April 23, 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
Donald Glover. His stand up is great and he is very likeable.
Nobody.
No host. The unseen announcer says, “Welcome to the XXth Acadamy Awards. Please welcome Actress and Actor.”
Actor and actress walk up.
“The nominations for X are…”
Winner gets to speak as long as they want.
Unseen announcer: “Please welcome…”
Problem solved. Stars can still be seen, the awful scripted fake banter is abolished, the show doesn’t go overtime, the winners get to speak from their hearts.
FOR THE THOUSANDTH FUCKING TIME…
BRING BACK MC KEYS!
If not Peter Coyote. Let Clooney or Murray or someone just MC the event. The best Oscar ceremony of this century, is 2000. Nothing has touched it in terms of pacing, or just enjoyment. It was just a jam with some awards. That’s what the show should be, but these motherfuckers refuse to fucking grasp this.
That’s the only way to make the Oscar’s cool. A cool actor/tress MC, a cool band, and let it fucking be. Seriously.
I remember the Coyote year fondly as well, Cranston could provide the same service beautifully. And I know I am in the minority but I would love Hathaway again, without the Franco albatross around her neck she would do well, and it’s about ten years too late but Stiller and Wilson were born for this.
Thought about it a sconch more, and if you wanted to hit a broad swath, cross demos, and have a combination of dangerous and comforting with hosts that never phone it in no matter what the appearance…I think the combination of Haddish and Hanks could run five years straight. He will of course have to take the year he wins his next Oscar off.
Jim Carrey would be great. Someone mentioned Emily Blunt and John Krasinski. Nathan Lane. Is it safe to assume people like Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Kimmel, Conan etc. already turned them down? Give Letterman another shot at it.
Jimmy Fallon and James Corden could make for a fun night. Might also help the ratings.
I really like Corden, but ABC might be weird about hyping up another late night host. I am down with Cranston being the MC though. That’s a good fucking idea.
Downey by a mile. He manages to be both emphatically a member of the club whilst wryly standing apart from it. Look at him and Brolin whooping it up at the Marvel Comic Con panels and tell me that these guys can’t work a room. In fact, making Brolin his co-host would be metatextually irresistible considering recent on screen events.
Downey would be great, but the possibility of having Iron Man and Thanos host the Oscars that might award Black Panther the top prize (on a Disney owned network no less) would cause me great psychic harm. It would be the date used to mark the time of death of the industry.
how about some more dudes blech
Michelle Wolf is the obvious choice.
Leah, this isn’t twitter. There isn’t a word limit. The obvious female host, is Tiffany Haddish. Would they let her be herself though? That’s the joys of the Academy Awards.
Busy Phillips has a Tweet addressing this very question…her point is there are a lot of great female names that are easily overlooked.
https://twitter.com/BusyPhilipps/status/1070912000270708737
Of the ones she mentions, I think Sarah Silverman represents the most plausible choice.
well wait on, if haddish is so obvious then she must have been asked and passed on the gig before hart (whose segment a couple years ago – was it in the chris rock telecast – was cringey, forced and sweaty and not funny in the slightest), right? along with numerous other terrific women entertainers, because why kevin freakin’ hart — is the academy so useless and clueless that they can’t read the damn room and the current culture, choosing yet another dude in a year when a kickin’ female host – preferably someone of colour – is the clear and obvious choice
(or hillary clinton, who could just come out between each segment wearing a different sparkly dress and say, “i told y’all stupid fucks”, and laugh)
my personal choice is and always will be wanda sykes, who’s ten thousand times funnier than hart, but alas i realise i likely will go to my grave jonesing for this moment
Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein. With his dog he shows on Instagram.
I’d watch.
Sykes is beyond perfect. I don’t know if she is a big enough name, but she’s hilarious while still being personable and hits the Pence nightmare trifecta as a queer woman of color.
“hillary clinton, who could just come out between each segment wearing a different sparkly dress…”
So you want to guarantee even lower ratings than last year?
