Hard Feelings

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Original Bad Lieutenant director Abel Ferrara feels angry and slighted for not being asked to direct the new Bad Lieutenant, which Werner Herzog has hired to helm instead with with Nic Cage in the title role. The newbie isn't a remake but some kind of continuation of a theme, or so I've read. Ferrara's best line is that producer Ed Pressman "sucks cocks in hell." (Very Catholic sentiment, that -- cribbed from William Friedkin's The Exorcist.) Here's a portion of the Filmmaker magazine q &a in which Ferrara lays it all out:

Filmmaker: "What are your feelings about Werner Herzog doing his version of Bad Lieutenant?"

Ferrara: "He can die in hell. I hate these people - they suck. A, he don't know me, couldn't pick me out of a line-up. B, I'm chasing windmills. Well, I'd rather chase windmills than steal other people's ideas. It's lame. I can't believe Nic Cage is trying to play that part. I mean, if the kid needed the money... It's like Harvey Keitel said, 'If the guy needed the money, if he came to us and said, 'My career's on the rocks,' I'd cut him a break.' But to take $2 million - I mean, our film didn't cost half of $2 million. That film was made on blood and guts, man. So I really wish it didn't upset me as much as it does."

Filmmaker: "You're going to be doing the prequel to King of New York soon."

Ferrara: "So I'm ripping off Abel just like that too. [laughs] If I did King of New York, I'm not doing the prequel to Aguirre: the Wrath of God, okay? Let me put it that way."

Filmmaker: "So they're making the film against your will?"

Ferrara: "Absolutely. Nobody asked us to do it. Nobody approached us and said, 'Would you do it?' Give us $8 million, we'll come up with something. They give me twenty grand and say, 'Go fuck yourself.' Gimme a break! They aren't paying Harvey anything, they aren't paying him two cents. Ed Pressman sucks cock in hell, period. You can print that."