April 20, 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
Just saw the big canvas banner for Observe and Report.
Just what is “Explicit Nudity”?
penis…not painted blue
This weekend should be interesting.
Just how much does the Hannah Montana movie make? Is this another High School Musical 3 scenario: one great weekend and then it plummets?
Can Observe & Report find an audience after being forced by Paul Blart to try and market the film without the film’s major hook?
Does Dragonball Evolution make a dime?
Does F&F hit more than 25-27 million in week 2?
theories and thoughts are appreciated
Observe and Report needs to be selling ANNA FARIS harder than they are.
She’s very well-liked and had a surprise hit last year… yet her name isn’t even above the title and she’s made to seem incidental in all the marketing. BAD IDEA.
Only tangentially related to anghus’ question, but does anyone “get” the Miley Cyrus’ thing? Yeah, I guess the tween girls probably like that relatable chick-turns-into-popstar angle. But where I can understand their affinity for nonthreatening dorks like Efron or the Jonas guys (on back in time to the Cassidys)… I don’t understand this relatively new phenomenon of teen girls feverishly idolizing and going apoplectic for… er, some other, kinda boring, kinda whitebread teen girl.
I agree with Lex about Faris. Especially considering how overexposed Rogen has been (although I think the Rogen hatred is less now then it was circa Zack and Miri)
BTW, Observe and Report is fucking hilarious. One of the best comedies I’ve seen in a while, but it’s really dark, so I imagine the more pretentious members of this comment board are gonna despise it.
doug- full. frontal. fat guy.
My buddy is covering Wrestlemania for a Houston paper and just texted me that Mickey Rourke was not only ringside but “spontaneously” got into the ring during a match and played a big role in the outcome of a match. I don’t wanna spoil anything for any of you rasslin’ fans. Way to ruin that good will you got back with “The Wrestler,” Mick. Then again, the DVD drops in a week or 2 so maybe it was a savvy move.
A_loco: I loved it. Does that mean I’m a one down-to-earth, unpretentious motherfucker?
Don: Damn! And I turned down a chance to get Wrestlemania tickets for tonight!
You blew it, Joe! Roddy Piper, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka AND Ricky Steamboat -vs- Chris Jericho…..then Rourke stepped in. Woulda been ridiculous to see!
And for the record, I Mthink “Observe and Report” is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long, long time. I can’t wait till it drops next weekend and freaks the hell out of everyone.
Lex,
The whole Miley Cyrus thing really isn’t much more that what you already put out there: the appeal to girls in the tween demographic (ie my 12-year-old, who’s just moving past Miley/Hannah and getting more into Buffy, Angel, Star Trek and geeking out at comic cons) is that Miley (the character from the show, not necessarily Miley the real person) comes across as accessible: she’s average, she’s kinda goofy and dorky, she’s picked on by the popular set — yet she has this whole secret superstar life. She’s pretty much the embodiment of every dorky, average tween girl’s fantasy.
The show itself, for what it is, has always been fairly well done. Miley Cyrus and Emily Osment, who plays her best friend Lilly, have a cute Lucy-and-Ethel vibe, always up to some stunt or other that usually ends with them getting caught. There’s the built-in dramatic tension around Miley wanting to keep her superstar life secret, which lends itself to endless plot lines where she might get found out (this tension around her double life, appears, based on the trailer, to be the crux of the plot of the upcoming film). And lastly, as a performer, Miley/Hannah is endlessly energetic, engaging, and sings fairly well for her age.
It’s not terribly different from what draws tween and teen girls to Bella in the Twilight series, beneath the very different surface stories.
“Just how much does the Hannah Montana movie make? Is this another High School Musical 3 scenario: one great weekend and then it plummets?”
That’d be my expectation. Her fan base, as Kim pointed out already, is starting to move on to other things now, and the character’s just long in the tooth. I’d peg the results somewhere closer to the underperforming Jonas Brothers concert film than HSM3.
Kim – somehow your synopsis of “Hannah Montana” made it seem like the show was brought to us by the creators of “Thirtysomething”. Good job!
“Just saw the big canvas banner for Observe and Report.
Just what is ‘Explicit Nudity’?”
A better question is: why don’t we ever see the phrase “Implicit Nudity”? And what would that be? That old sihouette tease-show stuff they used to do for the credits sequence in the Bond movies?
“That’d be my expectation. Her fan base, as Kim pointed out already, is starting to move on to other things now, and the character’s just long in the tooth.”
