April 20, 2024
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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
hey DP – what’s the deal with the sneak peek’s dp/30 ..it takes forever to put them up – Idris Elba hasn’t been posted
yet . i did watch big uneasy…this belongs on discovery channel with endless repeats .. i’m guessing it’ll be forgotten within a month.. i watched hesher.. that guy went on and on about editing… actors / directors say a lot of interesting fun things that are usually 2 minutes and somehow none of these clips end up on entertainment shows or late night shows …do
Conan / Dave / Colbert watch the dp/30’s .. if Colbert just showed one of your clips you`d get the Colbert bump and suddenly everybody would notice the dp30`s ..
doesn’t this bug you ? or would you rather have a dozen movie blogs just comment on them…
here`s my top dp30`s i want updates from
1. Elgin James – Little Birds – is he in jail ..
2. I AM, director Tom Shadyac – is that dude still happy..
3. Jennifer Lawerence … she don`t like hollywood but xmen makes her more hollywood – more famous ..any updates
4. Noomi Rapace – have you seen any of her movies outside the Girl with Dragon tattoo..
5. Natalie Portman has like 5 films after Black Swan – is she too famous now do do a dp30
6. why haven`t you found banksy yet for a dp30
BAT FIGHT
Hot dusty day
nothings going down
wanna get on outta this
sleepy old town
somethings in the air
I’m feeling uptight
It’s the right mood for a
Bat Fight?
Bat Fight
It’s anyone’s game
Bat Fight
A test of wills
Bat Fight
Whose gonna win?
Bat Fight
You never know who
Looking for a sign of weakness
Totally even, anyone could win
Athletic prowess, let’s begin.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/426608ab8c/bat-fight
there’s like 20 films i want to see during the summer months but i ain’t got 1000 bucks for tickets . so why aren’t more giant corporations giving away free movie tickets..what if netflix gave away 10 movie tickets to each
subscriber .. what if budweiser beer gave away 5 million dollars worth of movie tickets for hangover 2…
then those people will go out and buy more bud beer and be hooked on that for life. only giant corporations can save the movie industry.
getting totally free movie tickets for normal people seems cool… you movie critics just flash your movie critic badge and you can get in free anytime…
Warners has really done a bang up job keeping a lid on those Hangover 2 reviews. Its been screening for regular folk as well as critics for at least a week and outside the one aintitcool review from a few weeks back, I’ve seen nothing. Wonder if warners is threatening to ban any leaking critics from green lantern screenings next month? But that wouldn’t explain the regular folk who usually post reviews like crazy after the first public screening. Whatever they’re doing, it really seems to be working…
They are doing the All-Media Hangover 2 screenings Monday and Tueday in NY and Tuesday in LA. I had already bought tix for the Arclight Wed at 9pm screenings when my invite arrived. I figure I can just avoid spoilers for 24 hours for the sake a later and more convenient showing (see a movie early AND put the kid to bed = win).
There was one thurs in hollywood that was campus circle recruited. How nothing came from that I’m not quite sure. Don’t get me wrong, I won’t read any reviews till after I see the flick (I won’t even watch any trailers past the teaser soas not to spoil anything) Its just for a movie so big to have been seen by at least several hundred people now and not to have anything circulating review wise (outside the aintitcool fanboy review) is surprising…
Does anybody know if Heather Graham is back in Hangover Part II at all?
Or will I have to rely on “Judy Moody” for my fix?
Don’t Warners now own Rottentomatoes? They could have passed the word from on high that no reviews are to be linked until release date – so it’ll go from 0 to 100+ reviews in the space of an hour.
