Alexander

[©brad]

A lot of Oliver Stone comments about Alexander aren't new. The release for Alexander Revisited will have a documentary by Stone's son on it.

actually no.

Alexander Revisited is currently available on Blu-Ray, HD-DVD and plain old DVD, but Sean Stone's seventy-five minute documentary is only available on the former two formats (a third disc would've been required to fit it on DVD).

you also missed a nice bit that could potentially spark some interesting discussion - directors who do a lot of takes vs a few.

Q: There's a quote in the documentary: "Perfection is the enemy of good." I'm wondering if you can elaborate on that. And did you always feel that way, or did it take you some time to come to that conclusion?

Oliver: That's my personal idiosyncrasy. It's a French expression. Perfection *is* the enemy of good. You do hear of these cases of the Kubricks of the world who do take after take in search of perfection, but I think that's an illusion. I really do think that it's subjective. The kinds of films I'm making, which are fairly large and ambitious... and they're controversial, and you can't get a lot of money to make them. I say you have to settle. Get the overall. Some of my films may have been crude at times, or tough, or missed the points, but I've tried to get the overall in. I think that's more important. You may miss a thing or two, but you move faster. If you can do it in three takes, do it in three takes.

There's the great story with John Huston and Jack Nicholson, where he said to Nicholson, "You got one take." And he didn't believe him. But he actually did have one take, and he got it right. I've been on sets as a writer before where actors would warm up with the first take. I don't believe that. I think you should do rehearsal and work at it, but when the camera rolls, you should be ready. I think Clint Eastwood would agree. Try to make it good the first time.

[Gold Trumpet]

Dude, I said the doc is only available on HD-DVD and Blu Ray. What are you talking about?

Also, who cares if Oliver Stone said that? He's been saying it for years. The topic has been around forever and Stone doesn't even have the best reasons against multiple takes. David Mamet has better reasons why it isn't good because he relates it back to acting issues. he says the actors strength for vocal and performance command will be best in the first five takes. He gives examples and reasons for this idea. I wish I could find where he originally said it.

[©brad]

Dude, I said the doc is only available on HD-DVD and Blu Ray. What are you talking about?

you won this round gt. but there will be others. many others.

Also, who cares if Oliver Stone said that? He's been saying it for years. The topic has been around forever and Stone doesn't even have the best reasons against multiple takes. David Mamet has better reasons why it isn't good because he relates it back to acting issues. he says the actors strength for vocal and performance command will be best in the first five takes. He gives examples and reasons for this idea. I wish I could find where he originally said it.

hah leave it to me to find the one topic gt doesn't want to exhaustively discuss until we all get so bored and annoyed we start to ignore the thread altogether. i for one thought it was an interesting discussion. i'm a stone zealot and i've never heard him say that. on wall street commentary he actually talks about how he did upwards of 30 takes for many scenes. he even compared himself to kubrick at one point. i just thought it could be interesting to compare multiple-take directors (kubrick, fincher, mann) to 1-3 take directors. i wouldn't argue that one way is better than the other.

but whatever let's just end this. do me a favor and try your damndest to not respond to this post. thanks.

[Gold Trumpet]

but whatever let's just end this. do me a favor and try your damndest to not respond to this post. thanks.

Hah, suck it!

[MacGuffin]

Oliver Stone and Son Discuss Alexander
Father and son talk movies with IGN!

One might imagine that director Oliver Stone would be an imposing filmmaker - and to some, that may be the case. But the black-suited figure - followed quickly by his son, Sean - moved politely into the small room to discuss the HD release of his final cut of the epic Alexander and very quickly proved himself to be an eloquent and talkative interview. Sean Stone, whose documentary "Fight Against Time" appears on both the Blu-ray and HD DVD releases, also fielded questions about this behind-the-scenes look at his admittedly famous father.

But why go back and re-work the film at all, one might ask?

"Well, you don't set out to do a DVD cut and a theatrical cut," begins Stone. "But maybe because of the nature of circumstances now, we have to think that way. I would always aim for the best version being the theatrical, but the exhibitors have cut it off. They have to make so many shows a day. It's impossible to make a three-hour-forty-minute movie here in the States. If I had the guts, I would have released this version in Europe - they likely would have run it - and given it to Warner Brothers - who likely would have cut it - and we would have had a nice Sergio Leone-type scandal. Though I probably wouldn't be working today."

Father and son laugh, though Stone pauses for a moment to consider the wisdom in a format which essentially allows for a near-endless amount of re-working.

"There's a French expression: Perfection is the enemy of good," notes the director. "You hear cases of the Kubrick's of the world who do take after take in search of that perfection. I think that's an illusion. It's subjective. The kind of films that I'm making are large and ambitious. They're controversial and hard to get money for...You have to get the overall. They may be crude at times and rough; they may miss a point occasionally, but I try to get to the essence."

Little, perhaps, documents this Herculean effort as effectively as Sean's accompanying documentary - an honest, truthful and often unflattering portrayal of the stresses and challenges of filmmaking.

"Certainly, I was embarrassed about some things," admits Stone, "but I basically just said, f**k it. I'm going down with this movie anyway, so I might as well take the whole thing." Pause for a roomful of laughter before he continues with a smile. "It wasn't that flattering, at times, but it was a special moment in our relationship. He was coming of age and this was the first time that we'd spent working together in a professional environment - which was good for him to see and good for me to be able to bond with him. I was very moved."

"He makes a lot of revelations on camera," states Sean. "But he really encouraged me to turn the camera on myself - to make myself a part of the process...to have the film play as a dialogue between a father and a son - of a filmmaker explaining himself to a younger man."

