The UBS Evening Television & Movie News 2.04.10
Posted by George H. Sirois on 02.04.2010
Giving a nod to two writers for their new deal with Fox, acknowledging another passing of a film legend, reminding ABC of how obsessed fans operate and a Mad Prophet Rant discussing directors who go too far trying to fix their older movies. All this and more in the 150th UBS Evening Movie News. Presenting The “When Directors Cut Their Own Throats” Edition…
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of the UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and if you're on Twitter, you can find me HERE! And don't forget, for all of you who are new to 411Mania.com, make sure you check out all of our zones. We have some of the best writers on the Internet right here, and we love to hear from all of you! So keep coming back to read what we have for you, make us your homepage and if you have Facebook, make sure to join our group HERE!
If you know me, you know I love to celebrate milestones, so here's another one for you. This week marks the 150th edition of The UBS Evening Movie News, and I couldn't be more grateful to you guys for popping in week after week and seeing just what exactly I have to say. Thanks very much to my fellow writers on 411Mania for their support and encouragement, and many thanks to Leonard Hayhurst and The Boss Ashish for offering me this gig in the first place.
Oh, and thanks to my bosses at Top of the Rock for giving me a schedule that's flexible enough for me to get this done every week.
I finally get to give a Mad Prophet Rant that's been brewing in my head for quite some time. But before we jump into the news, here's a quick update regarding Excelsior's Pre-Orders…
CHOSEN ONES, STEP FORWARD!
I'm very proud to report that on January 31, I reached 75 pre-orders for "Excelsior." Despite one commenter making a point to tell me, "George, I'm not buying a book" (now I know what to put on my back cover), others thankfully did. And while there's still plenty of room for more people to take advantage of the pre-order special that's been posted here several times, I decided to pull back on that for a little while. My editor is still hard at work preparing the last three chapters and my designer is equally hard at work with the cover and the next teaser image, so once more progress is made with both, I'll make sure to let you know the status. All I can say for sure now is that we're close. We're very close.
Oh, and I've begun a deal with an online independent bookseller called (Indie)Pendent Books. They have offered to sell my book on their site and even take their own set of pre-orders. Hopefully, other booksellers will follow their lead and offer to sell the book there. You can check out their site, which is located HERE!
And with that, let's move on…
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S THE HONEST TRUTH DEPARTMENT
A giant of film passes on: Producer and former studio executive David Brown, who produced Oscar-winning films including "The Sting" and "Driving Miss Daisy," died Sunday, after a long illness, at the Manhattan home he shared with his wife, Helen Gurley Brown. He was 93.
Partnered for many years with onetime studio boss Richard D. Zanuck, Brown produced hits of the 1970s and '80s including "Jaws," "Cocoon" and "The Verdict," his personal favorite.
A courtly man, fastidious about his attire, Brown was a voracious reader and dedicated storyteller. Few commanded his knowledge of studio lore and his talent for summoning up stories about the Hollywood titans of generations ago. He and Zanuck seemed an ideal team, given his zeal for writing and Zanuck's deal-making prowess.
Few traveled as gracefully between the publishing and filmmaking worlds as did Brown, and he seemed at home in both environments.
"He had a wonderful, jam-packed exciting life. He worked right up until the very end, trying to get films made, as well as plays on Broadway, which was his real passion," said Zanuck.
"He specialized in material; that's where he had excelled, starting as an editor," remembered Zanuck, who spoke to him nearly every day for more than 40 years. "It was a remarkable friendship."
As I said way too many times last year, it‘s always sad to see someone from the older days of Hollywood leaving us, and David Brown is absolutely no exception to that. We always hear these horror stories about producers these days, how they try to just copy what was successful, how they don‘t read scripts and how they look at movies as products and not as stories. David Brown was never like that; he was one of those kinds of producers that you wanted to work for, because you knew he was just as invested in the story as you were, whether you were the filmmaker or the audience.
One thing that you kinda have to give Brown credit for as well, although there are very few people out there who would want this kind of credit, was that he and Richard Zanuck honestly thought that Myra Breckinridge would be a hit. The two of them found it hilarious, and it turns out they were the only ones, and they had to deal with watching the film go down in flames as one of the most infamous disasters in Hollywood history. But you have to give these two men credit for taking a chance on a very risky project and doing their best to make it work. Back then, there was a much greater chance that something deemed un-filmable would be put before the cameras and Brown & Zanuck were willing to give something like this a shot. It‘s that kind of producer that we need in the business nowadays.
