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
Quite a trainwreck.
While I genuinely liked Derrickson’s previous movies (even his Keanu “Day The Earth Stood Still” remake), “Deliver Us” was pretty much a snooze-fest from start to finish for me.
Since Edgar Ramirez had the only interesting character (and gave the only performance of note), I’m not sure why they didn’t just make him the protagonist. (Yeah, I know: it was “based” on the campfire stories allegedly relayed by the cop Bana plays.)
Was particularly saddened to see the excellent Olivia Munn (so terrific on “Newsroom”) reduced to a generic hand-wringing wife/nag role.
I actually had a hard time staying awake: the whole thing was so predictable and flat. The only scene that sorta/almost works is the Bronx Zoo sequence–of course, zoos at night are pretty creepy places to begin with.
Didn’t Sony have a stronger movie they could have opened this weekend?
I’m not sure why they even bothered.
Labor Day, the weekend after LD or the first weekend of January would have sufficed.
No results for Snowpiercer? Box Office Mojo doesn’t have any data past it’s opening weekend either.
Also just really happy that no one is buying right-wing crap like “America” anymore.
But look at that percentage–it’s MASSIVE! No one can beat that!
(snicker)
I wonder if the “Apes” folks are wishing they hadn’t given “Transformers” such a wide berth. Seems clear there was money left on the table this weekend that “Apes” could have grabbed.
That money is left on the table thanks to (1) the World Cup quarterfinals and (2) nice weather most everywhere, Hurricane Arthur the exception.
“America” tried to be another “Fahrenheit 9/11” and failed. The bigger failure is on the arthouse side: At least one national theater chain is not playing “Obvious Child” due to its subject matter.
Apes will do just fine with its opening weekend. Just enough space from Transformers to have a big weekend. How big, I have no idea.
Thank god I don’t live on Planet Chucky
At this point, it’s entirely possible that Maleficent could be the highest grossing movie of the Summer, something I don’t think anyone saw coming after it’s opening. It’s only around $20 million off X-Men’s total and is holding strongly. Transformers is plunging hard and has Apes on the horizon. Could happen.
After ROLLING over that riotous trailer with the George Washington footage and disappearing monuments for months, I was actually disappointed to find out “America” is just another blowhard Dinesh D’Souza documentary. Somehow I had it in my head that the whole movie was a dramatization of the hysterical “what if?” scenario from the trailer. I would have gone to see THAT movie just for laughs.
Movieman is kinda wrong — Munn’s accent and acting are pretty legit in “Deliver Us.” I was impressed, and thought it was her best acting so far.
Wow, seems like I was way off in my assumption that Trans4mers would have to hit $200 million at least by weekend’s end — looking more like $180 million or so, which really must be a testament to franchise fatigue in general and/or of this one in particular, that it had two wide-open weekends with lots of people on vacation from school and work, and may only perform slightly better than all of those May movies that are going to hit the low 200s. With Apes likely to be big next weekend, what is the Bay movie going to do? Like $20 million or less? Which will put it over $200 million, and probably on course for the highest gross of the summer (barring an Apes or Guardians surprise), but I really didn’t think this one would finish below $300 million domestic and now it looks not just possible but entirely probable.
Have to say, things are looking GREAT for both Apes and the even riskier Guardians right now. If Guardians is as decent as most Marvel Studios movies tend to be, it pretty much locks up $180 million. If it’s something fresher or more surprising, it could take the crown at the last minute, somehow.
I know the “#1 movie of the summer” thing is kind of meaningless, but it is interesting to have a legit race for once (even if it’s due more to deflated grosses than booming competition). Right now, the #1 movie could make as little as $260 million or so. That could go to Trans4mers, that could go to Apes, that could go to Guardians… or if none of them even get there, X-Men or even, as Dr. Wally points out, Maleficent (though it seems unlikely that Transformers will fail to pass those).
Also interesting (and I think something DP mentioned a few weeks back): right now we have five movies that have or will hit $200 million, with two strong candidates on the way (Apes seems very likely as it only needs a slight bump from the original; Guardians seems possible due to total lack of competition). Seven would actually be the same number of $200 million+ grossers as last summer, one more than in 2012, three more than in 2011, one more than in 2010… basically, as many movies at that level as we’ve seen in any summer box office season. But nothing on the $300 million level… which hasn’t happened since 2001! Kind of nuts.
