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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

Friday Estimates by Klady

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So… Watchmen‘s 78% drop is exaggerated by the Thursday midnight screenings… I would guess that the number will come down to the mid-high-60s by the end of the 3-day, which is not thrilling, but isn’t horrible for a big opening either. “Nuff said,
Disney has to be very happy that The Witch Is Back. They have been cultivating a spring slot over the years and this number almost doubles the start of College Road Trip last year, is about 50% above The Shaggy Dog of three years ago, and is even an improvement on The Bridge to Terabithia. It’s even a better start than The Rock’s biggest hit as a lead, The Game Plan. So there is a real chance that if the kids like this one, it could be his first $100 million movie.
Last House On The Left is Rogue’s second best start ever, after last summer’s The Strangers. I have no idea who is paying for what at this point. It seems to be being released as a Universal movie. Is it a film they didn’t hand to Ryan Kavanaugh in the turnover? Don’t know. But it should be a nice bit of business for the studio.
Taken continues to hold remarkably well. Madea continues to push Tyler Perry further ahead of his previous films, cracking $80 million this weekend when none of the other have done as much as $65 million. Slumdog Millionaire passed Ben Button to become the highest grosser of the Oscar nominees this last Tuesday. And The Reader will pass Milk to be the #3 nominee gross either this weekend or sometime during the next week.
Overture is getting some nice response to Sunshine Cleaning on just 4 screens, but in a market where people older than 35 are looking for ANYTHING worth seeing.
(1:48p – Tera-title corrected)

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61 Responses to “Friday Estimates by Klady”

  1. Jeremy King says:

    I remember when I first started seeing ads for Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Me and my friends laughed, thinking “Who in their right minds would go see that fucking bullshit?” I still haven’t met anyone who has paid to see it, but I know they’re all around me. It’s like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I’m standing on the train, paranoid, thinking “Is this guy I’m standing next to right now one of THEM? A stupid fucktard who would actually pay to go see Paul Blart: Mall Cop?” I can barely sleep at night. I wake up in cold sweats, thinking about people shelling out 10 dollars to see it.
    Does anyone think that James Cameron’s mega-expensive new 3D movie, AVATAR, has a chance of being a failure? Or a perceived financial failure, kind of like Watchmen? Does Cameron just have a blank check forever because of Titanic?

  2. martin says:

    Even with the large dropoff, I can still see Watchmen finishing up with $140-150 mill. domestic. $300 worldwide is still a realistic number for this film and it will easily break even once the DVDs roll out. Is it going to make a ton of money like a “tentpole” movie is supposed to? No, but considering the subject matter and 1-2 quadrant appeal, I think these numbers are pretty good. The only mistake on the film was a budget perhaps $50 mill. too high and a very expensive marketing campaign. I don’t think in 3-5 years the film will be seen as a financial failure, it did all it could have been expected to do.

  3. Machina de La Verdad says:

    Congratulations on the progress Mr. Poland. Stating I DON’T KNOW is therapeutic and as far as I am concerned, your future.
    Last House was produced by Rogue under Andrew Rona. It was sold to Relativity as part of the deal along with Unborn, Fighting and the whole 09 slate. The revenues are credited TO Rogue, which Relativity bought but is not fueling anymore.
    Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But, beware of men.

  4. And the comic geeks and fan boys will foam up about their waists and David Hayter, Zack Snyder, and Larry Gordon will look up and shout “Save us!”… and we’ll whisper “no.”
    On another, less snarky note, I can’t imagine how pissed Henry Selick is right now. Coraline had an outside chance at $90-100 million until he lost all of the 3D screens to a movie that everyone ended up ignoring.

  5. NickF says:

    That’s the problem with those IMAX and 3D screens. There aren’t enough to go around and the race to have the next big thing that weekend knocks the current movie out of the solitary spot it held.
    Watchmen is a one week wonder that I can’t see getting more than $120 mil. How exactly are its legs going to stabilize if it implodes without any direct competition?
    The sad thing about Watchmen performing terribly is that its very diligent supporters are trying to float around this theory that it’s the modern version of Bladerunner. That’s one hell of a reach if you ask me.

  6. anghus says:

    And the comic geeks and fan boys will foam up about their waists and David Hayter, Zack Snyder, and Larry Gordon will look up and shout “Save us!”… and we’ll whisper “no.”
    Best quote of 09 thus far.

