edited by Jonathan Doyle

Classe tous risques (The Criterion Collection, 6.17.2008) Claude Sautet is best known for subtle interpretations of French bourgeois life in such films as Un coeur en hiver and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud. Yet the director began his career with genre films. Classe Tous Risques, released in 1960, is considered the best of his early work and it's a fascinating companion to similar crime movies made around the same time by Jean-Pierre Melville. (continued)

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July 2

Hancock

July 3

The Whackness

July 4

Diminished Capacity

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson

Holding Trevor

Kabluey

We are Together

July 9

Full Battle Rattle

July 11

A Man Named Pearl

August

Eight Miles High

Garden Party

Harold

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Meet Dave

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

The Stone Angel

July 18

A Very British Gangster

Before I Forget

The Dark Knight

The Doorman

Felon

Lou Reed's Berlin

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July 22

Two Tickets to Paradise

July 23

Boy A

Lee, Schulberg, Louis

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Budd Schulberg and Spike Lee have been "piecing together" a script about heavyweight champ Joe Louis (and his bout and later friendship with Max Schmelling ) for about five years, according to this 11.24 AP story by Ryan Pearson. I'm sorry but that's too long. Movies that are truly meant to happen don't get pieced together over a period equal to one third the lifespan of the average cat. They spew out over a period of days, weeks...months at the most. Okay, a year but no longer.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 28, 2006 at 09:50 AM

comment #1

Arran says ...

I take it you didn't think much of Gangs of New York, then?

Posted by Arran at November 28, 2006 10:20 AM

comment #2

Ponderer says ...

What? How long did Apocalypse Now take to gestate? A decade? Sorry, but there are times that you seem to have have one third the understanding of the creative process as the average cat.

A year. Jeez.

Posted by Ponderer at November 28, 2006 10:27 AM

comment #3

Gabriel says ...

The Fountain, The Thin Red Line....LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE...all films that wouldn't have been made if that correllation were truly in effect.

Posted by Gabriel at November 28, 2006 10:40 AM

comment #4

shepherd12345 says ...

a strange and underthought post, jeff.

more than a few screenplays have taken on the gestational period generally associated with novels, and these extended processes have quite often (though not always) worked to the benefit of the film. the first example that leaps to mind is one of your favorites, 2001, which one could say began on april 23 1964 when kubrick and clarke met for the first time at trader vic's. clarke finished the NOVEL for 2001 on christmas of 1965, a year and a half later, and of course the screenplay work continued well into 1966. (one could certainly argue the script work was being continued on celluloid in 1967 and '68.)

and as we all know of kubrick, these workdays were not idly spent taking meetings and developing other projects. according to vincent lobrutto's KUBRICK biography, clarke and kubrick tended to work four hours a day together, six days a week.

Posted by shepherd12345 at November 28, 2006 10:43 AM

comment #5

storymark says ...

Someone should start cataloging these little "rules" Jeff blesses us with from time to time.

Let's see, there:
Marraiges always end because the Husband "cats around".
Marraiges always end when the woman puts on weight.
A mustache dooms a film to failure.
Fat characters also doom a film.

And now, no story that takes more than a couple months to craft is worth it.

What ever would we do without these little bits of wisdom?

Posted by storymark at November 28, 2006 10:48 AM

comment #6

JD says ...

Most of the best filmmakers working today (PT Anderson, David O. Russell, Spike Jonze, David Fincher, Wes Anderson) take 3-5 years per film, Jeff. Even movies that appear to come together fast (ie. Soderbergh's films) are usually the product of several years of screenwriting development (ie. Traffic, the Che movies, etc.) that you simply aren't hearing about/noticing.

Posted by JD at November 28, 2006 10:48 AM

comment #7

cjKennedy says ...

I get the feeling sometimes Jeff doesn't much like new movies at all. Unless a film has been pre-sanctified by the cognoscenti at the important international festivals, it practically shouldn't have the nerve to exist and he can come up with a million casually stupid reasons why.

Posted by cjKennedy at November 28, 2006 11:27 AM

comment #8

christian says ...

yeah jeff, this just ain't true. any writer worth his/her salt has scripts that have been in progress for a decade sometimes. and the filmmaking process tweaksthem even further. do you think BEING JOHN MALKOVICH was not changed at all over the years it took to get made? scenes were dropped, added, revised, etc etc. etc.

Posted by christian at November 28, 2006 11:29 AM

comment #9

The Movie Man says ...

"I get the feeling sometimes Jeff doesn't much like new movies at all. Unless a film has been pre-sanctified by the cognoscenti at the important international festivals, it practically shouldn't have the nerve to exist and he can come up with a million casually stupid reasons why."

cj, this actually inspired a rare lol from yours truly.

Posted by The Movie Man at November 28, 2006 01:05 PM

comment #10

THX5334 says ...

Man with every post, the cantankerous old coot that Jeff Wells really is just comes through more and more.

You just have to feel pity for a man that lives his life from such a veneer of negativity.

Posted by THX5334 at November 28, 2006 02:08 PM

comment #11

Argen says ...

For real.

My first response to this was a little thrill that Spike and Schulberg were working on a Louis pic together. Not that they had somehow violated the ancient lifespan-of-a-cat screenwriting rule. But I guess different things turn different people on.

Five years is almost nothing in the life of a script, not to mention the life of a biopic requiring much research between two new collaborators.

Relax, Jeff. Go kick something defenseless and cheer up a bit.

Posted by Argen at November 28, 2006 02:23 PM

comment #12

christian says ...

actually, the real point of interest here is budd and spike working together. what a team!

