The Film Fatale

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Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:57:24 -0400

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Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:13:59 -0400

David Lynch on film as a director's medium

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:32:59 -0400

Interview Magazine: In your best-selling memoir, Catching the Big Fish, you say, “For me, film is dead.”
David Lynch: I meant that celluloid, the actual film that runs through the camera, is dead. That’s gone, and now digital is here. But storytelling with cinema never will die—ever, ever, ever. The way the stories are told may change, but it will always be.
Interview Magazine: It might, though, be the death of film as a director’s medium, where the artist gets final cut. It’s interesting how so many filmmakers with established oeuvres and visionaries who have changed how we perceive cinema—people like you, John Waters, Gus Van Sant, and even Martin Scorsese—often still struggle to set up projects today.
David Lynch: Thousands of other filmmakers out there would agree with that. The studios are superreluctant to give final cut. They have so much money riding on these things, so they want a committee to go and rule the roost. The poor director just dies a death. More and more, when a committee at a studio sees something that maybe people won’t understand, they’ll kill the thing quickly. It’s an insult. I don’t know why anyone would make a film if they couldn’t make the film they wanted to make with all the freedom and the support they needed. But it happens every day, so you have to be independent. You have to not only find enough money to make the film, but you have to have final cut—you absolutely have to have it. Otherwise, you’re gonna die. But there’s always a way. Sometimes restrictions are a big blessing. When you have to build something yourself, ideas start coming that never would’ve come otherwise. New ideas flow in. Happy accidents do occur.

don't say what the ending is but what are some films with the best twist endings?

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:16:00 -0400

The first ones I can think of off the top of my head: Hard Candy, Oldboy, The Life of David Gale, The Others, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Psycho, Moon, Planet of the Apes (1968), Soylent Green, The Third Man, Blade Runner (Director’s Cut), Saw, Memento, Se7en, Fight Club, The Departed, L.A. Confidential, Gone Baby Gone, The Prestige, American Psycho, The Wicker Man, The Shawshank Redemption, Tears of the Sun, Mystic River, Fallen, Shutter Island, Life of Pi and Secret Garden.

I think Alien also has a pretty good twist that isn’t a traditional one.

Director David Twohy and Vin Diesel, behind the scenes on the...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:17:07 -0400

Director David Twohy and Vin Diesel, behind the scenes on the set of Riddick

As Heard On… True Blood S6E1 “Who Are You,...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:07:11 -0400

As Heard On…

True Blood S6E1 “Who Are You, Really?” (2008-) - starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgård.

Track: “Who Are You, Really?” by Mikky Ekko (buy music)

Chris Hemsworth, behind the scenes on the set of Thor: The Dark...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:53:46 -0400

Chris Hemsworth, behind the scenes on the set of Thor: The Dark World

"On the few occasions where I’ve talked to film students, one of the things I stress, in addition to..."

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:43:00 -0400

“On the few occasions where I’ve talked to film students, one of the things I stress, in addition to learning your craft, is how you behave as a person. For the most part, our lives are about telling stories. So I ask them, ‘What are the stories you want people to tell about you?’ Because at a certain point, your ability to get a job could turn on the stories people tell about you. The reason [then–Universal Pictures chief] Casey Silver put me up for [1998’s] Out of Sight after I’d had five flops in a row was because he liked me personally. He also knew I was a responsible filmmaker, and if I got that job, the next time he’d see me was when we screened the movie. If I’m an asshole, then I don’t get that job. Character counts. That’s a long way of saying, ‘If you can be known as someone who can attract talent, that’s a big plus.’”

- Director Steven Soderbergh, in an interview with Vulture

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Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:29:46 -0400

INSIDE JAWS: A FILMUMENTARY Check out filmmaker Jamie...

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:38:29 -0400

INSIDE JAWS: A FILMUMENTARY

Check out filmmaker Jamie Benning’s ode to Jaws in this video compilation that consists of behind the scenes interviews and audio commentary from cast and crew, as well as some deleted scenes and little known facts about the Steven Spielberg classic.