  7. Thanks Anghus.
    You’re right NickF, I have no idea what’s going to happen when IMAX becomes the ‘new normal’ for every major tent pole release. Just this summer, three of the biggest films of the summer (Star Trek, Transformers 2, and Harry Potter 6) will be using IMAX screens, all within about two months of each other. Star Trek wasn’t filmed in IMAX so that shoudn’t be a big issue, but the latter two have stuff specifically tailored for IMAX, so I have to wonder what’s gonna give (I’m sure WB is glad that Potter is opening last, so it can theoretically keep the IMAX advantage for the last 6 weeks of summer).

  8. jeffmcm says:

    The movie’s title is “Bridge to Terabithia”.

  9. lazarus says:

    I think he was mixing it up with The Road to Haditha.

  10. anghus says:

    You know, the summer movie season usually leaves me kind of blah, but the star trek and terminator salvation trailers both looked like good old fashioned disposable entertainment.
    with few options for filmed entertainment, i may actually go see Race to Witch Mountain. Jesus lord, has it come to this?

  11. Lota says:

    go see Coraline again. šŸ™‚
    and again
    and again

  12. a_loco says:

    Coraline got put back on 3D in it’s Toronto engagements last week, but I don’t know what that means for the rest of the continent. Probably too little too late.

  13. Lota says:

    spring breaks are coming up. may give Coraline a bump and maybe, for those who haven’t made up their minds yet if they are interested or not, may be a bump for Watchmen.
    I wonder what Taken will gross…I can see the well-beloved TV doofus Kevin James making out like a bandit, but Taken seems like a Payback but better, more appealing and continues to appeal.

  14. gradystiles says:

    The Universal logo isn’t even on prints of Last House on the Left. The Relativity Media is the first logo you see, followed by the Rogue logo, which now has “A Relativity Media company” at the bottom.

  15. jeffmcm says:

    Guys there are sooo many good indie/art movies out right now it’s not even funny. Two Lovers and Gomorrah are still playing in LA, Tokyo Sonata just opened, I think 12 is out there somewhere…

  16. mutinyco says:

    Hunger, next week, is the shit to see.

  17. steamfreshmeals says:

    How soon can Peter Rice get “Miss March” on FOX Television?

  18. THX5334 says:

    What does Taken’s continued revenue earnings say about how teneble piracy really is right now?
    I mean, there has been a 720p quality copy available from the European release for over a year before the film opened here in the U.S.
    And even with that readily available High Def copy on P2P, people are still going to the theater to see this movie.
    From my understanding, Taken’s world wide gross is pretty impressive as well.
    So what does this example say about how damaging Piracy really is?
    I ask because the studios are fear mongering Piracy to Rep. Berman here in California so they can take away P2P for EVERYTHING, as well as my fear – somehow manipulate the rights content creators have over their work when doing business with these large multi-media corporations.
    They are pushing Piracy as killing this industry, while trying to negotiate this treaty.
    Taken clearly shows that their is holes in their argument. Is it fair that they should be having closed negotiations that are most likely self serving under this potential spin?
    I am not saying Piracy is not a danger. Of course it is. But I don’t believe it to be as bad as they say.
    Again, people can throw up other examples and I’m going right back to Taken. Where you have a 720p High Def quality movie that’s been available on the most public P2P sites for OVER A YEAR.
    And it is still chugging along in theaters.
    My theory? Piracy hasn’t become a viable threat yet, because the process of operating the P2P programs and accumulating content is still not a user friendly enough process to make it as widespread and damaging as it’s purported to be.
    Another thing to consider, is that most Pirates are not those taking these films to make bootlegs to sell on street corners.
    Most of them are geeks or crackers or computer savvy. And really it’s about the thrill of the hunt and having bragging rights to unreleased content that keeps most Pirates in the waters.
    Others are do it out of a sense of altruism for being gouged by studios on double and triple dips in home video. They’d rather make a quality copy of their file available for free to give others an option of having to buy the same movie more than once.
    I think a small percentage of actual Pirates are the ones that are trying to sell bootlegs for profit.
    And Taken proves that Piracy is currently not as damaging as it’s made out to be (Though the potential is of course there)
    But how is the fear of it going to affect the rights of true content creators; Or the push studios are making to make P2P networking and region free DVD players as illegal.
    I feel P2P has many valid uses outside of Piracy and to make it illegal is close to taking away a civil right.
    And this ACTA treaty could be dangerous for the Artist or Talent, if the negotiations stay behind closed doors with only the conglomerates.
    Taken – Shooting holes into the Piracy theory just like it’s shooting holes into dirty French Pimps (Truly evil individuals)

  19. IOIOIOI says:

    Indie movies? In MARCH? LET THEM ROT! We are SIX WEEKS AND SIX DAYS AWAY FROM THE TIME OF THE YEAR THAT MAKES THE MONEY! WOLVERINE… WE NEED YOU!

