May 19, 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
PLEASE tell me there’s another DP30 with Todd Phillips.
It’s going to happen in “5-10 years” when “people realize that HANGOVER 2 is a masterpiece.”
So far, Todd hasn’t agreed to one.
Wow, this NYT article has my head spinning.
Movies are being called “blockbusters” months before they open, because the word has become another synonym for “tentpole”. (Remember the days when a movie had to earn the right to be called a “blockbuster”?)
Many predictions are made about 17 “blockbusters” coming out this summer, that so much $$$ will be made and risks are slight, yet we have to get 2/3 of the way through the article before JOHN CARTER is mentioned, and then it’s slimed for being “too original”–even though the complaint before its release was that it would be seen as too familiar because so many SF movies ripped it off years ago!
(…thanks to the new definition, JOHN CARTER can still be called a blockbuster!)
“…Disney’s “The Lone Ranger” depends on whether Johnny Depp as Tonto can pull off another creative and box-office coup” …and not one word about the Lone Ranger himself. Who is playing the Ranger? Does anyone care? Is there any reason for him to be in the movie, aside from giving Tonto something to do?
And then there’s Soderbergh’s story about the guy at the airport: “…what he’s done is he’s loaded in half a dozen action sort of extravaganzas and he’s watching each of the action sequences. He’s skipping over all the dialogue and the narrative. This guy’s flight is going to be five and a half hours of just mayhem porn.”
So how long will it be before we see the first billion-dollar action movie–90 minutes of pure action for the ADD crowd with none of that boring dialogue and narrative? (I wonder if it’ll be like SUCKER PUNCH, which Ebert himself blew off as “like watching someone else playing a videogame.)
Uh-oh.
Not sure how it was elsewhere, but I went to Wal-Mart to get the advance tickets to see Man of Steel on 6/13 and was the fourth of four people in line at 8am.
Guess everyone was out buying Powerball tickets instead?
People will go stand in line at 4am to get a good deal on a toaster. But i imagine the number of people would get up early on Sat morning to go to a Wal Mart to get advance tickets for a single screening on Man of Steel is going to be significantly smaller.
I doubt this any indicator of interest. Hell, i want to see the movie more than any other film this summer and im reluctant to spend any time on a Saturday morning in a Wal Mart.
Sometimes I wonder what ever happened to some of the indie movies (some quite good) that I’ve seen at various festivals over the years. I’m not talking about movies that went straight to video, or cable. I’m talking about movies that, as far as I can tell, have completely disappeared from the face of the earth. A few actually were quite promising. I know some of you who post here are (or aspire to be) indie filmmakers. So I’ll ask you: What ever happens to all those Cinderellas that are never asked to the ball?
As predicted, another critic a bit confused about who Jay Gatsby is:
This year cinema already has a Great Gatsby — and it’s called Spring Breakers.
It was nice of him to say “only a tiny portion of the original text concerns the roaring Jazz Age parties that propelled the Australian director’s imagination”, but he has also bought into the idea that GATSBY = PARTY!, and an unhealthy obsession with Daisy is nowhere to be found.
When folks like Baz finally put down the crackpipe and realize that Jay Gatsby wasn’t the Great American Party Animal but the Great American Stalker, maybe we’ll finally see some decent adaptations.
Joe, fwiw i wonder the same thing, it makes me sad – in this day and age it seems like there could be some sort of facility where good little movies that don’t get picked up for distribution for one reason or another could still be viewed online or elsewhere by those interested to seek them out…
I wonder the same. A lot make their way to Netflix instant, or get released years later.
Quite a few horror films do that…THE LOVED ONES was finally given distribution last year three years after release, and ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE was released about 3 years late. YOU’RE NEXT, which topped the festival circuit about 2 years ago is getting a wide push in late August.
that’s interesting, Etg – i don’t know much about this, is sort of a backwards bizarro-world thing happening where low-key viewer interest is actually leading to the distribution of movies years after the fact, or why are some of these movies getting picked up for release after so much time, what’s the impetus for it?
Etguild: True enough, but many — most? — of those are genre films of some sort. Like, there’s evidently still enough of an audience for westerns out there for even some really dodgy low-budget “oaters” (if I may be forgiven some Variety slanguage) to get some sort of DVD and/or streaming exposure.
Leahnz: A producer’s rep once told me this about certain foreign-language films, and I suppose it holds true for English-language indies as well: Sometimes, producers/filmmakers have wildly over-optimistic ideas about the commercial potential of their efforts, and make outrageous demands for upfront money. A year goes by, two years go by… and maybe they stop being so demanding. Trouble is, if they wait too long — well, there are lots of other films to pick up. And they’re seen as “fresher” products.
thanks Joe, interesting, that makes sense — such a fickle business, it’s sad to think such changeable commercial whims have so much influence over what art/film gets a public spotlight, but I guess it’s just the reality of the game – I’d think you’d need a thick skin to play on a ongoing basis.
I have a good idea of why Todd Phillips didn’t do another DP/30 for HANGOVER 3. His film SUCKS.
My god, I can’t tell whether he has a deep contempt for the fans of the first HANGOVER, or simply got bored and lazy. Everything reprehensible about the first two films, the chauvanism and white male entitlement and the weirdly childish attitude towards sex, is this time brought to the fore without the comfortable veneer of hilariously over the top comedy.
Which I’d be fine with. If the film condemned it. It doesn’t, at all. It’s not funny. It has no redeeming value as entertainment. And it has the bonus of containing the most shocking depictions of cruelty to animals of any mainstream Hollywood film in years. It pushes its ugliness in your face, and is either mocking you for ignoring it the last two times around, or really believes the swill it is selling.
Should I worry about myself or Hollywood for liking FAST & FURIOUS 6 better than the Shane Black superhero film, the Todd Phillips comedy, the Abrams Star Trek sequel or the Luhrmann classic-lit flick so far this summer?
The New Yorker’s interactive map of movie franchises is quite fun to play with, and it reveals some surprising info since all the money involved has been adjusted for inflation.
So, for example, the budget of DR. NO would be $8M today, $15M for THE TERMINATOR, $29M for ALIEN, $52M for RAIDERS…and $334M for AT WORLD’S END?!?
Holy poop!
The last two SHREK movies cost nearly 3x as much as the first two, and James Bond easily raked in $5B more than the Star Wars flicks.
Uh huh.
This is called the “actor’s take.”
Oftentimes in film, the people who act in a successful film, want what is called a RAISE to appear in subsequent installments. For instance, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz wanted what is in industry parlance known as “big buckos” to return for Shrek sequels. I believe Simon Pegg and Nick whats his name requested the “SHOW ME THE MONEY” clause after “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz.” Also, since the budget of the movie remains unconfirmed, I believe it to be $33334 million.
Outrageous, I know.
As for the shock at budgets for TERMINATOR and DR. NO….my shock is that the budgets were so high in an age where film wasn’t ubiqitous.
Considering that the industry lost its collective shizz when actors like Carrey, et al, started asking for $20M per picture, I thought it was a bit outrageous to think three voice actors would each walk away with $33M for each of the last two SHREK movies, but what the heck do I know.
Did Carrey ask for it or was it simply thrown at him? It took the studios to break that barrier, not actors demands. The first 20 mil offer was actually to Stallone from Savoy, of course they went bankrupt before the project was selected but they had already opened the floodgates.
And while I could see someone making Alien or Terminator (if they kept practical effects) at those pricepoints today, there is no way that Dr. NO, would be able to be made for that price. They are simply putting numbers into a calculater, not looking at the changes to industry and economy.
I really like the line-up of Dunham quotes on the front page twitter feed currently. Giving her the last word = classy.