This was posted by Transformers director Michael Bay on his website, and captured before he took it down shortly thereafter, having thought better of sharing. We bring it to ya, you can't take it back. Sorry Mike.
LET'S GET SOME FACTS STRAIGHT
06/29/2007 11:20 PM
The movie is over.
Wow that was a hard one, but I must tell you it was so much fun. The most difficult actors I’ve ever worked with, besides Bruce Willis, are Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. They took every single one of my days for a year. But they are well worth the work. I’ve just traveled 36,000 miles around the world (in two weeks) and had the most amazing premiere at the Taormina film festival in an ancient, Greek-built theatre that existed well before the birth of Christ. I loved seeing the reactions to the film from so many different cultures. This movie really travels around the world. I’m so excited for everyone to see it. Thanks to all you that supported me on this film.
Just so I set the story straight, my budget started at $145 Million, it crept to $150 and some change – I’m very proud of that – the fact that we are half the cost of all these other summer blockbusters. I see people doubt that out on the net, but anyone want to challenge me I’ll put a ten thousand dollar bet down on the table right now.
Even when the studio tried to ship me out to Canada or shoot down with Aussies - I looked but I knew we were dead up there. I needed my crew that I have been loyal to for years, they are the best in the world. Besides I believe American movies that portray America, should be made in America. I cut my fee 30% so I could make this at home. I knew this was right for the movie so I asked the other producers to join – Ian and Lorenzo did, and the two others (that came attached to the project) Tom Desanto and Don Murphy did not. That was my introduction to them – they did not want any part of their fee going to make a better movie. Things like that don’t usually sit well with me.
Now that the movie is done I get strange questions from the press. Like 'how did Tom control the set'? What? 'How did Tom and Don control you?' What the fuck. 'How was it working with Tom and Don who knew Transformers so well?' 'We heard Tom wrote the story – he had a 90 page treatment, right?' Okay stop. Let me take you back in time. Tom and Don are very nice guys, but let’s get some facts straight.
Tom had one creative meeting with me for one hour and ten minutes to be exact about a year ago. He told he was the über fan boy and was going to protect me from the minefields. The type of minefields on the Net like 'Damn you Michael Bay' 'You wrecked my childhood Michael Bay' and other various web death threats I received. Tom proceeded to tell me how much he had problems with the robot designs and script issues. I realized he was worlds apart in my vision. I said thank you very much, and then showed him my office door - I never really spoke to him again other then to mutter hello. He would occasionally come to the set with guests like it was some theme park. I never spoke creatively with Don. I read his notes kind of trashing the script and making me and the writers feel like a big shit pile. But during production Don was nice to me, he knew I was not going to talk creative with him.
One day not too long ago, the writers of our movie Alex and Bob called me in a panic saying all of a sudden after the movie was almost finished in post that Tom was applying for writer's or story credit. I was appalled because neither the writer’s nor I ever saw any treatment. Well, he applied for credit, but the Writer’s Guild shot him down, denied him.
But what made my blood curl was something that was on the Net with Tom at the Saturn awards on IESB.net where they interviewed him about the movie – a movie I might add he had not seen yet. He acted very much like he did. Check it out as he vamps through the questions, and how Hugo put his 'thumb print on it'. Give me a break, the guy was lying through his teeth - he had seen nada, nothing, until the press screening.
So that’s the real truth, I had to say it, cause I'm tired of answering these questions.
What these guys did do was stuck with a ‘silly toy movie’ and pushed it around town and kept the faith after everyone turned them down, always with the hope that maybe someone somewhere would make it. Now I commend them on that. Hats off to them, but trying to taking creative credit in the press let me just say it – irks me. Too many credits are given to too many people who had nothing to do with the movie. Hell, even investment bankers with not the slightest idea of how to make a movie all of a sudden are big producers in town.
I guess that’s how it goes in Hollywood.
Michael Bay
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Insurgents - Variety Review
The Insurgents
By LISA NESSELSON
A Slamdance Media Group release, in conjunction with Allumination FilmWorks, of a Revel Films production, in association with Angel Baby Entertainment and Full Glass Films. (International sales: Revel Films, New York.) Produced by Greg Segal, John Gallagher, Elana Pianko, Stan Erdreich, Mike Parness. Directed, written by Scott Dacko;
With: John Shea, Henry Simmons, Juliette Marquis, Michael Mosley, Mary Stuart Masterson.
A brain-teaser that tosses ideologies in a narrative blender alternately set to "certainty" and "ambiguity," "The Insurgents" makes the most of its compact cast of attractive thesps and low budget to examine the inner workings of a domestic terror cell. Anybody wondering how homegrown terrorism against a U.S. target could ever seem like a good idea will find somewhat stagey but consistently engaging food for thought here. Fests and civics classes should investigate.
As a citizen's response to post-9/11 doubts, scripter-helmer Scott Dacko's debut film is sometimes clunky in execution but always lively on an intellectual level. Script has something for everyone, whether you think the Chicago 7 were swell guys or you see no real reason not to wipe rogue nations off the map.
Talky but intriguing pic bounces back and forth in time, reconstructing the lead-up to an all-American bomb plot implemented by a disabled Iraq vet, a resourceful ex-prostitute and an ex-con country boy. Disgruntled protags follow the self-righteous leadership of a charismatic professional author and lecturer.
At pic's outset, clean-cut Southern-accented James (Michael Mosley) addresses the camera with a defiant rant marbled with eloquent references to dying for a cause, prefaced by, "If you're watching this, I guess I'm dead."
Ten or so title cards situate the action at between "three years ago" and "yesterday" but in non-chronological order, keeping viewers on their toes.
For example, "6 months ago" James came to the rescue of foxy, self-reliant Hana (Juliette Marquis) in a bar, after which they became a couple.
Two years before meeting suave but impotent ex-Marine and Iraq vet, Marcus (Henry Simmons), Hana was befriended by polemical author Robert (John Shea) who holds cozy salons for folks unsatisfied with the status quo.
Set piece devoted to the Unified Theory of Sept. 11, 2001 is an entertaining if chilling roundup of all the square pegs that don't fit in round holes pertaining to that day's terror attacks.
"The remarkable thing about 9/11 isn't how many people died -- it's how many lived," is one assertion.
"Why do conspiracies always have to be vast? Two people can be a conspiracy," offers one character. And, oh yeah, "The founding fathers were insurgents."
By the time the title card reads "Yesterday," suspense is white hot. Who really recruited who and for what?
Production values are sufficient on limited funds.
Camera (color, widescreen, HD), Learan Kahanov; editor, Bob Reitano; music, Ben Butler, Mario Grigorov; production designer, John El Manahi; art director, Patrick McGowan; costume designer, Dara Ettinger; sound, Stephen Barden, Brian Miklas; casting, Adrienne Stern. Reviewed at Avignon Film Festival -- competing, June 23, 2007. Running time: 83 MIN.
By LISA NESSELSON
A Slamdance Media Group release, in conjunction with Allumination FilmWorks, of a Revel Films production, in association with Angel Baby Entertainment and Full Glass Films. (International sales: Revel Films, New York.) Produced by Greg Segal, John Gallagher, Elana Pianko, Stan Erdreich, Mike Parness. Directed, written by Scott Dacko;
With: John Shea, Henry Simmons, Juliette Marquis, Michael Mosley, Mary Stuart Masterson.
A brain-teaser that tosses ideologies in a narrative blender alternately set to "certainty" and "ambiguity," "The Insurgents" makes the most of its compact cast of attractive thesps and low budget to examine the inner workings of a domestic terror cell. Anybody wondering how homegrown terrorism against a U.S. target could ever seem like a good idea will find somewhat stagey but consistently engaging food for thought here. Fests and civics classes should investigate.
As a citizen's response to post-9/11 doubts, scripter-helmer Scott Dacko's debut film is sometimes clunky in execution but always lively on an intellectual level. Script has something for everyone, whether you think the Chicago 7 were swell guys or you see no real reason not to wipe rogue nations off the map.
Talky but intriguing pic bounces back and forth in time, reconstructing the lead-up to an all-American bomb plot implemented by a disabled Iraq vet, a resourceful ex-prostitute and an ex-con country boy. Disgruntled protags follow the self-righteous leadership of a charismatic professional author and lecturer.
At pic's outset, clean-cut Southern-accented James (Michael Mosley) addresses the camera with a defiant rant marbled with eloquent references to dying for a cause, prefaced by, "If you're watching this, I guess I'm dead."
Ten or so title cards situate the action at between "three years ago" and "yesterday" but in non-chronological order, keeping viewers on their toes.
For example, "6 months ago" James came to the rescue of foxy, self-reliant Hana (Juliette Marquis) in a bar, after which they became a couple.
Two years before meeting suave but impotent ex-Marine and Iraq vet, Marcus (Henry Simmons), Hana was befriended by polemical author Robert (John Shea) who holds cozy salons for folks unsatisfied with the status quo.
Set piece devoted to the Unified Theory of Sept. 11, 2001 is an entertaining if chilling roundup of all the square pegs that don't fit in round holes pertaining to that day's terror attacks.
"The remarkable thing about 9/11 isn't how many people died -- it's how many lived," is one assertion.
"Why do conspiracies always have to be vast? Two people can be a conspiracy," offers one character. And, oh yeah, "The founding fathers were insurgents."
By the time the title card reads "Yesterday," suspense is white hot. Who really recruited who and for what?
Production values are sufficient on limited funds.
Camera (color, widescreen, HD), Learan Kahanov; editor, Bob Reitano; music, Ben Butler, Mario Grigorov; production designer, John El Manahi; art director, Patrick McGowan; costume designer, Dara Ettinger; sound, Stephen Barden, Brian Miklas; casting, Adrienne Stern. Reviewed at Avignon Film Festival -- competing, June 23, 2007. Running time: 83 MIN.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Fear And Loathing Review
Sometimes you see a movie and it doesn’t resonate properly the first time. Maybe it’s the depth of your experience, or lack thereof. Maybe its something else, like there are layers of subtext. In the case of my initial reaction to Terry Gilliam’s adaption of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I think the cause was different. For whatever reason, when I first turned it on, watching it on DVD when it was released, I didn’t make it past the first twenty minutes. And I love Terry Gilliam, always have. I think, though, that when I saw one of my favorite books on screen, from one of my favorite directors, it set my expectations for comedy so high that what I saw in the first twenty minutes was quite disappointing. I was watching at a friend’s place, we turned it off, and I never bought or rented it afterward.
Well, its years later, now, and I’ve had the chance to see this brilliant movie. I think the first twenty minutes is kind of the orientation period. It’s the elevator ride down. I stopped the movie before I had a chance to acclimate to its vision, to embrace what Gilliam was trying to do with the book. The way that a world is created is undeniable, and even after watching just the first bit made me realize that he had done that, but to write it off as a terrific failure, one that was brave and masterful and just didn’t work.
But I had to give it another chance. I mean, this is Terry Gilliam. Brazil, Terry Gilliam. With Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. And I am glad to report that it was my short attention span, my ADD, whatever, that led me not to recognize the brilliance in the vision and the humor that resounds throughout. Its just that he doesn’t explain his vision, the background of the characters and their real-life behavior; he just asks you to hold on to the back bumper until youre running faster than you ever have, at the same speed as the car.
The casting is brilliant, with great cameos up and down, including Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Ellen Barkin, Chris Meloni (great as Sven, the Hotel Clerk), Gary Busey (may I have a kiss before you go?), Viggo Mortensen, Cameron Diaz, Penn Jillette, Harry Dean Stanton and a bunch of others. The photography completes the trippy atmosphere, as does the use of the rear projection in driving scenes. And Del Toro is a great foil to Depp, whose movie it is and who carries the movie with his performance and voiceover and complete dedication to his homage to Hunter S. Thompson (who appears in a flashback).
Watch it. Own it. Live it (well, probably not, you’ll get arrested). And try the Land Crab.
Well, its years later, now, and I’ve had the chance to see this brilliant movie. I think the first twenty minutes is kind of the orientation period. It’s the elevator ride down. I stopped the movie before I had a chance to acclimate to its vision, to embrace what Gilliam was trying to do with the book. The way that a world is created is undeniable, and even after watching just the first bit made me realize that he had done that, but to write it off as a terrific failure, one that was brave and masterful and just didn’t work.
But I had to give it another chance. I mean, this is Terry Gilliam. Brazil, Terry Gilliam. With Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro. And I am glad to report that it was my short attention span, my ADD, whatever, that led me not to recognize the brilliance in the vision and the humor that resounds throughout. Its just that he doesn’t explain his vision, the background of the characters and their real-life behavior; he just asks you to hold on to the back bumper until youre running faster than you ever have, at the same speed as the car.
The casting is brilliant, with great cameos up and down, including Tobey Maguire, Christina Ricci, Ellen Barkin, Chris Meloni (great as Sven, the Hotel Clerk), Gary Busey (may I have a kiss before you go?), Viggo Mortensen, Cameron Diaz, Penn Jillette, Harry Dean Stanton and a bunch of others. The photography completes the trippy atmosphere, as does the use of the rear projection in driving scenes. And Del Toro is a great foil to Depp, whose movie it is and who carries the movie with his performance and voiceover and complete dedication to his homage to Hunter S. Thompson (who appears in a flashback).
Watch it. Own it. Live it (well, probably not, you’ll get arrested). And try the Land Crab.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Airplane Bloggin’: Back to LALA land edition
Grabbed my first flight to LA after restfully (somewhat) spending the entire month of June in NYC. I had traveled back for the PictureStart Film Festival in late May, and I had actually intended to make my way back west by mid-June. But mid-June turned to late June and then, with airline ticket prices skyrocketing, to early July. And when I say early, I mean early, as I took another redeye inverse, a plane leaving NY damn early and getting into LA before 10AM. Redeye inverse, just made it up. Like it, feel free to use it.
LA is a source of ambivalence for me. I like LA. I like the weather. I certainly don’t mind a day of driving from meeting to meeting, grabbing coffees in between. I don’t mind being in a car alone (the anti-social part of me (is there any other part) likes that quite a bit).
But my apartment in LA, how shall we say, SUCKS. It’s been a little bit of a disaster all along. Its primary draws are that its well located, has off street parking, and is cheap. Readers may recall that when I moved into it, the room I had lacked walls., Yes, wall. I”ve since put up walls at moderate expense, but they were necessary so that I didn’t have to listen to the god-awful music the guy who shared the bungalow played. And he didn’t have to listen to me snore.
Rather uncermemoniously, this fellow, who was the one who convinced me to rent half the bungalow and join his band of merry thieves (I chose to simply cohabitate, anti-social being that I am), has moved out. With all the rest of his crew. When he told me he was leaving, I tried to find another tenant to replace him, choosing to choose my poison. But he never responded to the person I chose, so that they could see the place, and now one of the hipsters in the main house picked his replacement. So, I am going back to a bungalow with a roommate Ive never met. Hes supposedly quiet, and my format roommate was no joy, being noisy, home all the time, and kind of a slob, so perhaps it wont be that bad, We shall see. But to say that I don’t have some degree of trepidation would be a lie.
I also don’t really have much of a friend base in LA. That accounts for evenings in the bungalow on a regular basis. Which would be OK, except the bungalow is not exactly the Pierre. And I don’t have much STUFF there. I have some clothes, a few DVDs, and no cable television. So passing the time takes some time. I usually am multitasking at home, working on the computer while writing emails or reading or whatever. The TV is on, often playing a movie I’ve already seen (its kind of like playing music for me). I cannot do that in LA, with no cable. I have a few DVDs, and that’s where it is. Its not optimal.
But its work, and the friend situation is getting better (oh, woe is me). And things are progressing, which makes me feel good. Both Digger and Slaughter appear to be almost fully sewn in by now, and that’s the main reason I am out here.
I hate flying too, did I mention that? We’re over Colarado. A few hours to go.
See ya there.
Grumpy
LA is a source of ambivalence for me. I like LA. I like the weather. I certainly don’t mind a day of driving from meeting to meeting, grabbing coffees in between. I don’t mind being in a car alone (the anti-social part of me (is there any other part) likes that quite a bit).
But my apartment in LA, how shall we say, SUCKS. It’s been a little bit of a disaster all along. Its primary draws are that its well located, has off street parking, and is cheap. Readers may recall that when I moved into it, the room I had lacked walls., Yes, wall. I”ve since put up walls at moderate expense, but they were necessary so that I didn’t have to listen to the god-awful music the guy who shared the bungalow played. And he didn’t have to listen to me snore.
Rather uncermemoniously, this fellow, who was the one who convinced me to rent half the bungalow and join his band of merry thieves (I chose to simply cohabitate, anti-social being that I am), has moved out. With all the rest of his crew. When he told me he was leaving, I tried to find another tenant to replace him, choosing to choose my poison. But he never responded to the person I chose, so that they could see the place, and now one of the hipsters in the main house picked his replacement. So, I am going back to a bungalow with a roommate Ive never met. Hes supposedly quiet, and my format roommate was no joy, being noisy, home all the time, and kind of a slob, so perhaps it wont be that bad, We shall see. But to say that I don’t have some degree of trepidation would be a lie.
I also don’t really have much of a friend base in LA. That accounts for evenings in the bungalow on a regular basis. Which would be OK, except the bungalow is not exactly the Pierre. And I don’t have much STUFF there. I have some clothes, a few DVDs, and no cable television. So passing the time takes some time. I usually am multitasking at home, working on the computer while writing emails or reading or whatever. The TV is on, often playing a movie I’ve already seen (its kind of like playing music for me). I cannot do that in LA, with no cable. I have a few DVDs, and that’s where it is. Its not optimal.
But its work, and the friend situation is getting better (oh, woe is me). And things are progressing, which makes me feel good. Both Digger and Slaughter appear to be almost fully sewn in by now, and that’s the main reason I am out here.
I hate flying too, did I mention that? We’re over Colarado. A few hours to go.
See ya there.
Grumpy
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thoughts on horror and scares
Heading back to LA on Thursday. Last stretch of packaging on Slaughter and Digger. Gonna have some announcements on those soon, but best wait til the news is public. Of course you understands. Gracias.