  20. Triple Option says:

    THX5334 wrote: What does Taken’s continued revenue earnings say about how teneble piracy really is right now?
    I mean, there has been a 720p quality copy available from the European release for over a year before the film opened here in the U.S.”
    I’m not sure it really says anything. What percentage of people in the US who regularly go to movie theaters even knew that there was a movie titled Taken starring Liam Neeson playing in Europe much less anticipated paying to see it upon release?
    Almost universally market surveys will ask if some conceptual product or service were available would you as a consumer purchase it. One thing DVR numbers can begin to answer is if a certain show were available to watchers at a different time than when offered would you watch it. Now there’s no way of measuring when people actually watch what they DVR or why they waited but when combined w/other info decisions can be made whether to move the show to another time or if the show is strong enough w/the DVR numbers to keep it on the air. Predictions can also be made about similar shows and projections made therein.
    There of course are survey and various indicators used to estimate what kind of numbers a film will do in theaters and sell through mkts. What is really not done are guestimates of how many people would see a film if offered for free in possibly less than standard quality.
    Though may these numbers exist but what I’d be curious to know is measurements of anticipated movie viewing for a) in the theaters or b) meh, I’ll see it when it comes out on video. And, of the b level interest, how many actually do see the movie in say a 3 week window of release.
    Yes, they’re all somewhat arcane numbers but I think reasonably necessary to accurately compute the level of privacy or potential loss. I think some piracy numbers may be exceedingly high because they’ll only measure such number of online hits or downloads. Just because Harry Potter 20: Back in Black has 2500 P2P viewings doesn’t mean WB can say “Look we lost 2500 x $3.75 for ave ticket rev roi due to piracy.” I’d have zero doubt that of the 2500 who’d pirate the movie that at least one of those people would

  21. THX5334 says:

    Well, Triple, you make an excellent point about awareness for the movie.
    I know I heard of the buzz about the film through the copy going around on the internet. A friend grabbed it and was like “Holy Shit, You have to see this!”
    I did. I loved it. I championed it’s release here before it opened and went and bought 4 tickets on opening day to support the film and make up for any bad karma of watching an upload of the European cut.
    So, I’m wondering how many others were like me, and could there have been a trickle effect where having the film on the internet as a great secret pickup, might’ve actually helped the film’s buzz?
    Or is it just a really solid marketing campaign built around one of the best written sequences in a while. I’m referring to the whole Kidnap to the phone call with the Kidnappers.
    I mean, damn, if there was ever a trailer moment. It’s that sequence.
    I also want to give the film props for shooting the action and cutting it coherently. Nice wide frames so we can see the hard work of the stuntmen and the fight choreography. Instead of the trendy rapid cut, incoherent, Bourne style of editing that’s been a plague to action scenes.
    Thank God for Taken. Bringing it back down to the people in the frame executing their skills and not cheating with Post tricks.
    And damn did Neeson bring it in those action scenes. Especially the kitchen scene.

  22. jeffmcm says:

    4 tickets? Jeez, it’s not _that_ good.
    I see now why Poland was so insistent on comparing it to B13, a much better movie.

