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 Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās 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 didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt 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. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās 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
I’ve seen it. You’re right on.
That was the first thought I had when I saw the commercial last night during Survivor — is Harrison Ford really doing TV movies now?!
Then I saw it had a release date, and that only made my shock factor go down a notch or so. It looks absolutely awful. But I really shouldn’t be so surprised. Ford has been on auto-pilot for a good long while now. How much is he making per movie nowadays?
Heh; I was going to mention this in a BYOB but either forgot to or assumed no one would know what I meant that it has that a total “CBS sheen.”
It looks like one of those Hallmark TV movies they do where Della Reese or Ted Danson plays an angel in honeyed soft-focus. Or like a very special 1998 episode of James Cromwell in “Citizen Baines.”
Usually when a movie looks like it could be a TV movie, the studio makes sure their big studio movie logo is prominent at the head of the TV spots.
But in this case their “Studio Logo” is a big CBS Eye — making it look even more like it is made for TV. If that is possible.
–Lane
It’s a shame, as this is just the kind of thing that Harrison Ford should be doing more often: mid-budget character dramas that don’t necessarily require him to point his finger, save his family, or clumsily beat people up. Better yet, he should be doing comedies, as anyone who’s seen him on Conan O’Brian, among others, knows he’s often a gut-bustingly winning deadpan (“Why do they HAVE to be Russians?”). Odd that he’s paired with Brendan Fraser, who seemed to have inherited his mantle regarding aww-shucks heroism over the past decade (both at their best when they are befuddled by circumstance or failing miserably in their adventurous quests).
I attended a screening two weeks ago and TV movie was my first reaction. The old folks applauded for it when it was over, which was nice.
One of the worst posters I have ever seen: http://www.impawards.com/2010/extraordinary_measures.html
It looks like both of them are having painful bowel movements.
I also love the (unintended) low-rent one-upsmanship of the GENERIC TITLE.
Like, yeah, there were EXTREME MEASURES, and then there were DESPERATE MEASURES, but now get ready for EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES.
The could’ve just titled it “Straightforward Drama” or “Movie For Nice 55-Year-Old Couples At the 11:40 Matinee,” and that would convey the same level of thought and creativity.
Actually, Ford also produced it. It does, indeed, have a crappy look (and it’s an awful lot like the superior “Lorenzo’s Oil”), but I didn’t think it was terrible.
I completely disagree. I actually like the poster and think that Ford looks good.
Different strokes, I guess.
Not to pile on but I too could’ve SWORN it was a TV movie when I saw the trailer. Why do studios think people aren’t sensitive to that sort of thing? Or are they betting what “we” all really want is to see a made for TV movie in the theater?
I also have to say, Lex, that your “burn” was pretty weak.
Granted, the title does have a generic TV movie flavor to it (or alternatively an awesome 80s action flick flavor) but that’s not what you were going for. In my mind, there is a clear difference between between all three types of measures you’ve listed and it’s absolutely not necessary that this was a case of un-upmanship. If you can’t see what I mean than I doubt I can explain.
(And I can’t explain it but there’s something very right about “Harrison Ford… in Extraordinary Measures”. Again I chose to view it from a cheesy vintage angle rather then a generic TV one, so sue me. The more I think about it, the more I want to see this, hope I’m not building myself up for another Hollywood Homicide though)
So go ahead and call it generic but don’t try to ridicule it beyond that point.
Because awesome people can’t help but make extraordinary efforts even if a desperate suition just calls extreme ones, you know? Because they are extra awesome like that. You gotta feel it man, it’s not bourne of the same tree.
P.S. Don’t even get me started on the 55 year old couples. Weakness.
Eh, I just thought (I could be wrong about this) that it was a hospital movie, and “Extreme Measures” (with Grant and Hackman) was also a hospital movie, and “Desperate Measures” (with Michael Keaton) had long stretches in a prison hospital.
Otherwise sorry to let you down. I will try harder in the future, sir.
I actually know absolutely zero about this film (something I will remedy in the next few seconds) but I seem to recall both the “Extreme Measures” and, especially the “Desperate Measures” (I also seem to recall a bunch of similar titles for films made for Lifetime network and the like).
And to be clear, didn’t mean to offend, you know, I just approahced the movie from a very particular angle.
And as you can probably tell I really like Ford.
The thing I find most surprising about this movie is that Harrison Ford is receiving second billing behind Brandan Fraser. How the hell does that happen?