Bill,
Doyle is an interesting choice. Especially if he’s still dating Alissa White-Gluz and brings her along too.
get your head out of your ass petey
what the heck, this didn’t post:
the new metric by which to make life decisions accordingly: WWAMP
(What Would Annoy Mike Pence)
I liked Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts of the Golden Globes. I wouldn’t mind seeing them hosting the Oscars. They’re kinda post that over saturation point where they seemed to pop up in everything.
Wanda Sykes was mentioned upthread. I’d be down to see her. Either alone or I think she’d pair up nicely with Ali Wong. Yes, Constance Wu would be a bigger name but it’s likely Ali who’s creating the best lines for her.
Just by nature of the show, a lot of jokes during the Oscars broadcast are set-up/punch. Which, to me, made Kevin Hart a little questionable because that’s not the type of stand-up he does and has seemed a bit awkward when asked to do so. Haddish is a great storyteller but I don’t know if I’d expect her to nail it as host either. Some parts way better than others but I wouldn’t think she’d be as smooth as Whoopi or Billy Crystal.
I can already hear the boos from the elitists who post here but if I were to pick the one person who I thought could guarantee THE most entertaining Oscar broadcast evar…Someone, you may not initially recognize his name but he’s certainly known by work and title, and that’s The Roastmaster General: Jeffrey Ross, people! Wooo, give it up for Jeffrey Ross!
He’d keep the pace up, people would stay interested in what he has to say the whole night even if there are a lot of “popular” movies nominated. He’s roasted Trump before but he’d also be a draw to many conservatives who resent Hollywood now because they know he wouldn’t kiss anybody’s ass. Get all the red carpet and in-ceremony snark rolled into one. I’d predict a ratings spike on curiosity alone.
Not sure why my head is in my ass, Leah. The purpose of the host is to boost viewership. The Clintons are playing to empty seats on their speaking tour, and having to use Groupon. Even the New York Times had an article about it.
Besides, Hill would have a coughing fit and embarrass herself.
If you want to go political, get Michelle Obama to host. She’s the one packing them in. Plus she’d look better in the dresses.
If Michelle Obama hosted my wife would actually watch. That’s actually a pretty awesome idea. She probably knows half the crowd and wouldn’t get intimidated, she could crack jokes about her Netflix deal and ask why Southside with You wasn’t nominated, have a running bit where she brings out a past host or two onstage to give her pointers. Her visibility and star power is probably greater than almost any of the nominees.
The only people who it would turn off are the ones who were never going to watch anyway.
Bette Midler and Tiffany Haddish. Cross generational funny ladies.
Hasan Minhaj has certainly earned his chops with a stint on The Daily Show. His WH Correspondents hosting was also some funny shit.
Bull, I second that, and piggybacking off you, Hasan has a great news show on Netflix right now too. He’s proving that he can lead a comedy show as well.
er, pete: quoting maureen dowd’s opinion screed, with her embarrassing and irrational, long-suffering twisted hillary vendetta playing out like groundhog day in her mind, does not help your case, you sound silly. educate yourself with some actual objective news sources (or don’t, and keep your head up your ass – it’s a trend, after all)
my canadian friend i used to work with here, who i think i’ve mentioned a few times, went to one of the speaking things there and it was packed out. also, it was a joke — but the batshit crazy white boy sphincter 9.5 propagandised hatred of hclint is as reliable as it is pathetic.
(and hillary coughed once *OMG* — meanwhile the traitorous fake ‘president’ is a syphilis-ridden malignant bag of rancid feces who can’t string a sentence together, good job peteb!)
who do people think is watching the oscars, anyway
going by the MCN main page (bless) it looks like the telecast might go sans MC this year — someone had mentioned that above, maybe that’s the ticket, just have loads of presenters do stuff with some type of cohesive theme and it might be quicker to boot?
my comment is ‘awaiting moderation’…by whom? this is mysterious
Leah, not sure how it’s”propaganda” when Groupon is offering Clinton tix at 66% off. That’s just cold hard fact.
And the Hilldabeast had multiple coughing attacks. You can look them up on YouTube.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
MCN Editor: Curious as to why my comment needs moderation when the comment before it was okay?
Lin is an intriguing idea. The songs and raps he wrote for the Tony Awards (often performed by Neil Patrick Harris) are classics in and of themselves. If he applied that to the Oscars, we’d have an embarrassment of riches of which we are not worthy.