  23. THX5334 says:

    To each his own.
    This movie rocked so hard for the conditions it was made under and intended.
    Again, for me, it was Neeson’s performance that personally elevated it above your ambivalence for it.
    I don’t know, maybe you or Poland don’t have as much appreciation or familiarity with acting and are more jazzed about other ingredients that you found to like better in B13?
    But I felt Neeson gave a performance that elevated an already tight narrative.
    Let’s be clear, no one is expecting this film to be the next Deer Hunter or Godfather.
    But to compare it to similar films of it’s caliber; It is Neeson’s performance that makes it smarter than most flicks like this (a la Transporter or what have you)
    So for me; understanding how much of a bitch and complicated film acting can be at times versus being on stage, and seeing the natural subtext Neeson brings in especially the most physical of scenes.
    I mean any actor experienced with film has had to do a duck walk across a stage, hit your mark, with your head turned 3/4 the other direction so you look right for camera.
    And the whole time having to be emotionally truthful and natural in the scene while your body is clearly contorted which, unless you’re seasoned, usually has you out of the moment and in your head and thusly not being natural with your performance.
    With just a flicker of Neeson’s face you can get a whole symphony of what that character is going through in each moment of the film.
    No one appreciates this kind of acting, bringing across a 3 dimensional character that is truthful and in the moment even in the most physical action scenes, and how hard that can be.
    So for me it was Neeson’s performance. Is the acting in B13 better? (I don’t care if it’s a foreign language. If the acting is better it will still come through)
    It’s also why I think Harrison Ford is one of the most underrated actors, and arguably our last great true movie star.
    I haven’t seen B13, so I don’t have a legitimate pov to play devil’s advocate to your claim.
    That being said, I’ll check it out and keep an open mind and if I agree I’ll be the first to say it.

  24. jeffmcm says:

    No, pretty much everyone in B13 is basically a stuntman first, actor second, so that aspect of it is not first-rate. But I think (a) that it works better in terms of action choreography and set-piece work, and (b) I’m not a fan of how predictable the story of Taken was, the whole revenge subgenre of action movies is one of my absolute least favorite modes of filmmaking, so it had that uphill battle with me.
    That said, Neeson was definitely on top of his game as far as performance goes, looking forward to seeing his Lincoln before long.

  25. jeffmcm says:

    Oh, and:
    “maybe you or Poland don’t have as much appreciation or familiarity with acting”
    Really?

  26. leahnz says:

    yeah, jeff, you and poland don’t know shit from shinola šŸ˜‰
    (please note the sarcasm-indicating wink!)

  27. LexG says:

    Anyone else a little surprised WITCH MOUNTAIN isn’t higher? Like, much higher? Poland’s analysis above is sensible enough, and the number’s not… bad.
    But I just had some impression that was gonna be one of those HUGE four-quadrant $40-50 mil opening weekend family flicks.
    AnnaSophia Robb is going to be a HUGE star one day, no? I can easily see her as “the Next Keira Knightley” in four or five years.

  28. Hallick says:

    “yeah, jeff, you and poland don’t know shit from shinola ;-)”
    Actually, if you eat the shinola first, the difference is non-existant – and you can wipe your ass with a shoe!

  29. Hallick says:

    “AnnaSophia Robb is going to be a HUGE star one day, no? I can easily see her as ‘the Next Keira Knightley’ in four or five years.”
    Yes, but how long will we have to wait for the next Anne “Throw Mama From The Train” Ramsey?
    I wasn’t really done with the current Keira Knightley. Why does there have to be a next one?

  30. leahnz says:

    what exactly is ‘shinola’? i’ve always wondered

  31. Joe Leydon says:

    Shinola is a brand of shoe polish.

  32. LexG says:

    KEIRA KNIGHTLEY is beeeeeeeeeeyond CHARMING and can’t be replaced/doesn’t need to be…
    Just saying AnnaSophia Robb is racking up a respectable resume and could head in the Knightley/Jodie Foster/Barrymore trajectory, if she can avoid too much of a rep for only doing Disney or youth fluff, a la Duff or the Olsens and seemingly half the HSM kids.

  33. Hallick says:

    “what exactly is ‘shinola’? i’ve always wondered”
    According to Wikipedia, it’s an old brand of American shoe polish that went out of production in the first half of the 20th century.
    Also thanks to Wikipedia’s “shinola” entry, I was reminded of one of my favorite TV exchanges:
    “An episode of ‘The Golden Girls’, entitled ‘The Case of the Libertine Belle’, makes a reference to the phrase. Rose claims that in her hometown, she was nicknamed the ‘Sherlock Holmes of St. Olaf’. Dorothy promptly asks, ‘Figured out which one was Shinola, did you, Rose?’, to which Rose replies, ‘The hard way’.

