Tony Kaye

Started by NEON MERCURY, January 10, 2004, 11:12:49 PM

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Fernando

Quote from: mutinycoWasn't he calling himself the next Kubrick? Even invested some of his own money in X...

In the documentary Who is Alan Smithee? someone mentioned that in some meeting Kaye said why he couldn't have more time to reshoot just like Kubrick had. I think they laughed and laughed in that meeting. Seriously, if he did say it, how can he really mean that, it was his goddamn first feature.

socketlevel

This is the story as I heard it.  It might have been exaggerated a tad by the time it got to me, but who cares it's a good story nonetheless.  The legend can be much more entertaining.

Kaye was editing the picture and made a 2.5 hr cut of the film to show to new line.  The execs flipped over it, assuring Kaye they'd win Oscars.  Kaye was surprised by they're reaction because it was the first cut he made and felt there was much more to consider.  He told them he wanted to work on it further and they agreed.  They encouraged Kaye to not change it too drastically because it was near perfect for them.

So Kaye goes back in the editing room and works on it a bit, to say the least.  He screens his new 1.5 hr cut of the film and the execs were shocked.  It was the most trite, contrived piece of work they'd ever seen.  They didn't understand why he cut an hour out of the film.  They told him they wanted to see the original cut but kaye indicated to them that he made the current cut from the previous, the original cut didn't exist any longer (this was obviously before the majority of cutting was non-linear software based).  The execs didn't know how to react.  They were pissed.  Kaye assured them that he would have a cut they would be proud of.  So he went back the editing room.

So Kaye sits for over a month in the editing room without making any alterations to the film.  He was having a creative block.  On day he just didn't show up to work.  He went missing, the studio tried contacting him at his usual locations.  After trying to get a hold of him for a short while, and feeling the pressures of deadlines, they sought out a new editor to finish the project.  Edward Norton by this point had put a lot into the film, acting wise and the fact that he did a lot of physical training to be right for the role.  The execs agree to give Norton a chance in the editing room.  Norton then delivers a final cut in the vain of the original cut by Kaye.

Meanwhile Kaye was in Tibet talking to his spiritual advisor about how to cut the film.  He was searching spriritualy for the answers to his creative black.  He comes to a new understanding of the piece and makes his way back to the states to finish cutting the film.  When he gets back he finds out what has been occuring in his absence and flips out because the film is ready to be released.

He argues with the execs and feels he has been wronged but they don't seem to care.  They feel Kaye has become a liability to the project and decide to keep Norton’s cut of the film.

Kaye says fine, he wants an Alan Smithiesque credit.  He asks for his name to be known as "Humpty Dumpty."  The studio refuses, they have grounds to not oblige because of some stipulation in Kaye's contract.  Especially considering how the situation came to a head.

Kaye is furious and sues New Line for 200 million dollars.  They counter sue...

That's pretty much it, God I love Hollywood.  That's some crazy shit!

-sl-
the one last hit that spent you...

Alethia

tony kaye seems like a fucking moronic asshole

pookiethecat

american history x was a trite, piece of shit, imo.
i wanna lick 'em.

meatwad

i remember hearing at one point that Tony Kaye was directing some sort of Acting Class for Marlon Brando. And that Kaye was dressed up as Bin Laden, and he fought with Brando the whole time and eventually walked out.

Did anybody else hear about this, or are these rumors false?

Pubrick

i heard he mates with men, then eats them.
under the paving stones.

MacGuffin

Quote from: meatwadi remember hearing at one point that Tony Kaye was directing some sort of Acting Class for Marlon Brando. And that Kaye was dressed up as Bin Laden, and he fought with Brando the whole time and eventually walked out.

Did anybody else hear about this, or are these rumors false?

FROM IMDB.COM

Brando is continuing to feud with American History X director Tony Kaye - and now the film-maker says he's getting nasty messages on his answering machine. The pair fell out earlier this year [2003] when Kaye was videoing Brando's acting master class "Lying For A Living." The bizarre shoot, which saw the rotund actor turn up to class in drag and dressed as a church minister, descended into a fight after a screaming match between the two men which concluded when Brando tried to attack his former pal. Now Kaye says he's getting nasty messages. He says, "I had one strange call on my answering machine. The voice sounded like the Devil. He said, 'I'm in your house. I'm going to kill you.' I was so frightened I didn't go back to my house for a couple of weeks. I went to the police with the tapes. They treated it as a joke."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

SoNowThen

I read that article posted on the page before. Even though he is a bit of an arrogant dickhole, you can't deny that a lot of what he says is true...

my favorite quote: "the standard, the acceptable standard, that the populace has reached in their movie appetites is a tragedy on the level of the AIDS epidemic."
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

billybrown

Quote from: pookiethecatamerican history x was a trite, piece of shit, imo.

