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movieman on: BYOB Fall Back, Film Forward
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Review: Little Women (no spoilers)
Why You Should Be Afraid Of The End Of The Paramount Decree
Review: Frozen 2 (spoiler-free)
Review: Marriage Story (spoilers only in the broadest sense)
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
Wow, I didn’t expect the trailer to get the “prestigious Oscar worthy movie” treatment. I hope it’s a lot closer to his previous films than this suggests.
Seeing this trailer made me think of some of the more recent Academy Awards, specifically those films with Black nominees. While coincidence may be the most reasonable and acceptable answer, I think an initial countering of prestige/quality of the role or freewill, though perhaps deserving note, would be dismissive, if not defensive of any other possible underlying cause or element at work here. Nonetheless, Ladies & Gentlemen, here’s your simple scorecard of Oscar Nominated films and potential nominees for a 5-year stretch. Is Hollywood shortsighted? Is it merely supplying to the demands of the public? Slaves, servants, rudimentary education, poor. Do these images, no matter how obviously fictional, suggest, shape, solidify or scuttle people’s perceptions?
2010
Precious
The Blind Side
2011
No Blacks cast among the Best Pic nor higher marquis, creative category nominated films
2012
The Help
2013
Lincoln
Beasts of The Southern Wild
Django
2014???
The Butler??
12 Years a Slave??
Triple: You left out “Fruitvale Station” as a potential 2014 Oscar nominee.
From this vantage point, it would seem to have an even better shot than “The Butler.”
As cynical (and sad) as it sounds, you can be sure that Harvey won’t miss any opportunity to conflate the tragic real life events of that film w/ the Zimmerman/Martin trial.
I was surprised at how conventional (for a McQueen film)l “Slave” looks, but the trailer is still damn impressive.
is brad pitt re-using his ben button accent?
I think McQueen is an amazing talent. His films are so sparse and tightly wound that they remind me of Robert Bresson. But this… I hope my anxieties are misplaced and it turns out well.