  34. leahnz says:

    thanks, joe. i take it a big glop of brown shinola looks poopish, hence the much-loved expression

  35. LexG says:

    Also, can someone tell me if I’m going to enjoy Miss March?
    Not if YOU enjoyed it necessarily, but if I will think it’s hilarious.
    I’m assuming it’s right up my alley.
    On another note, I finally caught THE INTERNATIONAL and liked it a lot; They misadvertised the HELL out of that, making it look like some Interpreter-esque romantic thriller featuring two leads with zero chemistry. They should’ve emphasized the incredible locales, and especially the ACTION; Watts is barely in it and they’re not remotely a couple. The real star is indeed that mid-movie shootout, which was practically ’80s-esque in its surreal, awesome overkill. It was like watching some amped-up mid-80s fever dream shootout from like STICK or SCARFACE or BEVERLY HILLS COP or RUNNING SCARED for 10 or 15 glorious moment. Incredible setpiece and highlight of a fairly solid movie.

  36. leahnz says:

    and hallick. lol the golden girls ref, that show was a hoot

  37. Hallick says:

    Okay. Still need a new Anne Ramsey. Talk about CHARMING…

  38. leahnz says:

    double jinx and snap, hallick

  39. Hallick says:

    “Also, can someone tell me if I’m going to enjoy Miss March?
    Not if YOU enjoyed it necessarily, but if I will think it’s hilarious.”
    Not unless you’re John Malkovich and I’m a grungy street puppeteer stumbling down a secret tunnel into the twisted innards of your mind.

  40. Hallick says:

    “and hallick. lol the golden girls ref, that show was a hoot”
    For all of the “women can’t be funny” hoo-ha ever spoken, there, by god, THERE was a show with at least three actresses who could drop a punchline that could make your COLON do a spit take.

  41. sloanish says:

    Lex is right about the International mismarketing. Loved a good portion of it (Parallax fun) and the shootout was great… too bad they couldn’t fix the third act before they started shooting.
    The sig de Machina de La Verdad is annoying/scary/lame

  42. Talk about Taken all you want, but I just watched Abel Ferrara’s King of New York. Holy Jeeeeezus what the fuck was that? Absolutely crazy. Loved every second of it that wasn’t a close up of “Larry” Fishburne’s face (he has really ugly mouth prosthetics, not ’cause he’s ugly). It’s contemptible and vile and downright outrageous, but I loved the vibe the whole movie had. Some of those scenes had images of New York City that I’d never seen before and it’s always interesting to see stuff like that. Plus Christopher Walken was “very excellent” if I say so myself.
    Of course, it’s incredibly dated and I found it hilarious bordering on camp at times (why does Walken have two female henchman that cling to him like Wendy and Lucy?), but boy was in enjoyable.
    The Golden Girls is the greatest comedy program ever made (closely followed by Seinfeld). Just brilliant.
    “I don’t think Stan and I would ever have gotten together had I known his entire family smell their fingers all day after they eat chicken.”
    “Well, at least some good came out of it. It’s about time somebody threw up on Gene Shalit.”
    “No Rose, I’m nervous because if Sonny Bono is elected Major of Palm Springs he’s gonna make all the postmen wear leather bell-bottoms and fur vests.”
    “Why would he want to meet the same woman who once said ‘If the city of Atlantis is lost, how can Bobby Vinton appear there twice a year?'”
    That last one is when they thought the Russian president wanted to meet Rose. Brilliant.

  43. Sorry, I forgot this wasn’t a BYOB. Oh well.

  44. Chucky in Jersey says:

    Nothing for 35+? NYC and Philly suburbs are desperate for newer fare yet Weinstein Co. can’t afford to expand “Crossing Over”. Harvey’s boys spent all the money buying awards.
    @Machina, @gradystiles: Rogue is now owned by Relativity and distributed by Universal.
    @a_loco: “Coraline” was re-released in 3D on Friday but will lose those screens at the end of the month.

  45. EDouglas says:

    “Last House On The Left is Rogue’s second best start ever, after last summer’s The Strangers.”
    Not sure if it’s already been posted cause I can’t wade through all of the comments above, but it’s actually their third best start after “The Unborn” which opened in January. I really don’t understand the whole Rogue/Universal thing at this point either. Supposedly, Relativity bought Rogue and while Universal still seems to be involved with marketing and distribution, at least in NY, the screenings are run by an independent house rather that Universal.