Also makes me wonder how Hollywood will deal with these kinds of results since they mostly seem to react by attempting to imitate success. Yet this year there’s not a whole lot that screams, imitate me! I guess live-action fairy tales show they have some life left (although even the surprise hit of Maleficent isn’t actually going to make much more than the Oz movie), and the pre-summer Captain America and the during-summer X-Men show that superheroes can still make money… but mostly, the “lessons” you might even attempt to learn on a superficial level seem sort of murky. Even the simplified go-to of “make better movies, stupid” doesn’t work for me, because I’ve really enjoyed X-Men, Edge of Tomorrow, Godzilla, 22 Jump Street, and Neighbors — a better-than-decent crop for the summer only being half done.
I’m not so sure we should be counting “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” out of the $300 million club.
Domestic box office is mostly beside the point for almost all of these big movies. If they make a killing internationally, does it matter if none of these movies reach $300m domestically?
Pirates of the Caribbean 4 only made about $241m domestically, but is the second biggest of the franchise worldwide.
I actually thought a July 4 weekend opening would help D’Souza’s movie. Wouldn’t it be funny if it turns out 2016 made so much money only because scads of curious liberals went to see it?
I wasn’t criticizing Munn’s accent or even her acting per se, Lex.
Just found her role so underdeveloped and painfully cliched (i.e., “the hand wringing wife/nag”).
She’s proven on “Newsroom”–which I’m guessing you haven’t seen since you thought her “Evil” perf was her best to date (what about “Magic Mike”?)–that she’s capable of (a lot) more.
It was depressing to see Munn’s talent wasted on such a blank, nothing role.
i confess i used to conflate olivias munn and wilde in my head into one amorphis blob, weidly now i can’t abide by munn but dig wilde
I wouldn’t be so sure about GUARDIANS–the trailers are all over the place, a dozen characters are thrown at the screen as if we know them already (a la EXPENDABLES), and still I have no idea what the damn thing’s about–prison movie, action movie, what?
Just give us a trailer that slows things way down and explains the premise, like FACE/OFF. Then you can speed it up.
“Into the Storm” smells like a potential sleeper.
Looks like a B (or maybe C) list “Twister” w/ more sophisticated CGI and a bunch of no-name actors doing dumb shit in a tornado.
(Yeah, never have seen Newsroom, admittedly)…
Kinda took Munn’s role as an HOMAGE to the Lorraine Bracco of “Someone to Watch Over Me” (those domestic scenes seemed to even be shot to match that) crossed with Venora in “Heat” (thanks to Bana’s STONE-RIPOFF-OF-“HEAT” speech about what he sees all day at work.)
Exiting “Deliver Us From Evil,” though, I had NO IDEA what the “villains” were even going for. Three dudes in Iraq see some ancient writing that makes them… crack up and turn into Goth painters so they can catch the attention of rage-case cop Bana? Why? To what end? As the finale was winding down — and I had been enjoying the movie up to that point — I was asking, ‘Wait, they’re REALLY not gonna explain what the endgame was here at ALL?’ Strange, because in most regards (acting, cinematography, polished Bruckheimer look and pacing) it was a solid enough movie, but the plot was chaos.
Kinda took Munn’s role as an HOMAGE to the Lorraine Bracco of “Someone to Watch Over Me” (those domestic scenes seemed to even be shot to match that) crossed with Venora in “Heat” (thanks to Bana’s STONE-RIPOFF-OF-”HEAT” speech about what he sees all day at work.)
Wow! That’s a pretty big stretch, Lex, lol?
But it’s certainly an interesting enough interpretation.
Haven’t seen “Someone” (which I remember getting a lot of shit for preferring to “Fatal Attraction” back in 1987) or even “Heat” in years. But I seem to recall finding the Bracco and Venora roles a tad more developed than Munn’s in “Evil.”
HATED Venora in Heat. She and the subplot involving Natalie Portman’s character were the only two missteps in that film. Venora’s character was so weird and obnoxious, of course Pacino would rather potentially die in a gun fight with bank robbers than settle down with her.
Venora is an astounding actress; did you know she once played Hamlet in Joseph Papp’s revival at the Public Theatre in NY? She did the best she could with the HEAT role; a lesser actress would have committed the worse sin of being dull.
She simmers in Heat. There’s so much in her eyes, the way she turns her head.
Venora’s character was annoying in HEAT, but she’s a great actress. Loved her from the get-go, in WOLFEN. She was robbed of an Oscar nomination (and win) for BIRD. She hasn’t been given enough opportunities to shine over the years, and I see that she has no credits past 2010. A shame.
WOLFEN POWER. BOW. And yes, she played her part in Heat to perfection.
And I am a HUGE FAN of Natalie Portman in Heat.
That whole Verona “you sift through the deritus” speech in HEAT is a HIDE UNDER THE UNIVERSE (TM Lex G) moment in an otherwise perfect film.