And to Sanj it up for a byob – acting out the worst voiceacting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_bx_9QYt7k
Meanwhile, Drew is already posting his Xmen review on hitflix…
http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured/posts/first-reaction-x-men-first-class-offers-sleek-smart-superhero-thrills
so the new thing is doing a “pre review” or “initial impressions” and somehow that does not break the embargo.
the internet is hilarious.
here’s some random IMDB fun. This is from the Ghost Rider sequel page:
plot: As Johnny Blaze hides out in Eastern Europe, he is called upon to stop the devil, who is trying to take human form.
writers: Writers: David S. Goyer (story), Roy Thomas (character & comic books), and 5 more credits
estimated budget: $75,000,000.00
There is no God.
No, Anghus, that was not a way of circumventing my embargo.
But thank you for the accusation.
So I was over on IMDB and saw that today is Fairuza Balk’s bday. While I think she’s had an extremely successful career, after seeing her in Gas, Food, Lodging and believing at the time The Craft would be her breakout role, (not that it was so good but the broader intro to the gen pub), if had asked me back in the early 90’s I would’ve thought she would’ve had an even more illustrious career. Like even if she wasn’t toplining big studio productions, surely at least 2-3 Oscar noms with mostly like one win. Were thems just the breaks or was there possibly an underlying reason why?
TO:
Balk has done okay; All I know about her rep is she’s kind of flaky, and closer to the sullen-vixen Rose McGowan/Evan Rachel Wood goth-provocateur (she used to own an occult store, whatever that entails) bad-girl type than any Witherspoon-Bullock type who was ever gonna star in Oscar bait or romcoms.
I’d consider her a “peer” of a whole slew of fellow former “It Girls” who aren’t exactly blazing up the Oscar podium or the box office charts these days– I’d consider her part of that class of the early to mid 90s crop with Neve Campbell, Robin Tunney, Tara Reid, Rebecca Gayheart, Liv Tyler, Lily Taylor, Rachel True, Alicie Silverstone, Bullock (who’s a notch older), Monica Potter, Claire Danes, Gretchen Mol, McGowan, all of whom have moved on to TV, indies, or supporting parts. Of that batch only Reese Witherspoon, Kate Winslet, Renee Zellwegger, Milla Jovovich, Kate Beckinsale, Christina Ricci, Charlize Theron and Heather Graham still consistently land A-list movies and big paydays. Oh, and Cameron Diaz.
Eh, maybe it’s 50/50 who blows up and who flames out… But look at any crew of comparable mid 90s ACTORS, and it’s the same deal– for every Damon and McConaughey who’s still a big deal, there’s a bunch of Freddie Prinzes and Chris Kleins and Jamie Walters and Devon Sawas who’ve faded from the spotlight.
There are always two or three it girls or next big things that come out every year, there unfortunatly isn’t enough good stuff to support all of them. In ten years we might be lamenting the same thing about Mulligan or Lawrence.
We certainly will not be lamenting it about Kristen or Dakota, who will be IMMORTAL TITANS of the cinema and might even be on Mt. Rushmore.
Drew – just so you know, people tend to be skeptical of taking someone’s word that they aren’t doing something wrong.
If you have some word from Fox that they’re cool with it, that’s fine. But forgive us if we roll our eyes at your protestation that your 1000 word article about a movie you just saw does not qualify as a “review”.
not really making an accusation. The piece that was linked in here was obviously a review. so i would ask the following.
question number 1.
is there an embargo?
question number 2.
how is what you posted not a review?
like Foamy said, if Fox has no problem or there’s no embargo, it doesn’t matter. if, on the other hand, this is a traffic generating loophole that you somehow believe isn’t an actual review because you included the sentence “i’ll have a full review”, then color us all curious as to how critics are now qualifying what constitutes a review in this lawless age.
big stars of 2011
Michael Fassbender
Felicity Jones
Nicholas Hoult
Juno Temple
Hayley Atwell
Tom Hiddleston
Jessica Chastain
Elizabeth Olsen
Brit Marling
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/05/new_faces.html#photo=1×00007
they’ve been running commercials for XMEN First Class on every Fox related network and they’re far more awesome and explosion filled than previous commercials.
they are very Fassbender heavy.
