May 3, 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
Ok, I’ll bite. WTF?
Heart attack waiting to happen?
Probably a dumb question – is it possible to see JOHN CARTER in IMAX 2D? Or are all IMAX screenings in 3D?
I just saw JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME and really liked it alot. I’m a bit of a sucker for the Duplass Bros but to be honest, their usual tricks were grating on me a bit this time around. (ie; that damn rack zoom, characters who are saying one thing because they’re incapable of saying what they want to). But then I realized the story and screenplay for JEFF is really much more advanced than their previous stuff so once I made the adjustment and like, watched the movie instead of actively watching it as if it were a DUPLASS BROTHERS MOVIE, I really got into it.
While I still like CYRUS and PUFFY CHAIR a bit more, man, this one has a really cool screenplay. I also can’t put my finger on why but it felt very Billy Wilder-esque to me. Anyway…go see it. Cool movie. Oh And stick with it. It drags a bit but the ending is very, very satisfying.
JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME is indeed very good. My one complaint has to do with the outcome of Sarandon’s storyline. It could’ve gone in several directions and decides to really go nowhere. Teh fire alarm scene doesn’t fit with the rest of the movie.
BUT. Ed Helms gives his best performance to date. They make him look a little like Giamatti’s sleazier younger brother. You feel his excitement at not having to be in those loathsome HANGOVER movies. And Segel grown on you as the movie rambles along. And I continue to love Judy Greer.
I still think CYRUS is a better overall movie, but JEFF shows the Duplass Brothers growing at a good rate as directors. I think they could make a killer studio comedy. I can totally doing someting like SOMETHING WILD.
Movies like FRIENDS WITH KIDS, JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME, and WANDERLUST have made going to the movies this spring relatively painless.
Not sure what you mean about the fire alarm, Aaron. To me, it seems totally in keeping that that person would set it off.
While I’m amused to see on the front page that the right is eager to jump all over The Hunger Games for being anti-corporate/anti-capitalist, I don’t recall any similar enmity toward In Time, which was ham-fistedly anti-capitalist in showing the elite living like vampires off the lives of the working poor. (Time=money…Genius!)
Or would it have been a waste of time to attack a movie so few cared to see?
(And though I can clearly see from the movie’s wiki page that by earning back 4x its budget it’s clearly a “hit”, In Time sure feels like a flop in so many ways–simplistic story, simplistic ending, lousy reviews, bad word-of-mouth, no feeling of longevity….)
Completely agree, Aaron. I felt the movie was a step forward in structure and that the plot was the key, not the characters and their motivations (if that makes sense). Yet that’s new territory for the Brothers Duplass and I’m not sure they totally nailed it. I felt they sacrificed deeply insightful character development for a better structure and when those two things marry in another film, watch out.
does watching ‘dodgeball’ make anyone else actually want to play dogdeball? i totally want to. i vaguely remember playing the tinpot version in school, and of course the playground version, “kill the guy with the ball”, brutal. (i miss young vince vaughn; i had a little ‘clay pigeons’, ‘made’, ‘dodgeball’ vaughn bender, i dig doing marathons/benders, like a chocolate sampler, a nice taste. is it better to burn out than fade away? dunno. in reality most people would probably choose to fade away when it comes down to it)
Is anyone really confused by how absolutely terrible the trailer for Dark Shadows is? I had no idea that Burton was doing it so tongue and cheek. Not that the TV show was any great shakes but I thought it could be the basis of a pretty cool, creepy gothic horror tale.
It’s absolutely fantastic. Shame on you Glamourboy! Shame!
i like this video – lots of cool editing .
mute this if you hate the song but watch the video
T-Pain Featuring Lil Wayne – Can’t Believe It ft. Lil Wayne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWBE0sQC5L8
syndrome directs a lot of cool music videos and
diseny promos for teen shows and other tv promos
http://www.syndromestudio.com/directing.html
would like a dp/30 with syndrome – seems easy – watch
1 hours worth of music videos … they did Ke$ha – TiK ToK video which has 88 million views on youtube.
after watching 30 minutes worth of music videos – these
guys can easily do a comic book movie if they wanted .
Re: “Jeff.” A lovely movie. I think the Duplass Bros. are maybe one film away from Noah Baumbach territory.
(And how great was it to see Rae Dawn Chong again?)
“21 Jump Street” is a terrific mainstream entertainment that does just about everything right, from casting (Tatum and Hill may be the best thing to happen to “buddy movies” since Redford said hello to Newman) to script choices (having the two lead characters swap “bios” was a stroke of screenwriting genius).
It reminded me of the sort of smart “R”-rated popcorn movies we saw a lot more of once upon a time (e.g., the original “Beverly Hills Cop”).
And am I the only one who was genuinely moved by the central relationship?
From Tatum’s, “You’re really good at this, aren’t you?” at the police academy, to Hill’s heartfelt, un-ironic “I cherish you” speech during the finale, I have to confess to choking back a few tears.
Very nice work, guys.
P.S.= I see that Sony has already greenlit a sequel. Is that a new record for a (previously) non-franchise “tentpole”-ish property?
Just like 21 Jump Street, Dark Shadows looks removed enough from the source material its strange they even went with the name.
