April 18, 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
Hugo 3-D tonight. Pumped.
Sweet mother of mercy I love The Descendants. Listening to the soundtrack as we speak, and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it ever since I saw it last week. After first viewing, I honestly think it’s Payne’s best film – not as laugh-out-loud funny as Sideways, but he just nails the pathos so perfectly. I can see myself watching it over and over on Blu. Beautiful movie.
I am dying to see The Descendants. My wife and mother saw it over the weekend and both said they hated it and wish they had walked out halfway through. Seems to be very polarizing. That makes me want to see it even more. I am seeing The Artist tomorrow night. Very excited.
Funny that you mention it Paul – I saw it with my wife, who was decidedly mezzo-mezzo on it (she’s not a movie gal, doesn’t like much of anything that doesn’t have a “Harry Potter and the…” in front of it). But my in-laws, not movie people AT ALL, saw it as well and both flat-out loved it.
Hugo today for me. I am not familiar with the source material, and have decidedly stayed away from most of the reviews. Read Dave’s review and a few other blurbs on RT. I think I’m going in with as fresh a perspective as I can. Ironically I was underwhelmed by the trailer and that is a positive in my column. I hate when everything is given away, but you have to think that studios have a tough time deciding what makes the trailer, i.e. should we give some away more to do a hard sell and get better opening numbers, or should we let the tease be enough and hope that people find us? Either way it’s Scorsese, and even the movies that he has made that I haven’t liked have always been a cinematic experience. And to me, that’s what a Director is supposed to do, immerse you in an experience that isn’t always comfortable, or safe. That has you questioning their universe, and yours. And you leave thinking that your investment in time and money paid a great dividend. yeah, I can’t wait for Hugo.
With some claiming it has tinges of misogyny, initially I wondered if it’s going to play differently for each gender. That doesn’t seem to be the case though if both your in-laws loved it. I love Payne and think it looks great, and am automatically curious about any movie that can generate such passionate and divergent responses.
I still feel a little cool towards The Descendants, even though I like it a lot and think it’s better than Sideways, the crazy acclaim of which has puzzled me since it first came out. For me, the really great Payne movies are Election and About Schmidt; they’re both funnier than Sideways (which I wouldn’t call laugh-out-loud funny, but feels like it’s supposed to be, which may be why I prefer The Descendants: it has funny bits but doesn’t seem to consider itself a comedy the way Sideways did) and I felt far more moved by Schmidt than Descendants, which kept cutting away from scenes that I thought would have more emotional punch.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Payne a lot and enjoyed The Descendants, loved the whole ensemble… but something about it just felt a little off, a little perfunctory. The way the characters in Election and Schmidt change and/or don’t change felt much more foregrounded to me than in The Descendants, which has some smaller surprises in the subplots and such, but doesn’t really end up anywhere I’d consider very surprising. I might need to watch it again just to get a handle on what I didn’t love about it (or get over it).
both my wife and I loved the Descendants. masterpiece material, yet again, from alexander payne.
watched Breakfast at Tiffany’s 1961 – it was alright nothing amazing ..20 minutes too long .
AMR, American Airlines’ papa, filed for chap 11. I didn’t see Margin Call but wanted to. I don’t know if they’ve ever done a movie about a company (its people) who get screwed when a big holding defaults. Seems rather dry on the surface but the domino effect from these things always results in divorces, suicides, whistle blowing and massive payoffs to prevent jail time. I’d really like to see some of these people’s lives 6 mos to two years from now.
So, I guess The Artist is next on my list. Maybe Hugo. I’ve got AMC passes, I could get that before the w/e. Then there’s the Muppet movie. Sometimes seeing movies in the wrong order when seeing many in great proximity can sour perspective on ones I may’ve otherwise liked.
I do hope the new Mission Impossible film is good. Not for a particular rooting interest but I’d just like something more than a pre-calculated device to generate multi revenue streams.
