May 6, 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
Wow, I haven’t laughed this hard since I received that book of Polish humor, as a gag gift for Christmas…the book with nothing but blank pages. 1992. Guess that joke never gets old, does it, Dave?
Wow, this works on so many levels.
It’s a nice meta statement on the level of content on this blog over the past year or two.
kind of depressing somehow, i mean what does anyone NEED to know about any of this awards bullshit?
ratchet up that middle finger to the whole sordid, i-just-threw-up-a-little-in-my-mouth ‘campaign’ – it’s all fucking stupid and meaningless – but the ’20 wks to oscar’ columns are still going on the main page (inexplicably not also here on the blog for comment) and the ‘for your consideration’ ads are bannering away, critics’ awards vs industry awards for the ‘best’ (yeah right), it’s all just nonsense that nobody NEEDS, except maybe a tiny, select group of insular self-perpetuating, self-aggrandizing ass-kissers, back-slappers and ‘prognosticators’ who’ve turned it into possibly the world’s most useless industry ever; be above it all or get down in there and describe the muck but i’m not sure you can have it both ways
Yeah, I mean I’ve always actually liked following Awards season, but this same non-post could run after EVERY awards show (and just about every other entertainment-related human endeavor).
I think sometimes the Globes are either a good indicator of a victor or possible heads up to some surprises in store. This year, despite the great opening, the results didn’t move the needle.
I saw a lot of decent films this past year. Not sure if anything really blew me away. JK Simmons was memorable in his performance. I thought both Boyhood and Grand Budapest were sorta crowning achievements for each of those directors, in showcasing the finest of what they do best. Heck, I don’t know if it had anything to do w/low expectations but I thought Rock captured the best of his humor in Top Five. Birdman I’d prolly have in the mix as well. Some others, no problem. But to me, the films of 2014 would be comparable to an MVP award. Great effort that should be recognized. However, there’s something about an Academy Award that screams Hall of Fame. While I don’t believe best pic this year will be a clunker, it just doesn’t seem like it is bronze-bust worthy.
It would be really snobbish to not award one, like sometimes there isn’t a new HoF inductee, but I don’t know if the bp winner will have the sort of eternal classic remembrance attached to it upon announcement.
This particular commentary is more on media than on the awards, Leah. I have written about the absurdity of the Globes year after year after year.
Triple Option: A cursory look at the last 80-odd years of Oscar winners should disabuse you of the notion that “eternal classic remembrance” is consistently a determining factor in the results. Several winners are remembered mostly for being winners.