), and they have to live with the ramifications. I swear though; only the Academy could fuck up something so easy.
As far as logos are concerned, you don’t think the Nazi symbol is recognized worldwide as much as the others?
There you go.
Laz gets a zero point zero.
Coca Cola: The Movie!
“Cloudy: I always saw it as a stoploss, but I also saw it as a way the Academy could possibly get more of an audience for the future. If this show is to go on. It will need more of an audience. Nominating the Bat for Best Picture could have got some of those YOUNGSTERS to watch, and got them interested for years to come.”
IO, good point.
How come Mickey Mouse hasn’t been nominated for Best Actor? Everybody in the world knows that brand.
“supporting actor is the most interesting category.”
Totally agree. Why is that? Because usually odd and great overlooked performances get acknowledged?
Only the members of this fucking blog could miss the obvious.
No surprise that “The Reader” got so much Academy love. Another Holocaust movie, this one released by Harvey “I Love to Buy Awards” Weinstein. His crony Liz Smith would agree.
Take away “Benjamin Button” and the Oscar nominations scream SNOB in Obama-size headlines. That is why the TV audience will be down again this year.
What if they mention the Academy Awards during the Academy Awards, Chucky? Will that only mean instant doom and no viewership for the show, or will it go further than that and rip apart the fabric of time and space itself?
If the Academy started making their choices based solely on commercial considerations and ratings potential, the awards would become even more meaningless than they already are. As is, they reflect the consensus choices of the Academy membership, however misguided we may feel they are.
What brand recognition has to do with any of this, I have no idea. “Mac and Me” got snubbed, too.
The worse case here is that someday the networks will run the numbers and decide there’s no percentage in broadcasting the ceremony. Then the Academy will go back to handing out the awards at an untelevised dinner or something. That would suck, but at least it would still be the Academy Awards, and not the People’s Choice Awards.
Hey, I got an idea — why don’t they just go ahead and nominate the five top-grossing movies of the year as Best Picture? And just to make sure they get international viewers, they nominate the top five worldwide grossers. Let’s see: The Best Picture nominees of 2008 are THE DARK KNIGHT, INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, KUNG-FU PANDA, HANCOCK and IRON MAN. There you go.
I just might know which of those potential nominees IO would go for. I heard he likes Pandas.
ABC has a long-term contract for the Oscar telecast, so that’s not going anywhere.
It’s not like ABC ever airs anything else they gets even 30 million viewers.
…supposed to be “that even gets.” Stupid iPhone autofill.
Okay so here’s the next logical question:
If the Academy voters are such a bunch of dummies, why would we want their show to get higher ratings? Why does it matter if the organization does well or not?
…
Chucky, you really hate Obama, don’t you? You rabble-rousing anti-intellectual neocon.
Don’t blame me, jeffmcm, I voted for Ron Paul.
Figures.
I’ll just put it all on red right now.
Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director – Danny Boyle
Best Actor – Mickey Rourke
Best Actress – Kate Winslet
Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger
Best Supporting Actress – Amy Adams
Best Animated – Wall E (duh)
The only one that i have any doubt about is Amy Adams.
‘milk’ will be the surprise best pic winner by virtue of ‘brokeback’ guilt compounded by the looming presence of ledger over the proceedings, plus when it comes down to brass tacks the largely american academy will award an american movie starring a beloved american actor by an edgy american director over a movie about a bunch of indians starring an english boy directed by an englishman. harsh, maybe, but you watch.
Oh I will go with Anghus on this one… IT’S DANCIN TIME!
Best Picture – Ben Button
Best Director – Danny Boyle
Best Actor – Mickey Rourke
Best Actress – Melissa Leo
Best Supporting Actor – Heath Ledger
Best Supporting Actress – Viola Davis (Yes; they are two working actors, but I am hoping Melissa and Viola get some support. Their awards could be considered BODY OF WORK awards. If they received them)
Best Animated – Kung Fu Panda (You think I am kidding? Wall E will get screenplay. While this award goes to the Panda.)
Yancy: If you reviewed Funny Games recently… good show. Let me type this out real big because many of you are so ARTHOUSE, that you are missing the point. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MONEY IN SO MUCH AS IT HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE MONEY!
The Oscars is a show. They are showing film ads this year because they are trying to get people to watch the show by enticing them with Summer movie ads. They are trying their damnest to keep an audience. While everything is losing an audience. So what did they do? THEY DECIDED TO PICK A FILM THAT GUARANTEES THEM LESS AUDIENCE!
