BADLANDS/DAYS OF HEAVEN/THE THIN RED LINE

[matt35mm]

That was such a great read! Thanks!

[modage]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/11_things_you_need_to_know_about_terrence_malicks_badlands/

Malick Speaks! http://youtu.be/phv5ZMRVn4w (his "Badlands" cameo)

[Mr. Merrill Lehrl]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/11_things_you_need_to_know_about_terrence_malicks_badlands/

Malick Speaks! http://youtu.be/phv5ZMRVn4w (his "Badlands" cameo)

You write for Playlist but this isn't you, right?  I'm curious about this:

"But according to Billy Weber on the Criterion edition of 'Days Of Heaven,' 'Badlands' was made for $350,000 and was bought by Paramount for $900."

It seems almost ridiculously obvious that the writer means $900K but I want to make sure.


Hmmm, it then later says:

"But Jack Fisk is less convinced that Warner Bros.—who GQ says paid $1 million for "Badlands" and picked up "Mean Streets" on the same day—knew what they there dealing with."

What kind of article is this?

[Stefen]

These days, The Playlist is basically the TMZ of movie blogs. Gossip and holier than thou uninformed opinions. They did like 3 gossipy stories on a supposed Nicolas Winding Refn and Lars Von Trier beef/falling out. Seriously.

[cinemanarchist]

These days, The Playlist is basically the TMZ of movie blogs. Gossip and holier than thou uninformed opinions. They did like 3 gossipy stories on a supposed Nicolas Winding Refn and Lars Von Trier beef/falling out. Seriously.

Yeah. Getting rolled up with IndieWire has not done much for them.

[Stefen]

Their coverage of fanboy movies and standard fare has gone way UP while their coverage of international cinema and experimental film has gone way DOWN. I'm sure that has to do with them being eaten up by Indiewire and looking for hits, but it really sucks because they used to be great.

But the worst if how they shove their opinions down your throat as if they're fact. They'll give their opinion about a movie that the article isn't even about. "Jennifer Lawrence, she of Winters Bone fame (which was terrible and this website can't understand why it received so many accolades) stars as Mystique"

I mean, is shit like that really necessary?  

[Jeremy Blackman]

That's true. I remember the article about the LVT Cannes controversy... Though it was smart enough to realize that LVT is not actually a Nazi, it had incredible attitude and random attacks on his filmmaking, for no reason at all.

[pete]

was playlist the same one when, in the middle of an article clearing up the connection between this man and inception, started pitching its own script and acting like it was part of the news?
Or was that Twitch?

[Stefen]

was playlist the same one when, in the middle of an article clearing up the connection between this man and inception, started pitching its own script and acting like it was part of the news?
Or was that Twitch?

ahahaha it was Cinemtatical.

http://thisman.org/

i'm convinced this is BRILLIANT viral marketing for inception. it's too fucking freaky to be real. i also think part of the premise for the movie lies in this part of the site:

'Strangers' Director to Question 'This Man'
Source: Cinematical

Deadline's Michael Fleming is reporting that director Bryan Bertino will be following up his debut on The Strangers (he wrote a script for The Strangers 2, but will not direct it) with the This Man, a film with a fascinating, potential-packed premise behind it. According to Fleming, the film is an adaptation of a web site Ghost House Pictures acquired from an Italian sociologist who, supposedly, created it as a global connection portal for people who claimed to have all seen the face of the man (pictured in the top right) in their dreams. The film, however, won't just be a chronicle of this sociologist's "discoveries", but about the man who has no idea that people the world over are seeing him in their nightmares.

The reason I sound doubtful as to the history of the project is because I don't think it's quite so fact-based as Fleming presents it to be. Jawbone.tv has a handy breakdown of when posts about This Man started to appear on the Internet as well as who registered ThisMan.org. Their registrant is the same "Italian sociologist" Fleming mentions, Andrea Natella. Granted he may actually be a sociologist, but Jawbone also pinned Natella as the director of an Italian guerrilla marketing company.

I don't really care if the story is fact-based or just the result of some clever viral marketing because I think the concept behind This Man is rock solid and ripe for speculation. I'm hoping it goes a little something like this: Strangers start to recognize the man on the street and as soon as he realizes it's because people are convinced they're having nightmares about him, he's led into a world where cults have risen in frightful devotion to him and people everywhere have him on their minds. His life starts to spiral out of control as his 'fans' come out of the wood-work and eventually he discovers it was all just a viral experiment on the Internet and that he happened to have a face that was generic enough to look like the generic face an Italian marketer/sociologist chose for his little experiment.

Again, I have no idea if that's actually what the script is about, but that's where I would go with it-- and getting people to speculate on the vaguest of details is a great sign that you've got the potential for something great on your hands. It doesn't hurt, either, that Bryan Bertino's first film managed to transform a predictable script into something that was legitimately creepy (thanks in no small part to an outstanding sound design). Here's hoping his team-up with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert's production shingle refines those talents even more.

More importantly, however...has anyone out there actually seen this man in their dreams?

[MacGuffin]

It Looks Like Terrence Malick's 'Badlands' Is Headed To The Criterion Collection
Source: Playlist

"Warner Bros. or Criterion is putting out a new version of 'Badlands' fairly soon," Terrence Malick's longtime editor Billy Weber said last fall, and now almost a full year later, it looks like the company with the wacky C will be giving the auteur's debut film the full treatment.

Yesterday, the Criterion Collection issued their monthly email newsletter and as usual, there was a clue to go with it. As you see above, it featured two bad lambs (=badlands, get it!?) dressed up in what looked to be greaser gear not unlike what Martin Sheen's character wears in the movie. And while Criterion generally hasn't had much luck in licensing titles from Warner Bros. who have the movie in their catalog (and continue to do brisk business with their excellent Archive Collection shingle), according to the folks at the usually plugged in Criterion Forum, the boutique label has managed to snag a few titles from the studio with "Badlands" said to be among them.

Of course, when this will street remains to be seen, but it won't be until 2013 at the earliest as Criterion has already tied up their slate for the year. As for extras, again, we'll have to wait and see. However, Weber did state he recorded a commentary for the film that is being used for a brewing British re-issue of the film. And while Malick himself continues his press silence, his collaborators still often provide illuminating insights, so here's hoping Sheen, Sissy Spacek and designer Jack Fisk all get involved (along with Weber, they all took part in GQ's excellent oral history on the film). And maybe we'll get Malick's 17-minute short "Lanton Mills" in there as well? Currently, the movie -- which stars Harry Dean Stanton, Warren Oates and Malick himself -- is housed at the American Film Institute and is only viewable by students. It would be great to get it out there for more people to see. Fingers crossed.

Of course, this could be totally wrong, but all the clues and details seem to link up.