As you may have noticed, I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies. Mostly bad. Kind of tells ya something, especially because we have two on tap for the summer. Hopefully we can make something scary, and hopefully, good as well. Scary first. Scary is a good start.
One thing I’ve noticed about the best horror movies is that it’s the acting, as much as anything else, that makes them work and frightening. I mean, the concept and script of course play their parts, but it’s the communication of fear from the actors to the audience that creates fear. So I suppose that what that tells us is that the fear that we feel when watching a horror movie is sympathetic. Its received from the feeling of the characters, and the better their ability (the actors) to convey that feeling and make us believe it as well, the better the movie works.
I guess that plays into a lot of elements, the believability thing that is. If the effects are not believable, i.e. too schlocky, or the stunts are poorly staged, then it affects the overall believability of fear – not as much as bad acting (to me), but to some degree.
I hope both movies will have the acting and overall believability that’s so necessary to scare the pants off of the audience.
As you may have noticed, I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies. Mostly bad. Kind of tells ya something, especially because we have two on tap for the summer. Hopefully we can make something scary, and hopefully, good as well. Scary first. Scary is a good start.
One thing I’ve noticed about the best horror movies is that it’s the acting, as much as anything else, that makes them work and frightening. I mean, the concept and script of course play their parts, but it’s the communication of fear from the actors to the audience that creates fear. So I suppose that what that tells us is that the fear that we feel when watching a horror movie is sympathetic. Its received from the feeling of the characters, and the better their ability (the actors) to convey that feeling and make us believe it as well, the better the movie works.
I guess that plays into a lot of elements, the believability thing that is. If the effects are not believable, i.e. too schlocky, or the stunts are poorly staged, then it affects the overall believability of fear – not as much as bad acting (to me), but to some degree.
I hope both movies will have the acting and overall believability that’s so necessary to scare the pants off of the audience.
What I am Watching
Lady in the Water - Omigod. What the hell was that. Worse than expected, despite a valiant effort from the always excellent Paul Giamatti.
Idle Hands - Well, at least Jessica Alba is in it.
Dexter - a must see tv series on Showtime. Excellent, consistent, interesting.
Idle Hands - Well, at least Jessica Alba is in it.
Dexter - a must see tv series on Showtime. Excellent, consistent, interesting.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Classic Email Exchange from Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) and Mark Brazill, EP of That Seventies Show, c. 2001.
Don't have a cow, man
BY Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill
PUBLISHED March 2002
From an exchange of emails in fall 2001 between Judd Apatow, the creator of the sitcoms Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and a successful writer of Hollywood screenplays, and Mark Brazill, the creator of That '70s Show. Topher Grace is one of the stars of That '70s Show.
* * *
Mark,
I am writing you because I left a message but did not hear back. I understand that you were upset about me not calling you to ask if Topher could do our show. Since Fox executives were talking to Topher about it, I thought it was cool with you. Also, since I hadn't written it yet, I wasn't at the point of asking if it was possible to have him do it. I would have called your show then. I didn't realize it would create a problem. I never wished to offend you. If there is some protocol for people on Fox doing guest shots on other Fox shows, I didn't know what it was. Regardless, I'm sorry that this resulted in such a mess. If you are mad at me about this or something else from our past, please tell me. I only remember us having fun in the early nineties and it troubles me that it seems like you have a beef with me.
Best regards,
Judd Apatow
* * *
Judd,
Yeah, we were friends in the early nineties. And if you don't recall what happened, I'll remind you. I had a pilot at MTV called "Yard Dogs" about a rock band living in Hollywood. I told you about it and you proceeded to completely rip it off, storyline and all, for the Ben Stiller show. You called it "Grungies." MTV and UTA [United Talent Agency] were working on an overall deal (MTV's idea) with me, based on that pilot. When it turned up on your show everything went away overnight. I had just had my son Jack and I had no job, no money, nothing. There's a saying, "I forgive but I don't forget. And I don't forgive." So, now you know. Although I kind of think that you already did.
Mark
* * *
Mark,
I truly don't remember anything you are talking about. Jeff Kahn wrote "The Grungies" sketch, a parody where we did Seattle bands as The Monkees. I don't remember you ever calling me after that saying you were mad. Ben and I would get fifty sketches a week from the writers and then we'd pick the ones that we thought were funny. I never connected the two. Even now they don't seem similar. Ours was a goofy over-the-top parody, not a situation comedy about musicians in L.A. Nobody watched our show so I don't see how that could be the reason your pilot died. I am sorry you are upset. I am not a thief of ideas. I'm sorry you believe differently.
Judd Apatow
* * *
Judd,
The show I wrote was also over-the-top and it let down the fourth wall. Since it's registered at the WGA [Writers Guild of America], you could compare the two. And as an Exec Producer, we both know you have input into every sketch. As for no one seeing the show, everyone knows everything in Hollywood. There are no secrets. Personally, I feel you've made a career out of being a sycophant to Carrey or Shandling or Roseanne, and when you weren't kissing ass you were stealing from lesser-known comics or leeching off other people's ideas ("Celtic Pride," "Cable Guy"). I noticed how outraged you were to not get a writing credit on "Cable Guy" until it came out and was panned. You dropped that cause like the showbiz weasel you are. You may not think you're a thief, but most comics know otherwise. And again, you know that too. Have you ever read "What Makes Sammy Run"? I think you'd like it. Get cancer.
Love,
Mark
* * *
Mark,
Come on, we all wrote for comics at the beginning of our careers. I wrote for Roseanne, you wrote for Dennis Miller. If that makes me a sycophant, then I guess I am. And so are the writers for "Caesar's Hour." I dropped my "Cable Guy" lawsuit not because the film got bad reviews but because I spent eighty grand on it and my lawyer told me I was going to lose. You would be upset if you rewrote the vast majority of a script and received no credit. I wish you had called me about this years ago. I'm sure we could have worked it out. Try not to be so angry. Not everyone is as bad as you think. You should call Jeff Kahn and ask him how that sketch originated. If it turned out that I didn't steal your idea would you still want me to get cancer? I swear to God that I didn't know you were mad about this. Until six weeks ago I was still referring to you as an old friend. Maybe one day I'll be able to say that again.
Judd Apatow
* * *
Mark,
It's come to my attention that you are upset with Judd Apatow about the sketch "The Grungies." I completely understand why you would have been pissed off about seeing something similar to what you were working on at the time. However, the idea for "The Grungies" and all the initial writing and rewriting came from me. I also cast it, acted in it, and edited it. I was and still am influenced by pop music, and I thought it would be funny to satirize the seriousness of the Seattle grunge music scene with the ridiculous superficiality of "The Monkees" 1960s show. I hope that this clears up any misunderstanding. By the way, I am a huge fan of "That '70s Show." Congratulations on its well-deserved success. I also think it's cool you set it in Wisconsin. I went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison and loved it. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to email me.
Jeff Kahn
* * *
Mark,
I have no interest in talking with you on the phone anymore. I know you are very successful and think that gives you the right to judge people and berate them regardless of the facts, but I have had enough of you for one day. I know it's hard to believe that your rock band TV idea, which every writer in this town has thought of at one point, was not on my mind half a year after you told it to me. Yes, you thought of breaking the fourth wall. Groucho and George Burns stole it from you. Why don't you sue the guys who have that new show "How to Be a Rock Star" on the WB? I must have told them your idea. Nobody has ever goofed on rock bands, not "Spinal Tap" or The Rutles or 800 "Saturday Night Live" sketches. I should have told everyone on the show, no rock band sketches, that's Brazill's area. So hold on to your hate and rage, even though it makes no sense. I'll go back to my life of thievery and leeching. As for the cancer, I'll wait till you get it and then steal it from you. By the way, that joke was one of my writers', Rodney Rothman (see, I credited him). See, I have no original thoughts. Sorry I bothered to figure this out.
Judd
* * *
Judd,
How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me. I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want. Everyone knows you're a hack. Also, everyone knows how you fucked over Paul Feig on the new show. All your press mentions "your" brilliant "Freaks and Geeks," as if Feig didn't even do the series. It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy. Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers? Tell her I know how she feels. The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email. I respect you zero. See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that. Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood. (Is that too angry?)
Love,
Brazill
* * *
Mark,
I hope your anger is a joke, because if it isn't . . . wow. Here's a line by line reply. I have starred (*) the replies if you are confused by my format.
>How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me.
***That was the joke. How interesting that you couldn't understand that. You would think someone with the lineage of "Yard Dogs" would have the intellectual acumen to pick up on that. I feel for the writers that have to pitch to you. Never doubt how much they hate you.
>I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want.
***How could I hear your idea, steal it, and then have it air two weeks later? It was a filmed sketch show. Sketches were written months before they aired. They were filmed six weeks before they aired. I thought you were a producer. Shouldn't you understand how these shows are made? Do you start writing episodes two weeks before they air? Maybe you stole "Yard Dogs" from me.
>Everyone knows you're a hack.
***That's why I kiss the ass. Let me know who thinks I am a hack so I can kiss their ass as well. I also suck dick lately. That's how I got my Dreamworks deal.
>It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy.
***I'm sure it's hard for you to believe, but I do not control the national media. That is only true in your paranoid mind. If I create a show they often mention the last show. When they write about "That '80s Show" I am sure they won't ever mention "That '70s Show." I wrote an entire article in the "L.A. Times," a cover story in the calendar, that credited Paul for his work. He went from a struggling actor to an established writer/producer over the course of a year. He is still my friend and I am very happy that he was nominated for two Emmys. He deserved it. I wasn't upset about his Emmy nominations, I already have enough. The certificates are so big you can only hang so many before it starts looking tacky.
>Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers?
***Yes.
>Tell her I know how she feels.
***I'm on it.
>The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email.
***The funniest part of these emails is how bad your sense of humor is. You neither get nor can tell a joke. After you said "get cancer" did you really think I was looking to heal our relationship? Usually the cancer insult is a closer. I'm sure everyone who has suffered with that appreciates your sharp wit.
>I respect you zero.
***Oh no.
>See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that.
***If you think cancellation hurts me at this point, you haven't been following my career as closely as I thought. I guess you are too busy tracking my real estate problems.
>Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood.
***That's a Sam Kinison line, you stupid fuck!!!! Hypocrite!!!! J'accuse!!!!
>(Is that too angry?)
>Love, Brazill
***Mark, I have enjoyed this. It's good to see the tragedies of the past few months haven't watered down your passion. I guess if Mark Brazill doesn't go insane over stuff that makes no sense, the terrorists win. Good luck with "That '80s Show." And I look forward to "That '90s Show."
Judd Apatow
BY Judd Apatow and Mark Brazill
PUBLISHED March 2002
From an exchange of emails in fall 2001 between Judd Apatow, the creator of the sitcoms Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared and a successful writer of Hollywood screenplays, and Mark Brazill, the creator of That '70s Show. Topher Grace is one of the stars of That '70s Show.
* * *
Mark,
I am writing you because I left a message but did not hear back. I understand that you were upset about me not calling you to ask if Topher could do our show. Since Fox executives were talking to Topher about it, I thought it was cool with you. Also, since I hadn't written it yet, I wasn't at the point of asking if it was possible to have him do it. I would have called your show then. I didn't realize it would create a problem. I never wished to offend you. If there is some protocol for people on Fox doing guest shots on other Fox shows, I didn't know what it was. Regardless, I'm sorry that this resulted in such a mess. If you are mad at me about this or something else from our past, please tell me. I only remember us having fun in the early nineties and it troubles me that it seems like you have a beef with me.
Best regards,
Judd Apatow
* * *
Judd,
Yeah, we were friends in the early nineties. And if you don't recall what happened, I'll remind you. I had a pilot at MTV called "Yard Dogs" about a rock band living in Hollywood. I told you about it and you proceeded to completely rip it off, storyline and all, for the Ben Stiller show. You called it "Grungies." MTV and UTA [United Talent Agency] were working on an overall deal (MTV's idea) with me, based on that pilot. When it turned up on your show everything went away overnight. I had just had my son Jack and I had no job, no money, nothing. There's a saying, "I forgive but I don't forget. And I don't forgive." So, now you know. Although I kind of think that you already did.
Mark
* * *
Mark,
I truly don't remember anything you are talking about. Jeff Kahn wrote "The Grungies" sketch, a parody where we did Seattle bands as The Monkees. I don't remember you ever calling me after that saying you were mad. Ben and I would get fifty sketches a week from the writers and then we'd pick the ones that we thought were funny. I never connected the two. Even now they don't seem similar. Ours was a goofy over-the-top parody, not a situation comedy about musicians in L.A. Nobody watched our show so I don't see how that could be the reason your pilot died. I am sorry you are upset. I am not a thief of ideas. I'm sorry you believe differently.
Judd Apatow
* * *
Judd,
The show I wrote was also over-the-top and it let down the fourth wall. Since it's registered at the WGA [Writers Guild of America], you could compare the two. And as an Exec Producer, we both know you have input into every sketch. As for no one seeing the show, everyone knows everything in Hollywood. There are no secrets. Personally, I feel you've made a career out of being a sycophant to Carrey or Shandling or Roseanne, and when you weren't kissing ass you were stealing from lesser-known comics or leeching off other people's ideas ("Celtic Pride," "Cable Guy"). I noticed how outraged you were to not get a writing credit on "Cable Guy" until it came out and was panned. You dropped that cause like the showbiz weasel you are. You may not think you're a thief, but most comics know otherwise. And again, you know that too. Have you ever read "What Makes Sammy Run"? I think you'd like it. Get cancer.
Love,
Mark
* * *
Mark,
Come on, we all wrote for comics at the beginning of our careers. I wrote for Roseanne, you wrote for Dennis Miller. If that makes me a sycophant, then I guess I am. And so are the writers for "Caesar's Hour." I dropped my "Cable Guy" lawsuit not because the film got bad reviews but because I spent eighty grand on it and my lawyer told me I was going to lose. You would be upset if you rewrote the vast majority of a script and received no credit. I wish you had called me about this years ago. I'm sure we could have worked it out. Try not to be so angry. Not everyone is as bad as you think. You should call Jeff Kahn and ask him how that sketch originated. If it turned out that I didn't steal your idea would you still want me to get cancer? I swear to God that I didn't know you were mad about this. Until six weeks ago I was still referring to you as an old friend. Maybe one day I'll be able to say that again.
Judd Apatow
* * *
Mark,
It's come to my attention that you are upset with Judd Apatow about the sketch "The Grungies." I completely understand why you would have been pissed off about seeing something similar to what you were working on at the time. However, the idea for "The Grungies" and all the initial writing and rewriting came from me. I also cast it, acted in it, and edited it. I was and still am influenced by pop music, and I thought it would be funny to satirize the seriousness of the Seattle grunge music scene with the ridiculous superficiality of "The Monkees" 1960s show. I hope that this clears up any misunderstanding. By the way, I am a huge fan of "That '70s Show." Congratulations on its well-deserved success. I also think it's cool you set it in Wisconsin. I went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison and loved it. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to email me.
Jeff Kahn
* * *
Mark,
I have no interest in talking with you on the phone anymore. I know you are very successful and think that gives you the right to judge people and berate them regardless of the facts, but I have had enough of you for one day. I know it's hard to believe that your rock band TV idea, which every writer in this town has thought of at one point, was not on my mind half a year after you told it to me. Yes, you thought of breaking the fourth wall. Groucho and George Burns stole it from you. Why don't you sue the guys who have that new show "How to Be a Rock Star" on the WB? I must have told them your idea. Nobody has ever goofed on rock bands, not "Spinal Tap" or The Rutles or 800 "Saturday Night Live" sketches. I should have told everyone on the show, no rock band sketches, that's Brazill's area. So hold on to your hate and rage, even though it makes no sense. I'll go back to my life of thievery and leeching. As for the cancer, I'll wait till you get it and then steal it from you. By the way, that joke was one of my writers', Rodney Rothman (see, I credited him). See, I have no original thoughts. Sorry I bothered to figure this out.
Judd
* * *
Judd,
How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me. I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want. Everyone knows you're a hack. Also, everyone knows how you fucked over Paul Feig on the new show. All your press mentions "your" brilliant "Freaks and Geeks," as if Feig didn't even do the series. It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy. Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers? Tell her I know how she feels. The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email. I respect you zero. See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that. Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood. (Is that too angry?)
Love,
Brazill
* * *
Mark,
I hope your anger is a joke, because if it isn't . . . wow. Here's a line by line reply. I have starred (*) the replies if you are confused by my format.
>How appropriate that you had to use someone else's joke to take a swipe at me.
***That was the joke. How interesting that you couldn't understand that. You would think someone with the lineage of "Yard Dogs" would have the intellectual acumen to pick up on that. I feel for the writers that have to pitch to you. Never doubt how much they hate you.
>I told you my idea. You did it two weeks later, VERBATIM. Spew revisionist shit all you want.
***How could I hear your idea, steal it, and then have it air two weeks later? It was a filmed sketch show. Sketches were written months before they aired. They were filmed six weeks before they aired. I thought you were a producer. Shouldn't you understand how these shows are made? Do you start writing episodes two weeks before they air? Maybe you stole "Yard Dogs" from me.
>Everyone knows you're a hack.
***That's why I kiss the ass. Let me know who thinks I am a hack so I can kiss their ass as well. I also suck dick lately. That's how I got my Dreamworks deal.
>It must have killed you when the true genius behind it got nominated for an Emmy.
***I'm sure it's hard for you to believe, but I do not control the national media. That is only true in your paranoid mind. If I create a show they often mention the last show. When they write about "That '80s Show" I am sure they won't ever mention "That '70s Show." I wrote an entire article in the "L.A. Times," a cover story in the calendar, that credited Paul for his work. He went from a struggling actor to an established writer/producer over the course of a year. He is still my friend and I am very happy that he was nominated for two Emmys. He deserved it. I wasn't upset about his Emmy nominations, I already have enough. The certificates are so big you can only hang so many before it starts looking tacky.
>Is your wife still livid about someone in the neighborhood building a house just like hers?
***Yes.
>Tell her I know how she feels.
***I'm on it.
>The reason I called was to tell you to piss off. We'll never be "friends," regardless of the pussy whining from your last email.