Credit: Variety
Never underestimate the obsessed fans: The first hour of the final season of ABC's "Lost" has leaked online, and the reaction is not what industry insiders expected.
Though preview content for heavily serialized dramas such as "Lost" are typically and frantically consumed online by fans, the sixth season of the ABC hit has managed to build such an epic level of anticipation that many fans are doing the unthinkable: refusing to watch the leaks.
When the opening scene from the premiere popped up online after a fan promotion Friday, users of one popular social network site voted to "bury" the video.
"Why spoil it now?" wrote one fan with the moniker MyWhiteNoise. "I'd rather watch it in hi-def and surround sound than ruin the surprise and watch some (low-quality) video."
To TV executives, such statements are like something from an alternative universe, the polar-bear opposite of how young, Web-savvy viewers typically respond to content. Fans usually embrace any short cut that skips the linear TV and advertiser-supported experience.
"We never had a show like 'Lost' before that had these kind of fans that love it so much that they don't want to know what happens before the premiere," said Michael Benson, co-executive vp marketing at ABC. "Fans feel like they own this thing, just like we do."
On Monday, fan commitment was given an even greater test when the entire premiere appeared on YouTube. The video was taken from hand-held cameras discretely shooting during a fan screening on Oahu. The Hawaii event itself was a revelation -- can any other TV drama rally 12,000 fans to an island in the South Pacific? Some flew in to see just the 44 minutes of video that ABC will air Tuesday night.
Yet when the inevitable YouTube copies appeared on Sunday, many videos only received a few hundred hits as online fans registered their disinterest in crummy bootlegs.
"Are people so impatient that they would rather watch a cell phone camera version of the 'Lost' premiere than wait one day?" Kyool wrote on Twitter.
Kyool is dead-on accurate about this, and so is MyWhiteNoise. When you are into a series such as "Lost" and are aware of the smaller details that are in almost every scene of every episode, you want to make sure you‘re watching them all with the best possible quality of picture and sound so you don‘t miss anything. The fans know by now - especially the hardcore fans that are being discussed here - that the episodes divide our attention. One half of us is involved in the main story and the other half is looking around for hidden clues that lend to the bigger picture of the overall series.
ABC should have known this and confined their "leaks" to alternate footage that they wouldn‘t have seen in the episode anyway. And kudos to the fans for refusing to be spoiled for this final season.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
Talk about "living the dream": Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are putting down TV roots.
The successful feature writers, who made a return to the small screen with Fox's "Fringe" and CBS' reinvention of "Hawaii 5-0" this pilot season, have inked their first TV studio deal -- a rich three-year overall pact with 20th Century Fox TV.
Under the deal, which begins March 1, the duo will launch a TV production company. They plan to write projects as well as work with other scribes -- people they bring in or talent from 20th TV's roster. To do that, Kurtzman and Orci plan to build an infrastructure and hire executives.
20th TV chairman Dana Walden called Kurtzman and Orci's brand and types of shows "a perfect fit" for the studio.
"Our ideal producers are like Alex and Bob, who are incredibly versatile and talent magnets for their peers in the writing community, for actors and directors," she said.
Orci said the two wanted to get their DreamWorks-based feature company up and running before making a move into television.
Their biggest test came just before the November 2007 WGA strike, when they had to get four movies ready for production: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Star Trek," which they co-wrote, and "Eagle Eye" and "The Proposal," the first films developed through their company that they produced. Add to that the "Fringe" pilot, which they were shepherding with co-creator J.J. Abrams at the same time.
"It was trial by fire," Orci said. "What that taught us is how to split our time and maintain the quality."
Kurtzman and Orci's ability to multi-task was a big draw for 20th TV, which signed them after the two had been courted by multiple studios and networks.
"We're the lucky winners of the Kurtzman-Orci contest," Walden said.