Shit, dude, this isn’t the X-Files or a Star Trek movie starring 60 years old fat androids. The show is exactly three years old. I know that tweens are fickle, but, trust me, the fanbase isn’t that much older than it was when the show first started.
yay, more penises! or is that peni? (tho i have to wait till september for ‘o & r’, which is the biggest travesty against nature since having the ‘coraline’ release date pushed back indefinitely here. fts)
Considering I’m the idiot that pegged High School Musical 3 to open to $80 million, I haven’t a clue as to Hannah Montana’s business. I suppose the $42 million that HSM3 pulled in is a reasonable guess, but that’s a tough one.
“The show is exactly three years old. I know that tweens are fickle, but, trust me, the fanbase isn’t that much older than it was when the show first started.”
I dunno. Three years is probably just about right for a tween celebrity to start fading into the sunset.
Leahnz: Trust me, this is not a penis you’ll be eager to see.
Don, you can’t really “spoil” WrestleMania. Fans watch it live, or not at all.
Rourke’s back-head punch of Chris Jericho was disappointing, when everyone expected/wanted the Ram Jam.
aw, joe, all god’s penises are beautiful!
(i’m super depressed i’ll probably have to wait till friggin’ SEPTEMBER to see for myself)
Apatow last year stated his intention to show a penis in all his films, so it stands to reason that his slavish imitators would follow suit.
Cadavra-
If you think Jody Hill is a “slavish imitator” of Apatow, you are dead wrong. Hill’s films and characters are nothing like the lovable losers of Apatow’s comedies. These guys are total douche bags with little to no redeeming qualities. I’d go so far as to say Jody Hill is the anti-Apatow. Unfortunately, the trailers and press for “Observe and Report” make it look like he’s Apatow Light.
See the film (or “Eastbound and Down” or “Foot Fist Way”) before making such statements!
And now for something completely different: Schoolchildren in Wales have come up with their own version of Quidditch.
Don, I saw FOOT-FIST WAY. I will concede that making the protagonist a genuine asshole instead of a lovable one earns it a point or two, but it’s still excruciatingly unfunny (hitting a child may be funny once for the shock value, but they can’t let it go), and nothing I’ve seen or read about O&R leads me to believe it’ll be any different, especially as I’m fairly sure Rogen’s smeary fingers are all over the script.
Is it really that unique anymore to have a lead character be an asshole? It’s as cliche as you get these days…
I’d say The Foot Fist Way has more in common with the comedy-of-embarrassment aesthetic of The Office than anything Apatow has done. It’s a style as likely to generate a gasp or a cringe as a guffaw, and some folks just do not dig that. I thought it was quite good. I love Apatow’s films as well, but for different reasons.
“Imitation Apatow” would be Role Models or I Love You, Man. But I liked those a lot, too.
Weren’t Role Models and ILY,M produced or exec produced by Apatow?
jeff: Nope.
I should just post this on my BLOG, which sucks, but for now I’ll put it up here because it’s a good story and if anyone has some pysch background, I’d legitimately appreciate some insight, even though PSYCHIATRY IS BULLSHIT:
So last night I had what SHOULD have been a fun dream for me:
I was at some “soiree” (haha “fish and goose soiree” = awesome line from THE SHINING.)
Anyway, I’m at some slamming dinner party, and I’m seated at a table with no less a pair of LEX FANTASY CHICK luminaries than PARIS HILTON and MANDY MOORE.
By all rights, I should be IN MY GLORY.
But it’s some long table, and there are other dudes there who I know from college or something.
Anyway, I should be WORKING MY MAGIC trying to pull a threesome or at least smooth-talking Paris and/or Mandy.
Instead, like a DOUCHE, I am loading up on VODKA and pouring a stealth bottle of booze into the establishment-provided drinks. Mandy is TRYING to engage me and being CHARMING, and instead I’m subverting myself and being a prick to her and talking about BOOZE, and she isn’t interested at all, and tells me to slow down on the vodka and seems upset by my being an asshole.
Meanwhile, Paris is totally giving me the cold shoulder at this point and blatantly ignoring me, talking to my friends instead and making me pissed.
So I start acting the fool and chugging vodka and she’s repulsed, and Mandy is sad, and I end up getting DOUBLE OWNED, because Mandy is annoyed and dejected, and Paris hates me.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS DREAM?
GOOD POST.