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
Fox’s two-class DVD system ought to raise hackles and not just from video stores.
“Slumdog Millionaire” is still in the national top 5, yet the DVD street date is March 31. That means this year’s Best Picture has only 3 more weeks before theaters drop it en masse. Talk about sacrificing potential box office!
I’m seeing the Watchmen tomorrow, FINALLY.
Wait a minute, back up here…
Who was the third name Poland listed above?
OMG YES KRISTEN STEWART K-STEW 4 EVA YESSSSS.
Poland, figure out those glitches and put that shit up with the QUICKNESS.
Damn, long as she’s becoming a regular interviewee around here, might as well let me run the boom mic or attach mic packs or something next time.
“Slumdog Millionaire” is still in the national top 5, yet the DVD street date is March 31. That means this year’s Best Picture has only 3 more weeks before theaters drop it en masse. Talk about sacrificing potential box office!”
Dude, that’s par for the course nowadays. Last year NCFOM was on DVD around a fortnight or so after the ceremony if i remember correctly. The Departed was released i think the week before the Oscars, in late February. The DVD sales bump from the Oscars outweighs the uptick in box-office every time. You have to go back to M$B in ’04 for a movie that had a significant box-office run after winning, and had it’s theatrical to-DVD window extended into Summer.
Oh, and the Public Enemies trailer looks FANTASTIC. After Up and Funny People, i’m more psyched for this than any other Summer movie.
Hey, does anyone else get SUPER depressed by that spare, female-singer and piano version of SWEET CHILD O’ MINE from the Last House on the Left trailer?
Just puts me in a downcast mood and can’t get it out of my head. I guess kudos on making the song sound disturbing and haunted, especially in juxtaposition with the remake’s images… but TOTAL downer, and I’m wondering if it’s having the effect of making the film seem more or LESS “cool” to its prospective audience.
lex — i have a feeling you’re not gonna be so crazy about k-stew in masterson’s ‘the cake eaters’….you might want to wait for her as joan jett in ‘the runaways’ (i’m predicting ownage there)……
FOX – adding value to our products by removing it from our other products!
Why didn’t the big three car makers think of doing this before? “Our automobiles are better than ever because if you want to rent one our cars, we’ll remove half of the sparks plugs and the gas pedal will only get you up to 50mph!”
“lex — i have a feeling you’re not gonna be so crazy about k-stew in masterson’s ‘the cake eaters’.”
Oh no, why? Does she eat too much cake in the beginning and have to wear a fat suit or something?
Is D-Fanning really being added to the Joan Jett movie? If they wait two-three more years to film it, the D-FAN/K-STEW teaming would be apocalyptic ownage.
What’s that, you’re using a new technology called JCVD?…
The link on MCN to the story about Laika, the company that produced Coraline, is busted.
The new Public Enemy trailer is fantastic – some are going to have issues with Mann’s digital look for that time period, but I think it looks very crisp.
Some other very exciting new trailers: Terminator Salvation and Star Trek. Is it me or does it seems like these studios are really bringing their A games? On paper a year ago, I had absolutely ZERO desire to see either of these films. But after seeing the trailers, I’m there. Exciting stuff, no way the movies will live up to them.
Somebody needs to do a mash-up of the Terminator and Transformers trailers, cause it looks like they’re fighting the same robots…
transforminators: revenge of the salvation
Salvation of the Fallen. Or maybe that’s the next one.
The new Trek trailer has greatly reduced my trepidation. I still expect it to suck since JJ Abrams is behind it, but not as much as I did.
blackc: i, too, toyed with ‘salvation of the fallen’ but it sounded far too likely and not quite ridiculous enough – some dim bulb might actually USE ‘salvation of the fallen’! (i mean, the new ‘t:salvation’ trailer, which i’m as wary as a cat of because it makes the film look like it might actually be interesting and i just can’t see how mcg in all his lametastic glory could possibly pull that off, uses the tag line, ‘THE END BEGINS’. who could possibly come up with that little gem in all seriousness? the mind boggles)
Anyone else out there notice SXSW has phat Hollywood cred coming to the table this year? Box office wise….I’d say after this year, they debuted more money makers that ANY other fest.
Shall we all just go with it now and then later, say “oh, SXSW, we knew you when you were so small and dainty and fun and no one cared….”
This year is fucking BIG box office wise. I guess when a fest makes a point of saying they don’t comp people, it isn’t even on the map…good journalism.
Don: I’m not entirely sure what you mean about SXSW. Are you saying this year’s festival has more major studio product than usual? I would have to disagree. Actually, it’s down slightly from last year in that regard. Are you saying the festival doesn’t provide press accreditation? Again, I haven’t found that to be the case. Are you saying the festival doesn’t get a lot of media coverage? Or what? I’m not trying to be snarky, just curious: What’s your beef?