Boy did I love Hugo. Glad I trusted Scorsese and went for the 3D. Didn’t feel the usual Brechtian distancing effect at all. What a kick to see all the Melies footage amidst all the state-of-the-art filmmaking technique. And I loved everything about Sacha Baron Cohen’s performance.
i’m trying to win tickets for Hugo – those 3d tickets
are pricey – contest ends next week.
they are showing this in 2D .. the first week will be super busy so i’ll wait an extra week or two.
i have a vision problem so the 3d doesn’t quite work
for me .
the other december movies i want to see will be super busy so i won’t go the first week …so i wait and not
have that discomfort.
sold out movies are good for weekend box office – but its just not for me…
what level of crowding is good for you guys ?
extra crowding leads to more cell phones and just more
small annoying things everybody seems to complain about.
In 30 years, there’ll be a nostalgia TV series called American Airlines, about how crappy flying used to be before they invented the teleporter.
Shailene Woodley and Chole Moretz dp/30’s are super happy.
it’ll be interesting what happens 5 years from now ..
maybe they have 3-4 big movie bombs and they actually quit
or they have a few huge hits and both get oscars ..
it just seems actors under 25 are much happier than actors over 25.
it sure beats David Cronenberg who seems cranky but at least he’s honest with it .
David Carr NYTimes and Nick Notle also seem cranky but it’s probably their voice ..
Paul Giamatti and Viggo Mortensen alswys seem to give
the same type of interview to everybody.
its the actors in the middle …sometimes they are happy / cool and cranky all at the same time…the people who
do that the best are comics and DP doesn’t interview enough of them .
scifi geeks ..
Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson
1 hour and half video … Neil talks abouts going
to space / mars and why they need too..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXh9RQCvxmg
Just saw The Muppet Movie tonight. Felt it needed a bit more muppets doing the singing. Also was not sure who some of the celebrities were in the cameos. i would give it a 7/10 overall. Looking forward to seeing Hugo this w/e.
How dare you not know who Leslie Feist, Judd Hirsch, and John Krasinski are! SHAMEFUL, SIR! SHAMEFUL XD!
Made a final trip to the Sunset 5 to see RAMPART. Generally solid work, though I’m sure I’m not the first to note it’s really little more than a feature version of “The Shield,” right down to the titular location. One thing that did surprise me: the film’s levels of sex, violence and especially language are quite restrained, epecially given that it was co-written by Ellroy; there may actually be fewer “fucks” in this than in the average Apatow/Rogen/MacBride comedy. And you gotta give props to whomever was ballsy enough to cast Ice Cube as an Internal Affairs investigator.
watched storm war syfy movie .
pretty stupid for even syfy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC-EyvN4280&feature=player_embedded
syfy keeps making these types of movies …
i want a dp/30 with the people who make the low end computer graphics for all these movies .
Am I the only one who automatically skips Sanj’s postings?
Not even sure whether they’re a put-on or for real, but there are just so damn MANY of them.
They remind me of the stream-of-consciousness ramblings Larry King used to do in his old USA Today column.
sanj cannot be a real person…
sanj is a character. Kinda like if Raj from Big Bang Theory was trying to do Larry King.
…or that Indian dude from “Community.”
(But a lot less pop-cult savvy.)
i’m wondering if any people who do the computer graphics will ever upgrade to better films – which usually means comic book animations ….going from syfy to marvel.
look at cowboys and aliens 2011 – its a 100 million dollar movie with huge stars but it could have easily been a million dollar movie on syfy..
i’m nothing like those indian actors on tv .
also i’m not sure which pop cult shows i need to view
to make me more pop cult savvy ?
with all the audio podcasts and interviews i watch i think i’n pretty pop cult savvy ..
tree of life 2011 should also be a syfy movie – they got 2 big actors and spent crazy amount of money on high end computer graphics….thats what makes it best picture for some … but the story to me didn’t make any sense at all.
if tree of life get nominated for best picture – how is Brad Pitt going to explain what that movie is about ?
he doesn’t have too….he’s Brad Pitt ..he can fake it.
he’ll probably get nonimated for moneyball a story he
can actually explain.
the best actors can get away with telling stories that make no sense to critics like DP and getting away
with it..probably a dozen or more movies every year.
