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
If you want to know why Caspian failed, the members of your blog pretty much figured out why: shit release date. Moving it back to the Winter should help… a lot.
IO, if that’s the case, they better work harder on getting the word out; Even though standees and posters have been up for months at my local theaters, I genuinely had NO IDEA this was coming out in three weeks, and not NEXT SUMMER.
I’ve not seen a single TV spot or trailer for it.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, or as I like to think of it, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Sequel No One Really Wanted.
Hey, these Narnia films are all good flicks, so getting another one is not a horrible thing. Nevertheless, they are probably hyping this film all over Nick, Lex. It would make sense for them to sell it to the kids and not to us.
I was watching SpongeBob the other day and saw a commercial for the flick. I had no idea it was close enough to ready to have a commercial. But then the commercial had no date on it, so I had no idea when it was coming out. I figured soon, but then again, maybe it was coming next summer. It didn’t say it wasn’t. Movie advertising 101: tell people when the damn movie’s coming out. Congrats on your PR FAIL, unknown idiot who put the ad together.
My church holds an annual “Harvest Festival” on October 31st– kind of a Halloween party/fair without the gruesome elements associated with the holiday. Anyway, this year was much different, in that the theme of the night was all about “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader”, with a bevy of officially licensed decor/props. They even looped the trailer on the TVs scattered around the church, along with a huge 50ft projection of it in the sanctuary.
So I’d say that there’s a clear push to market this film to Christians.
This comes out in 3 weeks?
I think encountered more pre-release press for Trash Humpers than the new Narnia movie.
I’ve seen this! There’s definite recognition in seeing the lion but it’s not the most inviting photo. Like inviting curiosity, not the sort of appeal that maybe I’d see in like a superhero, obviously it’s not ferociousness of a horror shot but to me for whatever reason I don’t see “king of the jungle.” I feel like I should identify or connect with this lion, maybe enticed might be the right word but I kinda get a ho-hum feeling by it.
I saw the first Narnia and thought it was OK. I don’t think I saw the 2nd. It’d be one of those that maybe if I saw it on TV and watch for 5-10 mins I’d be like ‘Oh yeah, I have seen this’ but right now I can’t remember it. It may make an interesting case study to see how different this may be based on the different studio behind it.
I’d say I’ve heard zero “buzz” about it at my church but then I don’t have any kids so I don’t know what the other adults are talking about for having their kids see. They don’t generally do sort of the monolithic push to support some film because of Christian values or representations. Regular group outings for plays and movies but I know they’ll do secular films just the same. There were some unofficial groups who got together to see Passion of the Christ but no one thought it was appropriate for the teens.
There’s a simpler reason the second movie failed: it was based on *easily* the worst book of the series, and it sucked. OTOH, the third book is probably the *best* of the series, so if the movie does much better don’t immediately assume that it succeeded just because Christ is back.
Another thing:
The second film did not have the “Christmasy-Winter” theme in the ads (or the film itself), which I believe really appealed the audiences the first time around. So I’m not surprised Fox is playing up the snow, winter blues, and Holiday-ness of the third film.
I remember people also attributed Caspian’s disappointing performance to the fact that Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe as a title is much more well known and has more name recognition, and that perhaps people saw the first movie, were underwhelmed, and decided not to see the second.