***The funniest part of these emails is how bad your sense of humor is. You neither get nor can tell a joke. After you said "get cancer" did you really think I was looking to heal our relationship? Usually the cancer insult is a closer. I'm sure everyone who has suffered with that appreciates your sharp wit.
>I respect you zero.
***Oh no.
>See ya at the upfronts, bitch! Well . . . unless you get canceled before that.
***If you think cancellation hurts me at this point, you haven't been following my career as closely as I thought. I guess you are too busy tracking my real estate problems.
>Until then, die in a fiery accident and taste your own blood.
***That's a Sam Kinison line, you stupid fuck!!!! Hypocrite!!!! J'accuse!!!!
>(Is that too angry?)
>Love, Brazill
***Mark, I have enjoyed this. It's good to see the tragedies of the past few months haven't watered down your passion. I guess if Mark Brazill doesn't go insane over stuff that makes no sense, the terrorists win. Good luck with "That '80s Show." And I look forward to "That '90s Show."
Judd Apatow
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
What I am Reading, Watching
William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade - Funny, and interestingly off base sometimes with respect to its predictions of the future (It was written 20 years ago). Its interesting also, to read the writing of those who have made it in the entertainment biz because they are always, to some degree, spinning. They don't totally give it to you straight, because they may have to work with the people about whom they are writing again, or they may just run into them at a dinner party. In any event, this industry classic is more than worth the read for any screenwriter.
Watching...yes, more horror.
The Ring Two - Snore. Chuckle. Snore.
Evil Breed - Porn Stars and Richard Grieco in a "horror movie" - add it up. Very high scores on cliche and unintentional comedy, though. Never saw I guy get strangled by his colon before.
From Dusk Til Dawn II: Texas Blood Money - looks like they were missing Bob Kurtzman on this one. I saw it on SciFi, so it was cut with commercials, so I can't really give much of a real opinion though.
Watching...yes, more horror.
The Ring Two - Snore. Chuckle. Snore.
Evil Breed - Porn Stars and Richard Grieco in a "horror movie" - add it up. Very high scores on cliche and unintentional comedy, though. Never saw I guy get strangled by his colon before.
From Dusk Til Dawn II: Texas Blood Money - looks like they were missing Bob Kurtzman on this one. I saw it on SciFi, so it was cut with commercials, so I can't really give much of a real opinion though.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Still More What I am Watching (You think I get off the couch?)
Ice Age 2: The Meltdown: Leguizamo and Romano can make anything sound good. Starts slow, but pretty decent overall.
High Tension: Yes, I'd never seen it. Quite an exercise in style. An interesting point - I think horror fans particularly forgive the serious plot flaws of the movie, because its so stylish and the violence is so...violent. Its a fun exercise, and Alexandre, well, you see the chops that got him Hills Have Eyes, and entry into the Splat Pack. Got its limitations, but overall worth the ride.
High Tension: Yes, I'd never seen it. Quite an exercise in style. An interesting point - I think horror fans particularly forgive the serious plot flaws of the movie, because its so stylish and the violence is so...violent. Its a fun exercise, and Alexandre, well, you see the chops that got him Hills Have Eyes, and entry into the Splat Pack. Got its limitations, but overall worth the ride.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
AFI again rates 'Kane' as top movie
AFI again rates 'Kane' as top movie
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer 10 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - The years have been kind to "Citizen Kane," including the last decade. The 1941 Orson Welles classic — the story of a wealthy young idealist transformed by scandal and vice into a regretful old recluse — was again rated the best movie ever Wednesday by the American Film Institute.
In the CBS special "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition," "Citizen Kane" held the same No. 1 billing it earned in the institute's first top-100 ranking in 1998.
There were notable changes elsewhere, though, with Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece "Raging Bull" bounding upward from No. 24 in 1998 to No. 4 on the new list and Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 thriller "Vertigo" hurtling from No. 61 to No. 9 this time.
Charles Chaplin's 1931 silent gem "City Lights" jumped from No. 76 to No. 11, while the 1956 John Ford-John Wayne Western "The Searchers" took the biggest leap, from No. 96 all the way to No. 12.
"The ones that made the huge jumps are really, really fascinating," said Jean Picker Firstenberg, chief executive at AFI, which has done top-10 lists every year since 1998 showcasing best comedies, thrillers, love stories and other highlights in American cinema.
"I'd like to think this entire series has had a real influence on what people think about a film like `City Lights,' `The Searchers,' `Vertigo.' Gotten them talking about these films and going back to watch them again, and if they've never seen them, to go watch them for the first time."
Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 epic "The Godfather" ranked No. 2, up one notch from 1998, switching places with Michael Curtiz's 1942 favorite "Casablanca," which dipped from second-place to third.
Both 1967's "The Graduate" and 1954's "On the Waterfront," which ranked Nos. 7 and 8 respectively in 1998, fell out of the top 10, "The Graduate" coming in at No. 17 and "On the Waterfront" finishing at No. 19.
The other five films in the new top 10 also were among the original 10 best, though they shuffled positions: 1952's "Singin' in the Rain (No. 5 now, No. 10 in 1998), 1939's "Gone With the Wind" (No. 6 now, No. 4 in 1998), 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" (No. 7 now, No. 5 in 1998), 1993's "Schindler's List" (No. 8 now, No. 9 in 1998) and 1939's "The Wizard of Oz" (No. 10 now, No. 6 in 1998).
The top-100 were chosen from ballots sent to 1,500 filmmakers, actors, writers, critics and others in Hollywood from a list of 400 nominated movies, 43 of which came from the decade since the first list was compiled.
Of those newer films, only four made the top-100: 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (No. 50), 1998's "Saving Private Ryan" (No. 71), 1997's "Titanic" (No. 83) and 1999's "The Sixth Sense" (No. 89).
Older films that did not make the cut on the 1998 list broke into the top-100 this time, led by Buster Keaton's 1927 silent comedy "The General" at No. 18. Others included 1916's "Intolerance" (No. 49), 1975's "Nashville" (No. 59), 1960's "Spartacus" (No. 81), 1989's "Do the Right Thing" (No. 96) and 1995's "Toy Story" (No. 99).
Some silent-era classics and other old films may have fared better this time because they are more readily available in good quality restorations in today's DVD age as opposed to the VHS days.
Films that dropped out of the top-100 this time included 1965's "Doctor Zhivago," which had been No. 39 on the 1998 list; 1984's "Amadeus," which had been No. 53; 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," which had been No. 64; 1990's "Dances With Wolves," which had been No. 75; and 1927's "The Jazz Singer," which had been No. 90.
"Close Encounters" director Steven Spielberg had the most films on the list with five, while Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Billy Wilder each had four. James Stewart and Robert De Niro were the most-represented actors with five films apiece.
In interviews for Wednesday's special, filmmakers and others in Hollywood told AFI they loved the behind-the-scenes story of "Citizen Kane" as much as the film itself, said Bob Gazzale, who produced the AFI show.
It was the first movie by Welles, who bucked studio and storytelling conventions to craft a landmark film about the rise and fall of a William Randolph Hearst-like newspaper publisher.
The film was ahead of its time, a dark tale whose brooding design, murky lighting, overlapping dialogue and ripped-from-true-life Hearst connection created an unnerving sense of realism.
"No one disputes it's a great American film, but what you hear from the great artists of our day is the love they have for this ideal of a young maverick making a movie like this, that a 25-year-old Orson Welles changed the fabric of cinema, and that that ideal still holds today of this jewel everybody reaches for," Gazzale said.
"It's not only the movie, but the embodiment of the man who broke all the rules to tell his story."
While AFI officials have not decided if they will continue the annual lists in coming years, Firstenberg said the institute will do a new list of all-time best American films every 10 years as a guide to changing tastes in future decades.
"With this new list, it became clearer the value of this program was to have five lists to chart rather than one 50-year-old list," Gazzale said. "It's not only celebrating the films again and driving people to see them again, but we get to see what's gone up, what's gone down."
By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer 10 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - The years have been kind to "Citizen Kane," including the last decade. The 1941 Orson Welles classic — the story of a wealthy young idealist transformed by scandal and vice into a regretful old recluse — was again rated the best movie ever Wednesday by the American Film Institute.
In the CBS special "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition," "Citizen Kane" held the same No. 1 billing it earned in the institute's first top-100 ranking in 1998.
There were notable changes elsewhere, though, with Martin Scorsese's 1980 masterpiece "Raging Bull" bounding upward from No. 24 in 1998 to No. 4 on the new list and Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 thriller "Vertigo" hurtling from No. 61 to No. 9 this time.
Charles Chaplin's 1931 silent gem "City Lights" jumped from No. 76 to No. 11, while the 1956 John Ford-John Wayne Western "The Searchers" took the biggest leap, from No. 96 all the way to No. 12.
"The ones that made the huge jumps are really, really fascinating," said Jean Picker Firstenberg, chief executive at AFI, which has done top-10 lists every year since 1998 showcasing best comedies, thrillers, love stories and other highlights in American cinema.
"I'd like to think this entire series has had a real influence on what people think about a film like `City Lights,' `The Searchers,' `Vertigo.' Gotten them talking about these films and going back to watch them again, and if they've never seen them, to go watch them for the first time."
Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 epic "The Godfather" ranked No. 2, up one notch from 1998, switching places with Michael Curtiz's 1942 favorite "Casablanca," which dipped from second-place to third.
Both 1967's "The Graduate" and 1954's "On the Waterfront," which ranked Nos. 7 and 8 respectively in 1998, fell out of the top 10, "The Graduate" coming in at No. 17 and "On the Waterfront" finishing at No. 19.
The other five films in the new top 10 also were among the original 10 best, though they shuffled positions: 1952's "Singin' in the Rain (No. 5 now, No. 10 in 1998), 1939's "Gone With the Wind" (No. 6 now, No. 4 in 1998), 1962's "Lawrence of Arabia" (No. 7 now, No. 5 in 1998), 1993's "Schindler's List" (No. 8 now, No. 9 in 1998) and 1939's "The Wizard of Oz" (No. 10 now, No. 6 in 1998).
The top-100 were chosen from ballots sent to 1,500 filmmakers, actors, writers, critics and others in Hollywood from a list of 400 nominated movies, 43 of which came from the decade since the first list was compiled.
Of those newer films, only four made the top-100: 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (No. 50), 1998's "Saving Private Ryan" (No. 71), 1997's "Titanic" (No. 83) and 1999's "The Sixth Sense" (No. 89).
Older films that did not make the cut on the 1998 list broke into the top-100 this time, led by Buster Keaton's 1927 silent comedy "The General" at No. 18. Others included 1916's "Intolerance" (No. 49), 1975's "Nashville" (No. 59), 1960's "Spartacus" (No. 81), 1989's "Do the Right Thing" (No. 96) and 1995's "Toy Story" (No. 99).
Some silent-era classics and other old films may have fared better this time because they are more readily available in good quality restorations in today's DVD age as opposed to the VHS days.
Films that dropped out of the top-100 this time included 1965's "Doctor Zhivago," which had been No. 39 on the 1998 list; 1984's "Amadeus," which had been No. 53; 1977's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," which had been No. 64; 1990's "Dances With Wolves," which had been No. 75; and 1927's "The Jazz Singer," which had been No. 90.
"Close Encounters" director Steven Spielberg had the most films on the list with five, while Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick and Billy Wilder each had four. James Stewart and Robert De Niro were the most-represented actors with five films apiece.
In interviews for Wednesday's special, filmmakers and others in Hollywood told AFI they loved the behind-the-scenes story of "Citizen Kane" as much as the film itself, said Bob Gazzale, who produced the AFI show.
It was the first movie by Welles, who bucked studio and storytelling conventions to craft a landmark film about the rise and fall of a William Randolph Hearst-like newspaper publisher.
The film was ahead of its time, a dark tale whose brooding design, murky lighting, overlapping dialogue and ripped-from-true-life Hearst connection created an unnerving sense of realism.
"No one disputes it's a great American film, but what you hear from the great artists of our day is the love they have for this ideal of a young maverick making a movie like this, that a 25-year-old Orson Welles changed the fabric of cinema, and that that ideal still holds today of this jewel everybody reaches for," Gazzale said.
"It's not only the movie, but the embodiment of the man who broke all the rules to tell his story."
While AFI officials have not decided if they will continue the annual lists in coming years, Firstenberg said the institute will do a new list of all-time best American films every 10 years as a guide to changing tastes in future decades.
"With this new list, it became clearer the value of this program was to have five lists to chart rather than one 50-year-old list," Gazzale said. "It's not only celebrating the films again and driving people to see them again, but we get to see what's gone up, what's gone down."
What I am Reading, Watching
Reading: What Just Happened, Art Linson (again, and even better than Pound of Flesh).
Watching: the last few episodes of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, before it goes off the air
Paul Schrader's Dominion - Exorcist Prequel - Paul Schrader dont do horror
Waiting - A rueful guilty and very funny (at moments) pleasure, falling squarely within the humor range of an eighth grader. Perfect, right?
Watching: the last few episodes of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, before it goes off the air
Paul Schrader's Dominion - Exorcist Prequel - Paul Schrader dont do horror
Waiting - A rueful guilty and very funny (at moments) pleasure, falling squarely within the humor range of an eighth grader. Perfect, right?
Jury Duty Bloggin
Yes. Its true, don’t laugh.
OK. Laugh. Go ahead. Recycle your salami. What the fuck do I care? Not like I asked to be here.
I think I will be dodging a bullet on this one. I am on the second day. They called a 130 names yesterday out of maybe 200, but I wasn’t called. When they call you, you are one of a group to potentially serve as a juror. Usually they pull about six or seven times more than they need to empanel a jury. The others are released back to the pool.
Wait, they just called me in. Its only 12:30 and they are releasing me. I am free for six years.
Free I tell you. Free Free Free. Fly Little Birdies.
OK. Laugh. Go ahead. Recycle your salami. What the fuck do I care? Not like I asked to be here.
I think I will be dodging a bullet on this one. I am on the second day. They called a 130 names yesterday out of maybe 200, but I wasn’t called. When they call you, you are one of a group to potentially serve as a juror. Usually they pull about six or seven times more than they need to empanel a jury. The others are released back to the pool.
Wait, they just called me in. Its only 12:30 and they are releasing me. I am free for six years.
Free I tell you. Free Free Free. Fly Little Birdies.
Monday, June 18, 2007
More Watch List, Read List
Watching
Exorcist II: The Heretic (ugh)
Exorcist III
Reading
Art Linson's A Pound Of Flesh - from the producer of Untouchables, Fight Club - very entertaining
Exorcist II: The Heretic (ugh)
Exorcist III
Reading
Art Linson's A Pound Of Flesh - from the producer of Untouchables, Fight Club - very entertaining
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
New Movies
One of the things that I love about movies is the fact that you can be surprised, delighted and amazed by a movie unexpectedly. (Unfortunately, that’s become a little too infrequent with the onslaught of studio pablum that gets released.) Another great aspect of this is that a new movie, for lack of a better way of describing it, is any movie you haven’t seen before.
I watch a lot of movies. A lot. But there are always bunches that I want to see, intend to see, read about, hear about. I love the actors, and the storyline sounds intriguing, but for some reason, it falls in between the cracks and I don’t see it during its initial release in theaters, video or television. But the movie has already registered in my personal consciousness and forms part of an unwritten list of movies that I am going to see. (And Netflix’s queue system is actually a perfect analog for this, though my problem is that I often have rentals sitting around for months, so I don’t always get through the queue at all, and it is 120 rentals long).
One of the movies that’s been near the top of this list for quite some time is “The Station Agent.” And what is so great about the fact that its held a place on my own, personal list is that I finally watched it, and it was worth holding a place in my consciousness for that long. Its quite a good movie.
I don’t want to write a full on review of the movie here, because if you’ve seen it, you probably don’t need my review, just read Roger Ebert’s, he’s better at this stuff than I am (though, IMHO, his review gives away a little too much about the movie, so be careful if reading before seeing the movie, or while watching it, something i do sometimes). And if you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to take away anything from your viewing of the movie. Just let me say that cast and direction don’t get much better, Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Canavale (for whom my respect, already high, has gone even higher now), Michelle Williams, and a wonderful Raven Goodwin. It’s a winner of bunches of awards, including a BAFTA Award for the Script, Audience Award at Sundance and an Independent Spirit Award for Patricia Clarkson (who is good but by no means alone in a strong perf).
Walk, don’t run (you might fall), to your video store and rent it. Or Amazon it, its worth owning, or Netflix it. here. And enjoy. Lemme know what you think.
Grumps.
I watch a lot of movies. A lot. But there are always bunches that I want to see, intend to see, read about, hear about. I love the actors, and the storyline sounds intriguing, but for some reason, it falls in between the cracks and I don’t see it during its initial release in theaters, video or television. But the movie has already registered in my personal consciousness and forms part of an unwritten list of movies that I am going to see. (And Netflix’s queue system is actually a perfect analog for this, though my problem is that I often have rentals sitting around for months, so I don’t always get through the queue at all, and it is 120 rentals long).
One of the movies that’s been near the top of this list for quite some time is “The Station Agent.” And what is so great about the fact that its held a place on my own, personal list is that I finally watched it, and it was worth holding a place in my consciousness for that long. Its quite a good movie.
I don’t want to write a full on review of the movie here, because if you’ve seen it, you probably don’t need my review, just read Roger Ebert’s, he’s better at this stuff than I am (though, IMHO, his review gives away a little too much about the movie, so be careful if reading before seeing the movie, or while watching it, something i do sometimes). And if you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to take away anything from your viewing of the movie. Just let me say that cast and direction don’t get much better, Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Canavale (for whom my respect, already high, has gone even higher now), Michelle Williams, and a wonderful Raven Goodwin. It’s a winner of bunches of awards, including a BAFTA Award for the Script, Audience Award at Sundance and an Independent Spirit Award for Patricia Clarkson (who is good but by no means alone in a strong perf).
Walk, don’t run (you might fall), to your video store and rent it. Or Amazon it, its worth owning, or Netflix it. here. And enjoy. Lemme know what you think.
Grumps.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Masses Speak
Well, maybe not the masses, but those with websites.
Both of my last two posts, on top horror movies, and on the last Sopranos, have been covered again and again on the internet. Its interesting, almost all of our horror picks are uniformly present on these other lists at various places.
