It was sometime in the mid-fall of ’81 (call it 40 years ago), and I’d been working as managing editor of The Film Journal for a bit more than a year. I was working late (well after dinner, close to 9 pm) and decided to try my luck with Francis Coppola, who was staying at the Sherry Netherland. I should have gone through his publicist, Renee Furst, but she would’ve told me to wait until One From The Heart‘s release in February. So I just went for it. I cold-called him, he picked up, I somehow put him at ease and we talked for almost two hours. I recorded our chat and ran the transcript as a two-parter.
Secret ingredient: I dropped a quaalude (Lemmon 714) just before I called, and you know what quaaludes do — they loosen your inhibitions and make you feel confident and unflustered and loosey-goosey. So I wasn’t afraid to say anything, and I was feeling kind of empowered and eloquent and plugged in, and it all worked out. I never did another quaalude interview — this was a one-off.
“This new structural reading of The Sopranos was encapsulated neatly by Felix Biederman, a co-host of the leftist podcast ‘Chapo Trap House.’ Recording another podcast in November 2020 — after the presidential election was held but before it was called for Biden, a moment when nothing in this country seemed to be working — Biederman argued that the show is, at its heart, about the bathetic nature of decline.
“’Decline not as a romantic, singular, aesthetically breathtaking act of destruction,’ he said, but as a humiliating, slow-motion slide down a hill into a puddle of filth. ‘You don’t flee a burning Rome with your beautiful beloved in your arms, barely escaping a murderous horde of barbarians; you sit down for 18 hours a day, enjoy fewer things than you used to, and take on the worst qualities of your parents while you watch your kids take on the worst qualities of you.’” — from a N.Y. Times Magazine essay, written by Willy Staley and posted this morning (9.29.21) at 5 am.
“Her presence seems at once to gesture in the direction of recurrent arguments about Bond casting — does the character have to be male? must he always be white? — and to wave them away. A Nomi franchise could be interesting, but I won’t hold my breath.” — from A.O. Scott‘s N.Y. Timesreview of No Time To Die.
“Which four would you choose?”, some Twitter guy asked. Easy: From Russia With Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger and Casino Royale. I also like For Your Eyes Only for attempting to return to the stripped-down, lean-and-mean Bond aesthetic. I also like the way Sheena Easton sings the title tune…”For your eyes only….only for yaaawwwoohh.”
Sasha #1: “James Bond is most definitely for the masses. And it’s coming at exactly the right time. The American public has never needed movies more than it does right now.”
HE exception #1: I’m sorry that sounds too much like that infamous poster slogan for 1974’s That’s Entertainment! — “Boy, do we need it now!”
Sasha #2: “We need [movies] in order to remember what it’s like to sit alongside our fellow Americans, regardless of political party, skin color or religion. They give us that rare chance, outside of going to church or sporting events, where we can share an experience in the dark with the smell of popcorn wafting through. At the cineplex you are among people you don’t know and [absorbing] a message you all will share. Sometimes that can be a transformative experience, if the movie is good enough.”
HE exception #2: Due respect to other moviegoers, but I don’t want to sit next to most of you. You’re loud and coarse and checking your phones all the time, and you suffer from ADD and you sometimes laugh at the wrong things or fail to laugh at the right things. I’m totally cool with Telluride Film Festival patrons, but…well, I’ve said it.
Sasha #3: “There isn’t a whiff of politics in NoTimeToDie — it is mostly pure fun, with a little bit of seriousness.”
HE exception #3: Sorry, but there is a whiff of politics in this film, but…aahh, forget it.
Sasha #4: “We need [movies like No Time To Die] because they give us hope. It’s no time for movie theaters to die. No time for James Bond to die. No time for the market to die. No time for isolation and fear. No time for division. No time for hatred.
“[Except there is hatred.] I get the feeling the Hollywood utopians kind of want Bond gone. I get the feeling they kind of like him but sort of want him to settle down or retire. I get the feeling they wish that [ticket-buyers] didn’t like alpha males as much as they do so that the utopians could continue to fundamentally alter everything that defined our species before [woke Stalinism]” — i.e., before 2016.
HE exception #4: I don’t know what Sasha could be alluding to, but I kind of resent it. Actually, I’m seething. I’ve half a mind to contact a few of HE’s comment threaders and maybe buy some torches and go over to Sasha’s place and make trouble.”