He continues: "I was trying to give an impression over the long-haul...It was an impressionistic approach to what a filmmaker experiences from morning to night. And then, of course, there is the personal side that you don't see, but is so much there because it's felt. Especially with him, because he wrote the story. I had to ask myself, why did my father choose to do Alexander? What is his relationship to the characters and their tragedy?"

The answer to that questions, says Stone, is fairly simple.

"Alexander, to me, is one of the greatest inspirations. He's an example to the youth of today of leadership, of guts, of bravery, of following your dream. But there's also misery and suffering and burden and I wanted to show both of those aspects, as well. I wanted to show that there are heroes; there are people who can change the course of history. Alexander is a great example of that, but we seem to have forgotten him!"

As the conversation begins to wind down, it is noted that Stone hasn't made one of the conspiratorial films for which he's become known over the course of his career.

"The obvious has been missed," he says, half-laughing, half-serious. "The conspiracy these days is so damn overt. These days, you don't have to hide it!" And then somebody asks the ultimate question - in such a controversial political time, would Stone ever like to turn his cinematic sights on President Bush?

To that he only smiles and says, "Yes, yes. Very much so."

When?

Another, final laugh.

"Soon."

And we believe him.

[MacGuffin]

Farrell says he's finally over "Alexander" flop

ROME (Reuters) - Hollywood stars don't usually like to talk about their professional flops, especially when not asked about them.

But Colin Farrell defied his "bad boy" reputation on Tuesday by speaking about his disappointment with the poor reviews and box office sales of "Alexander," Oliver Stone's 2004 film in which the actor played the bleached-blond conqueror.

The admission was all the more surprising as it came after gushing praise by a news conference moderator at the Rome film festival, who said he had seen Farrell calm an agitated horse on the set of Alexander by talking to it.

"Alexander hurt, you know -- and again people are going to say 'Get over it, you were well paid' and all that. But Alexander hurt," Farrell told reporters.

"The response that it got was really painful and all of us got a really hard time, and I didn't come across too well either in the majority of reviews and even with the audiences -- people did not respond to it.

"It was a film that was made to be seen by many people. Not many people saw it and they weren't particularly fond of it, and that was s----, it was really s----," he said.

Farrell, along with co-stars Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer, was nominated for worst actor for his portrayal of the ancient Greek military leader at the 2005 Razzie awards, which recognize what its organizers deem the worst films of the year.

The film, with a budget estimated at $155 million, grossed $34 million at home, said tracking site www.boxofficemojo.com.

"I took it to heart. I felt like I had let a lot of people down, I felt like I had disappointed a lot of people ... And it took a while to get over that," Farrell said.

PRIDE AND GLORY

Sporting shoulder-length hair, the 32-year old Irish actor -- in Rome to present cop drama "Pride and Glory" -- said he had now come to terms with the failure.

"I probably got a bit disillusioned after that. I think only in the last couple of years starting with 'Pride and Glory' has that disillusionment ceased to be something that is still present in my life regarding the work," he said.

Farrell stars opposite Edward Norton and Jon Voight in "Pride and Glory," the portrait of a police family which find itself on opposite sides of a corruption scandal.

The movie opened at a disappointing no. 5 at the North American box office at the weekend and has had mixed reviews.

It is the only U.S. film in the main competition at the Rome festival, which this year has a light Hollywood presence.

[MacGuffin]

Oliver Stone Says He's Doing a Fourth Cut of ALEXANDER
Source: Collider

Monday evening, Universal held an impromptu dinner with filmmaker Oliver Stone and actor Benicio Del Toro. The topic at hand: the underrated Savages – which met a caustic reception at the time of release and next week will be released on Blu-Ray & DVD. However Stone, ever the wordsmith and thinker, ran through a gamut of topics ranging from his feelings on Blu-Ray to this past election to even another (this would be fourth) cut of his initially maligned epic Alexander.

Stone told the press that, due to the success of Alexander: The Final Cut, Warner Bros. has asked him to go back and do another cut of the film for a future DVD release.

Here's what Stone had to say about a further fourth cut of Alexander:

On Alexander, I released a shorter version [in theaters] because of Warner Brothers issues. And I [was] also rushed. [When] I released the director's cut – it wasn't called a 'director's cut'. It was called 'The Final Cut' because [earlier] there was a rushed director's cut that I was responsible for. My third version three years later in 2007 was called 'A Final Cut' and I actually added forty some odd minutes – which I think makes the film better. [I didn't go back] for money. I just did it because I didn't feel I had finished the movie, and I felt like I was rushed... It took three years [for me] to fully understand [Alexander]. I'm going to go back next year actually. I've been asked by Warner Brothers because they did so well with 'The Final Cut'. They actually sold more than a million copies. They've asked me to go back next year and do a fourth version.

Frankly, it's a movie about history and I just feel like I can add something more. I wouldn't do it otherwise... I don't need more footage. I want to cut it down now because I added too much. I want it to come back a little bit. There's some trimming [needed]. Have you ever heard of Abel Gance and Napoleon? Coppola actually brought back a version in 1980 at Radio City Music Hall. Huge, black and white, silent movie and it worked. It was magic. Gance had like thirteen versions of the film by the time he died because it was done in triptych in those days. They did three screens. This version that he did was unbelievable. I'm not saying I'm going to have thirteen [versions of Alexander], but I just think it's important to me, this film. DVD has given it that second life because all the people that have seen it, that million people adds up to a huge different base and they get it.

The full interview with Oliver Stone and Benicio Del Toro will run later this week. Look for Savages on Blu-Ray/DVD Tuesday November 13th.

[Alexandro]

he should delete everything with anthony hopkins and that alone would be a major improvement.

[©brad]

This is getting a little ridiculous.

[socketlevel]

It totally is, but I actually kind of love it. I can't wait for the 10th cut.

[Sleepless]

Dammit Oliver! Stop messing with my childhood! Oh wait... nevermind.