The Sopranos thing (of ours?) is mostly very negative, from my perusing. I seem to be one of very few, other than Kevin Smith, who seems to have given David Chase a pass.
Btw, I watched Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead yesterday, and while I really liked it, I thought, in a recurring theme on this blog, that the ending kinda sucked. Lots of action with no resolution. The opposite of the last Sopranos episode?
Both of my last two posts, on top horror movies, and on the last Sopranos, have been covered again and again on the internet. Its interesting, almost all of our horror picks are uniformly present on these other lists at various places.
The Sopranos thing (of ours?) is mostly very negative, from my perusing. I seem to be one of very few, other than Kevin Smith, who seems to have given David Chase a pass.
Btw, I watched Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead yesterday, and while I really liked it, I thought, in a recurring theme on this blog, that the ending kinda sucked. Lots of action with no resolution. The opposite of the last Sopranos episode?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Leaving Jersey
So you may be wondering, probably not, but you may be wondering, what I thought of the last Sopranos.
As every person with his senses in the western world (and maybe much of the rest) knows, Tony and company made their last bows on Sunday, in a very controversial episode that wrapped up about ten years and eight seasons of Sopranos. The irony of the fact that the episode was controversial derives from the fact that very little actually happened, and even more from the fact that it didn’t provide answers as to the fates of most of the main characters, in particular, Tony Soprano. Instead, as you all likely know, the screen just went black at the end of the episode, and then it was over.
When the episode was over, I have to admit, I reran (on TiVo) the last thirty seconds to make sure that my TV hadn’t played a cruel trick. I mean, of course, it immediately occurred to me that the ending was left open by David Chase, and that nothing was wrong with the cable. I saw a short film of the Lady and the Tiger in elementary school (maybe I read it too) and I’ve been very well versed on open endings ever since.
My doubt crept in because my initial reaction to the open ending was that it was highly unsatisfactory and that it was a cheat of people who have stayed with the show over the years, waiting through the long off-seasons, watching the last few which, quite frankly, didn’t always have the zip of the earlier seasons (I particularly missed Ralphie, not that he was around for that long). But I fancy myself some kind of half-assed intellectual, at least with respect to film and things related, and I think some paert of me could appreciate the fact that Chase didn’t necessarily want to tie up the storylines in a neat package. Actually watching these last few episodes, I was a little bit prepared for that ending because I didn’t see anyway to really tie everything up in any kind of satisfactory manner given the limited amoung of time left. And as each week of this final season passed, that seemed to be so much more the case.
But what about this episode. Was it so terrible? If your favorite Sopranos tend to be the gorier, plot-driven mob business episodes, then it definitely was like old canoli. But even for you folks (I am not sure I am one of you, but I am not sure I am not), there were some great moments, like Tony’s visit with Junior (“You and my dad ran North Jersey” “That’s nice,”) was a great way to wrap up the show. In fact, to me, it might have made a lot more sense to wrap up the show with that scene with Tony and Junior, in that way, which could have showed both the scope of the show over the whole of the series, and at the same time, the basic existentiality of the characters (and through them, us) because in the end, all of Junior’s actions became meaningless and disappeared in his own memory. And then, by implication, Tony’s too, and yours and mine. Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
More of my problem with the last episode has to do with my problems with the last season or two. Some of the storylines lacked the firepower (hehe) of previous ones. I couldn’t stand the AJ storyline, listening to his whining all the time, his depression. I am not saying the storyline didn’t make sense, Tony passing his empty soul down to his son, but it was like beating a dead horse, and I just didn’t want to spend so much time with this one note character. When he briefly perked up for a while when hanging with the fraternity boys, it improved, but then the storyline reverted and there was nothing new and interesting.
Part of me does feel like they cheated us the last few seasons. While there were good and developed storylines, including this beef with the NY family, there were lots of developments that just seemed to go nowhere, and new characters who were introduced simply for the purpose of being whacked out an episode or two later (like my friend and former client John Bianco). For example, what ever happened to the storyline with Bobby killing the guy in Montreal? That storyline never went anywhere, so why introduce it? And there are many examples of these types of storylines.
And because I am a producer, I always have my doubts about motivation for the direction of any show. Are they cutting down the action to save money? Its always a consideration, in any business, show business included. The well was going to run dry, so why not spend less to make the shows, which results in more for producers and key cast that has leverage. Is it true? I don’t know, but there definitely seemed to be less action in the last two years.
What does seem clear, at least at this point, is that they didn’t leave it open ended for a movie. There seems to be very little interest on David Chase’s part to do a Sopranos movie. I bet Tony Sirico would do it though.
All in all, I got a lot of enjoyment out of the Sopranos. I didn’t start watching it from the beginning, I think I caught up after it had been on two seasons already and was on its third. I had the great pleasure of getting to watch the first two seasons over a week or two period, and those seasons were terrific, the basis of the franchise. It built HBO into the powerhouse that it is. So I can’t complain too much if the last few seasons, the Vito Spatafore storyline (Johnnycakes) and the AJ stuff and some of the other storylines felt a little weak and diluted. How many shows are ever so good that they create this level of discussion? How many shows are ever this good that a mediocre episode or season can create the level of discontent that the final episode did?
I am glad to have been a Sopranos fan. It is a show with some of the best writing, acting, and most compelling characters ever produced. And it ushered in an era of television being edgier and more risk-taking, more anti-hero oriented than ever before. And that has ultimately led to some of my favorite shows, like The Shield (don’t comment you haven’t seen it, I will lose all respect for you). So I can’t complain, but you can.
Hit me.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Top 25 Horror Films to Date: Wrapping It Up
FINAL UPDATE, June 10, 2007
Well, we've gone through another one of these lists, and Im wrapping it up based on everyone's comments. I don't know that i am totally satisfied with my, ahem, I mean, our list, but it is our list, and this really cannot go on and on forever, can it. I mean, we have to finish it. Like the great horror movies, they come to a close.
Um, wait, actually alot of them have sequels. And remakes. So maybe thats not the best analogy. But just jump down to the bottom of the entry, you can find the last bunch. And then, you can lemme have it on all the omissions.
YET ANOTHE UPDATE, June 2, 2007
Its the nite before the tenth PictureStart Film festival and I am just getting used to having my mac back. I've been on a slow PC all week long, and now I am back among the 21st century dwellers. Anyway, need to respond to some of these comments, and bring the list up to date.
DONT GET LAZY, WE"RE NOT THERE YET.
I've succumbed to some other subgenres including Aliens and The Thing on the list, as well as action/adventurer/natural monster movie Jaws, which is arguably the best movie on the list.
SECOND UPDATE, May 28, 2007
Wow, so we have a lot of respondents, including one, John, who nearly wrote his own blog on horror. It kind of raises the issue of what qualifies as horror (at least for the very minor purposes of this survey). Horror has many sub-genres, including monster movies, slasher, ghost/supernatural, torture, and comedy, to name a few. There are also the thriller horror crossovers, like Se7en and Silence of the Lambs and perhaps the Omen (listed below, but maybe more horror, if only judging by the amount of gore in that movie vs. its contemporaries)and the Exorcist. I guess when I was thinking of this, while I thought about the old Universal horror stuff, and the old monster movies, I wasn't necessarily considering that sub-genre. Nor was I particularly considering other related genre movies like Tod Browning's Freaks, or action/sci-fi movies like James Cameron's great Aliens, or monster action like Blade, and straight thrillers like Diabolique, which I saw when I was seventeen or eighteen, and which my father always described as the scariest movie he had ever seen. I guess where one draws the line is somewhat arbitrary.
Do Lon Chaney and more importantly, Bela Lugosi, belong on this list somewhere. Yeah, of course (not that they care), but that again raises the issue of where to draw the line. Lugosi is one of the godfathers of horror. But movies like Phantom of the Opera, to me, dont really feel right on this list. Great, influential in effects, acting technique, maybe even music (though I believe it would have been performed live, no?), yes, but horror, not so sure.
Anyway, with the obvious issue of arbitrariness now out in the open, lets update the list a bit.
FIRST UPDATE
My mac is broken (ugh, took it to apple in soho today, waited forever so that they could send it back - i should have it back in a few days or a week (maybe ten???) but if my computer skills (or for those of you who know me, my email response time) is less than stellar, well, now I have an excuse) and Im working on my ass-old PC.
The updated list from your write-ins is below. And I may up it to 30, because it appears I may have bit off more than I can chew. And just cuz your suggestion didnt make it in yet, doesnt mean it wont, I am just conserving space for the time being.
Cool thing about the list, it makes a good netflix or to watch list for aspiring horrorphiles.
********************
So by request, I was asked to write a blog about the best horror movies ever made (before I started making em, right- maybe I’ll make one some day that can be on the list). I didn’t really do anything about the request, and I certainly know a bunch about horror, but would not consider myself an authority at all. I’m no Eli Roth (haha, wink wink).
What we did before here was to let people make their comments about the best teen movies of all time. Given my immersion in the horror world over the last six months or so, seems like a good time to make a new list, a horror list. I went to the horror Fango Con in Burbank this past Sunday, to hang with Bob Kurtzman, special fx wizard and the director of upcoming films like Dimension Films’ Buried Alive, and the independently produced The Rage. Bob is an authority on horror, and his work shows it. He’s also a great guy and I think we’ll be working together for a long time, or at least I hope so.
So anyway, now I am sitting in my little hovel in Hollywood, and having grabbed a bunch of DVD’s from the main house, I’ve been focusing on watching horror in preparation for Digger and Slaughter. So because of this, I have the first two (lets go for twenty five) entries, films I watched yesterday and today, for the list. Lets get the list (and blood) flowing.
1. Psycho – An original. Groundbreaking, and a film that has been copied from so much, in films considered classic themselves, like Silence of the Lambs, Dressed to Kill, and this next film…
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Toby Hooper’s classic horror oevre. I remember watching it at age 13 or 14 in Garden City. Middle of summer, late nite, everyone else was asleep. After the girl got hung on the hook by Leatherface, I proceeded to close every window on the first floor and lock em. Remarkably, there is next to no gore or blood in this movie. Other than a few rotting corpses, its all done by suggestion.
3.Halloween- Simply one of the best, and deserving of a top stop on any list. Back story goes that Moustafa Akkad approached John Carpenter after seeing Precinct Thirteen and told him that he wanted him to write and direct a movie about babysitter murderers. Carpenter and Debra Hill sat down and wrote Halloween in three weeks, on spec. They made the movie, and history, for about 300K (1979 style or whenever that was, maybe 1978).
4.Scream - One of the great scripts, one that took an overwraught genre and turned it on its head. Not the craziest about Neve in the role, but no one is perfect. Totally reinvigorated a dying (nopunintended) genre.
5. The Shining- The definition of scary. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't why are you sitting there.
6. The Exorcist - The thinking man's (or woman's) supernatural horror thriller. Maybe not as gory as some of the entries on the list, but cemented into the minds of everyone who saw it. Created a sensation when it was released, with lines around the block, becoming one of the original blockbusters (without the bloated budget). Hopefully, Friedkin's return to the genre, Bug, will hold a candle, but I digress.
7. Suspiria - Considered by many to be Dario Argento's masterpiece for your more erudite horror fan, cant leave out the foreign entries, which brings us to...
8. The Ring (Japanese version)- the start of the japanese horror remake brigade, with The Grudge, which we making slaughter happily understand.
9. The Omen (original) - Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in another child-oriented supernatural thriller, with Richard Donner at the helm. The original is really good, a point made more clear when you watch the remake (which has its moments, mostly involving Mia Farrow and Pete Postelthwaite).
10. Night of the Living Dead - One of the groundbreakers in low budget horror and the godfather of Zombie movies.
11. Nightmare on Elm Street - The house in the first one was recently for sale in LA. Thanks, I will keep renting. Pirates on Elm Street, anyone (Johnny Depp's jump to movies from tv - and another Wes Craven entry).
12. Evil Dead - while i prefer its comedic sequel (remake), one of the standard bearers in no-budget horror, complete with arborial rape.
13. Alien/Aliens - Ridley Scott sci-fi horror (yeah so I guess the parallel works) with Sigourney running around in her underwear while we all wonder if the cat has the alien inside of it. And action horror sequel, from the sequel-meister James Cameron, with great performance from Weaver (Oscar-nommed), Bill Paxton and Paul Reiser.
14. Jaws - By proclamation, this great movie is a horror movie, for purposes of this list. A masterful piece of cinema, not just belonging on the great horror movies list (as if), but on the list of the great American movies.
15. The Thing - John Carpenter's 1979 remake classic with another great alien monster that had some unbelievable effects and more of his go to guy, the incomparable Kurt Russell.
16. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Widely considered, here and elsewhere, a modern horror masterpiece, better than the recent Rodriguez entry in Grindhouse.
17. Poltergeist - Still the subject of a raging debate as to whether this is a Tobe Hooper movie or a Spielberg movie (answer is, probably both), has some of the great spooks and plenty of gore for the bloodhounds.
18. Manhunter - Michael Mann directing William Petersen and Brian Cox, with great villany and support from Tom Noonan as the toothfairy. Perhaps not as well knownm as the other entries on the list, and unfairly so. A great movie. Which brings us to...
19. Silence of the Lambs - I couldn't justify not including Jonathan Demme's scarer while including Michael Mann's movie which covers most of the same ground. I have to admit, I don't know why Mann's feels more horrific than Silence, maybe its the lower budget. Perhaps neither of them belong on the list, I don't know, but I love them both and enough of you said they belong.
19. American Werewolf In London - A great exercise is horror/comedy that works, because its scary and never lets up, and the Rick Baker gore factor is in full effect.
20. Carrie - There is nothing quite as terrifying as a high school girl without a date for the prom. Not one of my personal favorites, but
21. Salem's Lot - Yet another Stephen King entry. I saw this movie, and I cannot remember much about it except for the vampires having a very scary, cool look. Anyway, Heidi, now its on here. So shuddup.
22. Hellraiser - Great villains, another that isnt quite one of my favorites, but got seconded a few times, (or thirded? fourth-ed?), and Pinhead rulls. So lets do it. And it gets Clive Barker on the list.
23. Saw, which began the huge horror resurgence in the last seven to ten years and set the initial baseline in torture/horror.
24. The Amityville Horror - Original scarer was not a movie, it was a part of the average kid's consciousness after it came out. One of the best uses ever of the "Based on a True Story" marketing hook of all time, and a darn scary movie killed by terrible sequels (and a doughy remake).
25. Frankenstein - Needed to have some classic old school horror, and Boris Karloff somewhere on this list.
So Many Honorable Mentions: Friday the 13th (very much a genre creator), Hostel, From Dusk Til Dawn, House of A Thousand Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, The Grudge, Curse of the Catpeople, Freaks, Prom Night, The Fly (Cronenberg), Re-Aminator, Murnau's Nosferatu, The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney version), Murder in the Rue Morgue, The Grudge, The Phone, Ichi The Killer, High Tension, Magic (which I absolutely love and is scary as fuck), The Birds, Evil Dead II/III/ Bubba Ho-Tep), Phantasm, The Blair Witch Project, The Eye, The Sixth Sense (which I really like but leave off the list cause I dont really consider it horror, and many consider it a gimmick movie) and Jacob's Ladder (another great great, is it Horror entry) and Angel Heart (yet another, left off maybe for more than this, but a fascinating, stylish, although flawed entry from Alan Parker), Masque fo the Red Death, Braindead (aka Dead Alive), Blade, Misery, 28 Days Later, Hell Night (a personal fave for no particular reason)I Walked with a Zombie, Diabolique (again left off as I can't really consider it horror), King Kong (1933), Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, Cujo, Candyman, and April Fools Day.
Well, we've gone through another one of these lists, and Im wrapping it up based on everyone's comments. I don't know that i am totally satisfied with my, ahem, I mean, our list, but it is our list, and this really cannot go on and on forever, can it. I mean, we have to finish it. Like the great horror movies, they come to a close.
Um, wait, actually alot of them have sequels. And remakes. So maybe thats not the best analogy. But just jump down to the bottom of the entry, you can find the last bunch. And then, you can lemme have it on all the omissions.
YET ANOTHE UPDATE, June 2, 2007
Its the nite before the tenth PictureStart Film festival and I am just getting used to having my mac back. I've been on a slow PC all week long, and now I am back among the 21st century dwellers. Anyway, need to respond to some of these comments, and bring the list up to date.
DONT GET LAZY, WE"RE NOT THERE YET.
I've succumbed to some other subgenres including Aliens and The Thing on the list, as well as action/adventurer/natural monster movie Jaws, which is arguably the best movie on the list.
SECOND UPDATE, May 28, 2007
Wow, so we have a lot of respondents, including one, John, who nearly wrote his own blog on horror. It kind of raises the issue of what qualifies as horror (at least for the very minor purposes of this survey). Horror has many sub-genres, including monster movies, slasher, ghost/supernatural, torture, and comedy, to name a few. There are also the thriller horror crossovers, like Se7en and Silence of the Lambs and perhaps the Omen (listed below, but maybe more horror, if only judging by the amount of gore in that movie vs. its contemporaries)and the Exorcist. I guess when I was thinking of this, while I thought about the old Universal horror stuff, and the old monster movies, I wasn't necessarily considering that sub-genre. Nor was I particularly considering other related genre movies like Tod Browning's Freaks, or action/sci-fi movies like James Cameron's great Aliens, or monster action like Blade, and straight thrillers like Diabolique, which I saw when I was seventeen or eighteen, and which my father always described as the scariest movie he had ever seen. I guess where one draws the line is somewhat arbitrary.
Do Lon Chaney and more importantly, Bela Lugosi, belong on this list somewhere. Yeah, of course (not that they care), but that again raises the issue of where to draw the line. Lugosi is one of the godfathers of horror. But movies like Phantom of the Opera, to me, dont really feel right on this list. Great, influential in effects, acting technique, maybe even music (though I believe it would have been performed live, no?), yes, but horror, not so sure.
Anyway, with the obvious issue of arbitrariness now out in the open, lets update the list a bit.