Posted by christian at November 28, 2006 02:31 PM

comment #13

JD says ...

By the way, I'm pretty sure there have been finished versions of this script. I remember Spike complaining in interviews a long time ago that, while the script was written, they were having a hard time raising the money. Maybe on the heels of his success with Inside Man, he's getting some interest... if he can focus it a bit and trim the budget.

Posted by JD at November 28, 2006 02:46 PM

comment #14

cjKennedy says ...

Thanks for the acknowledged laugh Movie Man. It makes up for being accused of being a studio plant in another forum today because I came out positively for a movie and I kind of know how to spell.

Posted by cjKennedy at November 28, 2006 03:39 PM

comment #15

Ju-osh says ...

I mentioned this tantalizing project here a month or so ago (http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/archives/2006/11/inside_man_2.php)...back when Bizzaro Jeff was inexplicably celebrating the news of a whorish sequel to Inside Man.

Posted by Ju-osh at November 28, 2006 04:16 PM

comment #16

Ju-osh says ...

Or, to quote your quote of Ellen Burstyn:
"You're full of shit!"

Posted by Ju-osh at November 28, 2006 04:18 PM

comment #17

cjKennedy says ...

As long as he keeps pushing the envelope, I don't mind if Spike stops once in awhile to pander to the mainstream audience so he can stay in business. I'd rather see a Spike Lee Joint Sellout than say anything by Michael Bay or Brett Ratner or pick your mainstream douchebag poison.

But I agree with you Ju-osh, I'd prefer to see the Louis thing over Inside Man 2.

Posted by cjKennedy at November 28, 2006 04:24 PM

comment #18

nola says ...

There was an earlier version of the script but no one wanted to make it then.

Posted by nola at November 28, 2006 05:52 PM

comment #19

The Winchester says ...

This is one of the most ludicrous posts I have ever read.

Posted by The Winchester at November 28, 2006 11:53 PM

comment #20

Dave Polands Gut says ...

Great. Cant wait for Spike to butcher the great Joe Louis. As he makes Max out to be Hitler while hes at it.

Who keeps giving him money to make movies?

Posted by Dave Polands Gut at November 29, 2006 07:27 AM

comment #21

Ju-osh says ...

D.P's Gut:
You're an ignorant, no-nothing fuck. Spike did his research (over a year's worth, Jeff!). He's well aware that 'Max' and Joe Louis had an enormous respect for each other and after the fight became very good friends -- and the screenplay shows this. Not that you really cared, though. You're just trying to insinuate that Lee is a racist, right? Well, if Spike Lee is anti-white, can you tell me why some of his longest-lasting collaborators are white? No? Of course not. Maybe you should take your limited knowledge of the man elsewhere -- like www.kkk.com. They'll eat your 'white-man's-the-victim-in-every-scenario' schtick up over there.

Posted by Ju-osh at November 29, 2006 09:15 AM

comment #22

Ju-osh says ...

D.P's Gut:
You're an ignorant, know-nothing buffoon. Spike did his research (over a year's worth, Jeff!). He's well aware that 'Max' and Joe Louis had an enormous respect for each other and after the fight became very good friends -- and the screenplay shows this. Not that you really cared, though. You're just trying to insinuate that Lee is a racist, right? Well, if Spike Lee is anti-white, can you tell me why some of his longest-lasting collaborators are white? No? Of course not. Maybe you should take your limited knowledge of the man elsewhere -- like www.kkk.com. They'll eat your 'white-man's-the-victim-in-every-scenario' schtick up over there.

Posted by Ju-osh at November 29, 2006 09:16 AM

comment #23

Ju-osh says ...

Sorry for the double-post. I tried to take back the cursing, but was a little too late.

Posted by Ju-osh at November 29, 2006 09:18 AM

comment #24

RoyBatty says ...

While I agree with general consensus that this post pretty much flew straight outta Wells' ass and onto the page, I did want to agree that in some instances it can be true.

Namely, any popcorn/tentpole/blockbuster type film that has a tortured pre-production history that goes on for "one third the lifespan of the average cat" usually means stinkers like WILD WILD WEST. Many of these films need the added aspect of being in the zeitgiest to connect with large audiences and the longer they take to produce the further they lose that quality.

But using GANGS OF NEW YORK to bolster the case for long development in probably not the best example. I'm certainly in the camp that says GANGS shows it's possible to spend a decade working on something and still not get it right. It took 10 years to write that????

Posted by RoyBatty at November 29, 2006 10:41 AM

comment #25

The Movie Man says ...

GANGS OF NEW YORK starts out as a pretty good Scorsese riff on a John Ford movie but it, after the very strong scene where DiCaprio tries to kill Lewis and fails, totally falls apart.

Posted by The Movie Man at November 29, 2006 12:59 PM

comment #26

kimi98 says ...

Hollywood Elsewhere

Upcoming

Lee, Schulberg, Louis

Arran says ...

Ponderer says ...

Gabriel says ...

shepherd12345 says ...

storymark says ...

JD says ...

cjKennedy says ...

christian says ...

The Movie Man says ...

THX5334 says ...

Argen says ...

christian says ...

JD says ...

cjKennedy says ...

Ju-osh says ...

Ju-osh says ...

cjKennedy says ...

nola says ...

The Winchester says ...

Dave Polands Gut says ...

Ju-osh says ...

Ju-osh says ...

Ju-osh says ...

RoyBatty says ...

The Movie Man says ...

kimi98 says ...