Ooh, Keri Russell? YEP YEP.
Contrary to my griping, I’ll still surely see this, as I feel obligated to see EVERY Ford movie (even made a point of seeing Crossing Over during its five-day run)… But how about that scene in the trailer where he YELLS at Fraser? Is there ANY actor scarier than gruff-voiced, cranky post-1988 Ford?
Doesn’t help, by the way, that the CBS network voiceover guy NARRATES THE TRAILERS instead of a movie guy.
SOFTWARE that eliminates ALL CAPS is decades in the future involving Harrison Ford movies, even though Flickr somehow can do it for other POSTS. STRANGE.
It would BLOW UP cooler than, y’know, stuff.
That poster, which I saw weeks ago, is one of the most pathetic things I’ve ever seen.
Also, I hate to say this, but if a woman allowed her looks to deteriorate the way Fraser has at only 41, she wouldn’t even be getting TV movie work. He really used to be something.
Another movie being given a big push from corporate synergy. If you watch NFL games on CBS you’ll see an ad for it.
I caught the theatrical trailer in front of “Everybody’s Fine” and the trailer resorted to name-checking … the last refuge for a hack.
Wow you guys really are a bunch of party poopers. Geez. Sure it’s not the best thing Ford or even Fraiser’s been in but the flick looks solid and Ford looks solid in it.
I haven’t seen any of the TV spots but there was nothing “brutal” about the trailer.
This could be as much ‘Lorenzo’s Oil’ as it is ‘The Fountain’.
I’m just saying.
It’s not brutal, but Ford hasn’t done himself any favors by making nothing but shit for the past what…15 years?
I’m never the guy to yell sell out…in fact, I think if an actor’s hot and DOESN’T make a movie like The Mummy they’re fucking stupid. But Ford just doesn’t care. He’s in it for the cash and what will be the least amount of work for the cash. He straight up admits it. Even actors who look at movies as “work,” which is generally English actors who tend to have a more clue collar outlook to acting will still do a few movies they actually care about, maybe for less money. But not Ford, he needs 100 more horses or whatever.
I seriously doubt that Ford did “Extreme” for the cash. I seriously doubt that there WAS cash.
Trying to create a film division of CBS makes me think that Redstone would eventually like to sell off Paramount.
When they split the companies, where did the copywrights go? Is Paramount paying Viacom for the rights to Star Trek? Or did Paramount keep rights to all of their existing television properties (including their brillent DesiLu buy, Christ how much has that paid off over the years) even though they do not have a current television division.
CBS says these movies will have budgets up to 50 million. So, as a total bullshit guess, let’s say they made this one for 40, and Harrison gets his cut, and Brenden Fraser gets his, and they use the rest to make a really cheap looking movie that everyone’s joking about. Sounds just right to me!
“It’s not brutal, but Ford hasn’t done himself any favors by making nothing but shit for the past what…15 years?
I’m never the guy to yell sell out…in fact, I think if an actor’s hot and DOESN’T make a movie like The Mummy they’re fucking stupid. But Ford just doesn’t care. He’s in it for the cash and what will be the least amount of work for the cash. He straight up admits it. Even actors who look at movies as “work,” which is generally English actors who tend to have a more clue collar outlook to acting will still do a few movies they actually care about, maybe for less money. But not Ford, he needs 100 more horses or whatever. ”
That’s the biggest load of BS, I’ve read all week. We are talking about Ford, not Christopher Walken here.
“I’m never the guy to yell sell out…in fact, I think if an actor’s hot and DOESN’T make a movie like The Mummy they’re fucking stupid. But Ford just doesn’t care.”
You lost me here.
“He’s in it for the cash and what will be the least amount of work for the cash.”
BS, especially in light of this movie and “Crossing Over”.
“They use the rest to make a really cheap looking movie that everyone’s joking about.”
Look, I’m getting tired of defending a movie that I haven’t seen but if you actually cared to read “everyone’s” responses on YouTube you’d see that very few are laughing or calling this cheap.
Um…when everyone says the movie looks like it was made for tv or has a CBS sheen, they’re not paying it compliments.
And Ford straight up admits in movies he’s all about the money. He was supposed to do Traffic but they didn’t have the money for him, so he left. He has stated outright something to the effect of that he works the same amount either way, so why not get paid?