FIRST UPDATE
My mac is broken (ugh, took it to apple in soho today, waited forever so that they could send it back - i should have it back in a few days or a week (maybe ten???) but if my computer skills (or for those of you who know me, my email response time) is less than stellar, well, now I have an excuse) and Im working on my ass-old PC.
The updated list from your write-ins is below. And I may up it to 30, because it appears I may have bit off more than I can chew. And just cuz your suggestion didnt make it in yet, doesnt mean it wont, I am just conserving space for the time being.
Cool thing about the list, it makes a good netflix or to watch list for aspiring horrorphiles.
********************
So by request, I was asked to write a blog about the best horror movies ever made (before I started making em, right- maybe I’ll make one some day that can be on the list). I didn’t really do anything about the request, and I certainly know a bunch about horror, but would not consider myself an authority at all. I’m no Eli Roth (haha, wink wink).
What we did before here was to let people make their comments about the best teen movies of all time. Given my immersion in the horror world over the last six months or so, seems like a good time to make a new list, a horror list. I went to the horror Fango Con in Burbank this past Sunday, to hang with Bob Kurtzman, special fx wizard and the director of upcoming films like Dimension Films’ Buried Alive, and the independently produced The Rage. Bob is an authority on horror, and his work shows it. He’s also a great guy and I think we’ll be working together for a long time, or at least I hope so.
So anyway, now I am sitting in my little hovel in Hollywood, and having grabbed a bunch of DVD’s from the main house, I’ve been focusing on watching horror in preparation for Digger and Slaughter. So because of this, I have the first two (lets go for twenty five) entries, films I watched yesterday and today, for the list. Lets get the list (and blood) flowing.
1. Psycho – An original. Groundbreaking, and a film that has been copied from so much, in films considered classic themselves, like Silence of the Lambs, Dressed to Kill, and this next film…
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Toby Hooper’s classic horror oevre. I remember watching it at age 13 or 14 in Garden City. Middle of summer, late nite, everyone else was asleep. After the girl got hung on the hook by Leatherface, I proceeded to close every window on the first floor and lock em. Remarkably, there is next to no gore or blood in this movie. Other than a few rotting corpses, its all done by suggestion.
3.Halloween- Simply one of the best, and deserving of a top stop on any list. Back story goes that Moustafa Akkad approached John Carpenter after seeing Precinct Thirteen and told him that he wanted him to write and direct a movie about babysitter murderers. Carpenter and Debra Hill sat down and wrote Halloween in three weeks, on spec. They made the movie, and history, for about 300K (1979 style or whenever that was, maybe 1978).
4.Scream - One of the great scripts, one that took an overwraught genre and turned it on its head. Not the craziest about Neve in the role, but no one is perfect. Totally reinvigorated a dying (nopunintended) genre.
5. The Shining- The definition of scary. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't why are you sitting there.
6. The Exorcist - The thinking man's (or woman's) supernatural horror thriller. Maybe not as gory as some of the entries on the list, but cemented into the minds of everyone who saw it. Created a sensation when it was released, with lines around the block, becoming one of the original blockbusters (without the bloated budget). Hopefully, Friedkin's return to the genre, Bug, will hold a candle, but I digress.
7. Suspiria - Considered by many to be Dario Argento's masterpiece for your more erudite horror fan, cant leave out the foreign entries, which brings us to...
8. The Ring (Japanese version)- the start of the japanese horror remake brigade, with The Grudge, which we making slaughter happily understand.
9. The Omen (original) - Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in another child-oriented supernatural thriller, with Richard Donner at the helm. The original is really good, a point made more clear when you watch the remake (which has its moments, mostly involving Mia Farrow and Pete Postelthwaite).
10. Night of the Living Dead - One of the groundbreakers in low budget horror and the godfather of Zombie movies.
11. Nightmare on Elm Street - The house in the first one was recently for sale in LA. Thanks, I will keep renting. Pirates on Elm Street, anyone (Johnny Depp's jump to movies from tv - and another Wes Craven entry).
12. Evil Dead - while i prefer its comedic sequel (remake), one of the standard bearers in no-budget horror, complete with arborial rape.
13. Alien/Aliens - Ridley Scott sci-fi horror (yeah so I guess the parallel works) with Sigourney running around in her underwear while we all wonder if the cat has the alien inside of it. And action horror sequel, from the sequel-meister James Cameron, with great performance from Weaver (Oscar-nommed), Bill Paxton and Paul Reiser.
14. Jaws - By proclamation, this great movie is a horror movie, for purposes of this list. A masterful piece of cinema, not just belonging on the great horror movies list (as if), but on the list of the great American movies.
15. The Thing - John Carpenter's 1979 remake classic with another great alien monster that had some unbelievable effects and more of his go to guy, the incomparable Kurt Russell.
16. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Widely considered, here and elsewhere, a modern horror masterpiece, better than the recent Rodriguez entry in Grindhouse.
17. Poltergeist - Still the subject of a raging debate as to whether this is a Tobe Hooper movie or a Spielberg movie (answer is, probably both), has some of the great spooks and plenty of gore for the bloodhounds.
18. Manhunter - Michael Mann directing William Petersen and Brian Cox, with great villany and support from Tom Noonan as the toothfairy. Perhaps not as well knownm as the other entries on the list, and unfairly so. A great movie. Which brings us to...
19. Silence of the Lambs - I couldn't justify not including Jonathan Demme's scarer while including Michael Mann's movie which covers most of the same ground. I have to admit, I don't know why Mann's feels more horrific than Silence, maybe its the lower budget. Perhaps neither of them belong on the list, I don't know, but I love them both and enough of you said they belong.
19. American Werewolf In London - A great exercise is horror/comedy that works, because its scary and never lets up, and the Rick Baker gore factor is in full effect.
20. Carrie - There is nothing quite as terrifying as a high school girl without a date for the prom. Not one of my personal favorites, but
21. Salem's Lot - Yet another Stephen King entry. I saw this movie, and I cannot remember much about it except for the vampires having a very scary, cool look. Anyway, Heidi, now its on here. So shuddup.
22. Hellraiser - Great villains, another that isnt quite one of my favorites, but got seconded a few times, (or thirded? fourth-ed?), and Pinhead rulls. So lets do it. And it gets Clive Barker on the list.
23. Saw, which began the huge horror resurgence in the last seven to ten years and set the initial baseline in torture/horror.
24. The Amityville Horror - Original scarer was not a movie, it was a part of the average kid's consciousness after it came out. One of the best uses ever of the "Based on a True Story" marketing hook of all time, and a darn scary movie killed by terrible sequels (and a doughy remake).
25. Frankenstein - Needed to have some classic old school horror, and Boris Karloff somewhere on this list.
So Many Honorable Mentions: Friday the 13th (very much a genre creator), Hostel, From Dusk Til Dawn, House of A Thousand Corpses and The Devil's Rejects, The Grudge, Curse of the Catpeople, Freaks, Prom Night, The Fly (Cronenberg), Re-Aminator, Murnau's Nosferatu, The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney version), Murder in the Rue Morgue, The Grudge, The Phone, Ichi The Killer, High Tension, Magic (which I absolutely love and is scary as fuck), The Birds, Evil Dead II/III/ Bubba Ho-Tep), Phantasm, The Blair Witch Project, The Eye, The Sixth Sense (which I really like but leave off the list cause I dont really consider it horror, and many consider it a gimmick movie) and Jacob's Ladder (another great great, is it Horror entry) and Angel Heart (yet another, left off maybe for more than this, but a fascinating, stylish, although flawed entry from Alan Parker), Masque fo the Red Death, Braindead (aka Dead Alive), Blade, Misery, 28 Days Later, Hell Night (a personal fave for no particular reason)I Walked with a Zombie, Diabolique (again left off as I can't really consider it horror), King Kong (1933), Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, Cujo, Candyman, and April Fools Day.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Vote for a movie goddammit :)
Come on people. Weigh in. We're only at 19. Can't just be John and Bobby and Scott and Bitter and a few others. I know you're out there. Silent. Stalkers. Leave a comment. It wont hurt. Im sure there is some movie that sends chills up your spine, or second someone else's vote.
Now, go.
Now, go.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Top 25 Horror Films to Date
YET ANOTHE UPDATE, June 2, 2007
Its the nite before the tenth PictureStart Film festival and I am just getting used to having my mac back. I've been on a slow PC all week long, and now I am back among the 21st century dwellers. Anyway, need to respond to some of these comments, and bring the list up to date.
DONT GET LAZY, WE"RE NOT THERE YET.
I've succumbed to some other subgenres including Aliens and The Thing on the list, as well as action/adventurer/natural monster movie Jaws, which is arguably the best movie on the list.
SECOND UPDATE, May 28, 2007
Wow, so we have a lot of respondents, including one, John, who nearly wrote his own blog on horror. It kind of raises the issue of what qualifies as horror (at least for the very minor purposes of this survey). Horror has many sub-genres, including monster movies, slasher, ghost/supernatural, torture, and comedy, to name a few. There are also the thriller horror crossovers, like Se7en and Silence of the Lambs and perhaps the Omen (listed below, but maybe more horror, if only judging by the amount of gore in that movie vs. its contemporaries)and the Exorcist. I guess when I was thinking of this, while I thought about the old Universal horror stuff, and the old monster movies, I wasn't necessarily considering that sub-genre. Nor was I particularly considering other related genre movies like Tod Browning's Freaks, or action/sci-fi movies like James Cameron's great Aliens, or monster action like Blade, and straight thrillers like Diabolique, which I saw when I was seventeen or eighteen, and which my father always described as the scariest movie he had ever seen. I guess where one draws the line is somewhat arbitrary.
Do Lon Chaney and more importantly, Bela Lugosi, belong on this list somewhere. Yeah, of course (not that they care), but that again raises the issue of where to draw the line. Lugosi is one of the godfathers of horror. But movies like Phantom of the Opera, to me, dont really feel right on this list. Great, influential in effects, acting technique, maybe even music (though I believe it would have been performed live, no?), yes, but horror, not so sure.
Anyway, with the obvious issue of arbitrariness now out in the open, lets update the list a bit.
FIRST UPDATE
My mac is broken (ugh, took it to apple in soho today, waited forever so that they could send it back - i should have it back in a few days or a week (maybe ten???) but if my computer skills (or for those of you who know me, my email response time) is less than stellar, well, now I have an excuse) and Im working on my ass-old PC.
The updated list from your write-ins is below. And I may up it to 30, because it appears I may have bit off more than I can chew. And just cuz your suggestion didnt make it in yet, doesnt mean it wont, I am just conserving space for the time being.
Cool thing about the list, it makes a good netflix or to watch list for aspiring horrorphiles.
********************
So by request, I was asked to write a blog about the best horror movies ever made (before I started making em, right- maybe I’ll make one some day that can be on the list). I didn’t really do anything about the request, and I certainly know a bunch about horror, but would not consider myself an authority at all. I’m no Eli Roth (haha, wink wink).
What we did before here was to let people make their comments about the best teen movies of all time. Given my immersion in the horror world over the last six months or so, seems like a good time to make a new list, a horror list. I went to the horror Fango Con in Burbank this past Sunday, to hang with Bob Kurtzman, special fx wizard and the director of upcoming films like Dimension Films’ Buried Alive, and the independently produced The Rage. Bob is an authority on horror, and his work shows it. He’s also a great guy and I think we’ll be working together for a long time, or at least I hope so.
So anyway, now I am sitting in my little hovel in Hollywood, and having grabbed a bunch of DVD’s from the main house, I’ve been focusing on watching horror in preparation for Digger and Slaughter. So because of this, I have the first two (lets go for twenty five) entries, films I watched yesterday and today, for the list. Lets get the list (and blood) flowing.
1. Psycho – An original. Groundbreaking, and a film that has been copied from so much, in films considered classic themselves, like Silence of the Lambs, Dressed to Kill, and this next film…
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Toby Hooper’s classic horror oevre. I remember watching it at age 13 or 14 in Garden City. Middle of summer, late nite, everyone else was asleep. After the girl got hung on the hook by Leatherface, I proceeded to close every window on the first floor and lock em. Remarkably, there is next to no gore or blood in this movie. Other than a few rotting corpses, its all done by suggestion.
3.Halloween- Simply one of the best, and deserving of a top stop on any list. Back story goes that Moustafa Akkad approached John Carpenter after seeing Precinct Thirteen and told him that he wanted him to write and direct a movie about babysitter murderers. Carpenter and Debra Hill sat down and wrote Halloween in three weeks, on spec. They made the movie, and history, for about 300K (1979 style or whenever that was, maybe 1978).
4.Scream - One of the great scripts, one that took an overwraught genre and turned it on its head. Not the craziest about Neve in the role, but no one is perfect. Totally reinvigorated a dying (nopunintended) genre.
5. The Shining- The definition of scary. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't why are you sitting there.
6. The Exorcist - The thinking man's (or woman's) supernatural horror thriller. Maybe not as gory as some of the entries on the list, but cemented into the minds of everyone who saw it. Created a sensation when it was released, with lines around the block, becoming one of the original blockbusters (without the bloated budget). Hopefully, Friedkin's return to the genre, Bug, will hold a candle, but I digress.
7. Suspiria - Considered by many to be Dario Argento's masterpiece for your more erudite horror fan, cant leave out the foreign entries, which brings us to...
8. The Ring (Japanese version)- the start of the japanese horror remake brigade, with The Grudge, which we making slaughter happily understand.
9. The Omen (original) - Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in another child-oriented supernatural thriller, with Richard Donner at the helm. The original is really good, a point made more clear when you watch the remake (which has its moments, mostly involving Mia Farrow and Pete Postelthwaite).
10. Night of the Living Dead - One of the groundbreakers in low budget horror and the godfather of Zombie movies.
11. Nightmare on Elm Street - The house in the first one was recently for sale in LA. Thanks, I will keep renting. Pirates on Elm Street, anyone (Johnny Depp's jump to movies from tv - and another Wes Craven entry).
12. Evil Dead - while i prefer its comedic sequel (remake), one of the standard bearers in no-budget horror, complete with arborial rape.
13. Alien - Ridley Scott sci-fi horror (yeah so I guess the parallel works) with Sigourney running around in her underwear while we all wonder if the cat has the alien inside of it.
14. Jaws - By proclamation, this great movie is a horror movie, for purposes of this list. A masterful piece of cinema, not just belonging on the great horror movies list (as if), but on the list of the great American movies.
15. The Thing - John Carpenter's 1979 remake classic with another great alien monster that had some unbelievable effects and more of his go to guy, the incomparable Kurt Russell.
16. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Widely considered, here and elsewhere, a modern horror masterpiece, better than the recent Rodriguez entry in Grindhouse.
17. Poltergeist - Still the subject of a raging debate as to whether this is a Tobe Hooper movie or a Spielberg movie (answer is, probably both), has some of the great spooks and plenty of gore for the bloodhounds.
18. Manhunter - Michael Mann directing William Petersen and Brian Cox, with great villany and support from Tom Noonan as the toothfairy. Perhaps not as well knownm as the other entries on the list, and unfairly so. A great movie. Which brings us to...
19. Silence of the Lambs - I couldn't justify not including Jonathan Demme's scarer while including Michael Mann's movie which covers most of the same ground. I have to admit, I don't know why Mann's feels more horrific than Silence, maybe its the lower budget. Perhaps neither of them belong on the list, I don't know, but I love them both and enough of you said they belong.
19. Keep going, we arent done yet with this debate.
Its the nite before the tenth PictureStart Film festival and I am just getting used to having my mac back. I've been on a slow PC all week long, and now I am back among the 21st century dwellers. Anyway, need to respond to some of these comments, and bring the list up to date.
DONT GET LAZY, WE"RE NOT THERE YET.
I've succumbed to some other subgenres including Aliens and The Thing on the list, as well as action/adventurer/natural monster movie Jaws, which is arguably the best movie on the list.
SECOND UPDATE, May 28, 2007
Wow, so we have a lot of respondents, including one, John, who nearly wrote his own blog on horror. It kind of raises the issue of what qualifies as horror (at least for the very minor purposes of this survey). Horror has many sub-genres, including monster movies, slasher, ghost/supernatural, torture, and comedy, to name a few. There are also the thriller horror crossovers, like Se7en and Silence of the Lambs and perhaps the Omen (listed below, but maybe more horror, if only judging by the amount of gore in that movie vs. its contemporaries)and the Exorcist. I guess when I was thinking of this, while I thought about the old Universal horror stuff, and the old monster movies, I wasn't necessarily considering that sub-genre. Nor was I particularly considering other related genre movies like Tod Browning's Freaks, or action/sci-fi movies like James Cameron's great Aliens, or monster action like Blade, and straight thrillers like Diabolique, which I saw when I was seventeen or eighteen, and which my father always described as the scariest movie he had ever seen. I guess where one draws the line is somewhat arbitrary.
Do Lon Chaney and more importantly, Bela Lugosi, belong on this list somewhere. Yeah, of course (not that they care), but that again raises the issue of where to draw the line. Lugosi is one of the godfathers of horror. But movies like Phantom of the Opera, to me, dont really feel right on this list. Great, influential in effects, acting technique, maybe even music (though I believe it would have been performed live, no?), yes, but horror, not so sure.
Anyway, with the obvious issue of arbitrariness now out in the open, lets update the list a bit.
FIRST UPDATE
My mac is broken (ugh, took it to apple in soho today, waited forever so that they could send it back - i should have it back in a few days or a week (maybe ten???) but if my computer skills (or for those of you who know me, my email response time) is less than stellar, well, now I have an excuse) and Im working on my ass-old PC.
The updated list from your write-ins is below. And I may up it to 30, because it appears I may have bit off more than I can chew. And just cuz your suggestion didnt make it in yet, doesnt mean it wont, I am just conserving space for the time being.
Cool thing about the list, it makes a good netflix or to watch list for aspiring horrorphiles.
********************
So by request, I was asked to write a blog about the best horror movies ever made (before I started making em, right- maybe I’ll make one some day that can be on the list). I didn’t really do anything about the request, and I certainly know a bunch about horror, but would not consider myself an authority at all. I’m no Eli Roth (haha, wink wink).