I used to have a major crush on Rae Dawn Chong. I guess COMMANDO set it off. Good actress, too; she was great in a 1993 indie called WHEN THE PARTY’S OVER. I also liked that TV series she did about ten years ago, MYSTERIOUS WAYS.
It’s funny that Chong was also in a 2010 movie titled CYRUS, but it’s not the same 2010 CYRUS as the Duplass brothers’ movie.
I liked the Dark Shadows trailer.
I liked the Dark Shadows trailer too. Saved me $10!
Rae Dawn Chong is really good in JEFF. She’s still great looking too.
Gonna try to sneak out to see 21 JUMPSTREET today.
The bizarre thing about Burton’s ‘take’on Dark Shadows is that, Dark Shadows isn’t a well-known franchise…so why bother to use it as the basis for this reboot. It could be any vampire being dug up in the 1970s and having a fish out of water experience. It just makes no sense. Friends that I’ve talked to who are actually fans of Dark Shadows now plan on staying away completely. This just feels like one of Burton’s kitschy mis-fires, along the lines of Mars Attacks.
I’ve never understood why studios and filmmakers glom onto random franchises that have a very small frame of reference rather than making their OWN thing which resemble the franchise rather than rebooting it or making a movie out of it. STRAW DOGS, 21 JUMPSTEET, DARK SHADOWS, etc. I mean, does having these titles HELP at ALL? I’d much prefer an homage based around a totally original idea.
first 10 minutes of the fp movie ..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VovGH2Fe1w
there be spies in the dp/30 land .
http://twitter.com/#!/HilaryWagner/status/179293623274323969
“The Dark Shadows TV show has some pretty passionate fans who might not take kindly to Burton playing fast-and-loose with its tone…Please, says The Boston Herald, the cheap jokes make this look like “Austin Powers with fangs.” Tim Burton, ‘what have you done?'”
http://theweek.com/article/index/225724/johnny-depps-very-campy-dark-shadows-trailer-5-talking-points
And “‘Judging by the disco-era ephemera on display’ in the trailer, says Natalie Finn at E! Online. ‘Burton’s going to milk the notorious tackiness of the decade for all it’s worth.'”
So no, the fanbase ain’t happy.
I am the fanbase of Dark Shadows. I dug the hell out of that show as a kid. Silliest damn thing that’s ever shown up on daytime NBC outside of the ending years of Santa Barbara. Nevertheless, this is what’s fucking wrong with this country on a purely pop culture level: WE CAN’T HAVE FUN ANYMORE! This trailer looks fun with a vampire. Oh my god, let’s ruin it by getting all cunty about a TV show that got more girls used to get off on, then anything having to do with the fucking plot. Where is the fucking fun in this culture? Where the fuck did it go?
Also, Don, Straw Dogs got remade by a dude who wanted to put a modern take on that story. Why we needed it is beyond me, but he explained his reasoning. Jumpstreet has been up for REMAKE since the late 90s. While Dark Shadow exist as a reason for Depp and Burton to have fun in the 70s, with a vampire, and do justice to the campy side of Dark Shadows. Which had a LOT OF FUCKING CAMP!
That aside, you know why we don’t get that many original ideas Don: IT SCARES THE EXECS! Only Hollywood could hire such unoriginal and bland people to make creative decisions!
The movie I always shake my head over is I SPY, which I haven’t even seen. I just couldn’t understand why they would take that basic premise, completely change the tone and genre (though there were certainly comic moments in the original series), but keep the title — thirty-four years after the series aired. Almost no one actually familiar with the show would be in the prime demo. Anyone who remembered the show was probably outraged by the changes. Anyone born after 1960 or so probably didn’t remember the show, unless they happened to latch onto it in syndicated reruns. So since it ultimately had to be sold on the star power of Murphy and Wilson, why not just team them up in an original built around their strengths?
Yancy, because I Spy probably still had a decent Q-Rating or something. Also, you haven’t seen it? You know the rules: NO COMPLAINING ABOUT FILMS YOU HAVEN’T SEEN XD! Nevertheless, it’s not horrible, but it’s a very goofy spy film. A really really goofy spy film.
Also, how dare any besmirch Eva Greene!
2 broke girls tv show explained – parody –
2 minutes .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV2b8oDwHZA
The new full Prometheus trailer kicks all kind of ass. Some have said that thus far it looks like any other Alien movie, and that only because Ridley Scott’s name is on it, reactions have been undeservedly positive, but this trailer looks like the movie only Ridley Scott could make. The scope, images, design, and that sense of open space while still conveying claustrophobic fear is so Ridley. I am so there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHcHYisZFLU
Just curious, did anybody else really enjoy Carnage? Despite the criticisms that it worked better on stage, the audiences at the small local theater where I work really responded to it.
I love this critic’s take on it:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/carnage/5793
Yes, I liked CARNAGE quite a lot. I’d seen the play on Broadway with the original cast, and the film’s cast–save Foster–didn’t seem quite right and thus caused me a fair amount of trepidation going in. But the picture worked just fine (except for the tacked-on sort-of-happy ending).
Just finished Carnage and was quite impressed (though I had never seen the play). Foster got a little over the top and snarly toward the end but other than that everyone did a great job.
I actually liked final shot and how it made all of the behavior that came before even more ridiculous and self involved.