“Hilldabeast”
“You guys need to stop playing the misogynist card.”
^And that’s right after he offers up a “cold hard fact.” Doesn’t get any better than that.
Constance Wu just suggested Randall Park could do it. Have you seen the guy on Wild n’ Out? He’s hilarious in a live setting too.
Ronan Farrow would be mighty real. People would tune in to hear him tell everyone in the room how they collude with rich stalkers to get films made. great ratings.
FACT: something that actually exists; reality; truth
(Dictionary.com)
https://www.groupon.com/deals/gl-lnc-the-clintons-la-2019
(at 59% off, not 66% – mea culpa)
You’re welcome.
Context: the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.
Pete B.: missing the point.
I didn’t say that it wasn’t a fact. The quotation marks were there to quote what you said. A cold hard fact is a claim to objectivity. You undermined your own claim with your next sentence. That was my point. Have a nice day.
If the idea is to get rid of a designated host altogether, why not have nominees host. Once you’re nominated, you’re part of the show. Of course you don’t introduce your own nominated category but would completely solve the problem of casting actors for each segment. The show would then be more about celebrating the nominees.
And here’s a suggested segment for the Academy. This is the movie business, and every year we get some form of retrospective. Can some portion be dedicated to looking forward? How about a showreel of movies for the upcoming year that would contain images that won’t be seen anywhere else, including a few that may be contenders for next year’s Oscars?
They should at least end the moratorium on film advertising during the show. Why am I watching movie ads during the superbowl but during the Oscars its all anti aging cream and Target commercials?
Hallelujah Hcat. The ads are talked about almost as much as the Superbowl itself. The Oscar telecast is timed perfectly to serve as a premiere point for next years biggest hits and possible Oscar contenders. Imagine all those eyeballs that viewed the Endgame trailer online, now tuned in to see the trailer for the first time in the telecast. That’s an easy decision.
Maybe there is no fix to the Oscars because it’s an antiquated spectacle designed to celebrate a culture and industry that no longer exists?
Or
It’s no longer relevant because as a society we increasingly do not consume media in a way that “belongs” to any one industry. I.e. the Oscars were looked at as an “official” stamp on the movies Americans went to see. We no longer consume movies in traditional means, both in terms of physical space (living room, train, flights) and how we pay attention to them (Pausing, talking during movies, having access via a myriad of platforms).
The Oscars as they currently stand just don’t speak to anything in our culture.
Were the Oscars ever not broken?
Amblin, I get what you are saying, since the eighties the number of films we consume first through the theatrical experience has dropped by an astronomical amount. But theaters are still going strong, Box Office will have a record year, and the Academy should never stop tinkertape parading for seeing films in theaters.
Movies are still events and a dominant force. The whole mission statement of peak TV is to make 10 hour movies, I never hear of anyone attempting to make 2.5 hour television seasons (well maybe Warner tentpoles, sheesh exposition much?).
As for how we consume movies, I don’t think it was ever ideal even before home theater. I remember my father telling me about going to the movies every weekend as a kid (he didn’t have a television until college), it didn’t matter what was playing or even when it started, they walked in when they got there and if it was halfway over they just stayed for the next showing until they were caught up. I know there is the impulse to paint theatrical as a palace, but we all know that the majority of the people see it as a living room, babysitter or rumble seat.
I wonder if they could pull off a “Mystery Host”? Promise a big name but nobody knows who it is until they walk out on the stage. That would drive up numbers, at least for the first 10 minutes. Celebs might be more willing to do it if they didn’t have to do any pre-show publicity or have people arguing for two months about how inappropriate a choice they are.
A “Mystery Host” would be awesome. Especially if it was shared duties between Mel Gibson, Kevin Spacey, Woody Allen, and Roman Polanski (via satellite). No one could look away, and it would be the most talked-about event of the millennium. They’d probably pay hell for it the following year, but…
It looks like Kevin Hart may indeed wind up hosting the Oscars after all.
Whatever.
The Oscars suck anyway.
On Dec. 6th, the second post in this thread, I suggested they use nobody as host.
It’s beginning to look as if that is the direction they will take.