Actually, after re-reading that it came off bitchy. I didn’t mean it to.
All I was saying was that SXSW doesn’t seem to get the props “other” fests get and I’m assuming it’s because the festival doesn’t comp press so therefore, it gets less coverage. They seem to be getting really good at snagging big comedy premieres with “Sarah Marshall” last year and this year they have “I Love You, Man” and “Observe and Report.” Plus they got some cream of the Sundance crop.
Yet no ones talking about the fest the way they talk about Sundance or Tribecca, etc. It’s less than a week away too!
I also just got the list of the “red carpet” people for this eyars SXSW and was really pretty awed at how many big names are attending.
The Public Enemies trailer looks pretty great. I’m surprised they didn’t drop a “From the director of Heat” at the end of it.
Haha, Leah, I agree. “Salvation of the Fallen” sounds like what you’d see in one of those “Pick the fake name” quizzes, and that’s what you’d pick, and you’d be like, “What marketing dimbulb came up with that?” after you find out it’s real.
Don,
SXSW doesn’t get the same press because it’s not a big market festival like Sundance or Cannes, where the big stories are always what movies got bought and for how much. That’s really what the difference is.
But mutiny….to me it’s like chicken and the egg. If there was major coverage of SXSW, wouldn’t it become a big market festival? I think most of the movies that start out or play there end up being popular indie titles at years end (“Medicine for Melancholy,” “Nights and Weekends,” “My Effortless Brilliance,” etc.).
It’s really just a question of timing — the three big market fests are winter (Sundance), spring (Cannes), and fall (Toronto).
It costs a lot of money for publicists and agents and so on to go to festivals and mount campaigns for movies.
SXSW has its place. It gets plenty of press for what it is and what it does.
Actually, SXSW is a terrific fest — the perfect place to see a new film with a nice balance of industry types and civilians. BTW, Don: For what it’s worth, if what you mean by “comp” is getting free airfare and lodging — I’ve never been “comped” at Toronto, Cannes or Sundance, either.
Don —
“Plus they got some cream of the Sundance crop…Yet no ones talking about the fest the way they talk about Sundance…”
If much of it is the same films, why would they?
Also, the music part of SXSW gets big-time notice — even OC Weekly covers it.
Because LYT, no one f-ing REVIEWS the small movies from Sundance! For like, 5 months last year me and Macauley were the only people who reviewed “Frozen River” fer crissakes.
I guess I’m just saying it feels like SXSW gets the snub film fest wise and I feel it’s one of, if not THE best fest around in terms of great films, great access to the films and filmmakers and in terms of great cities to hold a festival. Then again, if it got all the love the others got, it might start to suuuuck like those fests have.
Don: Shhhh! Why let everyone else in on the fun?
Did anybody else’s browser crash when they tried to watch the Public Enemies trailer at Apple? Mine did for some reason. It’s working now though. I don’t mind the digital aesthetic of the movie – I think it’ll be an interesting change for this sub genre – but I do have an issue with the music selections in the trailer. Using that movie to try and appeal to “the young kids” just make it look even sillier than I have a feeling it actually will be.
If anyone wants a suggestion for SXSW try Matthew Newton’s Three Blind Mice or Steven Kasstrissios’ The Horseman. The latter is a particularly gruesome and tough exploration of the lengths people will go to to enact vengeance while also making the viewer think hard about the violence they will watch without a second thought. Sure, sounds wanky from my description, but it’s really very very good and violent and gory and a cracker of a genre film.
I have “Three Blind Mice” right on front of me….can’t wait to see it. Looks lie an Asian “The Last Detail.”
And by Asian I mean Australian….derrrrrrrr.
I believe the makers of the film signed a special deal that will see it premier simultaneously at the festival as one of those “on demand” services you guys have. I’m not too sure on the details, but they were happy about it.
Don, it really is great. Gracie Otto will charm the pants off of you.
I believe the makers of the film signed a special deal that will see it premier simultaneously at the festival as one of those “on demand” services you guys have. I’m not too sure on the details, but they were happy about it.
Don, it really is great. Gracie Otto will charm the pants off of you.
That mall cop movie with SETH ROGEN?
ANNA FARIS is CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARMING.
There’s a part in that trailer where she’s all doing shots and BEING HOT and AWESOME, and it is THE MOST CHARMING THING EVER, would be SO HOT to have a chick like ANNA FARIS.
BEYOND CHARMING. BEYOND IT.
WB should put her goddamn name above the title, because I’d WAY sooner see THE NEW FARIS than THE NEW ROGEN.
GIRL POWER RULES THE BOX OFFICE.
Lex, please go back to ‘owns’. You are destroying the word ‘charming’ for me, just as I already won’t be able to see Adventureland without imagining a blubbery 35-year-old pawing the teenagers.