Daniel Craig / James Bond – not a fan of Kardashians …
“It’s a career. What can I tell you?” he continues. “It is a career; I’m not being cynical. And why wouldn’t you? Look at the Kardashians, they’re worth millions. Millions! I don’t think they were that badly off to begin with, but now look at them. You see that and you think, ‘What, you mean all I have to do is behave like a f*cking idiot on television and then you’ll pay me millions?'”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/30/daniel-craig-calls-kardas_n_1120198.html
Cowboys & Aliens already was a cheap Syfy movie. High Plains Invaders. Aired on Syfy in 2009. It’s actually not half bad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeenlEM62cE
A Saturday night premiere averages 2 million viewers, which is very good for a channel like Syfy.
Rented The Future last night and was pleasantly suprised. Can’t remember another recent movie where I pretty much loathed the characters but still felt quite a bit of empathy for them.
Also checked out Beginners and all the praise heaped on Plummer is quite well deserved. Seems like he has been able to carve himself a nice niche like Duvall and Caine, making a great living in supporting roles (in Plummers case, the go-to shady establishment figure like in Body of Lies and Syrianna), and occasionally getting something he can knock out of the park.
And Sanj, I have no idea how you didn’t get what Tree of Life was about. Now it not being your cup of tea I can understand, but difficult to follow?
Personally I loved it, best film I’ve seen so far this year, though I am quite a bit behind. But whenever I recommend it to friends I do add a mild disclaimer that they will likely love it or think its the world’s longest Bruce Springsteen video that lacks the music.
Loved “The Future,” and didn’t really have a problem with the whiney bo-ho characters. Miranda July has carved out quite a distinctive niche for herself with just two films. I’m anxious to see what she does next.
Also very much enjoyed her hubby Mike Mills’ film (“Beginners”). My only real complaint(s) were the French chick (Melanie Laurent from “Basterds,” right?) and Goran Visnjic.
Gotta say that I found her accent and his atrocious haircut…distracting. But Plummer was divine, and his adorable pup was a real scene-stealer.
i liked high plains invaders – syfy made decent looking aliens –
tree of life 2011 is the best movie that syfy channel doesn’t have .
i wonder how many syfy movies Pitt and Mallick have watched
….syfy has at least 25 movies out – is it worth a real movie critics tims to watch at least dozen of them ??
look at how popular Roger Corman is now – i didn’t see
the movies he made in the 70’s and 80’s but now they are
remade and they’ve had some success and he finally got
a dp/30 out of it…
another 10 years – somebody will remake a few decent syfy movie and they will finally get a dp/30 out it ..
my first encounter of syfy movies was talk soup – comedy
show…
right now nobody has done real serious interviews for syfy channel…DP can have the world exclusive.
Can’t wait to see her next either movieman, hopefully it doesn’t take as long. I don’t know if its a funding thing or different work process but it seems as if female directors take waaay to long between films (ahem, Ms. Jenkins, I miss you terribly). I know Nicole Holcifilfiberger does a lot of television work inbetween but I’d rather have her make a feature every other year no matter how good a job she does on Parks and Rec.
Nicole Holofcener has to be one of the most underrated and underappreciated filmmakers working today. Her movies are event movies for my wife and I. Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing, Friends with Money, and Please Give are fantastic. We revisit them all the time, as much as we rewatch any other director’s work. They’re funny and moving and ridiculously well-acted. Patty Jenkins is great, too.
hcat – if you read imdb message board a lot of people
don’t understand it …
tree of life goes beyond basic hate of the movie and goes into what the f#ck mode ..basic hate is sex and the city 2
i doubt the kids in the movie understood what the movie is about …
i’d rather see a dp/30 with Pitt just about answering questions about why people don’t understand the movie..the big parts – the small parts. everything.
see. the actors really like to explain the easy stuff
in interviews…now there is 1 chance to answer
all the hard stuff…. is Pitt ready for it ?
Pitt will never do a dp/30 ..why would he leave Angelia Jolie for 30 minutes. thats just crazy talk.
check this 2 minute video
Tree Of Life SUCKS!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPSljqJ6wb8
Terrence Malick’s Game of Life – 1 minute video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28eL40qNX8E&feature=related
Well if its too complex for the IMBD message Boards…
imdb message board people complain about everything but
they do have some strong points to bring up about the tree of life…
Pitt is critic proff at this point .
the ultimate goal of acting is not about the millions you make or the awards you win ..it’s being critic proof.