What we did before here was to let people make their comments about the best teen movies of all time. Given my immersion in the horror world over the last six months or so, seems like a good time to make a new list, a horror list. I went to the horror Fango Con in Burbank this past Sunday, to hang with Bob Kurtzman, special fx wizard and the director of upcoming films like Dimension Films’ Buried Alive, and the independently produced The Rage. Bob is an authority on horror, and his work shows it. He’s also a great guy and I think we’ll be working together for a long time, or at least I hope so.
So anyway, now I am sitting in my little hovel in Hollywood, and having grabbed a bunch of DVD’s from the main house, I’ve been focusing on watching horror in preparation for Digger and Slaughter. So because of this, I have the first two (lets go for twenty five) entries, films I watched yesterday and today, for the list. Lets get the list (and blood) flowing.
1. Psycho – An original. Groundbreaking, and a film that has been copied from so much, in films considered classic themselves, like Silence of the Lambs, Dressed to Kill, and this next film…
2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Toby Hooper’s classic horror oevre. I remember watching it at age 13 or 14 in Garden City. Middle of summer, late nite, everyone else was asleep. After the girl got hung on the hook by Leatherface, I proceeded to close every window on the first floor and lock em. Remarkably, there is next to no gore or blood in this movie. Other than a few rotting corpses, its all done by suggestion.
3.Halloween- Simply one of the best, and deserving of a top stop on any list. Back story goes that Moustafa Akkad approached John Carpenter after seeing Precinct Thirteen and told him that he wanted him to write and direct a movie about babysitter murderers. Carpenter and Debra Hill sat down and wrote Halloween in three weeks, on spec. They made the movie, and history, for about 300K (1979 style or whenever that was, maybe 1978).
4.Scream - One of the great scripts, one that took an overwraught genre and turned it on its head. Not the craziest about Neve in the role, but no one is perfect. Totally reinvigorated a dying (nopunintended) genre.
5. The Shining- The definition of scary. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't why are you sitting there.
6. The Exorcist - The thinking man's (or woman's) supernatural horror thriller. Maybe not as gory as some of the entries on the list, but cemented into the minds of everyone who saw it. Created a sensation when it was released, with lines around the block, becoming one of the original blockbusters (without the bloated budget). Hopefully, Friedkin's return to the genre, Bug, will hold a candle, but I digress.
7. Suspiria - Considered by many to be Dario Argento's masterpiece for your more erudite horror fan, cant leave out the foreign entries, which brings us to...
8. The Ring (Japanese version)- the start of the japanese horror remake brigade, with The Grudge, which we making slaughter happily understand.
9. The Omen (original) - Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in another child-oriented supernatural thriller, with Richard Donner at the helm. The original is really good, a point made more clear when you watch the remake (which has its moments, mostly involving Mia Farrow and Pete Postelthwaite).
10. Night of the Living Dead - One of the groundbreakers in low budget horror and the godfather of Zombie movies.
11. Nightmare on Elm Street - The house in the first one was recently for sale in LA. Thanks, I will keep renting. Pirates on Elm Street, anyone (Johnny Depp's jump to movies from tv - and another Wes Craven entry).
12. Evil Dead - while i prefer its comedic sequel (remake), one of the standard bearers in no-budget horror, complete with arborial rape.
13. Alien - Ridley Scott sci-fi horror (yeah so I guess the parallel works) with Sigourney running around in her underwear while we all wonder if the cat has the alien inside of it.
14. Jaws - By proclamation, this great movie is a horror movie, for purposes of this list. A masterful piece of cinema, not just belonging on the great horror movies list (as if), but on the list of the great American movies.
15. The Thing - John Carpenter's 1979 remake classic with another great alien monster that had some unbelievable effects and more of his go to guy, the incomparable Kurt Russell.
16. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Widely considered, here and elsewhere, a modern horror masterpiece, better than the recent Rodriguez entry in Grindhouse.
17. Poltergeist - Still the subject of a raging debate as to whether this is a Tobe Hooper movie or a Spielberg movie (answer is, probably both), has some of the great spooks and plenty of gore for the bloodhounds.
18. Manhunter - Michael Mann directing William Petersen and Brian Cox, with great villany and support from Tom Noonan as the toothfairy. Perhaps not as well knownm as the other entries on the list, and unfairly so. A great movie. Which brings us to...
19. Silence of the Lambs - I couldn't justify not including Jonathan Demme's scarer while including Michael Mann's movie which covers most of the same ground. I have to admit, I don't know why Mann's feels more horrific than Silence, maybe its the lower budget. Perhaps neither of them belong on the list, I don't know, but I love them both and enough of you said they belong.
19. Keep going, we arent done yet with this debate.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Airplane Bloggin: Burbank Dawn
My new apartment, bungalow, whatever you wanna call it, is in Hollywood. Hollywood is, in LA terms, on the eastside, more or less, as opposed to Beverly Hills, Westwood, Santa Monica, all on the Westside. Long Beach airport, in addition to being quite far south, in on the Westside (its on the beach, which despite the south east to northwest running socal coastline, is pretty far west of Hollywood.
Enter Burbank Airport. Just a hop over the hill from my Hollywood haunt (say that five times fast), its now my Jet Blue airport destination of choice. Its very close to my place (we’ll see about the traffic, but miles-wise its close).
Thing is, at least as far as rewards flights go, on Jet Blue, during the week, there only seems to be 6:45 AM flights available from JFK to Burbank. Yes, folks, that 6:45 flight allows me to wake up at 4:20 AM, refreshed by a whole four hours of sleep or so, jump in a cab and head off to the airport. At least there isn’t any traffic on the way to JFK at a quarter to five in the morning.
But even though I’ll be in LA from 9:45 AM or so, if I don’t get some sleep on this flight, I am just gonna take a nap when I get to my place anyway. So much for getting in early.
But that’s OK. Needed to make the trip, and while I could have made it Sunday, Sunday was mother’s day and that was a good reason to stick around in NY.
Maybe I can get some sleep after I stop typing. 5MG of Diazepam to calm me for takeoff may help. We shall see.
I am not gonna talk about the breakup thing. I am not gonna write about it. It kinda was necessary, and it pretty much sucks. That’s all I got for ya.
Insurgents is screening at the Fine arts Theater in Beverly hills on Thursday. Wilshire off La Cienaga. Lemme know if you wanna come, there may be availability on the list. I wasn’t necessarily gonna be in town for this, but its nice that I can make it. And I hope Scott, the director, will be pleased.
I am tired. Gonna go count some sheep. I think Gina Gershon is sitting to my left. Does she play the violin? This chick’s got a violin. I’ll do my best not to think about Bound while I am sitting here.
Enter Burbank Airport. Just a hop over the hill from my Hollywood haunt (say that five times fast), its now my Jet Blue airport destination of choice. Its very close to my place (we’ll see about the traffic, but miles-wise its close).
Thing is, at least as far as rewards flights go, on Jet Blue, during the week, there only seems to be 6:45 AM flights available from JFK to Burbank. Yes, folks, that 6:45 flight allows me to wake up at 4:20 AM, refreshed by a whole four hours of sleep or so, jump in a cab and head off to the airport. At least there isn’t any traffic on the way to JFK at a quarter to five in the morning.
But even though I’ll be in LA from 9:45 AM or so, if I don’t get some sleep on this flight, I am just gonna take a nap when I get to my place anyway. So much for getting in early.
But that’s OK. Needed to make the trip, and while I could have made it Sunday, Sunday was mother’s day and that was a good reason to stick around in NY.
Maybe I can get some sleep after I stop typing. 5MG of Diazepam to calm me for takeoff may help. We shall see.
I am not gonna talk about the breakup thing. I am not gonna write about it. It kinda was necessary, and it pretty much sucks. That’s all I got for ya.
Insurgents is screening at the Fine arts Theater in Beverly hills on Thursday. Wilshire off La Cienaga. Lemme know if you wanna come, there may be availability on the list. I wasn’t necessarily gonna be in town for this, but its nice that I can make it. And I hope Scott, the director, will be pleased.
I am tired. Gonna go count some sheep. I think Gina Gershon is sitting to my left. Does she play the violin? This chick’s got a violin. I’ll do my best not to think about Bound while I am sitting here.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Wholly single again.
Enuff said.
Dont call me to commisserate. I don't want your sympathy.
grumpster.
Dont call me to commisserate. I don't want your sympathy.
grumpster.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Saturday miscellany
Saturday nite. Big pasta dinner. Sitting at home. Watching movies, good and bad.
Did anyone see the Hitcher. My friend Phil Hardage worked as the first AD on it. I just a music video by that director. Incredible. Really incredible work. I went to see what else the guy had done (besides the video) and there was the Hitcher (the remake that is, Sean Bean Hitcher, not Rutger Hauer Hitcher). Anyway, lemme know what you thought of the movie – Im pretty curious. Just in an academic sense, because I am kinda biased about music video directors doing movies, generally. But this Pink Video was so incredible looking, now I am curious.
I am headed back to LA on Tuesday. Been just a few days since I got back, it feels like, and I am already headed back to LA. Which is OK. Its for a good reason. We are about to lock someone very key to Slaughter. Can’t say more than that, but its exciting and very big news.
The apt in LA is coming in very handy, it seems. Would have been spending a lot of money with all the time out there. If I can only make it a bit nicer. Any readers in LA or thereabouts who wanna help out with that, would be great.
When I get out there, I have a meeting on the Warner Studios lot. First time for me to go to a studio lot. Ive been to offices for a major (New Line on Robertson), but this will be a first for me. I may have a meeting at Universal as well, but one thing at a time.
I hate flying. Have I mentioned that. Uggh.
Oh, so by the way, everyone who reads this know that Heidi, the frequent commenter (especially when stuff concerns her or misogynist horror movies) . She’s an actress. She was in Hot Baby. And now, with Digger coming up, well, to me, Heidi being from Connecticut and all, you know.
But apparently, Heidi doesn’t know I am working on the movie, does she? I spoke to someone we both know, and Heidi told em all about the movie, Digger, which I’ve been working on for a year. I thought she knew I was working on it. But this person in common was like, hey, you’re working on that, that’s cool. I guess that while Heidi is kind enough to weign in on the blog here and there, well, I don’t rate top billing on the producer’s list. Probably because I am so abusive. Maybe I should try to be nicer.
Nah.
Did anyone see the Hitcher. My friend Phil Hardage worked as the first AD on it. I just a music video by that director. Incredible. Really incredible work. I went to see what else the guy had done (besides the video) and there was the Hitcher (the remake that is, Sean Bean Hitcher, not Rutger Hauer Hitcher). Anyway, lemme know what you thought of the movie – Im pretty curious. Just in an academic sense, because I am kinda biased about music video directors doing movies, generally. But this Pink Video was so incredible looking, now I am curious.
I am headed back to LA on Tuesday. Been just a few days since I got back, it feels like, and I am already headed back to LA. Which is OK. Its for a good reason. We are about to lock someone very key to Slaughter. Can’t say more than that, but its exciting and very big news.
The apt in LA is coming in very handy, it seems. Would have been spending a lot of money with all the time out there. If I can only make it a bit nicer. Any readers in LA or thereabouts who wanna help out with that, would be great.
When I get out there, I have a meeting on the Warner Studios lot. First time for me to go to a studio lot. Ive been to offices for a major (New Line on Robertson), but this will be a first for me. I may have a meeting at Universal as well, but one thing at a time.
I hate flying. Have I mentioned that. Uggh.
Oh, so by the way, everyone who reads this know that Heidi, the frequent commenter (especially when stuff concerns her or misogynist horror movies) . She’s an actress. She was in Hot Baby. And now, with Digger coming up, well, to me, Heidi being from Connecticut and all, you know.
But apparently, Heidi doesn’t know I am working on the movie, does she? I spoke to someone we both know, and Heidi told em all about the movie, Digger, which I’ve been working on for a year. I thought she knew I was working on it. But this person in common was like, hey, you’re working on that, that’s cool. I guess that while Heidi is kind enough to weign in on the blog here and there, well, I don’t rate top billing on the producer’s list. Probably because I am so abusive. Maybe I should try to be nicer.
Nah.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Sunday Nite
Not much to say. Going scouting on Digger up in Connecticut on Tuesday.
Dunno if you’ve seen any of the press on Digger. Its being reported that the Material Girl is a producer on the movie. In like 17 languages. I mean, she’s more than welcome, but I don’t think she’s really gonna produce the movie. But all over the world, in languages I cannot even identify, cunning linguist that I am, that’s the translation.
Google it. Go ahead, I cannot believe how many hits. Just try it…Google John A. Gallagher Digger Maverick. Holy Canoli.
So we’re going up to Connecticut on Tuesday to look at some locations. The woods. The college. The graveyard. Spooky huh?
I’ll let ya know how it goes.
Dunno if you’ve seen any of the press on Digger. Its being reported that the Material Girl is a producer on the movie. In like 17 languages. I mean, she’s more than welcome, but I don’t think she’s really gonna produce the movie. But all over the world, in languages I cannot even identify, cunning linguist that I am, that’s the translation.
Google it. Go ahead, I cannot believe how many hits. Just try it…Google John A. Gallagher Digger Maverick. Holy Canoli.
So we’re going up to Connecticut on Tuesday to look at some locations. The woods. The college. The graveyard. Spooky huh?
I’ll let ya know how it goes.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Airport Bloggin’: Long Beach Nights
Del;ayed in Long Beach, CA. One of those hurry up and waits…I took a brief nappy-poo in the afternoon, not too much to do on my last day in lala-land. Flight was 7:30. Woke up from that little nap at, whooo, 5:15. Now, I don’t know how familiar you might be with the traffic patterns during rush hour in the greater Los Angeles area. They are, shall we say, sluggish?
Anyway, so it took an hour to get down to Long Beach, had to refill the tank, etc. And so when I pulled up, I was about fifty minutes before my flight time.
This is getting dull, sorry. Not so interesting. Short cut. Wanted to have dinner, no time. Left restaurant. Flight delayed. Return to restaurant. Eat mediocre corned beef. Return to terminal and here I am. Waiting for this flight, which when I booked it, seemed to be direct, but now, somehow, is through Salt Lake City. Not that I don’t like Utah. I like Utah just fine. Anyway, you get it.
So it was an interesting couple of weeks in LA. I rented a place off Sunset in Hollywood, and got there to discover, that my new room had, hey, no wall. It had a skateboard ramp (or two) and a piece of plywood. Not good. Little detail escaped the dude from whom I rented it. Took the better part of the whole time I was in LA to find a wall guy, and get said wall guy to put up the wall. He kept doing it in pieces. Its finally up, though, so I am thankful for having what I should have had the whole time. At least the rent is cheap.
We also had a dead rat smell in the place, which arrived shorly after I did. Another lovely addition. Turned out, though, that the dead rat smell was being caused by a dead rat, which had picked the stove burner as his final resting place. I was happy I hadn’t used the stove since I’d been there. Not with Quizno’s and Carl’s across the street.
Work was OK. Sporadically busy and not. I can pretty much do what I do most of the time, from anywhere. There is wireless in the place. And its self contained.
I guess I really haven’t described what the dwelling is. I live in a two bedroom bungalow behind a big main house. I share it with a music vid director named Mike. It has a kitchen, a bathroom, both pretty grungy, and the two rooms. Mike’s room still doesn’t have a wall, it has its own makeshift arrangement. Not my problem.
The bungalow is one of three buildings on the property, including the main house, and a third building that has a bunch of storage rooms and seems to be a general waste of space. There is a patio, a BBQ grill and everything is fairly shabby. I did some cleaning while I was there, but in all likelihood, it will be similarly shabby by the time I get back to LA in thee next month or so. But it’s a good location, the room is fine, now, and its got parking and is definitely livable. And cheap, did I mention cheap.
So much for the glamour of being bicoastal, skateboard ramps and rats in the kitchen (and I do care).
Digger was announced, hit JoBlo and DreadCentral, which are two big horror blogs that get tons of traffic. That’s cool, and great for John Gallagher, who will direct, and our young writer, Stephen Lancellotti. Stephen, despite his youth, has had a good career already in the entertainment biz, which includes stints at Dreamworks and other big production companies, and working as an assistant and a story editor for Jean Domanian, who was Woody Allen’s producer before she produced for David Mamet. I think (we all do) that he wrote a great script, and we’re very excited about making it.
Speaking of horror, Slaughter is picking up speed as well. A respected horror director who shall remain nameless has offered his services. We’re still figuring things out, but we should have a director aboard in the next few days after the weekend. It’ll be great after all this looking and waiting and wanting.
I am on the flight now. Flying. It’s a phobia. A necessary evil. I need Xanax or something stronger when I fly, cause relaxation techniques aint cutting it no more. I serious think that the plane engines just turned off for like two minutes, a bit ago. No hum, nothing, like we were gliding. And when the altitude showed on the screen, we were lower than we had been minuted before. During takeoff. I admit I have this phobia, but that cant be normal. Can it? Why am I asking you?
Middle seats suck.
Otherwise, that’s mostly it. I am headed back bccause Valerie will be in town and I have much to get ready for the NYC PictureStart Film Festival. I also have a movie, Take The Bridge, in the Tribeca Film Festival, one I worked on years ago. I’d almost given up hope that it would see the light of day, as it hasn’t got any name actors – they are all newcomers. But its in Tribeca, and its getting some press now. I’ll be seeing this cut of it for the first time tomorrow nite. Come out and see it if you are in NYC. I am not going to swear by its quality because I haven’t seen the finished product, but really, what else do you have going on. Exactly.
See ya there.
Grumpy.
Anyway, so it took an hour to get down to Long Beach, had to refill the tank, etc. And so when I pulled up, I was about fifty minutes before my flight time.
This is getting dull, sorry. Not so interesting. Short cut. Wanted to have dinner, no time. Left restaurant. Flight delayed. Return to restaurant. Eat mediocre corned beef. Return to terminal and here I am. Waiting for this flight, which when I booked it, seemed to be direct, but now, somehow, is through Salt Lake City. Not that I don’t like Utah. I like Utah just fine. Anyway, you get it.
So it was an interesting couple of weeks in LA. I rented a place off Sunset in Hollywood, and got there to discover, that my new room had, hey, no wall. It had a skateboard ramp (or two) and a piece of plywood. Not good. Little detail escaped the dude from whom I rented it. Took the better part of the whole time I was in LA to find a wall guy, and get said wall guy to put up the wall. He kept doing it in pieces. Its finally up, though, so I am thankful for having what I should have had the whole time. At least the rent is cheap.
