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
Sorry this is only tangentially related to the post, but:
Are they really going to release KICK-ASS as KICK-ASS? Surely there’s be controversy over that, no? Someone’s going to seize on ASS in a movie title as corrupting the youth of the nation. Or maybe not… I guess Basterds slipped in without much complaint, but that had the misspelling and the quirky Tarantino factor. Is there any talk of retitling it?
Wouldn’t surprise me if certain ads and listings refer to it as “Kick-A” or “Kick-A**”
Remember “Fuck: the Movie”? Granted, it only opened in major cities…
Well, the part of the joke that probably IS true is the part about “Incomplete Education.” It’s fine but so not special. Nothing but actress and only then if it turns out to be a super-weak field.
An Education was fantastic, and Carey is pretty much amazing in this film. I can see easily being a popular hit.
I can’t, but the question is whether it has a shot at Oscars.
A million here, something from SPWAG for the foreign territories they bought (Cinetic’s work?) & I guess that makes the investors whole. There won’t be any backend, so it’s all good.
As usual, it’s hard to argue with T. Holly.
It’s a good way for studios to pick up films and be in the indie film biz. Argue with me if you don’t think it’s a livable situation for everyone to collect a fee and a tiny return — at least until there’s evidence day and date and VOD is doing same for most of its films.