April 24, 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
Just tremendous.
I’ll just admit it… I’m really geeked for the new Muppet movie.
Also, great band pick. Has anyone else seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHK0JVAqQgE&list=FLSXUVQPau-UImm3CTq1Bscw&index=17
BLASPHEMOUS.
But GONZO is still the AWESOMEST MUPPET by a ZILLION TRILLION times over.
ANIMAL POWER. I’m also oddly fond of Janice.
Animal? Not a bad muppet, but not even fit to shine FOZZY BEAR’s shoes. Yeah, you got a drum kit, SO WHAT? Gonzo LOOKS AWESOME, has that bad-ass sinister GIANT NOSE, kicks ASS, looks like he’s straight out of Eyes Wide Shut or something. Gonzo is the KING of all muppets, has been since I was six years old. GONZO RULES.
im looking forward to the new muppet movie.
with that said, that is the first time i ever wanted to murder a streaming video. pain. icky icky pain.
Written from phone – It’s kinda awesome that we have grown men and women arguing over who the best Muppets are (cough-Statler and Waldorf-cough). Having said that, as psyched as I am for this movie, do today’s kids care about the Muppets? My four-year old couldn’t care less, while her whole preschool class was psyched for Smurfs (which she ended up not seeing that either, but the rest of her friends did). I guess the question is, will the new Mupppet Movie end up a better marketed version of Winnie the Pooh (or the 2002 rerelease of ET), where you have parents dragging their kids by the hair and wondering why their kids aren’t ‘getting into it’ while they take a trip into nostolgia. I hope not, but I’m also starting to think I may end up attending the movie without the kid…
I’m super excited for the Muppets as well. Especially the music. My son is working for Christophe Beck, who is doing the score!
I think Scott is on to something. I know a lot of people excited for this movie – and they’re ALL over 30. I work in a high school – no teenager gives even a tiny shit about this. Younger kids… I have no frame of reference, but the current batch has not grown up on these characters. Why should they care? I doubt Jason Segal is much of a draw for the gradeschool set.
Thank GOD they tuned down the manic nature of the original theme song. Who wants that crazy, fun type of thing in a MUPPET MOVIE. Aside from that dirge like opening, count me in as psyched for the Muppet relaunch!
Rather than talk about favorite Muppets- does anyone know anybody who likes Scooter?
Don, im glad im not the only one who didnt care for the revamped tune. blech.
as for my favorite muppet:
the guy who throws the boomerang fish.
Scott, I see your point, but who needs a frame of reference? It’s all about the marketing on this one….
Were today’s kids really that hyper-aware of the Chipmunks or The Karate Kid? Same deal, if the parents are gung-ho to take them, then that’s half the battle.
And we’re talking Disney, here – you just cannot underestimate these folks when it comes to branding or even RE-branding.
I thought the Tangled campaign would tank on them, last year – they couldn’t even admit it was about Rapunzel – and look what happened? And hell, they took a truly nichey, geeky propery like Tron – overspent on it and made it semi-profitable.
Even it disappoints slightly like The Princess and the Frog or Bolt, we’re still looking at $100 million domestic and TONS of merchandising. Disney will clean up on this one.
Wow the old curmudgeons strikes again! You two really need to go watch some movie you think sucks, while I play that over and over and over and over and over and over and over… AG’IN! I’d love to read the both of you review The Green Album for no other reason then countless bitching :P!
Now, Scott’s point about the nostalgic parents bringing their kids, but the Muppet Movie seems to be going 4 Quad. It wants everyone and if the parents drag the kids along, then that’s helping that plan out a lot.
Still, it’s the Muppets, kids still watch Seasame Street, and that should hopefully help to get them interested. If not, dangle some keys in front of their faces.
Lew Zealand= fish thrower
I was a muppet FANATIC as a kid. It was almost scary how much I loved them.
Those greasy hipsters really turned what could have been a great, fun, manic song into the usual downbeat, ironic, boring music. Still excited for the movie myself, but jeez why the band?
WARNING – ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE!
I remember seeing Pirates 4 earlier this summer, theater was full of families with kids, and when they played that first Muppet movie teaser that has the late reveal, the kids in the audience got super excited and proclaimed their desire to their parents to see the movie. I think the kids somehow still know about the Muppets.
And Animal is into drums, girls and food. How can you beat that?
ZOOT POWER.
Sam the Eagle 2012
Swedish Chef is my muppet of choice. Love his virda virda voo theme song.
