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
heartening, but also interesting that it took a film getting world-wide media attention to compel the ‘severing’, being as this slaughter of the dolphins has been going on all my living memory and is very well known in this part of the world, shown on the news and programmes like ’60 minutes’ every year, prompting little protest beyond the usual environmental groups such as WWF and greenpeace
I’m fascinated with this movie but I
Leah, I know in Australia the issue has been focused very firmly on whaling and not so much the hunting of dolphins. The government has been trying to make Japan’s ridiculous guise of “scientific research” illegal.
true, kam, and our two countries have worked well together within the (often corrupt) IWC in that regard, so kudos to us.
the annual dolphin slaughter at taiji is well publicised here – some of the most horrific images you’ll ever see, baby dolphins hacked to death, the ocean red with blood, oh man – so i guess i just assumed it was well known in oz as well, since we’re often on the same page re: that sort of thing, but maybe i’m mistaken there
I saw “The Cove” last night and wanted to make a couple of quick comments:
leahnz: just wanted to point out that in the doc, they explain that actually Greenpeace, WWF and other environmental groups are pretty much silent on this issue. no one is talking about it, much less doing anything about it and the IWC as mentioned is not so much corrupt, as putting their heads in the sand about it.
torpid: i understand your concerns, but the reason the “goal” of the narrative is to document the slaughter is because the area where it’s done it’s under extraordinary guard. they don’t want people seeing what they’re doing and yes, it’s gut wrenching but in an era when audiences are jaded it’s necessary. the secondary narrative to film covers the increase in mercury poisoning that may reach crisis levels in japan (and worldwide) because of the IWC continuing to shift the issue and not acknowledging that DOLPHIN MEAT (that is increasingly toxic because of pollution in the water) is being sold in supermarkets under other names.
all i can say is see the film. it’s more than just filming dolphins being slaughtered but gets into the politics behind it. it’s a great film.
Dolphins are cool but documentaries are BORING AS FUCK and I never go to see them.
Like, if you’re going to make a DOCUMENTARY, why wouldn’t you make a documentary about something interesting, like Vanessa Hudgens or Banging Models? Who fucking cares about Dophins or that Petit douchebag on his stupid tightrope?
You know how you know documentaries are a half-assed “art form”?
Women usually direct them.
ZING.
“BASICALLY WHAT WE’RE GONNA DO IS DANCE.”
And yet…
…the New England cod is being fished beyond its capacity to replenish, New Zealand kills twice its own population in sheep every year, the pygmy hug-sucking louse is almost extinct, and we prosecute people who prepare dogs for eating in the same manner butchers prepare pigs.
We have a rather arbitrary approach to which animals are “worthy” of our protection, often based on whether they have sufficient facial muscles to simulate a smile. If you want to make the case in terms of survival, that’s fine. If you’re just going to use emotive arguments simply because they’re dolphins and there’s blood involved, I would suggest there are plenty of far more endangered species who could use your attention.
Lex you’re a real charmer. I’m sure this schtick will get you very far in Tokyo.
Foamy, the movie does make a pretty good case…for example, dolphins have a track record of actually rescuing humans.
And also that it’s stupid to eat them because their meat is poisonous to us. I don’t care whether they smile or not, if we’re killing them for poisonous meat, that’s just damn stupid.
Instead of THE COVE which sounds BORING AND UNPLEASANT, people should stay home and rent THE CAVE.
COLE HAUSER, PIPER PERABONER, LENA *HEAD*-EY and EDDIE CIBRIAN? MASSIVE OWNAGE.
ALSO: I saw a YT video of L.Y.T. and his SMOKING-HOT SISTER eating all kinds of live fish and stuff.
LOU ATE A DOLPHIN.
“leahnz: just wanted to point out that in the doc, they explain that actually Greenpeace, WWF and other environmental groups are pretty much silent on this issue. no one is talking about it, much less doing anything about it and the IWC as mentioned is not so much corrupt, as putting their heads in the sand about it.”
that’s interesting, montreal, i wonder, is ‘the cove’ a US production? (sadly i’m not up to snuff on it) our perception here in nz is a bit different; greenpeace regularly has the dolphin slaughter at taiji in their newsletters – as does the WWF if memory serves – and like i said the slaughter is on the news every year.
not that long ago (may have been last year), greenpeace ran a nationwide initiative here wherein you fill out a petition from the local newspaper or on the internet, which was then sent on to the japanese ambassador asking him to lobby the japanese govt to put an end to the slaughter at taiji; all the kids at my son’s school signed, and they ended up with over 300,000 names on the petition to the ambassador.
of course it didn’t do a lick of good because the fact is, japan has a rather appalling record of animal rights abuses and commercial interests outweigh animal rights every time. culturally animal cruelty doesn’t register with them, it’s just not a bid deal, and that is why the slaughter is allowed to continue.
re: the IWC, kam might back me up on this one because enzed and oz are constantly leading the charge to maintain the moratorium on commercial whaling (i think the US has also been a big help in this regard, so kudos to the US) but the japanese have been CAUGHT several times blatantly bribing third world country members of the IWC to vote with them to restore commercial whaling rights in exchange for more favourable trading conditions right down to cold, hard cash. nothing is ever done about it. that’s what i meant when i referred to ‘corruption’ in the IWC.
I WISH I COULD EAT A DOLPHIN RIGHT NOW.
IF BY DOLPHIN YOU MEAN A WET SHAVED VAG.
@LYT
Re: mercury levels – true, it’s completely stupid to kill dolphins for poisonous meat (especially if you’re going to mislabel it). The whole practice of hunting dolphins is pretty senseless, it seems just to be done because they can.
Having said that, I routinely object to misleading information used for causes I support because I believe it undermines the message and leads to poor outcomes.
As a general example, the panda is held up as the WWF mascot and a MASSIVELY disproportionate amount of funds is directed towards them. Millions of dollars are spent trying to get two pandas to mate, while every day dozens of species are wiped out all over the world that could be saved for far less.
Specifically about dolphins, they are routinely presented as special cases. Dolphins have been known to use tools, but so have birds using twigs to get at insects or even open old foil-topped milk bottles. Their hunting shows indications of predictive behaviour, but so do various species of spider. They assist humans from time to time, but so does pretty much every other species of vertebrate. Their capacity for vocal communication is dwarfed by the Superb Lyre bird and the Kookaburra, and it’s been demonstrated that they’re not as intelligent as generally thought since they can’t work out the famous “Free Willy” leap for freedom unless specifically taught (which is why they can be kept in an enclosure without resorting to 10-ft high fences).
In short, they’re amazing animals. But they are in no way unique in what they do or somehow more deserving of our sympathies than those species who have the misfortune to not have as good PR.
The Cave was terrible.
“Intellegent”?