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Sun, 16 Jun 2013 22:25:23 -0400

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Sun, 16 Jun 2013 21:50:01 -0400

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was originally titled “You’ll...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:58:00 -0400

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was originally titled “You’ll Never Die in This Town Again”, “L.A.P.I.”, and then “Bang!” - but Val Kilmer suggested to director Shane Black that “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” would have more appeal. The movie’s title is a reference to an unused theme song to the James Bond movie Thunderball. “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” was recorded by Shirley Bassey and then Dionne Warwick after composer John Barry had chosen the title when he read a magazine article which mentioned that was how Bond was known in Italy. However, the producers got cold feet at the last moment and asked him to write a title song, “Thunderball”, which was performed by Tom Jones. Both versions of “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” were released many years later, and “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” has since become a slang description of the James Bond-style spy genre (x).

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Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:40:37 -0400

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Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:33:23 -0400

Director Ridley Scott on female protagonists

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:04:00 -0400

The Daily Beast: You’re often credited with giving birth to the modern Hollywood female action hero with the Ellen Ripley character in Alien. She was a new breed of woman onscreen—an androgynous ass-kicker.
Ridley Scott: Ripley was androgynous, and she didn’t emerge until she shouted at Yaphet Kotto to “Shut the f--k up!” and that was well into the second act. This rather pretty woman who everyone assumed in the first act was going to be one of the first ones to cop it gradually starts to take up the mantle, and the weapon. To me, it’s always organic and not a specific decision to make her female, but afterwards, there’s always 20/20 hindsight, isn’t there? I read with slightly raised eyebrows the surprise and the power about having a female lead instead of a male lead, and it refocused my awareness about what we’ve done. It was a calculated risk as well in a film that’s fundamentally a traditional “who’s going to be the last one standing in a big, dark house.” In The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was significantly frightening for me at that particular point cause I looked at it just prior to making Alien, that girl was still standing at the end covered in blood, but she’d survived rather than won. The difference with Ripley was that she had won and survived.
The Daily Beast: What draws you to these strong female protagonists?
Ridley Scott: I’m used to very strong women because my mother was particularly strong, and my father was away all the time. My mother was a big part of bringing up three boys, so I was fully versed in the strength of a powerful woman, and accepted that as the status quo. I think there are a lot of men who feel they’re being emasculated by having the woman be in charge; I’ve never had that problem. All the relationships in my life have been with strong women, from childhood. The relationship I’ve had in my life for the past 30 years is with a very strong Costa Rican woman. Oddly enough, I find it quite engaging to be working with a female when I’m directing. It’s kind of interesting.

Featured Soundtrack of the Day The Lost Boys (1987) - directed...

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:55:00 -0400

Featured Soundtrack of the Day

The Lost Boys (1987) - directed by Joel Schumacher. Starring Jason Patric, Keifer Sutherland and Corey Haim.

Track: “People are Strange” by Echo & the Bunnymen (buy music)

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Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:31:00 -0400

Do you watch Orphan Black? Any thoughts on the series?

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 14:45:34 -0400

I’ve heard of Orphan Black but I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet. I’ve heard good things, though, so I’ll definitely check it out when I get an opportunity. As a fan of science fiction I am thrilled that there are more sci-fi series on TV. I’m watching Continuum at the moment and although it takes a little bit of getting used to, so far it’s got pretty good stuff. If you like sci-fi, that’s one to check out, too.

wow Now You See Me really proves that IMDb isn't what it used to be anymore... have you watched The Tourist? if yes, The Tourist or Now You See Me? (I mean which do you prefer as a movie in general etc. etc.)

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 04:31:33 -0400

Now You See Me vs The Tourist? Good lord. That’s like choosing between cat piss and dog shit, if you’ll pardon my French. Both are really awful movies, but I found The Tourist mildly tolerable despite the complete lack of chemistry between Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. Now You See Me, on the other hand, was irritating because of its unwarranted self-assuredness. Sure, great cast on both sides, but they were rendered useless by the godawful writing.

But to address your first statement, I never put any stock in IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Inception is higher on their ranking of the best movies than Seven Samurai, Psycho, Dr. Strangelove, Sunset Blvd, the original Star Wars, Casablanca, and The Matrix (which was a much better version of the same story, by the way) for crying out loud.