April 30, 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” ā 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 ā 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 ā he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” ā and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging ā I was with her at that moment ā 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 namedā” “Yeah, sure ā 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 Iām on the phone with you now, after all thatās 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 didnāt seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. Thereās not a case of that. He wasnāt using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had ā if that were what the accusation involved ā 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. Iām not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, āYou know, itās not this, itās thatā? Because ā let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. TimesĀ piece, thatās what it lacked. Thatās 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
Huzzah!
Thanks to you, Dave, for doing this for so long, and so well. And for putting up with us internet crazies.
What Cloudy said, and a BOOYAH to you David. BOOYAH!
I am not a truthteller!
Metaphysical conundrums aside, best wishes to all on your weird yank Turkey Eating Day. š
Well said.
“to my enemies”
im thankful for melodrama.
who the f really has enemies heat? you might have people you fundamentally disagree with, but enemies? way to completely lose perspective on being thankful. you l.a. types, so full of bile.
Obama is thankful for self-deluding libs who think he’s made remarkable progress this year, to the extent that the world is significantly safer and saner. Keep the faith!
I keed, I keed! Happy Thanksgiving.
I would have thought we just say who we are thankful for in the world of movies. These are the people who are currently bringing the most joy to me from Hollywood and for whom I am most thankful:
The Coen Brothers
Paul Rudd
Alec Baldwin
Meryl Streep
Quentin Tarantino
Danny Boyle
Amy Pohler
Kristen Wiig
Michael Sheen
Denzel Washington
James Franco
Martin Scorcese
Steven Soderbergh
Judd Apatow
I know – it’s quite a bizarre list, but I’m a pretty bizarre fellow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
T
David-
Thanks for running this site and putting up with the moodiness and insanity around here. You’re in for quite a year ahead…best of luck and have fun!
Honestly David, I think the critical success of the women-helmed films “Hurt Locker”, “Bright Star”, and “An Education” are considered more important achievements. Bigelow may be the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director, and that’s exciting for women in the industry.
As for “New Moon”, it’s nice to be able to point to a hugely successful film that was entirely geared to the female audience.
(Yeah, it sucked, but so did “Transformers”.)
I am NOT thankful for Thanksgiving since it’s another American public holiday that means my internet “surfing” become severely lacklustre since everyone turns off.
(happy thanksgiving to all the Americans though, really).