Cannes Originals

Cannes Competition Review: Mr. Turner

Though much of the film is immaculate, the sum total lacks an emotional weight to lift the biography off the canvas.

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Cannes 2014: Grace of Monaco

Olivier Dahan is inarguably a genius. He is also, perhaps less clearly, a madman. I was expecting to offer a quick reaction to Grace of Monaco, but the film defied my urge to a quick, clean reaction. It is glorious, magical, inspired… and missing… something. But I have a powerful urge to revisit it to try to get a better handle on it.

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Cannes 2014: Opening Day

I have long been of the opinion that Cannes is an indulgence to US press. Starting my third year covering the festival, I have to say, nothing’s changed that opinion. But like Telluride, it’s a lovely indulgence. It’s the most civil film festival of the biggies. The schedule is loaded, but manageable. The town is…

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Countdown To Cannes: Mike Leigh

The last in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Damián Szifron

The penultimate in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown to Cannes: Alice Rohrwacher

The fifteenth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Abderrahmane Sissako

The fourteenth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Andrey Zvyagintsev

The thirteenth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Bertrand Bonello

The twelfth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Jean-Pierre And Luc Dardenne

The eleventh in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Jean-Luc Godard

The tenth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Michel Hazanavicius

The ninth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Ken Loach

The eighth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Naomi Kawase

The seventh in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

The sixth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: David Cronenberg

The fifth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Xavier Dolan

The fourth in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Bennett Miller

The third in a series of snapshots outlining the nineteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Atom Egoyan

The second in a series of snapshots outlining the eighteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Countdown To Cannes: Tommy Lee Jones

The first in a series of snapshots outlining the eighteen directors in the 67th Palme d’Or Competition.

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Quote Unquotesee all »

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