Damn, did these guys hit the writer lottery or what??? It‘s a good thing they‘ve shown that they‘re talented writers or else I‘d be incredibly jealous. After the year they had in 2009, how can you not give them a deal like this? They scored all kinds of points in my book for their take on Star Trek, they did the best they could with a mess of a filmmaking process with TransFormers: Revenge of the Fallen (wasn‘t their fault it was a mess, you can blame Bay and the Writer‘s Guild strike on that one), they did a solid job with the underrated Eagle Eye and they got the romantic comedy fans on their side by overseeing The Proposal.
When you go through that, and throw in their other successes before 2009, then yeah… good for you, guys. And best of luck with the new deal.
Credit: Hollywood Reporter
FILM MUSIC NEWS
The Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for music Oscars for 2010:
Best Original Score
James Horner – "Avatar"
Alexandre Desplat – "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders – "The Hurt Locker"
Hans Zimmer – "Sherlock Holmes"
Michael Giacchino – "Up"
Best Original Song
Randy Newman – "Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog"
Randy Newman – "Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog"
Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas – "Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36″
Maury Yeston – "Take It All" from "Nine"
Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett – "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart"
There's a story that William Friedkin enjoyed telling on the DVD celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Exorcist. He talked about the painter INSERT NAME HERE that was arrested at the Louvre because he was caught trying to adjust something on one of the paintings. When he responded with claims that this was HIS painting and that he was trying to fix it, the police responded with, "It's in the Louvre! It's finished! You have to move on!"
The irony of this story is that Friedkin was bringing up this story during a conversation with William Peter Blatty, author of the original book and screenplay. What was the main topic that led to this anecdote? It was the Director's Cut that was being planned, which became known as "The Version You've Never Seen." I remember being excited for this version, thinking that there was something that Friedkin originally wanted and wasn't able to accomplish back in 1973. Maybe there were some deleted scenes that would flesh out the characters a little bit more.
Unfortunately, that's not what we were given. Instead, there were some extra scenes in the doctor's office that dragged out Regan's "unusual" behavior, some unnecessary flashes of Pazuzu's demonic face and the very much un-needed original ending that featured a humorous exchange between Lt. Kinderman and Father Dyer. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed, and during the time when the only version of The Exorcist I could get on DVD was this one, I always showed the VHS I had of the original to anyone who wanted to watch the movie.
Granted, Blatty originally intended for this to be the real ending and it was shot to be that, but there really is something perfectly eerie to the way the 1973 cut ended. It didn't need the warm and fuzzy moment at the end of the "Version You've Never Seen," which you'll see here…
This is not the first time we've seen this happen, when directors are given a chance to show the audience a different version of their films and only wind up showing them that their original cut was good enough. This doesn't happen often, and interestingly enough, it happens when some of our most well-known directors take some of their most beloved films and, to put it mildly, keep fixing them until they're broken.
One year after Friedkin brought The Exorcist down a notch, Francis Ford Coppola took his Vietnam masterpiece Apocalypse Now and gave it a makeover. Almost an hour of material was taken out of the original cut and this was his chance to show the world how all that footage tied into the rest of the story. Unfortunately, the material proved to be just as unnecessary as Friedkin's changes to his film. The resulting product - Apocalypse Now: Redux - just didn't have the same kind of drive for me. The added surrealist moments slowed down the pace so much that it made a masterpiece… I hate to say this… kinda boring.
I understand that this was a very vital look into Coppola's experiences shooting this film in the 70s, and it's very likely closer to what he originally had in mind. But somewhere in between the ending of the incredibly long shoot and the release in theaters, Coppola and his editors put together a wonderful piece of work that still holds up today. The Redux version just doesn't work nearly enough for me.
It definitely wasn't a surprise to me to see that most, if not all, of the footage used in the Redux trailer could also be seen in the original cut. At least Lucas gave you a brief look at the re-inserted Jabba scene in Star Wars, no matter how bad Jabba looked…
It is usually a great thing for fans of these movies to see different versions, to see what the filmmaker intended before they were forced to make compromises with either studio demands or budgetary difficulties. However, a funny thing about filmmaking being a collaborative process is that everyone involved chips in whenever there is a problem, they do whatever they can to fix it, and it winds up becoming something truly iconic. Then, years later, the director will use the state-of-the-art technology they didn't have access to during the original production and get so wound up in improving the look that they actually impair the magic that was on the screen all along.
