April 19, 2017 – Hollywood Elsewhere

You’re Pushin’ Too Hard

April 19, 2017 by Jeffrey Wells

From a producer pal: “Did you know there’s a relatively new industry newsletter called The Ankler? It’s daily and is written by Richard Rushfield, formerly of Hitfix. And every day it has ‘The Daily Wells’, which slags you off. Just being a friend in case you haven’t heard.”

Ankler greeting: “Welcome to this Beta edition of Hollywood’s own up-and-coming daily newsletter. Here you’ll find your morning round-up and dissection of the day’s parade in the business, featuring news, gossip, amazing tidbits and fearless, pointed analysis. If you like or don’t like, or really hate what you see, let us know — richard@theankler.com. And please, if you enjoy The Ankler pass this email on to your friends and colleagues!”

Apparently it’s some kind of subscription-only newsletter — i.e., no URL.

I’ve Seen This “New” Beguiled Trailer Before…Right?

April 19, 2017 by Jeffrey Wells

I’ve seen this footage so many times I feel as if I’ve seen Sofia Coppola’s feature-length version. It’ll play in Cannes, of course, and then open commercially on 6.23 via Focus Features. I have to really sit down and watch Don Siegel’s 1971 version sometime soon. I didn’t watch it all the way through the last time; I might have nodded off.

Allen Ginsberg’s “Infamous Howl”

April 19, 2017 by Jeffrey Wells

Matt Damon (or someone claiming to be him) delivers a pretty good impression of David Dao’s bobcat bitch howl at the one-minute mark…just saying. Are you going to tell me he did this impression out of respect?

Eyes Have It

April 19, 2017 by Jeffrey Wells

Edward R. Murrow‘s Person to Person interview with Marilyn Monroe happened on 4.8.55. It happened at the Weston, Connecticut home of photographer Milton Greene, with whom Monroe had partnered the previous December on Marilyn Monroe Productions. (Two of the results were The Prince and the Showgirl and Bus Stop.) Monroe’s portion starts around 3:45 (or 4:20 if you watch the alternate clip after the jump). I’d never watched Monroe speak in an off-the-cuff fashion before this. Those eyes are amazing. She’s no Einstein but the vulnerability and empathy….wow.

Ethical-Political Quandary

April 19, 2017 by Jeffrey Wells

It was announced today that the complications surrounding Bill O’Reilly’s sexual harassment issues have caused Fox News (i.e., the Murdochs) to cut him loose. Question: Is he toast everywhere eternally or can he submit to the usual remedies and wind up with another big-station or big-radio berth within a year or less? Can he do a Brian Williams or more precisely a Mel Gibson — a long exile followed by eventual rehabilitation via two or three soul-baring interviews in which he apologizes for having been a pig and a dog? Imagine that it’s the summer of 2018, and that O’Reilly has done all this and thereby achieved limited reprieve status (not among women or progressives but with advertisers). If you were the head of CNN, would you offer him a slot? You know that hinterland righties will tune in if he returns.

What Does Shape of Water’s 12.8 Release Mean?

April 19, 2017 by Jeffrey Wells

Guillermo del Toro and I did breakfast at the Hotel Majestic during the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. He was serving as a juror. While our chat was off the record, I think it’s fair to mention that he said he was tiring of making big, effects-driven movies (i.e., Pacific Rim) and that he wanted to tone it down and go in a more personal vein. I took that to mean he wanted to make more films in the vein of Pans’ Labrynth, The Devil’s Backbone, Chronos, Mama, The Orphanage, etc. (The last two he produced but didn’t direct.)

I’ve been presuming all along that The Shape of Water, a period fantasy-adventure which he directed and co-wrote, would be one of these. But will it be? The fact that Fox Searchlight has announced a 12.8 release date indicates a belief in its award-season potential. Or does a December release mean all that much when we’re talking about GDT’s fantastical realm? I’m saying in the most respectful and laudatory terms that GDT doesn’t do “Oscar friendly” as a rule. I mean that as high praise.**