Some of the things IMDBer’s hate for being too confusing:
Tree of Life
Button Fly jeans
Rubik’s Cubes
Combination Locks
Revolving Doors
Daylight Savings Time
Bras (men only)
Blinking Red Traffic Lights
Fractions
On another topic:
What I love most about the Scorsese quote that popped up in the sidebar is knowing that he probably delivered it all in no more than seven seconds.
Adam Sandlar is critic proof . DP should print out all the
bad stuff on the internet and let him react for 30 minutes.
that would be so awesome.
Cadavra- I didn’t dig RAMPART much at all. It just seemed too vague in an irritating way rather than a perplexing, interesting way. I’m all for ambiguity but I needed a little more to work with in RAMPART. It was a big disappointment for me considering how much I loved THE MESSENGER. I guess RAMPART just felt too tour-de-force actorly and didn’t have enough substance.
I just saw SHAME too…wow. Quite an amazing film. Fucking McQueen, man. That guys is working on a totally other level.
Terry Gilliam criticizes Spielberg and Schindler’s List
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKS3rdYTpI
I can’t agree with you more about Holofcener, Paul and hcat.
Glad that she’s still able to make a film every few years or so between the paying-the-bills TV gigs (she directed an episode of HBO’s wonderful “Enlightened” a few weeks back).
That’s more than I can say for another of my all-time favorite woman directors: Nancy Savoca. Savoca had such an amazing run of great movies (“True Love,” “Dogfight, “Household Saints”) before disappearing into some Hollywood black hole reserved exclusively for female directors.
“Please Give” actually tied for #1 on my 2010 10-best list w/ 2 other films by gifted female helmers: “Somewhere” and “The Kids Are All Right.”
Don, I don’t really disagree with you on RAMPART. As I noted, it’s a well-traveled road, but when you’ve got a cast this great and they pretty much all deliver…well, sometimes that’s good enough, especially for a picture that undoubtedly cost less than the craft services on JACK AND JILL.
Movieman, I’m glad to hear you liked SOMEWHERE so much, a film that hit me very hard, and that I didn’t think got enough recognition last year.
movieman: I second your enthusiasm for the three Nancy Savoca films you mention. I thought she was on her way to big things; instead, her last few features have gone nowhere. Her latest, UNION SQUARE, supposedly premiered at TIFF this year, but I haven’t heard a thing about it.
I know what you mean about “Somewhere” “hitting hard,” JKill.
If I had to pick a personal favorite from the three movies that tied for my #1 slot last year, it would have to be Sofia Coppola’s. I don’t think there was another movie last year that had so many privileged (in the Truffaut sense of the word) moments. Coppola is one of those directors I’d gladly follow anymore. I’ve loved all four of her films to date–including the tragically underrated “Marie Antoinette.”
Yeah, I totally agree about Savoca, Yancy.
There was that ehhh Rosie Perez flick; a (comedy) concert movie; I think something else (that never got released) and her latest which played TIFF and will probably suffer the same fate as that unreleased “something else” movie.
Really not sure what happened there, but it’s damn sad.
Her first three films were practically perfect, and in the case of “Dogfight” and “Household Saints,” inordinately, indescribably moving.
i know movieman and i have already had this convo (maybe even more than once) but river and lili taylor in ‘dogfight’: heartbreaking. where would my river be now
Leahz: Ethan Hawke spoke about River Phoenix when I did an on-stage Q&A with him at Cinema Arts Festival Houston a couple weeks ago. (Warning: The vid is kinda-sorta dark.)
http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2011/11/me-ethan-hawke.html
Agree, Cadavra. The acting was pretty great. Well, Woody was. I think I may have an issue with Ben Foster.
Wanted to add to the general discourse…
I just finished a podcast (Golden Briefcase on firstshowing.net) and our main topic was NC-17 and specifically, SHAME. It got me thinking….why in the hell is FOX Searchlight even BOTHERING with theatrical? SHAME should just go VOD and sty in arthouses ala MELANCHOLIA and it would rake in the cash.