We also had a dead rat smell in the place, which arrived shorly after I did. Another lovely addition. Turned out, though, that the dead rat smell was being caused by a dead rat, which had picked the stove burner as his final resting place. I was happy I hadn’t used the stove since I’d been there. Not with Quizno’s and Carl’s across the street.
Work was OK. Sporadically busy and not. I can pretty much do what I do most of the time, from anywhere. There is wireless in the place. And its self contained.
I guess I really haven’t described what the dwelling is. I live in a two bedroom bungalow behind a big main house. I share it with a music vid director named Mike. It has a kitchen, a bathroom, both pretty grungy, and the two rooms. Mike’s room still doesn’t have a wall, it has its own makeshift arrangement. Not my problem.
The bungalow is one of three buildings on the property, including the main house, and a third building that has a bunch of storage rooms and seems to be a general waste of space. There is a patio, a BBQ grill and everything is fairly shabby. I did some cleaning while I was there, but in all likelihood, it will be similarly shabby by the time I get back to LA in thee next month or so. But it’s a good location, the room is fine, now, and its got parking and is definitely livable. And cheap, did I mention cheap.
So much for the glamour of being bicoastal, skateboard ramps and rats in the kitchen (and I do care).
Digger was announced, hit JoBlo and DreadCentral, which are two big horror blogs that get tons of traffic. That’s cool, and great for John Gallagher, who will direct, and our young writer, Stephen Lancellotti. Stephen, despite his youth, has had a good career already in the entertainment biz, which includes stints at Dreamworks and other big production companies, and working as an assistant and a story editor for Jean Domanian, who was Woody Allen’s producer before she produced for David Mamet. I think (we all do) that he wrote a great script, and we’re very excited about making it.
Speaking of horror, Slaughter is picking up speed as well. A respected horror director who shall remain nameless has offered his services. We’re still figuring things out, but we should have a director aboard in the next few days after the weekend. It’ll be great after all this looking and waiting and wanting.
I am on the flight now. Flying. It’s a phobia. A necessary evil. I need Xanax or something stronger when I fly, cause relaxation techniques aint cutting it no more. I serious think that the plane engines just turned off for like two minutes, a bit ago. No hum, nothing, like we were gliding. And when the altitude showed on the screen, we were lower than we had been minuted before. During takeoff. I admit I have this phobia, but that cant be normal. Can it? Why am I asking you?
Middle seats suck.
Otherwise, that’s mostly it. I am headed back bccause Valerie will be in town and I have much to get ready for the NYC PictureStart Film Festival. I also have a movie, Take The Bridge, in the Tribeca Film Festival, one I worked on years ago. I’d almost given up hope that it would see the light of day, as it hasn’t got any name actors – they are all newcomers. But its in Tribeca, and its getting some press now. I’ll be seeing this cut of it for the first time tomorrow nite. Come out and see it if you are in NYC. I am not going to swear by its quality because I haven’t seen the finished product, but really, what else do you have going on. Exactly.
See ya there.
Grumpy.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
At it again with the bloody stuff..
MAVERICK RED AND ANGEL BABY ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE “DIGGER” CO-PRODUCTION
Project Marks Second Co-Production between Companies
NEW YORK - Mark Morgan of Maverick Films, and Gregory Segal of Angel Baby Entertainment, announced pre-production on Digger, the second co-production between the Companies. Digger will be directed by Angel Baby Entertainment partner John A. Gallagher, from a script by Stephen Lancellotti.
Digger will be produced by Angel Baby Entertainment and Maverick’s freshly minted horror label, Maverick Red. The two companies, in association with the Slamdance Film Festival, are already in pre-production on the 2007 Slamdance Horror Screenplay Competition winner, Slaughter, written by Nathan Brookes and Bobby Darby. Principal Photography on Slaughter is scheduled for July 26th in New Mexico and the film will have its World Premiere at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival.
Digger unearths the legend of Joshua Bauer, raised by a sadistic gravedigger in a small New England town and forced from youth to dig graves by hand. When Joshua comes of age, he rebels with savage vengeance, embarking on a brutal killing spree. Digger brings a new maniac to the horror screen with all the hallmarks of a classic movie monster icon.
Segal and Gallagher of Angel Baby Entertainment will produce Digger along with Maverick principal Guy Oseary, Morgan, and Thompson of Maverick Red. Cheri Wozniak, who brought the project into the new horror label, will executive produce. Production is scheduled for late summer in Connecticut.
Angel Baby Entertainment is a partnership between Gregory Segal, producer (My Brother), and John A. Gallagher, writer/director/producer, (The Deli, Blue Moon). The company has produced six features and two short films over the past two-and-a-half years and has numerous projects in development.
Gallagher most recently produced The Insurgents and Hot Baby! with Segal; his last four features as writer-director (Cupidity, Blue Moon, The Deli, Men Lie) earned two dozen awards in international film festivals.
Maverick Films, a Los Angeles-based production company founded by Madonna and Guy Oseary, recently announced the launch of its new division, Maverick Red. While Maverick Red will focus on the horror genre, the production company is not new to the horror genre. Maverick Films’ co-chairman and founding partner Oseary executive produced Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. Maverick also has a number of thriller and horror films in development including; The Stepfather for Sony – Screen Gems, the remake of the Asian horror film, The Phone; and the serial-killer thriller Labyrinth, for Summit Entertainment, written by Russel Gewertz (The Inside Man) and starring Hilary Swank.
Maverick is in post-production on My Sassy Girl, a remake of the Korean box-office hit, with Vertigo and Gold Circle Films; and is prepping The Stanford Prison Experiment, to be directed by Chris McQuarrie and Shoot to be directed by Ron Krauss.
####
Project Marks Second Co-Production between Companies
NEW YORK - Mark Morgan of Maverick Films, and Gregory Segal of Angel Baby Entertainment, announced pre-production on Digger, the second co-production between the Companies. Digger will be directed by Angel Baby Entertainment partner John A. Gallagher, from a script by Stephen Lancellotti.
Digger will be produced by Angel Baby Entertainment and Maverick’s freshly minted horror label, Maverick Red. The two companies, in association with the Slamdance Film Festival, are already in pre-production on the 2007 Slamdance Horror Screenplay Competition winner, Slaughter, written by Nathan Brookes and Bobby Darby. Principal Photography on Slaughter is scheduled for July 26th in New Mexico and the film will have its World Premiere at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival.
Digger unearths the legend of Joshua Bauer, raised by a sadistic gravedigger in a small New England town and forced from youth to dig graves by hand. When Joshua comes of age, he rebels with savage vengeance, embarking on a brutal killing spree. Digger brings a new maniac to the horror screen with all the hallmarks of a classic movie monster icon.
Segal and Gallagher of Angel Baby Entertainment will produce Digger along with Maverick principal Guy Oseary, Morgan, and Thompson of Maverick Red. Cheri Wozniak, who brought the project into the new horror label, will executive produce. Production is scheduled for late summer in Connecticut.
Angel Baby Entertainment is a partnership between Gregory Segal, producer (My Brother), and John A. Gallagher, writer/director/producer, (The Deli, Blue Moon). The company has produced six features and two short films over the past two-and-a-half years and has numerous projects in development.
Gallagher most recently produced The Insurgents and Hot Baby! with Segal; his last four features as writer-director (Cupidity, Blue Moon, The Deli, Men Lie) earned two dozen awards in international film festivals.
Maverick Films, a Los Angeles-based production company founded by Madonna and Guy Oseary, recently announced the launch of its new division, Maverick Red. While Maverick Red will focus on the horror genre, the production company is not new to the horror genre. Maverick Films’ co-chairman and founding partner Oseary executive produced Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. Maverick also has a number of thriller and horror films in development including; The Stepfather for Sony – Screen Gems, the remake of the Asian horror film, The Phone; and the serial-killer thriller Labyrinth, for Summit Entertainment, written by Russel Gewertz (The Inside Man) and starring Hilary Swank.
Maverick is in post-production on My Sassy Girl, a remake of the Korean box-office hit, with Vertigo and Gold Circle Films; and is prepping The Stanford Prison Experiment, to be directed by Chris McQuarrie and Shoot to be directed by Ron Krauss.
####
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Sofa Bloggin’: The Great In-Between
Holy Canoli, Batman. Its an entry not written at 35,000 feet.
Yes folks, sorry for the interlude. Im back. Been a few weeks of decompression since the first round of My Brother releases, which weren’t overly successful from a box office standpoint, but weren’t expensive either. And the preorders on the DVD seem to be very strong. Which is good. Though not really for me, cause I am not particularly a profit participant on the movie, not for a while.
Its like I lost my job. I really haven’t and I’ve continued to work on some My Brother stuff, but most of the work I spent on the movie I’ve been reallocating to other tasks. Like the PictureStart Film Festival, for which I don’t yet have a venue. Working on it, though.
Anyway, things have been quite a bit slower. I’ve been working, but its not as frantic. However, its gearing up to get busy again. We’re selling the Insurgents, likely this week. I also rented a place in LA so that I stop spending so much money on hotels when I am out there. Its in Hollywood, and is a bungalow on a large piece of property around Sunset and Highland. I’m told, despite the loud neighborhood, that its fairly quiet because of the size of the property. We shall see.
Otherwise, things are fairly normal. Slaughter continues to move forward. We’re set a preliminary schedule for preproduction, production, etc. And hopefully everything can speed up with the extra time I will be spending in LA LA land.
That’s all I really got right now.
But I am flying on Tuesday, so I am sure there will be more.
Yes folks, sorry for the interlude. Im back. Been a few weeks of decompression since the first round of My Brother releases, which weren’t overly successful from a box office standpoint, but weren’t expensive either. And the preorders on the DVD seem to be very strong. Which is good. Though not really for me, cause I am not particularly a profit participant on the movie, not for a while.
Its like I lost my job. I really haven’t and I’ve continued to work on some My Brother stuff, but most of the work I spent on the movie I’ve been reallocating to other tasks. Like the PictureStart Film Festival, for which I don’t yet have a venue. Working on it, though.
Anyway, things have been quite a bit slower. I’ve been working, but its not as frantic. However, its gearing up to get busy again. We’re selling the Insurgents, likely this week. I also rented a place in LA so that I stop spending so much money on hotels when I am out there. Its in Hollywood, and is a bungalow on a large piece of property around Sunset and Highland. I’m told, despite the loud neighborhood, that its fairly quiet because of the size of the property. We shall see.
Otherwise, things are fairly normal. Slaughter continues to move forward. We’re set a preliminary schedule for preproduction, production, etc. And hopefully everything can speed up with the extra time I will be spending in LA LA land.
That’s all I really got right now.
But I am flying on Tuesday, so I am sure there will be more.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Airplane Blogging – The End of the Road
Coming back to NYC from Kansas City, via Atlanta. I spent over a week in KC, from a trip on a whim due to bad weather out of Chicago. All in all I had a great time and Val and I (and Mikimoto, her pooch) got along swimmingly. And despite a few hiccups with work related stuff during the week, I basically had a very nice, relaxing week. KC isn’t exactly New York (hell, its not even St. Louis), but it was pretty cool, anyway. I worked all week out of the Screenland theater, arranging for My Brother to make its KC premiere there and playing matchmaker between the theater owner, Butch Rigby, and Slamdance, to set up a Slamdance in the Midwest screening series which both sides think is a dandy idea.
See, I am talking like them now.
Now, what you may or may not have been waiting for, which is the results on My Brother’s run in the theaters.
We had 28 screens in 18 markets the first weekend. The total advertising budget from the distributor, I am told, was about 100,000 dollars (prints and PR are extra). We didn’t have newspaper ads, either.
You see where I am going with this. Maybe, maybe not.
We did around 33,000 on the 28 screens for the opening weekend. One theater didn’t report, for some reason. Don’t know why.
So at about 1,200 per screen or so, we weren’t the weakest movie released that weekend, but we weren’t burning up the ticket window either, except in Houston, which did very nicely thanks to the Scott’s help and to some extent, Hampton VA (which is still going strong). Some markets, like Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and unfortunately, Chicago, did very little. And so, at the end of the weekend, AMC pulled the chain on 24 of the screens they had given us, and added only one replacement screen.
Funny thing, though, despite the weak opening, the movie began to do decent numbers during the week. Steady, not spectacular. We crossed 40,000 Thursday nite, but despite the decent performance during the week, especially in NYC and Norfolk VA (where Donovan lives), the decision from the prior weekend stood, and we are only on six screens this weekend, three in Houston, one in Columbus OH (which didn’t perform well during the first weekend), Dallas, and Norfolk. New York City was done with AMC.
From the distributor’s standpoint, they seem pretty happy with the release. The movie got reviews, some good (Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Kam Williams and NY Times being the best), and some not so good. There seems to be a lot of awareness in the market for the movie, and since they spent so little on prints and advertising, the money that will start to come in on DVD sales will recoup their expenditure very quickly Which means both CodeBlack and Liberty will start to see cash sometime fairly soon.
That’s all well, but we still want to get the movie out a little more broadly in the public consciousness, so I’ve made contact with some movie theaters, independent ones, to book the movie in cities where we never opened. Kansas City was the first (which also makes the trip a biz trip, tax deductible, yes). And working on San Francisco, and a chain of theaters in the south from Mississippi to Louisiana and the Carolinas. They have the movie, lets see. Still working on Philadelphia, but time seems to be running out on that.
Anyway, that’s the basic plan. There are still the same people circling about putting up some money to do a real movie campaign, but time is so short, and I’ve seen this song and dance a million times. We’ll just have to see where it goes.
The new Slaughter script came in, and it’s a big improvement, although we can leave that upto Heidi to determine. I’ll send her a copy so she can get grossed out again and complain about all the actresses taking their clothes off. The production team has been having its bumps and bruises, but the creative elements seem to be coming together, and that’s the key. We even slipped the script to a director who may be a good fit for the project. We’ll see if he warms to the material.
I haven’t been in NY for two weeks. And before that, I was gone basically all week in Washington, D.C., Arizona. California, Arizona, Houston, Chicago, Kansas City, all in the past month. Lotsa travel. And that followed up a January in Park City and the nine days I spent out there. My mattress is getting lots of rest.
Despite the title of this entry, I probably will head to LA for work within the next ten days or so. Slaughter is sitting squarely in the middle of my bloody plate. Its picked up momentum, and is getting good press from the bloggers and horror websites. Already seen a picture of Nathan and Bobby, the writers, on JoBlo. That’s pretty huge.
I have to see how we’re putting all these pieces together with all these partners, or say some goodbyes and get focused down to business. I am also going to start taking legal clients again –this traveling gets expensive. I’m looking at renting a cheap place in Hollywood to cut costs for when I go to LA, so that I can stay as long as I need to and afford it. The Sunsent Hyatt (or Riot Hyatt) just wasn’t worth three bills a nite, anyway.
Catch y’all in NY. And to those who went to see My Brother, thanks.
See, I am talking like them now.
Now, what you may or may not have been waiting for, which is the results on My Brother’s run in the theaters.
We had 28 screens in 18 markets the first weekend. The total advertising budget from the distributor, I am told, was about 100,000 dollars (prints and PR are extra). We didn’t have newspaper ads, either.
You see where I am going with this. Maybe, maybe not.
We did around 33,000 on the 28 screens for the opening weekend. One theater didn’t report, for some reason. Don’t know why.
So at about 1,200 per screen or so, we weren’t the weakest movie released that weekend, but we weren’t burning up the ticket window either, except in Houston, which did very nicely thanks to the Scott’s help and to some extent, Hampton VA (which is still going strong). Some markets, like Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and unfortunately, Chicago, did very little. And so, at the end of the weekend, AMC pulled the chain on 24 of the screens they had given us, and added only one replacement screen.
Funny thing, though, despite the weak opening, the movie began to do decent numbers during the week. Steady, not spectacular. We crossed 40,000 Thursday nite, but despite the decent performance during the week, especially in NYC and Norfolk VA (where Donovan lives), the decision from the prior weekend stood, and we are only on six screens this weekend, three in Houston, one in Columbus OH (which didn’t perform well during the first weekend), Dallas, and Norfolk. New York City was done with AMC.
From the distributor’s standpoint, they seem pretty happy with the release. The movie got reviews, some good (Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Kam Williams and NY Times being the best), and some not so good. There seems to be a lot of awareness in the market for the movie, and since they spent so little on prints and advertising, the money that will start to come in on DVD sales will recoup their expenditure very quickly Which means both CodeBlack and Liberty will start to see cash sometime fairly soon.
That’s all well, but we still want to get the movie out a little more broadly in the public consciousness, so I’ve made contact with some movie theaters, independent ones, to book the movie in cities where we never opened. Kansas City was the first (which also makes the trip a biz trip, tax deductible, yes). And working on San Francisco, and a chain of theaters in the south from Mississippi to Louisiana and the Carolinas. They have the movie, lets see. Still working on Philadelphia, but time seems to be running out on that.
Anyway, that’s the basic plan. There are still the same people circling about putting up some money to do a real movie campaign, but time is so short, and I’ve seen this song and dance a million times. We’ll just have to see where it goes.
The new Slaughter script came in, and it’s a big improvement, although we can leave that upto Heidi to determine. I’ll send her a copy so she can get grossed out again and complain about all the actresses taking their clothes off. The production team has been having its bumps and bruises, but the creative elements seem to be coming together, and that’s the key. We even slipped the script to a director who may be a good fit for the project. We’ll see if he warms to the material.
I haven’t been in NY for two weeks. And before that, I was gone basically all week in Washington, D.C., Arizona. California, Arizona, Houston, Chicago, Kansas City, all in the past month. Lotsa travel. And that followed up a January in Park City and the nine days I spent out there. My mattress is getting lots of rest.
Despite the title of this entry, I probably will head to LA for work within the next ten days or so. Slaughter is sitting squarely in the middle of my bloody plate. Its picked up momentum, and is getting good press from the bloggers and horror websites. Already seen a picture of Nathan and Bobby, the writers, on JoBlo. That’s pretty huge.