And there’s a HUGE difference between Ford and Walken…I’m sure Walken has a nice stack of scripts, but his choices are limited and he’s doing the character actor thing.
Ford, on the other hand, was once one of the biggest stars around. Anything he would want to get greenlit he probably could have. Where are his interesting choices lately? Cruise, Pitt, Clooney, Willis keep racking up the interesting movies, where’s Ford’s?
Perm, once again I don’t see where you are coming from when you talk about about “everyone”. I pointed you to YouTube, which to me is a lot more representative of the general movie goer’s opinion, and you are keep insisting on some sort of consensus based around a comments from a few jaded (and I mean that in good humor) bloggers. Nevermind that these comments were refering to TV spots they’ve seen on CBS at the first place.
I never heard Ford admit that he was “all about money” and even if he did he never really hit the nadir that were some of Michael Caine’s worst films (and that was before Caine found a way to redignify himself these past few years). Does it mean that Caine is bad actor? Of course not, he’s one of the best.
I will judge Ford based on the movies I see from him and to me there has always been a lot more to him than just interest in money. And I hardly ever seen him phone it in, either. My personal opinion, whatever, but I call your BS.
Just like I call you on Walken’s choics being limitied. Not to that extent anyway. And not when he CHOOSES to be in so many movies in the same year.
And WTF? You seriously think Ford couldn’t have picked a more financially attractive project? Or a less demanding one?
Look I may not be crazy about everything Ford done this decade (though I really liked Indy 4) – and don’t get me wrong I don’t have my panties all in the bunch for this one, but at least I am not making a mistake of letting my own perception of what the actor should be doing color my own perception of their attitude.
Also wait till Clooney or Cruise get to Ford’s age and then start comparing them. And Willis? The guy’s crap to interesting ratio has NEVER been very high, especially this last decade.
Not that there is much to work with here, but have you seen the marketing team they have assembled?!
Just hang in there until Keira Knightley in “My Fair Lady” and “Gunsmoke: The Movie for Adults 50+”
As someone who saw the original cut of CROSSING OVER (before Harvey Weinstein went all scissorhands over it), I can tell you once upon a time it was an excellent movie – far edgier and meatier than what was finally dumped (way below the radar) into theaters by Weinstein Co. Even the version that was released is a decent movie (released a year too late thanks to Harvey) and did not deserve the critical lynching that it got, most of it fueled by gossiped about post-production squabbles and the deletion of a Sean Penn subplot (due to Penn’s own PC BS). Since almost nobody saw the film (and I doubt it’s renting very well on DVD either), I can tell you two things: Harrison Ford gives one of his better performances in a long while (to say nothing of the great Cliff Curtis performance) – and he didn’t make shit financially on it. He tried to do something with indie cred and Weinstein shat all over it – so I don’t think we’ll see Ford venturing down that “for the sake of art” road again.
Sorry Gonzo I missed the Youtube part…I was talking about here on the blog. But to be honest I don’t care what they think on Youtube because I like to think we’re discussing movies in a different way here. Youtbe is a little too “it rocks” and “it sucks” for me.
I never said Ford is a bad actor. I just said he makes crap. And if you want those money quotes, I found a few for you where he explicity says he wouldn’t make a movie for less money:
The specific quote that I had mentioned where he talks about why he’s never made an indie, in the 13th paragraph:
http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2275988,00.html
http://www.harrisonfordweb.com/Article/Miscellaneous/barbra_walters.php
And you’re going to bring out Michael Caine??? Again, he’s a character actor. He’s not Ford, who at the time could have done ANYTHING. Maybe there was a brief time that Caine could get a movie greenlit but I doubt he can anymore.
Bruce Willis may have been in some stinkbombs but at least he’s out there mixing it up. Ford would have never done Planet Terror as a goof for a few days for free. Or Fast Food Nation for no money. Or Pulp Fiction for cheap. Or Sin City for probably a hundred reasons. I’ll take Willis’s output from the last 15 years over Ford’s any day.
By the way, I love the fuck out of Caine…particuarily because he’s so candid and not full of shit at all. He’s made his share of crap and knows it, and admits it. He said he made Jaws for the money, he didn’t care about that movie. And that’s fine, he can do that if he wants to, just like Ford can. But that doesn’t mean I have to say it tastes like ice cream.
However, I forgot all about Crossing Over. So there’s one for Ford trying something out, I’ll give that to him.