I couldn't agree more... save for a few select scenes and some of the performances (Norton's for example), it is quite the trite piece of celluloid cack. While some of Tony Kaye's points in that article do hold water, they are totally over-ridden by the fact that he's a complete twat of epic proportions.

pookiethecat

Quote from: billybrown
Quote from: pookiethecatamerican history x was a trite, piece of shit, imo.

I couldn't agree more... save for a few select scenes and some of the performances (Norton's for example), it is quite the trite piece of celluloid cack. While some of Tony Kaye's points in that article do hold water, they are totally over-ridden by the fact that he's a complete twat of epic proportions.

yep.  i remember finding it very dull, in spite of the shocking and occasionally lurid subject matter.. you have to wonder if norton really did ruin a masterpiece.  or if he improved upon an already crappy product.
i wanna lick 'em.

godardian

Quote from: SoNowThenI read that article posted on the page before. Even though he is a bit of an arrogant dickhole, you can't deny that a lot of what he says is true...

my favorite quote: "the standard, the acceptable standard, that the populace has reached in their movie appetites is a tragedy on the level of the AIDS epidemic."

Those actually do sound like the tantrum-throwing words of an arrogant dickhole... or at least someone who has no connection to reality left. I bemoan daily the apparent lack of public intelligence or taste, but it's not exactly life-or-death.  :roll:
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Myxo

Quote from: Pthe dude is like 50 and hasn't done shit. he blew his one big chance and now he's a cautionary tale.

What a fucking moron. The guy speaks in third person for Christ's sake. He reminds me of that guy from the Budweiser commercials.

"So Tony Kaye and Michael De Luca have a conversation, and Michael De Luca smiles and he shakes Tony Kaye's hand."

True.

I saw a Charlie Rose interview recently with Alec Baldwin. They were discussing a great many things in the film industry. One of those things happened to be that, as a newbie to the industry there are two types of people:

A. Those who come in thinking they are going to add their own vision to the film and rock the boat whenever possible.

B. Those who do what they are told, and in turn gain the trust of the people who have real control over a film, the people who bankroll it.

He went on about how many people he'd seen go through Hollywood's grinder who might have made it if they'd shut their mouth for a couple of films. As a debut film director working on a project the scale of American History X, you'd think he would have been smarter.

"I'm not a writer – and there's always someone that can break the mold – but I don't believe writers can direct, and I don't believe directors can write. I think they're two very different jobs. And I think a lot of the problems, and a lot of the poor standards of filmmaking around right now, are because certain people are trying to do two jobs. However good Paul McCartney was and however good John Lennon was, they were never as good as when they were both...you know."

Fucking dolt..

"No, no. I'd really like to be the...Messiah. You know, that's a job that I'd really like. Right? If you're the Messiah, you have to get out a dialogue with the entire world. So it sort of dawned on me that I could have a dialogue with the world from paid advertising space. Actually, someone's doing it now in Florida. I did these things on behalf of God, and now there's a whole campaign in Florida that is on behalf of God – God talking. It was on CNN. They've completely been influenced by what I've done – you know, those little white lines out of big black areas of space. I just think I might be able to become the Messiah, if I can carry on with this stuff."

Haha.. This guy is a LOONEY!

"But it appears that you did sign a standard director's contract... That's what Marlon Brando says to me. He says, "Look, Tony, you gotta face the facts. You don't have final cut. You've got no rights. You've just gotta bite the bullet, and get on with it. And stop behaving like a fucking prick."

Amen Marlon. Amen.

SoNowThen

Bullshit, if someone's gonna wreck your movie, you gotta defend it. Life's too short to be a pussy and just lie down. Now, we'll never know if they were ruining it or making it better, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do...
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

Myxo

Quote from: SoNowThenBullshit, if someone's gonna wreck your movie, you gotta defend it. Life's too short to be a pussy and just lie down. Now, we'll never know if they were ruining it or making it better, but a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do...

He got his big break and he pissed it away. The guy is a moron. He said it himself in that interview. "I'm working on burning 98% of my bridges and closing 98% of my doors."

Thats a great idea in Hollywood.  

Oh, and on a professional note:

If he wanted control of the film, he should have fought for final cut. If he didn't get final cut, why is he so surprised that the studio tried to fuck with his film? If he's so smart, how come he didn't figure this out before he signed the contract? I know what he was thinking:

$$$

...and thats the truth.

SoNowThen

I never said he was neither an asshole nor a moron. He seems like both.

But he has a right to be pissed that he couldn't get the support he felt he needed to get his vision on the screen.
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.