It’s got buzz now and people who have access to it this weekend will go. Well, some of them will. Let’s be honest- people are uncomfortable with sex, or talking about it with strangers let alone sitting in a dark theater watching Fassbender’s cock swing around. Movies like this are MADE for VOD. They could easily charge $10 on VOD and rake in the cash but instead the seem hellbent on conventional theatrical distribution. It’s stupid and shortsighted and is going to lose them money.
Is there some kind of general consensus that if your film is on VOD it can’t be Oscar nominated? Do major markets like NY and L.A. still look down on VOD as if it were straight to video circa 1998? I ask those questions honestly because I see no reason to churn out posters and commercials and all that crap for a movie that’s going to hit a very small theatrical market (even with an “R” rating, I don’t see SHAME in the top weekly grosses) when they could save the money and go VOD crossed with smaller arthouses.
just watched Jason Reitman dp/30 . pretty boring just like
the first dp/30 . boring how ? its all tech movie stuff.
tone . tone. tone. more tone. and put some extra tone.
also within the first 10 minutes i couldn’t figure out what this movie is actually about ..so i had to view the trailer.
so not the greatest interview .
also Clooney needs to win an oscar just to make the oscar bloggers happy. no other reason.
so Eberts movie show is gone for now . hmmmm.
somehow hundreds of people on youtube go on webcam and
do movie reviews.
but tv movie reviewers are just too fancy for webcams .
i do think its that simple.
watch DP cook and do a review.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk5yCpFlJis&feature=channel_video_title
joe: thanks for sharing!
ethan h seems a lovely, earnest, open, thoughtful man. fascinating to hear him speak so frankly about dealing with his jealously of his friend, the ‘romanticism’ of dying young, and his flash of regret at realising how much life river has missed out on.
(i can hardly believe it’s been almost twenty years since his death; i still vividly recall the morning i got a call from a friend in LA, who kindly wanted to let me know what had happened before i heard about it on the news/elsewhere…i guess it’s one of those horrible ‘where were you when you heard so-and-so was dead’ moments that never leaves you, that sick, sinking feeling of disbelief. what kind of life would river have had — he’d be in his early forties now like ethan, perhaps sharing his life with that special woman whose drawing he apparently carried around with him, maybe a dad, what would his career look like, would he be a musician or actor or both (or neither)…what a terrible waste, forever young and brimming with unfulfilled promise )
Nice interview, Joe: thanks for posting!
Yes, Leah. We’ve had that “discussion” many times before, lol.
Y’know, I just watched “Dogfight” again last week (showed it to my class as an example of the “Sundance”-y movies that flourished in the ’80s and ’90s), and it never fails to move me to my very foundation.
River and Lilli truly belong in the same exalted class as Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood (“Splendor in the Grass”); Liza Minnelli and Wendell Burton (“The Sterile Cuckoo”); and Rosanne Arquette and Vincent Spano (“Baby It’s You”) in the annals of great doomed love-love stories.
movie 43 2012 …. check out all them big movie stars.
this is gonna make 100 million dollars.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1333125/
As I have said before — too many times, alas — few things in life are more tragic than a promise forever unfulfilled.
Movieman: And what ever happened to Wendell Burton? As I recall, he appeared in Fortune and Men’s Eyes, then years later had a supporting role (I think) in a Burt Reynolds action movie — Heat, not the Michael Mann movie — and then…?
And why isn’t The Sterile Cuckoo available on DVD? Funnily enough, I was thinking about that movie just a few days ago when I posted this, and linked to my review of Alan J. Pakula’s last film.
http://www.movingpictureblog.com/2011/11/blast-from-past-harrison-ford-and-brad.html
Joe – you were around in the 60’s – do you ever interview
Marilyn Monroe ?
Well, considering I was not yet 10 years old when she died…
Joe – so you don’t have super amazing memories of Monore ?
all the older critics must have some to enjoy that movie coming out about her …
just like those teens will forever remember Justin Timberlake as the guy who invented napster
– social network movie..
these days memories about pop culture are being created by the hour. the biggest internet ones last
a few weeks and then go away.
Oliver Stone is good at memories with all this movies .
mostly presidents .. JFK was alright.
he should have the Monroe movie . he still can.