And hopefully they can turn the boat around on filmed muppets. The Muppet Movie is one of the sweetest sincere films ever made, and then came the terrible Caper, the adequate Manhatten, a wonderful Christmas Carol (though Caine did most of the work), and the trite Treasure Island and Gonzo in Space. So with two out of four not being a very good track record I am a little skeptical. But if Planet of the Apes and Woody Allen can become relevent again I suppose the Muppets have just as good of a shot.
PEPE THE KING PRAWN POWER.
Duuuude. Pepe is like the Oliver character on The Brady Bunch. He’s the Muppet that jumped the shark!
Never heard of these OK Go guys before, watched this, and then they popped up in POM Wonderful presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. They the hip new thing now, or just doing anything to get their faces out there?
Don, I know a man that will be very catty to you for insulting Pepe. HOW DARE YOU, SIR! HOW DARE YOU!
Hcat, they’ve been around for close to a decade, and are responsible for some of the biggest viral videos of all time. They are also given some credit for bringing the Music Video back.
Pretty shitty version of what is a very infectious theme song. That guy with the glasses and the beard should be arrested as the ultimate hispter stereotype. Douche.
I’ll echo top Muppet vote’s for Sam the Eagle and Statler and Waldorf. Always had a soft spot for the grumpy ones.
And I’ll add that I’ve had a fear/fascination with the Phantom of the Muppet Theater since I was a kid. He would pop up every once in a while as the bad guy tying one of the girl pigs to train tracks or something…but that original episode of him haunting the theater scared the crap out of me.
I agree with the others who don’t care for the above remix, but I like the idea in theory. If I were Disney, I’d try to do a running series of various artists doing their own riff on the theme. Point being, I’d love to hear Sarah McLachlan do a cover…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4GBnpS83As
There you go Scott.
Shit, wrong thread.
But, while I’m at it:
Hate for OK Go, really? They do themes for NPR, for Christ’s sake! “Hipster douchebag,” is a douchey, hipster insult.
First: I am shocked that no one has been all what-the-fuck-Lex-you-won’t-see-cartoons-and-haven’t-since-early-childhood-but-you-love-the-Muppets. I won’t do it because we share the same favorite: GONZO. Yes. Although: really, are there any Muppets any of us really dislike? Pepe the Prawn is awesome. All of the new Muppets Tonight Muppets are awesome. I was afraid they weren’t going to use them in the new movie because Segel, while his heart is in the right place, sounds like kind of a douchey hipster himself in terms of not paying attention to anything Muppet-related post-1985, which is just silly. It’s not blasphemy to create new Muppets. Keep moving forward.
Second: OK Go is awesome, and not hipster douchebags at all, even if that term actually meant something. They’ve been around for over a decade. I guess they’re best known for a bunch of widely viewed music videos (they’re some of the only post-MTV “music video stars,” except, you know, being post-MTV, they’re not exactly stars). They’ve sort of been chasing rock-band stardom since they put out their first record in 2002; they signed to a major right away and their first three albums were all out on Capitol.
I’ve seen them live a bunch — they used to open for They Might Be Giants and Fountains of Wayne — and they’re extremely inventive and energetic. I’ve always felt like they have yet to fulfill the promise of their early live shows and first album (which seemed lightweight at the time but is ridiculously fun and catchy). All of their records have at least three or four excellent songs, though, and they do mix it up. I just sense them trend-chasing a little. But the Muppets thing is right in their wheelhouse. They’re all about videos and weird art projects and doing songwriting for hire, in a mostly cool/non-whorish way. My impression of them from having followed them for awhile is that they are just up for stuff (even if this means they wait way, way too long in between actually making albums).
You guys don’t seem to like their version of the theme, but it very much sounds like OK Go, and also, I feel like you guys are either picturing an absolutely straight no-deviations cover that sounds EXACTLY like the original, or some sped-up punk-ska cover, late-nineties style.
Also, The Great Muppet Caper is amazing.
Where’s all the Rowlf love? That dog will always be cool.
I’m not a big fan of the OK Go take, as I do feel like it’s aiming too 30- to 40-year-old/hipsters, (If you don’t realize that guys who do NPR themes usually are hipsters, you might not know what a hipster is. That said, just because they’re hipsters, doesn’t necessarily make them douchebags.), but what’s the alternative? I’m surprised Disney didn’t get the next wave of Miley Cyrus-a-likes to do it, as that seems more their style. I’ll take OK Go over that any day.
Jesse, damn right The Great Muppet Caper movie is amazing!