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
This is probably the best of the (3?) Lex pieces yet. Too bad for the delay.
LexG: Seriously, and without reservation: Good stuff.
Yep. Dead on & Right on.
Great stuff.
Perhaps it should be noted that Gazzara had an affair with Audrey Hepburn behind the scenes of THEY ALL LAUGHED, which led to their following this up with BLOODLINE (though the affair had apparently ended before production began).
Me like, me like very much.
I also liked this somewhat different take on ’70s New York which appeared on Slate last week.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2009/06/12/new-york-in-the-70s-the-grit-wasn-t-so-spendid.aspx
I’d say that Cloverfield succeeded recently in giving off an authentic ‘streets of NYC’ vibe. The DVD reveals that while much of it was indeed made with greescreen and backlots, somehow it didn’t ‘feel’ that way. Prior to that you have to go back to Die Hard with a Vengeance to get an action thriller that used it’s urban environs so effectively. Man, i miss Mctiernan these days. Hopefully he gets out of the slammer in time to make Die Hard 5.
Really liked this latest piece. You’ve got a nice laconic style laced with enough substance at its core. It seems that this should have come out around Watchmen time as I remember it was the point of conversation in many posts. Next time no delay DP. And Lex not to knock your animated wonders but this is where your strength is. Keep them coming.
Two things:
A) This is your best piece yet. Bravo.
B) “Nighthawks” is the most underrated movie of the ’80s. Appreciate the love for it here.
Exactly why I wasn’t too entusiastic for a remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. The first one is filled with New York atitude and I knew the second would have a hard time finding it.
I hardly ever post here, but that was one of the best things I’ve read on this site, and I like this site a lot.
Good piece, Lex. It’s a trade-off between effects and locations. A lot of TV went to NYC because they have filled the role of the drama on most levels, but now NY State Gov is about to make it harder and even more rare to shoot in the city by dropping the tax breaks. So if you want more shoots in NYC, you need bigger incentives to off-set the costs of permits, guilds, unions, local bribes, etc… Otherwise, your beloved Canadian backdrop is about to be replaced with views from Southern and Midwestern America. I keep hoping to read Battle: Los Angeles is going to be filmed in Detroit. That would be classic.
Please don’t tell me the Law & Order trifecta will have to move out of The Big Apple!
Joe,
Not sure about the latest, but here it was as of last month…
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i9c3eebbfdf13bca781569de2272eab75
…which is most likely in a holding pattern since…
http://wcbstv.com/politics/espada.senate.albany.2.1056280.html
I don’t like the NYC/Bloomberg offer as it is. It’s a weak incentive that will only help kill off shows once the offsets become negligible.
As for L&O, the original was on the firing line partly because of this.
The best way to shoot in NYC is go DIY. Set-up wherever you want.
Though, in all fairness, among recent films, Two Lovers did a good job.
good read lex.
your best so far.
nice read…thanx…
er…what i meant was:
GOOD POST
YEP YEP
It’s like Carrot Top trying to do a Carlin set, just doesn’t work.
everybody’s a critic….
Great post, Lex – I am so in agreement with you on this. It’s part of the reason I stopped watching all these crime procedurals on T.V. – does every city have the same palm trees, whether it’s New York or Vegas???
If you’ve lived in New York, you can tell right away. Same with D.C., especially – can’t tell you how many films I have seen where pretty much everywhere you go in the nation’s capital, you can see the Capitol building. Really??? It’s only about 13 stories high! And beyond that, they always show D.C. with true skyscrapers to the point where you know it’s really filming in LA.
If you’re talking about recent big movies that make great use of actual locations, The Dark Knight has to be mentioned. Just last weekend, I was riding my bike down Lake Street under the L, right where Bruce Wayne was driving his Lamborghini. Actual locations DO make a difference – that’s why I found it more thrilling to see the BatPod plow through Randolph Street Metra Station than see Spiderman careen down a collapsing CGI skyscraper.