I like but I’m not sure I quite love The Artist. Dujardin is phenomenal and fully deserves all of the praise he is receiving. I completely believe that George Valentin is a 1920s movie star. A really mesmerizing and wonderful performance. The movie is fun and charming and amusing and the leads have real chemistry, but I did squirm in my seat a few times during the last half-hour or so, and when it was over I can’t say I was blown away or anything like that. Maybe I elevated my expectations too much. It’s enjoyable and worth seeing for Dujardin, but I don’t think it’s close to the best movie of the year.
I actually saw Burt’s “Heat,” Joe, but have zero recollection of Burton being in it.
I do remember “Fortune & Men’s Eyes” (talk about a strange follow-up to “Cuckoo”!) and also his (very good) Charlie in a production of the off-B’way musical, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” that aired (on CBS?) sometime in the early ’70s.
Maybe it’s time to check out his IMDB page and see whether he’s still alive.
Joe – watched the Hawke interview – nice job. funny guy.
i would watch a full hour of this .
Here’s Burton’s IMDB page, Joe. (And guess what? He’s alive and living in…Houston!)
Most impressionable and indelibly remembered as the sensitive, cherubic-faced college student/boyfriend of Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), actor Wendell Burton was born in Texas on July 21, 1947. When Wendell was only five, his father, an Air Force technical sergeant, was killed in a plane crash in Washington state, where the family had relocated. As a result his family returned to Texas in order to be near relatives. While in high school the family moved once again, this time to the San Francisco area. Following graduation, he majored in political science at Somona State College and, after taking some public-speaking classes, joined in a few campus stage productions. By chance, and at the insistence of a friend, he auditioned for and won the title role in the San Francisco production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Fully engaged by this early theater success, he continued his education during the run of the show and transferred to San Francisco State where he took classes in acting and directing.
Wendell was “discovered” during the show’s run by “Sterile Cuckoo” director Alan J. Pakula and chosen over hundreds of more experienced film actors to play the coveted role of Jerry Payne opposite Minnelli’s Pookie Adams in the bittersweet campus romance that became an unqualified hit. Exquisitely paired, he and Minnelli are still identified with the movie’s touching Oscar-nominated song “Come Saturday Morning.” In order to avoid a fresh-off-the-bus typecasting, Wendell took on the role of “Smitty” in the controversial screen adaptation of Fortune and Men’s Eyes (1971) in which he played a naive young inmate who is raped shortly after entering prison, and, by film’s end, has degenerated into a sexual predator himself. He counterbalanced this with a Hallmark TV adaptation of his “Charlie Brown” musical. The small screen proved a viable medium for the young rising actor in the early 70s with above-average roles in the well-received mini-movies Murder Once Removed (1971) (TV), Go Ask Alice (1973) (TV) and The Red Badge of Courage (1974) (TV). He also played Dick Van Dyke and Hope Lange’s son for one episode on the comedy star’s “new” TV series in the 70s.
A soul-searcher by nature, Wendell questioned the direction of his life and, after much travel and study, fully immersed himself in the Christian religion in 1978. That same year he married and became the father of a daughter, Haven, who is now an actress in New York, and son, Adam, a San Francisco-based musician. Reminiscent of the perennially boyish and now balding Ron Howard in both mild-mannered looks and open, easy-going temperament, his career began to subside after a time due to the lack of quality acting opportunities offered, the importance of turning down roles he deemed morally objectionable, and ever-growing family responsibilities over the uncertainties of gainful TV/movie employment
Wendell eventually taught acting for a time in Hollywood. In 1988, he decided to pursue the business side of television and found work in ad sales, eventually becoming the West Coast Director of Sales for the Family Channel. In 1997 he and his family moved back to his home state of Texas in order to help launch a local independent TV station in Houston. The family eventually settled there. Wendell serves, and has since found great spiritual fulfillment, as Director of Creative Ministries for a Houston church. He oversees drama, dance and videography services for the various ministries and also pastors adult singles.
I can still remember seeing Hawke work the crowd before a screening of Tape in Toronto at the festival. He was funny and charming and totally at ease. Had us in the palm of his hand. Since then I’ve liked him a lot though not enough to read his novels.
Joe woulda liked to’ve known her, but he was just a kid…
Well played, Krillian!!
Krillian FTW!
BTW: Just showed the final third of Quiz Show to scriptwriting students — and, lookee there, it’s a fleeting appearance by Ethan Hawke.
