Month: October 2009

Every time a plane I’m on slowly glides downward and eventually lands, I find myself slipping into a mood of calm and acceptance. Or do I mean relief? Always a pleasant moment, in any case. I’ve posted this, in part, because was taken by the inability of the high-def video to “see” the propeller blades the way they actually look to the eye. For what it’s worth, this is the conclusion of yesterday’s prop-hop from Shreveport to Dallas/Forth Worth.

I was given ten minutes of Carey Mulligan time late this morning. Three minutes of standing around and chit-chatting with her publicist and seven minutes of actual taping time. I don’t want her playing girlfriends any more. She needs to be the star of the next few films, and it would be nice if she could speak with her natural British accent every so often.

Well, Sharon’s Waxman‘s 9.29 Wrap report about the coming dismissals of Universal co-chairmen David Linde and Marc Schmuger was right. They’ve been whacked, all right, with Universal marketing chief Adam Fogelson and production president Donna Langley taking their place with the same titles. Sorry about Linde and Schmuger’s fate. They had good taste, made good films and did Universal proud in one other teeny-weeny respect — their time at the helm resulted in the studio’s two most profitable years, according to studio chief Ron Meyer.

I have an 11:45 am one-on-one with An Education star Carey Mulligan, and then the N.Y. premiere this evening followed by an after-event. And a lot more in-between. No more filings until mid-afternoon.

This is one of the oldest cliches in the book, but my Shreveport experience last weekend reminded me once again that rural Southerners — maybe I’m talking about Southerners of all shapes and sizes — seem to generally be warmer, friendlier, easier-going people than blue-state urbans. More personable, kindlier, more ready to chat…nicer. I met some really serene people down there, and…well, that’s it. The only problem is that a good number of them are Republicans.

I’m a serious fan of the first 85% of Mike Nichols‘ Wolf, to such an extent that I might actually buy the Bluray. Its negative reputation, which I realize is accepted doctrine, is all because of the last 20 minutes, which had an obvious studio-mandated smell about them. I’m serious in calling it my favorite werewolf movie of all time as it’s obviously the most adult and sophisticated and, as far as it goes, semi-believable.

Jack Nicholson in Mike Nichols’ Wolf

Nichols’ film, aimed at 30-and-overs, probably wouldn’t have a prayer of being made today. I feel I’ve already seen the forthcoming Benicio del Toro version.

A friend told me I can’t post this because the pitchforkers will kill me, but the fact is that many European governments and cultures have more liberal standards about the age of consent than this country. I personally feel that 18 or thereabouts is the right age, but the facts are the facts. I’m only mentioning it because it provides a context by which an adult European-born male might have a different mindset about this than a U.S.-born male. Not an excuse for anything or anyone, but simply a basis for looking at you-know-what from a different perspective. Three, two, one…

Last February I posted a piece about Tachen’s coffee-table book about Stanley Kubrick‘s Napoleon, which was expected at the time to be in stores within four months. That didn’t happen, but it apparently was issued on 9.1.09. Only 1000 copies at $560 bucks a pop on Amazon. I’d love to have two or three hours to sift through it. (All 2874 pages worth.) Has anyone had the pleasure?

I do wonder how sales are given that (a) splurge purchases of this sort are the first thing to go in a recession economy, and (b) reading the free online script (dated 9.29.69) and using a little imagination (i.e., imagining John Alcott‘s Barry Lyndon-like photography being applied) gives you a fairly full immersion into what the film might have been.

By today’s standards, a project like Kubrick’s Napoleon — a film that, had it been made, almost certainly would have been some kind of timeless, splendidly detailed deep-dish experience — exudes an almost antiquated 20th Century vibe. It would almost certainly never be considered in our post-Napoleon Dynamite era, and of course it didn’t even make the cut by the commercial standards of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Here’s a nine-year-old Salon article about the project.

EXT. LYON STREET – NIGHT

It is a witheringly cold winter night, in Lyon. People, bundled up to the eyes, hurry along the almost deserted street, past empty cafes which are still open. Napoleon, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders hunched against the cold, passes a charming, young street-walker, about his own age. He stops and looks at her, uncertainly. A large snowflake lands on her nose which makes him smile.

GIRL: Good evening, sir.

NAPOLEON: Good evening, Mademoiselle.

GIRL: The weather is terrible, isn’t it, sir?

NAPOLEON: Yes, it is. It must be one of the worst nights we have had this winter.

GIRL: Yes, it must be.

Napoleon is at a loss for conversation.

NAPOLEON: You must be chilled to the bone, standing out of doors like this.

GIRL: Yes, I am, sir.

NAPOLEON: Then what brings you out on such a night?

GIRL: Well, one must do something to live, you know — and I have an elderly mother who depends on me.

NAPOLEON: Oh, I see… That must be a great burden.

GIRL: One must take life as it comes. Do you live in Lyon, sir?

NAPOLEON: No, I’m only here on leave. My regiment is at Valence.

GIRL: Are you staying with a friend, sir?

NAPOLEON: No… I have a… room… at the Hotel de Perrin.

GIRL: Is it a nice warm room, sir?

NAPOLEON: Well, it must be a good deal warmer than it is here on the street.

GIRL: Would you like to take me there, so that we can get warm, sir?

NAPOLEON: Uhhn…yes, of course. If you would like to go there. But I have very little money.

GIRL: Do you have three francs, sir?

This is several hours old, I realize, but here’s what the steely-eyed, conservative-minded Cokie Roberts recently said about the Polish sausage: “Roman Polanski is a criminal. He raped and drugged and raped and sodomized a child. And then was a fugitive from justice. As far as I’m concerned, just take him out and shoot him.”

Criterion Collection president Peter Becker has explained the slight Che delay (i.e., coming out in January ’10 rather than two months hence). The Che Bluray/DVD “is coming, and as you can imagine there’s a wealth of great content getting developed,” Becker says.

“We wanted to be ready for December, but Steven Soderbergh needed time to reconstruct some deleted scenes, and we were also able, in what we think is going to be a controversial coup, to persuade Che Guevara biographer Jon Lee Anderson to do commentaries on both films, but he also needed more time to prepare.

“In short, it became clear that if we delayed the release a month we would be able to make a much better set. That’s a trade we will always make, even if it means we don’t get the benefit of sales in the holiday season, and we think that’s the kind of

decision our collectors would want us to make.”

Okay — I’ll buy that.