I have to see how we’re putting all these pieces together with all these partners, or say some goodbyes and get focused down to business. I am also going to start taking legal clients again –this traveling gets expensive. I’m looking at renting a cheap place in Hollywood to cut costs for when I go to LA, so that I can stay as long as I need to and afford it. The Sunsent Hyatt (or Riot Hyatt) just wasn’t worth three bills a nite, anyway.
Catch y’all in NY. And to those who went to see My Brother, thanks.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Airplane Bloggin: Snowbound Edition
(Friday, March 16th)
Did the Chicago premiere last nite, and now, Im on my way back to NY for the screening for the national board of review of motion pictures, which is the older critics organization in the country and is ….screeech.
Well, not really.
I was on my way back to the screening for the NBR (some of you may recall that I co-produced their gala with John Gallagher) but my flight from OHare was kaput. Cancelled. Sorry folks, Moose out front shoulda told ya.
They wanted to book me on 12:15 flight that might or might not happen, and thus might or might not get me into New York at three or so, well after the question and answer period for the movie would have been over. Consequently, flying back that late didn’t help me do anything at all. I’d be home, and that’s only if the flight actually happens, because word has it that the east coast is SNOWBOUND.
Thank god for wireless. For the inexpensive price of 6.95, Boingo put me on the web in OHare. Now, mind you, I got up at 3:55 this morning, and I do not like to get up early. When I got to the airport at 4:30 or so, AM, ugh, and my flight was cancelled, I wasn’t happy. And wasn’t about to spend another 50 bucks to go back to my hotel, where I wasn’t even assured of being able to check back in. I mean, I already checked out.
So I Boingo it – and find a flight to Kansas City, to go see Val. 150 bucks one way. She’s happy, Im happy, and now I am flying south, instead of East. Too bad Kansas City isn’t any warmer than Chicago. At least I have plans for the weekend, and I wont be sitting in the airport for 8 hours plus twiddling my twiddle.
The premiere (not a red carpet premiere, mind you) was great. It wasn’t as full as I would have liked, and it didn’t get the coverage that I wanted, but Jesse Jackson was there, and introduced the movie, and was generally very friendly and cordial, as was Ms. Nina Rawls (Lou’s widow). Also in attendance were two women who work for the Queen of Daytime TV. They didn’t stay for the Q and A after the screening, but stayed through the movie and one of them told me she loved it and kissed my cheek. Twice. She didn’t take my info, though she has my email already and well, I don’t want to speculate. Rev. Jackson has already said he’ll call O. I hope he’ll do that today.
And that’s basically it. This is a nice short flight, Val is grabbing me at the airport in 50 minutes or so, and I am sitting behind the very talented D.L. Hughley, who plays Simon Stiles on the great show (now on hiatus, ugh) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I already said hello, he’s in the last row of first, I am in the first row of last – er, I mean coach. Anyway, maybe I’ll tell him a Columbus Short story.
Y’all have a good weekend. Go see a movie. My movie.
I hope the snow doesn’t kill the box office in the east. Ugh. At least Chicago has good weather.
Grumpy.
Did the Chicago premiere last nite, and now, Im on my way back to NY for the screening for the national board of review of motion pictures, which is the older critics organization in the country and is ….screeech.
Well, not really.
I was on my way back to the screening for the NBR (some of you may recall that I co-produced their gala with John Gallagher) but my flight from OHare was kaput. Cancelled. Sorry folks, Moose out front shoulda told ya.
They wanted to book me on 12:15 flight that might or might not happen, and thus might or might not get me into New York at three or so, well after the question and answer period for the movie would have been over. Consequently, flying back that late didn’t help me do anything at all. I’d be home, and that’s only if the flight actually happens, because word has it that the east coast is SNOWBOUND.
Thank god for wireless. For the inexpensive price of 6.95, Boingo put me on the web in OHare. Now, mind you, I got up at 3:55 this morning, and I do not like to get up early. When I got to the airport at 4:30 or so, AM, ugh, and my flight was cancelled, I wasn’t happy. And wasn’t about to spend another 50 bucks to go back to my hotel, where I wasn’t even assured of being able to check back in. I mean, I already checked out.
So I Boingo it – and find a flight to Kansas City, to go see Val. 150 bucks one way. She’s happy, Im happy, and now I am flying south, instead of East. Too bad Kansas City isn’t any warmer than Chicago. At least I have plans for the weekend, and I wont be sitting in the airport for 8 hours plus twiddling my twiddle.
The premiere (not a red carpet premiere, mind you) was great. It wasn’t as full as I would have liked, and it didn’t get the coverage that I wanted, but Jesse Jackson was there, and introduced the movie, and was generally very friendly and cordial, as was Ms. Nina Rawls (Lou’s widow). Also in attendance were two women who work for the Queen of Daytime TV. They didn’t stay for the Q and A after the screening, but stayed through the movie and one of them told me she loved it and kissed my cheek. Twice. She didn’t take my info, though she has my email already and well, I don’t want to speculate. Rev. Jackson has already said he’ll call O. I hope he’ll do that today.
And that’s basically it. This is a nice short flight, Val is grabbing me at the airport in 50 minutes or so, and I am sitting behind the very talented D.L. Hughley, who plays Simon Stiles on the great show (now on hiatus, ugh) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I already said hello, he’s in the last row of first, I am in the first row of last – er, I mean coach. Anyway, maybe I’ll tell him a Columbus Short story.
Y’all have a good weekend. Go see a movie. My movie.
I hope the snow doesn’t kill the box office in the east. Ugh. At least Chicago has good weather.
Grumpy.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Airplane Bloggin: On the Road Again
So I am sitting on a CRJ-700. I don’t know who makes it, probably McDon.-Douglas. Its got nineteen rows and four seats per row, so its just a little bigger than a puddle jumper. Im back in Row 17, and its bumpy. Bouncy. Thank god for the Valium I got from Dave before I left for Houston.
Ah, Houston. We were stars in Houston. Before we landed Sunday morning in Houston, we were on the ABC News affiliate and they showed the trailer. Over the next two days, we were on Fox and ABC probably four or five times, including movie clips, interviews with the cast and with Tony Lover, the writer-director, and behind the scenes stuff from our documentary. We did at least four radio shows, including Mix 96, the most popular radio show in Houston, and Wash Allen, who hosted the premiere and is very popular with the African American family audience in Houston. A Congresswomen presented Chris Scott with a certificate from the US Congress and National Black Caucus at a family party Sunday nite, and on Monday, the red carpet premiere seemed to go off very well, with people being into the movie and wanting to spread the word. And at this point, boys and girls, its all about spreading the word.
See, the way the movie biz works these days is that when a picture like My Brother is released in theaters, it has to earn its keep to hold the theaters or to add more theaters. Ultimately, My Brother is opening in about thirty two or thirty three screens on its first weekend, this Friday. If the movie makes money for the theater owners, they will leave it up on the screen for an additional week or more. If it doesn’t make them enough money, then they’ll pull it and replace it with another movie. If it does very well, like I’m hoping we’ll do, they may add screens in those theaters, so that it could be playing two or even three screens in the same movie theater.
So it really is all about that opening weekend, and about momentum. And for a movie like My Brother, which is an inspirational audience movie, a lot about word of mouth as well. What my last three months have been spent doing is trying to generate as big an audience as possible for the opening weekend, and then to hope that those people would spread the word to their communities, whether those be churches, or groups for people with developmental disabilities, or schools, etc., and that those friends and neighbors will turn out for the movie,
When the box office numbers become available on Sunday mid morning, they are posted online and exhibitors (the theater owners) from all over North America look at them and if they see a movie doing nice business, they will call up the distributor to try to order a print. Why? Because if the movie is bringing in audiences, then they can make money off of it. Its really that simple.
Speaking of spreading the word, despite an incredibly tight shooting schedule on Ugly Betty, I know Vanessa is doing a bunch of press today, including a satellite tour for national and local morning shows, a bunch of radio shows, CNN’s Showbiz tonite, and Extra. I also heard from people that they had seen several commercials for the movie on BET or TV One, but I haven’t had a chance to see one myself yet.
And now I am on this bumpy-ass flight to Atlanta, on the way to Chicago (I know, shitty connection, basically two hours east to head back to hours northwest, but it was late notice). We are doing a screening for agencies for people with developmental disabilities in Chicago, for Rainbow-Push and for anyone else who might be interested in spreading the word.
And even beyond Houston, it does seem to be spreading, with people taking it upon themselves to do so. Yesterday I got word that an email was being sent to the 175,000 people on the list for the National Human Resources Council, mostly of those people being in the NY Metro Area. Why? Because a woman who attended the NY Premiere, a local radio DJ, loved the movie and told people at NHRC about it,and they were interested.
We are still chasing, in various ways, the queen of daytime talk shows. I don’t have any expectations, and its getting very very late. But they’ve expressed a bit of interest and we can see where it goes from here. Its been a long road, and I am almost at the end, at least with respect to North America for the movie (famous last words, I know, and I will probably end up being wrong, although I am definitely ready to move on).
Chicago is the last stop on the tour. Val has compared it to a political campaign, and in some ways she is right. When I hosted the Q&A in Houston last nite, it even felt like that a bit. Gonna do what I can in Chicago, for the next couple of days, have dinner with my best friend from law school, and see his baby daughter, then fly back to NYC 6AM Friday morning for the last screening we’ll be doing (unless Philadelphia comes through with a premiere for next week). Its my friends at the NBR for their organizational screening. Then I am going home to take a nap, and wait for the box office numbers to start presenting themselves. And to figure out what I am going to do next.
Its been two and a half years on this journey. If I live to 75, that’s over three percent of my life. It all comes down to this. All I can say is one thing…
1 -800- FANDANGO.
Grumpy.
Ah, Houston. We were stars in Houston. Before we landed Sunday morning in Houston, we were on the ABC News affiliate and they showed the trailer. Over the next two days, we were on Fox and ABC probably four or five times, including movie clips, interviews with the cast and with Tony Lover, the writer-director, and behind the scenes stuff from our documentary. We did at least four radio shows, including Mix 96, the most popular radio show in Houston, and Wash Allen, who hosted the premiere and is very popular with the African American family audience in Houston. A Congresswomen presented Chris Scott with a certificate from the US Congress and National Black Caucus at a family party Sunday nite, and on Monday, the red carpet premiere seemed to go off very well, with people being into the movie and wanting to spread the word. And at this point, boys and girls, its all about spreading the word.
See, the way the movie biz works these days is that when a picture like My Brother is released in theaters, it has to earn its keep to hold the theaters or to add more theaters. Ultimately, My Brother is opening in about thirty two or thirty three screens on its first weekend, this Friday. If the movie makes money for the theater owners, they will leave it up on the screen for an additional week or more. If it doesn’t make them enough money, then they’ll pull it and replace it with another movie. If it does very well, like I’m hoping we’ll do, they may add screens in those theaters, so that it could be playing two or even three screens in the same movie theater.
So it really is all about that opening weekend, and about momentum. And for a movie like My Brother, which is an inspirational audience movie, a lot about word of mouth as well. What my last three months have been spent doing is trying to generate as big an audience as possible for the opening weekend, and then to hope that those people would spread the word to their communities, whether those be churches, or groups for people with developmental disabilities, or schools, etc., and that those friends and neighbors will turn out for the movie,
When the box office numbers become available on Sunday mid morning, they are posted online and exhibitors (the theater owners) from all over North America look at them and if they see a movie doing nice business, they will call up the distributor to try to order a print. Why? Because if the movie is bringing in audiences, then they can make money off of it. Its really that simple.
Speaking of spreading the word, despite an incredibly tight shooting schedule on Ugly Betty, I know Vanessa is doing a bunch of press today, including a satellite tour for national and local morning shows, a bunch of radio shows, CNN’s Showbiz tonite, and Extra. I also heard from people that they had seen several commercials for the movie on BET or TV One, but I haven’t had a chance to see one myself yet.
And now I am on this bumpy-ass flight to Atlanta, on the way to Chicago (I know, shitty connection, basically two hours east to head back to hours northwest, but it was late notice). We are doing a screening for agencies for people with developmental disabilities in Chicago, for Rainbow-Push and for anyone else who might be interested in spreading the word.
And even beyond Houston, it does seem to be spreading, with people taking it upon themselves to do so. Yesterday I got word that an email was being sent to the 175,000 people on the list for the National Human Resources Council, mostly of those people being in the NY Metro Area. Why? Because a woman who attended the NY Premiere, a local radio DJ, loved the movie and told people at NHRC about it,and they were interested.
We are still chasing, in various ways, the queen of daytime talk shows. I don’t have any expectations, and its getting very very late. But they’ve expressed a bit of interest and we can see where it goes from here. Its been a long road, and I am almost at the end, at least with respect to North America for the movie (famous last words, I know, and I will probably end up being wrong, although I am definitely ready to move on).
Chicago is the last stop on the tour. Val has compared it to a political campaign, and in some ways she is right. When I hosted the Q&A in Houston last nite, it even felt like that a bit. Gonna do what I can in Chicago, for the next couple of days, have dinner with my best friend from law school, and see his baby daughter, then fly back to NYC 6AM Friday morning for the last screening we’ll be doing (unless Philadelphia comes through with a premiere for next week). Its my friends at the NBR for their organizational screening. Then I am going home to take a nap, and wait for the box office numbers to start presenting themselves. And to figure out what I am going to do next.
Its been two and a half years on this journey. If I live to 75, that’s over three percent of my life. It all comes down to this. All I can say is one thing…
1 -800- FANDANGO.
Grumpy.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Airplane Bloggin’: The Midnight Special
Sitting in the Phoenix Airport, waiting for a flight home. It’s a midnighter, Jet Blue, red-eye and the airport is mostly empty. Most of the gates are unoccupied, and unfortunately, I got here a bit early but all of the restaurants are closed. Had I know everything would be closed, I would have grabbed something before returning the car to the rental place. So now, hungry, already having passed through security, I am long-boning it for the next hour and change until I can get on the airplane, swallow the Xanax that’s in my pocket, and say hi to the Sandman.
As least this airport has wireless, and I managed to snag a seat next to an outlet so that I can blog for y’all without losing battery.
This just in. Sedona is gorgeous. You can drive through the town, make a turn, and see something that will totally take your breath away. These mountains of red clay, striated by hundreds of thousands of years of rivers that carved beautiful, cactus-speckled canyons, are breathtaking (as I just said, duh). Really a beautiful place, and I’d like to go there when life is a little less chaotic, and I can enjoy the environment a little more. To boot, things are pretty cheap, drinks, hotels, etc., and its nice and cool at nite, good sleeping weather.
The festival was pretty cool too. Not that it was overflowing with the type of contacts I enjoy making at festivals- wasn’t very industry heavy though I did pick up a few biz cards and maybe made one contact that will be worth the trip. What I like about the festival really had to do with the audiences. Sedona is 70 percent occupied by retirees. Which means they don’t work. Which means they have free time. And during this festival, they go to the movies. A lot.
I didn’t see any screening less than half full except for the first day. We were a little light with My Brother day one, but by the Friday screening, with very minimal promotion (I did invite a few ppl), we were easily 2/3 full, over a hundred people, lotsa grey hair. And they really seemed to love it, asking questions until the moderator told us we had to wrap it up. And then asking more in the hallway.
They have already announced the Festival Director’s picks, and though he was very gracious and described us as a top breakout pick in press for the festival, we weren’t included as the feature (one I missed, Canvas, with Joey Pants, was his selection for feature narrative). Audience awards are to be announced tomorrow, AM, at the brunch. He told me that there were a bunch of films in contention, including My Brother, so David Basch is sticking around to see whats what, which he wanted to do anyway, because he fell in love with Sedona. He’ll attend the brunch. If we win, he’ll be accepting on my behalf for the second weekend in a row, having accepted by Best Producer Award at the Santa Barbara African Heritage Film Series. Haha, talk about carving out a niche.
Anyway, Val is coming to town for a week, and things are gonna get busy. Got the NY premiere at the Magic Johnson theater on 124th St. Tuesday nite, with the incredible moving afterparty to follow (we’ve gone through three venues, and my fingers are crossed). On Sunday, I have to fly to Houston, for the Houston premiere, and then back to NY on Tuesday. On Thursday, we may or may not have a Chicago premiere, pending finding a place to show the friggin thing, and then on Friday, we’ll be opening in our 19 or so cities (I recently found out that it could be a few less, or a few more, depending on AMC holdovers and spots available, we’re only confirmed on 25 screens as of this past week, of the 35 for which we were aiming).
But we’ve gained momentum, as least in parts of the country, and there are a whole lot of people who are just looking to stomp for the movie because they think it’s the right thing to do, all over the country. They just admire the messages of the movie, whether its about family in the black community, or opportunities for people with Intellectual disabilities, or whatever. We’ll take all the help we can get.
I’m nervous, not because I expect to make a bunch of money if we do well, but because so many people have put so much into this movie, getting it out, getting it into theaters, spreading the word. Its been guts and no glory for months, and hopefully, it will have been worth it. This is totally a word of mouth movie, and if we get good reviews (we have critics screenings in LA (2) and NY (1) this week), maybe we can even cross over to a broader audience. I think Santa Barbara and Sedona have proven to me that white audiences like this movie almost as much as black audiences, even if they have no particular experience with people with intellectual disabilities. In a best case scenario, if we can get those folks to come out to see the movie that only come out for a rare thing, to see something special and different, well, then, I wont be talking to any of you little people any more. Except Dawn, my most ardent supporter. ☺.
But seriously, Im fucking tired, and I don’t have a whole lot left in the tank, or in the bank, for that matter. I’ve spent a lot of my own money doing these roadtrips to promote the movie, to try to make things happen. And now, thirteen days and diminishing from the release of the movie, the final push is on.
I don’t have any predictions, anymore. I don’t know how we’ll do, whether we’ll go out with a whisper. Every time I google the movie, I find new stuff, more stuff. Good stuff. But Im not sure it ever seems like enough stuff. Like too little jelly over too many markets, I mean, bread.
Talk to you soon. If I don’t blog this week, forgive me, its hard to find the time unless Im waiting for, or am on, a plane. I should have the blog sponsored by Jet Blue.
Later.
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