I have no problem with Drew reviewing first or Fox choosing someone friendly to the series to review. (Assuming Drew is still persuing employment screenwriting, I have problems with him as a critic, period. But that’s another discussion for another day.)
That said, every time a studio “sends in the geeks” to front their movie as the first critics in, I put zero weight on the opinions offered, whether it’s someone I respect or not.
If Fox has a good movie, they shouldn’t be playing games. If Fox (or Harrymount) has a borderline movie, they are welcome to protect it any way they can.
Fairuza Balk should’ve been nominated for GAS, FOOD, LODGING. Don’t know if she ever really pursued or was pursued for mainstream success, but except for THE WATERBOY most of her films are on the indie/edgy end of the scale. I think part of it may be that as she grew older, her appeal became more feral than cute. Hard to find a mainstream leading lady niche when you’re more of a ‘bad girl’ than ‘America’s sweetheart.’
Yes, there was an embargo. It was up yesterday afternoon.
And what I ran was a review.
So next point?
Foamy…
Where did I ever, in any form, say that I didn’t run a review?
Roll your eyes somewhere else, dickhead. You’re inventing things to be upset about.
If you’re going to play the game of “not really a review,” David Poland is the king of those, and his absolutely have crossed the embargo line. Many times.
If I’m publishing organized thoughts on a movie, with critical reaction included, it’s a review. And it’s always going to observe and respect the stated embargo.
Period. I’m not playing fucking semantics games.
the strategy makes sense for films studios aren’t confident in. Thor was the perfect example. Bring in some handpicked websites, get the positive buzz going and get people talking.
Critical first impressions.
I heard people 2 weeks prior to Thor saying “Thor is getting great reviews” based on the 6 guys they pulled into a screening at Paramount. 2 weeks of nothing but glowing buzz thanks to a half dozen guys.
Critically stacking the deck.
Was Drew’s screening a limited screening with a handful of critics like Thor?
Whoa, Mr. “Prove it.” (That’s you, Drew.) If I have EVER broken an embargo, it was 3 or 4 times in 15 years and haven’t come close to breaking an embargo in over 5 years for sure.
What you just did on X:FC, I have done. Never claimed you broke embargo. You said you didn’t and I have no reason to disbelieve you.
The mythology of me as an embargo breaker is nothing more than that. If they want me out there first, it’s been for the same kinds of reasons they might want you or Harry out first. No?
Sounds like Drew has some sand in his vag. Nobody was attacking, just rightfully curious about this first, admittedly NOT “full” review. Easy on the rage there, tough guy, as well as the righteousness. You’re the last internet “personality” who should be attacking Poland or any other writer for anything. Ever. Period. Be a grown up and answer the questions without being a dick. If that’s even possible.
That being said, I hope the film is as good as you say. I like what I read. So…there’s that.
Yeah, it was more curiosity than anything else. if there’s no embargo, then it’s a non issue. Other than being interested if this was a screening for a couple of critics to generate some early ‘positive review’ buzz.
which is what it sounds like, because here are the sites that are posting reviews of XMEN: First Class
Hitfix
Den of Geek
Slashfilm
Blogmatic 3000
Bleeding Cool
Hey U Guys
So i would assume that is everyone who it was screened for, and this is another example of a studio ‘stacking the deck’.
My first point still stands – people are unlikely to take your word that you’re not doing anything wrong. I’m sure Arianna Huffington would like content producers to leave her alone on the basis that she says she’s not doing anything wrong.
Having said that, yes we made the wrong assumption – that your defense was it didn’t constitute a review, rather than the embargo was up. That’s our fuckup, we were wrong. Having said that, you didn’t do yourself any favours by not addressing the point in Anghus’ original post and just issuing a blanket denial. That’s your fuckup.
i heard Oprah is going to retire or something.
where’s the dp/30 with Oprah ?
she did that one movie like 20 years ago which won some
awards