They picked 5 films (even if Mumbai does 100 million. The top five add up to merely half of TDK’s gross) that may be exceptional, but no one has seen them. Many of us have seen them, but we are 20 people who bitch and moan and discuss film on a daily basis with each other. We are rare. Most people see a movie a year, and I would reckon a lot of those people saw TDK. Get the point?
The Academy had a chance to get those people to watch, to give them a rooting interest, and they voted for the NAZI GETTING HER CUMUPENCE movie. Seriously. They did that yesterday. It still blows my mind.
Let’s not even go into all of the kids they could have gotten into watching this show by nominating the Bat, because I was a kid who got interested in Oscar. Once I learned one of my still all-time fave songs “Against All Odds” by Sir Phil was nominated. This got me interested in watching an Award show at 9. The Academy has not given any kid interestded in any sort of film outside of the arthouse, a chance to root for their film in six years. It’s been six years.
I am not going to state that all of the genre films that have come out in that time have been mindblowing, but many of them are classics. Many of them would give that now 15 year old a reason to watch this award show. Except there’s no gateway into the Oscars anymore. There’s just not.
So the Academy is hoisting itself on it’s on petard by falling into the same traps over and over again. It’s sad, but the mighty lion only roars in front of other logos now. I guess everything has it’s time. Now it’s time is done.
This just goes round and round, doesn’t it? So Academy members should stop voting their personal preferences and concentrate on nominating popular films that will act as a gateway for for the teen demo. Oookay.
TDK seemed to have a real shot at a Best Pic nod, and I can certainly understand why its fans would decry the snub. But why should they care what affect it will have on the ratings?
Oh jesus christ, nobody is saying the Academy needs to nominate only the five highest grossing movies of the year, but the Academy finally had a chance to put all those “we’re snobs” bits to rest and nominate a movie that 30 years ago would’ve been there. See also Jaws, The Towering Inferno, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars. But instead they went for the safe options of Frost/Nixon and the like.
They finally had a chance to nominate a huge blockbuster for the first time since Lord of the Rings and… nada.
And in regards to the audience thing, isn’t it a proven fact that ratings spike whenever there is a hugely popular movie nominated for best picture (see Titanic and Return of the King as recent examples – but I may be wrong on that account).
So how exactly should the Academy have made sure TDK got in, anyway? Sent suggestive letters to all of the voters?
This does go round and round because IO won’t admit that he’s been saying TDK for Best Picture since before it came out, and it didn’t make the cut and he’s whining about it. He doesn’t care about the ratings for Oscar. Frankly, neither do I, I’m not going to watch them no matter what’s nominated. I’m still pissed that Little Shop of Horrors lost Visual Effects to Aliens.
Also, I guess I don’t necessarily see a lot of these as arthouse movies. I think the absence of explosions does not mean arty. I mean, Ron Howard? Benjamin Button? These are mainstream movies. Was Forest Gump an arthouse movie? Or wasn’t it since it made a lot of money? Good thing it won then.
Perm: fuck you. I have had this argument about the ratings since last Oscar night. Go fucking look. I posted it right after the 08 broadcast went off the air.
So you keep on deluding yourself by stating you voted for Obama, when you stated on her you were voting for McCain. I am not lying you silly ass. Once again fuck you.
Show me when I stated that I was voting for McCain then, if you’re so sure. Go ahead and show it, you child molester.
Child Molester? Bitch you so busted, that they refer to you as; “THAT WITCHY BITCH…” in your hold. You are so fucking bent, that corrupt cops marvel at your ability to take bribes and kick backs. You are so down right evil, that Halliburton has been employing you since 2006. Shit. You are so damn ugly, that the CIA was using your house as a BLACK SITE until last Wednesday. When they had to shut that shit down due to all the cruelty looking at your face caused detainees.
Not only is your physical appearance the representation of a Edgar Allen Poe ABSINTHE induced hallucination. Your mind is the mental representation of the thoughts of Ann Raynd after she smoked a serious bowl of pot. Seriously; you more busted then Lil’Jon’s high school picture. That’s how truly fucked up you are.
Now you remember this you chubby tart: DO NOT PLAY. One more time for the anal bead of a human being: DO NOT PLAY! That is all. You filthy animal.
I watched FUNNY GAMES twice on Cinemax tonight.
*MASTERPIECE* and easily better than three of this year’s BP nominees. That bit where Tim Roth is blow-drying his cell phone like a douche mere minutes after suffering some unspeakable tragedy is one of the great images of all time.
And Naomi Watts = BEST ACTRESS OF 08 and EVERY YEAR EVER.
I still haven’t seen the American remake, but I absolutely loathe the German original Funny Games. Worst art-porn ever.