Take the trip my wife and I took to the Ziegfeld in 2008. We got to see a Spielberg-related triple feature. The first was Back to the Future (which he executive produced) and the third was Jaws. Equally great times at the theater, but sandwiched in between was the 20th Anniversary Edition of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
It's no secret that I have loved this movie since I first saw it at six years old. The ending always destroyed me, no matter how old I was while watching it, and while watching it at the John Williams concert we went to in 2006, I was reduced to a weeping little bitch. So yeah, this movie gets to me. But while watching it in the Ziegfeld, I noticed something. I wasn't FEELING anything. There was no building of emotions, no flooding of tears at the end. There was just… disappointment. The alien that I had loved for all those years was replaced by a cartoony CGI version, a literal shadow of his former self.
And then there were the extra scenes that were put back into the movie. All they did was remind us of how much those extra scenes DIDN'T NEED TO BE PUT BACK IN THE MOVIE! Ucchh.
Oh yeah, and there was the whole "replacing the guns with walkie-talkies" thing that had been complained about enough. Let me just say, I'm with those who complained about it. If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look at the trailer and notice the brief shot of all the kids' bicycles taking to the air. Men were in their way, holding shotguns. This used to be a really threatening moment. It's not threatening anymore.
It's a real shame when filmmakers do this, when they fail to realize that they've created something truly wonderful that connects with millions of people. Guys, please take note that it's the story and the characters that you originally invested in that make your movies so great, not the effects! And you don't have to show us every moment that you had originally filmed to give us something truly epic!
I've been an advocate of Director's Cuts being on DVD, and I continue to be one, since there are so many of them that actually improve on the original product. (I'm not going to bring up DareDevil again since I made that point several times already in UBS history.) But when the film in question turns out to be something beloved by audiences and critics for years, and is labeled as timeless, the filmmakers should take a good and long look at their original films and realize that they got it right the first time. There's no shame in that, and there shouldn't be any shame in that.
You can kind of say the same thing to George Lucas with his Star Wars Special Editions, since there are quite a few things I could point out that should have stayed the way they were. Like the altered version of this well-known scene, for example…
But I will say that the special editions work better when you look at the series as a whole: I – VI. When it comes to judging the movies individually, or just looking at the original trilogy, the way they were done back in 1977, 1980 and 1983 were better. And thankfully, even though they weren't given to us with any real special features, Lucas was nice enough to give us the original theatrical versions on DVD so we could enjoy either one as we wish. Coppola did the same with the Apocalypse Now "Complete Dossier" edition and Warner Home Video released the box set of The Exorcist series with both versions of the original.
This means there is a bright side to take in with all of this; that even though the filmmakers go out of their way to "fix" their most beloved movies, the original versions can still be found on DVD for fans to enjoy. At least SOME of the original versions are out there, since Spielberg only offered the 1982 version of E.T. in a Limited Edition and Collectible Gift Set. So here's hoping the rest of these guys make sure we can all still enjoy the movies that were done right the first time. There's a fine line between a great director's cut and directors cutting their own throats.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 150 of The UBS Evening Movie News! I'm George H. Sirois and I'll see you next week!
Congrats on the milestone and here's to many, many more!
Posted By: stevethegoose (Registered) on February 04, 2010 at 03:11 AM
No photo brief? Congrats on 150.
Posted By: Todd Vote (Registered) on February 04, 2010 at 11:08 AM
Congrats on the 150.
I kind of agree on the Director's Cuts. I noticed you didn't mention Blade Runner. There are at least four different versions of that movie, and seeing DVD is the only way for most people to see it, it can be confusing to know which is the best (hint: not the one with the happy ending).
As for Apocalypse Now, while the Redux version was a bit slower, I feel it was necessary, especially with the Hearts of Darkness documentary detailing all this extra footage that never showed up. The surrealist moments likewise, when viewed with the documentary, tie it a bit more to the shooting experience. And the French dinner scene was rumored since the movie first came out (or so I read). Tying them into the movie was necessary because there was so much.
One only wonders what the new-found footage of Metropolis will do to that eighty year old melodrama.
Posted By: Dave C (Registered) on February 04, 2010 at 11:29 AM
Congrats, George.
Posted By: actionprod11 (Registered) on February 04, 2010 at 08:32 PM
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