comment #1

Jeremy Smith says ...

Yeah. Absolutely chagrined. I can't believe you left out the paragraphs where she *really* laid into him. Like these bombshells:

“I love David,” she said. “There was a lot of pressure in making the movie — even the way it came out you could see it was a very free-associative, crazy movie, and David was under a tremendous amount of pressure. And he’s a very free-form kind of guy anyway.”

“Adults have fights and go through stuff,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “I know some people are more dignified in the world, that if you transgress against that kind of professionalism, that it’s some kind of great sin, but I don’t see it that way.”

She called the episode “in a way liberating… now it’s all over, and so what, and I don’t have to keep up some great pretention I’m the most dignified, eloquent, elegant, perfect, smart-thinking, kind, generous person. I’m just a plain old human with a whole bunch of flaws.”

Tomlin mostly laughed off the incident, and the leak of the video from the set. “After poor Britney Spears, with her poor little legs open … I’m not the least bit upset about it,” she said. “That’s part of the upside and the downside of the Internet.”

comment #2

Ju-osh says ...

Lilly Tomlin is a genius, not just on the stage and in front of the camera, but but also behind the scenes as well. Richard Pryor credited her with being one of the key forces in his success in Hollywood. For that alone she should be given a pass to vent a little steam every now and again.

comment #3

jeffmcm says ...

Further indication that she was not the bad guy in the situation.

comment #4

Geoff says ...

I'll say it again. Russel really comes off like a freak. Love Three Kings, but I don't think he's earned that "artist with quirks, deal with it" mentality that Jeff sometimes preaches.

comment #5

JD says ...

Why does there have to be a bad guy in this situation? Russell and Tomlin seem to be fine with one another and these clips have no real context. If the clips were part of a feature length documentary on the whole IHH production, something tells me people would be more understanding.

comment #6

Dixon Steele says ...

It just confirms that HUCKABEES is a terrible mess of a film, and now we know why.

Although, to be fair, I really liked FLIRTING WITH DISASTER & THREE KINGS a lot.

comment #7

JD says ...

Huckabee's is a really rich, textured film. I had problems with it the first time I saw it, but upon second viewing, the film (and the ideas it explores) came into much clearer focus. See it again. It's more ambivalent, contradictory, and open-ended than most people give it credit for.

comment #8

jeffmcm says ...

I don't see how this 'confirms that Huckabees is a terrible mess of a film'. Roman Polanski and Faye Dunaway fought like hell on Chinatown, does that confirm that Chinatown is a terrible mess of a film? Or do you need a Youtube video to make that point?

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

Interesting Casablanca revelations. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ic17f80098b92003a1f2f9df4441b7a2d

comment #10

Chris Molanphy says ...

This all proves one thing: Whatever the considerable merits of Three Kings, when it comes to that old spat, George Clooney wins.

comment #11

berg says ...

I want to see a YOUTUBE vid of Lily Tomlin walkig off the Dick Cavett show when Chad Everett made a chauvinistic comment ...

comment #12

Ju-osh says ...

The film blog 'Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule' has a really thoughtful back and forth going about this.

Link:
http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2007/03/huckabees-maelstrom.html

(thanks to Greenecine Daily for the initial tip!)

comment #13

ArchiveGuy says ...

Note to Jeremy Smith: learn to frickin' PREVIEW

comment #14

Craig Kennedy says ...

This little fragment of cinema history doesn't tell me anything I want to know. I loved Huckabees before and I love it still. If I crossed off all the movies on my favorites list that were made by or starred jerks, I'd have to find a new addiction besides movies.

This whole thing is about as interesting as an episode of Jerry Springer...except for the one with the midgets fighting, now that was entertainment.

Tomlin and Russell have clearly chosen to publically make nice and that's enough for me. There is no chance I will ever find myself working with either one of them, so their professional behavior is meaningless.

comment #15

Dixon Steele says ...

Jeffmcm, the point is that from the video, it's obvious that Russell didn't seem to know what he was doing, which pissed Tomlin off (Clooney too, come to think of it). He was obviosuly grasping and I know from experience that often infuriates actors.

Both Chinatown and Tootsie (both troubled shoots) luckily turned out great. The reason I know this is I actually SAW THEM. That's how I know.

I also saw HUCKABEES, which is an annoying piece of shit.

But that doesn't mean that Russell's next won't be a return to form. Hope so. He's obviously a talented guy.

And JD, I saw it recently again on cable. Still hated it.

comment #16

jeffmcm says ...

Dixon, I think it's clear that if this video showed Tomlin and DOR making love on a bed of roses, you'd still say that it proved the movie sucked (which it doesn't).

comment #17

Craig Kennedy says ...

Hmmm...while I don't share Dixon's opinion of the movie, I do think there's a connection between the messiness of the final film and tensions on the set. I don't think the tensions themselves made the film messy, but the other way around. Whether it works for you or not, you have to admit the film was an attempt at capturing a kind of chaos and it's not surprising to me that it would've been really hard on everyone involved even if Ron Howard had been directing. Ok, I have a hard time imagining "Ron Howard's I Heart Huckabees" too, but that's not the point...

comment #18

Jeremy Smith says ...

Note to ArchiveGuy: I bleed.

What's amazing about HUCKABEES is that it's such an amiable movie. And that's why I've never understood the charges of pretentiousness leveled against the movie; it doesn't take itself seriously enough to ever be that tedious. I understand people disliking it for being undisciplined, but, for all the unadventurous crap we get inundated with every year, I'll gladly take a messy film from a talented director trying to challenge himself, his cast and his audience.

comment #19

JD says ...

As Jeremy suggests, IHH is less pretentious than most people seem to think. I've spoken to people who claim that the film is all in the dialogue and it's totally uncinematic, but this isn't really true. For one, all of the ideas are expressed through character. Also, there's a fascinating tension between the dialogue and the events that transpire in the film. And it really holds up under intense scrutiny. I can understand people being turned off by the film's undisciplined visual style and even its ideas -- if you're a nihlist, which I'm not, the film's worldview may seem too hopeful -- but these (undeniably complex) ideas are clearly and elegantly communicated.

comment #20

Joshua Mooney says ...

Do you have one?

"...Roman Polanski and Faye Dunaway fought like hell on Chinatown, does that confirm that Chinatown is a terrible mess of a film? Or do you need a Youtube video to make that point?"

Posted by: jeffmcm at March 22, 2007 10:56 PM

comment #21

Walter Sobchak says ...

The problem with Russell isn't his anger per se. Perhaps he was frustrated, pissed off, etc. The thing that is annoying is his way of displaying his anger. This isn't Victor Fleming or John Ford cowing a set with the iron fist of authority. This is a whiny little spoiled bitch having a hissy fit and taking it out on a talented, older woman. He practically begs to have the crap beat out of him. Pussy. Clooney rules. I only wish I could've seen him clock Russell.