Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
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David Lynch has dipped into the world of advertising more than once. His ads for Calvin Klein’s Obsession, for example, were lush black and white glamour shoots featuring Benicio del Toro and Heather Graham. (Before Graham appeared in Twin Peaks.) Now Lynch has directed Marion Cotillard in Lady Blue Shanghai, a sixteen-minute film/ad for Dior. Read More »
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
Read More »
The public hasn’t had a chance to check out Ridley Scott‘s Robin Hood, which premieres at Cannes, but if the receipts are high, we may see more than one episode featuring Russell Crowe as the famous British character.
Speaking to the Times Online, Scott defines this film as an origin story, saying, “It is the beginnings of how the man becomes known as Robin the Hood…You don’t really get that until the last few minutes. When you realize that ‘Ah, this is who he is’. Let’s say we might presume there’s a sequel.”
From his perspective, the idea of a sequel seems natural. “If there were to be a sequel to Robin Hood, you would have a constant enemy throughout, King John, and you would follow his reign of 17 years, and the signing of Magna Carta could be Robin’s final act.”
Read the source for some great quotes about that semi-famous early draft of the script, in which Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham were the same character. Some pretty blistering comments in there about that take (“CSI: Sherwood Forest,” Crowe calls is) which makes the long development and rewrite process make more sense.
After the break, we’ve got word on possible films to follow Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Mulholland Drive. Yeah, I’m confused about that last one, too. Read More »
It’s a crazy, mixed up world and we are thankful for movies, excluding Valentine’s Day starring every safe, boring white actor ever, that offer proof. Slashfilm’s Weekend Weirdness examines such flicks, whether in the form of a new trailer for a provocative indie, a mini review or an interview.
In 1986, a supernatural moto-fantasy about a murdered bro who returns via a phantasmic, black stealth race car to kill his killers was released on Earth and no one gave a shit. More than two decades later, The Wraith, though forever without a wet ‘stache lick from Peter Travers, is cult-minted for being memorable-enough ’80s-ploitation. Next month sees the release of a Special Edition DVD that adequately recognizes and explores the movie’s legacy and history with commentary courtesy director Mike Marvin and featurettes on the film’s semi-iconic Dodge racer and co-star Clint Howard (who, if not semi-iconic himself, sported a semi-iconic wig inspired by Eraserhead for the film).
Revisiting The Wraith, what’s interesting is how this derivative hybrid of genres and classic revenge films—Marvin references High Plains Drifter and The Road Warrior—remains sublimely adolescent but in an inherently cold and detached way. Stranger still is how this suits the film’s undead hero, vehicle, and hints of an afterlife with a decidedly mechanical bent. And before viewing the S.E. I had no idea a crew member died and many others were injured in a chase scene gone awry. One stunt coordinator recounts how a grip fell 60-feet down a rocky embankment and was only found knocked-out but okay hours later. Nor did I know (or need to) that a sunbathing scene with lead star Charlie Sheen as the titular, ghostly hero and co-star Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart) was shot on a “near-freezing” day. Hearing these stories, I wonder now if the troubles of the production didn’t contribute to the overall tone. And looking back at the film itself, which was released the same year as Top Gun, Ferris Bueller, and Blue Velvet, might The Wraith, however unintentionally, deserve to be called Lynchian?
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There’s two new music promos of note for film enthusiasts, one from a music video director who branched into movies and the other, vice versa.
You can see both Michel Gondry‘s promo clip for Mia Doi Todd and David Lynch‘s introduction clip for Ariana Delawari‘s album Lion of Panjsheer embedded below the break. There’s no way you’d get them mixed up: these works fall quite comfortably inside the expected output of their respective creators. But bear in mind that it’s a post Inland Empire digital sketch-artist Lynch we’re dealing with here, not the more painterly artist of his previous works.
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Pierre Morel has revealed both his aspirations for Dune and some of the practical challenges he’ll face in realising it.
Apparently, he’s keen for the film to be in 3D and he’ll push for the format but the decision is yet to be made. So far he’s seen Avatar in 3D twice, he says, and it seems he’d like a little of that for his own project.
While development is continuing apace, work on the screenplay pages has yet to begin. The story is that Morel and his, as yet unnamed writer or writers, will start scripting in February. Are they keeping his collaborators secret? Or have they simply not hired anybody yet?
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Back in1983, the Waldenbooks chain recorded a long conversation between David Lynch and Frank Herbert. The occasion was the impending release of Lynch’s version of Dune. The final film, as most well know, was often derided as an artistic failure, and it was undoubtedly a commercial disaster. In the years since the film’s release, Lynch rarely speaks of it. Herbert died in early 1986, so he didn’t have time to see the film attain a certain level of respect in the sci-fi community.
But the movie has earned a large number of fans over the years, and rightly so. Though quite flawed, the film features incredible production design and film craft, elements which are often cited as the reasons for fan appreciation. But it is also interesting as an adaptation that isn’t afraid to muck around with the source a little bit. I think a lot more adaptations should indulge in changes. Listening to this interview, which appeared on YouTube this week, it seems evident that Frank Herbert might agree. Read More »