There are several Hollywood landmarks we’ve all heard of or peeked at — John Barrymore‘s Bella Vista, Beachwood Canyon’s Wolf’s Lair, the beige-pink Godfather compound (i.e., Jack Woltz‘s horse’s head home) on No. Beverly Drive, Guillermo del Toro‘s “Bleak House,” the Double Indemnity house.
And now, at the northeast corner of Fairfax Ave. and Wilshire Blvd., there’s a new one — “Woke House” or, if you will, “Inclusion and Equity House,” otherwise known as the Academy Museum.
It’s the Temple of Hollywood Redefined — the emphasis being partly on Hollywood lore and glamour, but mostly about identity and inclusivity and progressive cultural ideals and the Academy’s commitment to fulfilling same. About how Hollywood is a much better industry now than it used to be, and how we should all celebrate that fact. (But not too much!) The past is represented, of course, but the museum is mainly about doing the right thing for people who used to be benched on the sidelines or were made to wait in line out in the parking lot.
Welcome, film lovers, and thank you for your $25 ticket purchases, but never forget that you’re now in a place of wokester instruction.
Among the museum’s “guiding principles” is to always remember the sometimes sordid, colorful past, and to always be mindful of the Jonathan Shields legend (i.e., sometimes the best films are made by heartless sons of bitches) in The Bad and the Beautiful, and to remember that making great films has always been a grueling, uphill struggle…to never forget the scandals and suicides and cover-ups, and to recall that after seeing Sunset BoulevardLouis B. Mayer huffily told Billy Wilder than he had bitten the hand that fed him, and that Wilder’s immediate response was to tell Mayer to go fuck himself…to remember that during the ’50s the industry looked the other way as several honorable screenwriters were blacklisted and forced to work in Europe…to never forget that Jack L. Warner hated Bonnie and Clyde, and that producer-star Warren Beatty had to beg him to re-release it, and only then was it celebrated…that in the late ’50s Sidney Poitier was unable to rent a Beverly Hills home due to racist real estate agents, and that he was at least able to stay at the Chateau Marmont…that 20th Century Fox boss Daryl F. Zanuck used to carnally impale aspiring actresses every afternoon in his 20th Century Fox office…that local men and women of color were hired to portray Skull Island natives in King Kong, and that they were probably glad to get the work, even though it meant wearing bone necklaces and grass skirts….to never forget the endless oppressions and exploitations and greedy conflicts and deviant devotions that have always been at the heart of Hollywood creativity…oh, wait, I’m sorry…this is from an old Graveline Tours pamphlet.
The museum’s actual guiding principles are (a) Illuminate the Past, Present, and Possible Futures of Motion Pictures and the Academy, (b) Embrace Diversity and Be Radically Inclusive, and (c) Educate, Provide Inspiration, and Encourage Discovery.
The Embrace Diversity thing has a drop-down menu, and one of the mission statements says that the museum intends to “foster an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and anti-sexist culture built on transparency and accountability that ensures that all staff, communities, audiences, and partners are treated with respect.”
Jesus H. Christ already!…I feel I’m being scolded and swatted on the hand with rulers by woke nuns!
From Sasha Stone‘s “No Time (for Movie Theaters) to Die”: “But I see where the Academy is coming from. They are trying to address the needs of people who have been left out for far too long, [and] they can afford to depict themselves and their story any way they want to.
“For instance, when Sacheen Littlefeather accepted the Best Actor award for Marlon Brando in 1973, she was booed. The stunt was mocked and derided back then for bringing politics into the awards. It was embarrassing for the Academy. But all of these years later, she is celebrated in the Academy Museum as a point of pride. And indeed, when you watch her speech now she seems like a time traveler from 2021.”
There’s a large room in the museum that celebrates Oscar recipients, and Littlefeather’s speech is one of the highlights. Flatscreens show various winners celebrating their big moment, but not that many. You’d think that acceptance speeches by world-famous Oscar winners would be front and center. But for the most part the room focuses on people of color and historic moments of inclusivity. Sidney Potier, Rita Moreno, Gone With The Wind‘s Hattie McDaniel, Sayonara‘s Miyoshi Umeki, etc. (Where’s the Minari grandma, Youn Yuh-jung?) Plus Dimitri Tiomkin accepting an Oscar for his High and the Mighty score, Tatum O’Neal accepting a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Paper Moon, etc.