  46. gradystiles says:

    Chucky: I understand that, which I why I posted what I did. If you read David’s blog that started this discussion, he appears unclear as to how Universal fits into the equation on Last House.

  47. Joe Leydon says:

    Looks like Witch Mountain will earn $25 million for the entire weekend — good but, as I posted elsewhere, not quite as good as I expected. (Or predicted. David, feel free to counter with this title next time I razz you about 21).
    BTW: I’m at SXSW. And there are times when I cannot resist the temptation to use my Blackberry to respond to someone else’s Blackberry e-mail, just to show that, hey, I’ve got one too, buddy. Does this make me a bad person?

  48. christian says:

    “The Golden Girls is the greatest comedy program ever made (closely followed by Seinfeld).”
    For realz? Sorry MARY TYLER MOORE, BOB NEWHART, SCTV, LARRY SANDERS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM!

  49. Mary Tyler Moore is great, haven’t seen enough of Newhart to comment. I really love Curb too but wouldn’t rank it as the best. Larry Sanders never gets repeated and I’ve never seen the DVDs about so I haven’t had a chance to catch it. Never seen any Second City.

  50. Cadavra says:

    THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. Best. Comedy. Ever.
    THE END.

  51. leahnz says:

    you guys are so very american (no offence intended, honestly). now i’m sorta scared to say that imho the all-time best comedy series is ‘blackadder’ (seasons 2,3 & 4; i didn’t like the first season at all, maybe blackadder’s bowl haircut put me off, i don’t know) followed closely ‘the office’ (including the series-concluding ‘christmas special’). runners-up: all the other great shows already mentioned, plus ‘faulty towers’ and no doubt something else i’ve forgotten

  52. leahnz says:

    except you, kam, you are obviously not very american!

  53. Lota says:

    Blackadder rocks. I lived on the other side of the pond most of my life.
    My favorite shows–pretty old, most before my time (I saw on reruns then on DVD)–The wild wild west, all in the family, the avengers, the prisoner, the original Lucy shows, and some of the Beverly hillbillies and green acres
    Newer–father ted, BLACKADDER, Eurotrash (it’s vile but it was funny and perverted beyond belief and the Geordie dubbed accents are brilliant), give my head peace, TOTP…and…drumroll….Rab C. Nesbitt.

  54. Lota says:

    Ricky Gervais is a genius of timing but it was very hard for me to watch the Office since it is too close to reality.

  55. Lota says:

    recent US shows that were excellent –Deadwood (death to the people who ended it), Carnivale (slow death to the people who said it was too expensive…make it cheaper then dumbf*cks), 24

  56. Blackcloud says:

    Leah, great call on Blackadder. Awesome show. I still haven’t seen the last one, where he’s in WWI, though.

  57. jeffmcm says:

    Blackadder is terrific. The fourth series (the WWI one) is my least favorite, though – it’s a little more monotone and angry than the others.

  58. Lota says:

    I realized I did not like any 80s shows when I was growing up…just retro shows and Brit shows in the 90s.
    The WWI B’adder Jeff is a bit of a downer…there seemed to be plenty of things to take a comedy pot-shot at in WWII but seeming not in WWI.

  59. leahnz says:

    funny that, a lot of people don’t seem to care for ‘blackadder 4’ – or ‘blackadder goes forth’ to be technical (still worth a look though blackcloud, if only for the ‘woof, woof!’ episode with rick mayall)
    (loved ‘carnivale’, those bastards for cancelling after only 2 seasons and leaving us hanging! and ‘all in the family’ – legend)

  60. Keeping Up Appearances would be my vote for funniest British show (of the ones I’ve seen – obviously it’s a bit harder to see entire tv series than it is movies). I’ve seen certain episodes up to 20 times.

  61. jeffmcm says:

    I bet you could work fewer hours if you weren’t showing up to your job drunk/hungover.

Quote Unquotesee all »

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” ā€” 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 ā€” 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 ā€” he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā€” and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā€” I was with her at that moment ā€” 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 namedā€”” “Yeah, sure ā€” 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 Iā€™m on the phone with you now, after all thatā€™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 didnā€™t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereā€™s not a case of that. He wasnā€™t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā€” if that were what the accusation involved ā€” 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. Iā€™m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, ā€œYou know, itā€™s not this, itā€™s thatā€? Because ā€” let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatā€™s what it lacked. Thatā€™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