No offence Perm but I really get a feeling that you don’t know what you are talking about.
If you don’t think Ford would ever accept a small role for no money than maybe you should check out 2004’s Water to Wine where he plays a truck driver. He may be choosy (and to me that is not unlike what someone like Smith or Cruise are doing – only difference being they are younger and have a better pool to choose from) but he is not nearly as much of a tight ass as you make him seem. And the links you gave me really don’t make me feel otherwise at all but like you said it’s my personal opinion. That said, I do think you missed some of the humor in his responses.
And the reason I brought up Caine because he was the first one to admit that he was interested in money above else and cared more about where the movie was going to be shot than who it was directed by, etc. Pains me that I even have to bring it up to explain because I love him too.
Ford is as much of a character actor as any movie star ever was. And if you ask me, he never got his due. One Oscar nom for decades of solid work and if you ask me he was the best thing about “The Fugitive” too. Maybe if the man was recognized a bit more he’d be offered more prestige roles. Just a thought.
Look I love Caine to pieces too but if you are going to say that Ford makes crap than I will say that Caine made more crap (Jaws 4 is one much more). As I said before I am glad that Caine is now in position where he doesn’t have to do it anymore.
Anyway to sum up, I don’t think Ford is not trying and I think you are being too hard on the man and his filmography.
Heh, can we at least agree that “Morning Glory” sounds promising in a “Broadcast News” sort of way š ?
Well, beyond me going to his house and asking him what his intent was, I can only go by what the man says, printed right there in black and white. Okay maybe he’d do some small parts but he wouldn’t take a big one for less money.
And you counter by saying that Michael Caine was also in a lot of crap…well I agree with you! So you win that one, I never said Caine wasn’t in tons of garbage.
And I think Caine would still do crap if it paid well enough. I mean, did he NEED the beach house he bought with Jaws money? No, but shit, I’d star in a monster shark movie if it got me a beach house, who wouldn’t?
Ford is a terrific character actor, and that’s why he’s such a disappointment. Because I don’t think he’s an adventurous one. My guess is he’s really not that interested in acting now, he just wants to chill. If he had a real drive, he’d do what Will Smith and Tom Cruise, to use your examples, do…develop their own material as well as look at scripts.
I’m not being hard on his acting (he’s great, if somewhat limited) or his overall filmography (too many classics in there), but it would be nice to see him make a Munich or shit, even a potboiler like I Am Legend. It’d be REALLY nice if he’d give us another Blade Runner. But his time is pretty well past now and my guess is he’ll just make a mediocre movie every couple of years and then retire.
Ford should have done the Scott Frank adaptation of A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES – he was perfect for Matt Scudder. He was afraid it was too dark. Everything I hear/read about Ford shows that he doesn’t like taking on roles outside the box (too violent, too sexual, etc.). Have any of you seen Michael Caine in HARRY BROWN. He’s fantastic — doing the Bronson/Death Wish thing in the English projects. And it was a low budget, no pay day for him as well. I think Samuel Goldwyn releases it in the States next year.
I always thought Ford did Crossing Over as a way of making amends for the major career mistake of passing on Traffic because of a paycheck. It’s a shame the movie got slashed to death. Still, I’d like to see him try more of those rather than anything involving his family being taken hostage.
But Perm, Perm I already said (a while ago) I didn’t care for what he said in the interveiws as I am more interested by actor’s actions. Also – humor.
And enough of that Traffic talk too. Any, but any actor you could pick would have at one time or other turned down a good role for this reason or that.
You could be right about Ford taking it slower these days as he clearly got other interests. And as for not being adventurous, at least he’s plenty adventurous in real life.
Look, since we are clearly beginning to talk in circles here I’ll just say that Ford’s choices are mostly alright by me and to me and “What Lies Beneath” was as good (or bad) a potboiler as “I am Legend” was.
Do I want to see Ford venture out some more? Of coure I do! And I’m sure once Ford has a chance to settle down much like Caine has these roles will come. And the audience might be as guilty for making this process longer than he himself is.
I agree actions should speak louder than words…and I’d say that Ford’s actions still show him to be a lazy bastard.
But I will give him What Lies Beneath, I like that movie a lot. In a big way that’s still sort of a lazy paycheck movie for him since Pfeiffer pretty much does all the work in it, but it really wouldn’t have been as sucessful without a guy like Ford and all of the heroic baggage that he brings.