I’m trying to think of other recent films – well, Greengrass always gets it right with the Bourne films, no doubt – you never doubt the scene is being filmed where it actually takes place. Easy highlight is the tense showdown in the tube station in London in the third movie.
Scorcese of course got it right with The Departed with the Boston locations. You know when I think about, Iron Man really made good use of the Pacific locations – Favs made a good call on filming around those and except for the actual climax, it never felt like a CGI/soundstage city.
thinking about it, while i’m in total agreement with lex’s take on ‘canada as the new USA’ and the disturbing trend towards the ‘generic’ location that lacks the special authentic feeling of time and place evoked by real american locales, there are a few recent movies apart from those already mentioned that have utilised authentic locations well and captured the city for me, such as ‘inside man’, ‘gone baby gone’, ‘the brave one’, ‘american gangster’, ‘zodiac’, ‘i am legend’…i don’t necessarily love all those movies but at least they are filmed in the actual city in which the movie is set and look like the real deal instead of genericsville, canada! they are few and far between now, tho
I actaully liked this piece, Lex. I have the same fondness for those sort of images and textures on screen. Even so far as, say, Ferrara’s King of New York in the early ’90s. Fame is a great example though. All those fire escapes, graffitied subway cars, above-ground train tracks and steam rising from the subway vents. And I feel like it was always wet.
I love LA as a set too. The last one I can think that really utilised that city was Mulholland Drive. There’s just an atmosphere that radiates when something is actually filmed in LA. You can tell even from the way the roads look. Training Day was another if I remember correctly (although I didn’t like the movie). The Closer does a good job in terms in procedural cop shows I always feel.
Actually, Collateral is another one. I love the way the scenes on the fringes of the city can still see the CBD skyline and the way it feels like they’re actually using streets that aren’t always used for filming (if that makes sense).
Excellent post Lex. (As an aside from the thread on T2, I always thought you were the post d’plume of S. Spielberg.) The main point however is that whatever one thinks of the films of Clint Eastwood, they all have a crystal clear, very specific sense of place. Doesn’t matter whether it is a western, cop procedural/thriller or special effects/thriller. I’ve lived in the San Francisco bay area, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Houston and his movies from those places are accrate. I frequently watch just from homesickness (Aqua Dulce airport in Space Cowboys, San Francisco in Dirty Harry, the Washoe House in True Crime) or to see some locations that no longer exist (Larkspur Landing, Marin in Dirty Harry). Not to mention the incredible landscapes of the westerns.
I’m always pleased whenever someone gives my man Peter props, and you did me proud, Lex.
That was a beautifully articulated piece of criticism, and I especially loved your description of “They All Laughed” as “Sort of like Bringing Up Baby’ as shot by DePalma in ‘Dressed to Kill’ mode with a James Toback rewrite.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Confession: Peter personally extended an invitation to visit the “Laughed” set in March of 1980, and I got to hang around the Chinatown location for a day. (We’d been pen pals since I wrote him a fan letter after seeing “TLPS” for the first time in 8th grade.)
My only memory of Dorothy Stratten was that she was (a) beyond gorgeous; and (b) very, very shy.
Ahhh. To step into a time machine and revisit “my” NYC of yore……
Good post! Living in Toronto, it is even worse, as I can recognize all the damn suburbs, etc, that are supposed to be LA, or wherever X-Men was set. It does mean that I am really looking forward to Scott Pilgrim vs the Universe, seeing as it is actually set (and shooting) in Toronto. Just for laughs, they should have filmed it in Vancouver, however.
Dark Knight is a great example, but I would also like to toss out Die Hard with a Vengence. It just seems to capture how enourmous the city is, with the constant background noise and dwarfing buildings. This was a great article and helps bring the point home that for huge amounts of money the studios spend on these things, they often spend it in the wrong places.
X-Men 3 really was the worst offender in recent memory. When the bad mutants had their big meeting int he woods, Sci-Fi Channel is exactly what I was thinking.
Ironically, the first remake of PELHAM was shot in Toronto, and even on TV, it was painfully obvious that they never went anywhere near New York.