Quiz Show is one of my all-time favorite movies! I went to the AMPAS library to read the script and actually thought there was a lot of humor that never came through.
@ Paul MD: Agreed! Liked The Artist, didn’t love it. Was really waiting for that tender moment, picture worth a thousand words, the kind that couldn’t be said w/dialog or not as easily translated in the modern era of filmmaking, the kind that says “this is why we never thought talkies would catch on” but that moment never came. Didn’t help that there are always rude mofo’s in the audience but still wouldn’t be my top film of the year.
I know exactly what you mean TO. I kept waiting for the moment that was going to take me from liking The Artist to loving it, and it never happened. And rude mofos indeed. I saw it at an art house theater, average viewer age was probably 55, and people were checking their phones and talking throughout. Worse than teenagers.
If you’re looking at your phone during a silent movie…you just might be a complete imbecile.
Indeed. And more than once some guy said to his wife “what’d he/she just say?”
“If you’re looking at your phone during a silent movie…you just might be a complete imbecile.”
Or maybe just really fuckin’ bored.
right now my favorite interview of the week is
actress Jenny Wade
uncensored and super funny ..
come on guys take a listen.
http://www.nerdist.com/2011/11/nerdist-podcast-143-jenny-wade/
If someone’s fuckin’ bored, they can just leave…
there should be a reality show where old movie critics kick people out of the theatre for doing stupid things.
there’s loads of old movie critics and lots of theatres.
this won’t get boring .
put that on mtv .
die hard the best holiday movie ever ..
Yippee kai yay, Merry Christmas
How Bruce Willis saved holiday films from mediocrity.
http://www.thegridto.com/culture/film/yippee-kai-yay-merry-christmas/
Malin Ackerman – Olivia Wilde and Zooey Deschanel have
really nice eye colors .
there’s no dp/30 of them cause DP will get hypnotized .
and that can’t be good.
they have superpowers. kinda like superman
other movie critics are immnue to that so they get
all them interviews.
jesus h louise
at any rate:
“River and Lilli truly belong in the same exalted class as Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood (“Splendor in the Grass”); Liza Minnelli and Wendell Burton (“The Sterile Cuckoo”); and Rosanne Arquette and Vincent Spano (“Baby It’s You”) in the annals of great doomed love-love stories.”
i concur, movieman (tho the fact that perhaps 6 people have actually seen ‘dogfight’ is a bit problematic in this regard)
5 minute video interview about a band selling out and making
money off their music in commercials ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHnXyNNpd1s&feature=feedu
So true, Leah. And so very sad.
But hey: I try and do my part by sharing “Dogfight” with a different group of students each and every semester.
If just one or two of them turns a friend or family member onto the movie (and River in the process), I’ve done my job!
music video with real protests around the world.
nice use of editing lots of images …
yeah so this won’t get played on mainstream tv music channels…
Anjulie – Stand Behind The Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xJWCgHbcfE
ha, that’s so funny movieman, when i lend out dvds i often sneak my precious copy of ‘dogfight’ into the stack and implore peeps to watch it. thus far of those who’ve humoured me, not a single person has reported back with anything less than superlatives. the grassroots movement to get ‘dogfight’ seen. join today
DP somehow got 4 people from young adult movie to do a dp/30
it would have been better to get them all together for a dp/30 ..
chances are if they get nominated for an award – they won’t be back for another interview . they are too busy
if they don’t get nominated won’t see them for another 8 months or so. they’ll forget they even did a dp/30.
Precious 2009 – also got a 4 pack with actors – and they
never came back ..that was a few years ago.
i want Paula Patton back for MI:4 …
It’s a Wonderful Life is on tv … for a black and white movie its pretty good.
where’s the dp/30 with Frank Capra and James Stewart ?
watched margin call – finally a movie so dumb guys like me can understand complex wall street trading stuff – good movie…Jeremy Irons was the bestest with his speech.
Kevin Spacey did his thing where he yells at people.
plus everybody wears nice super expensive suits.
i want a dp/30 where Spacey just yells at DP about critics but then DP yells back about bad movies and bad actors . that would be awesome and would get a million views. only if the yelling is real …