David Gordon Green

Started by MacGuffin, January 21, 2003, 10:50:11 AM

0 Members and 3 Guests are viewing this topic.

03

Quote from: Pubrickespecially igby goes down.
her parker posey impression

Ravi

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ANSWERMAN

Q: I recently found out that David Gordon Green's film "A Confederacy of Dunces," with Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore, has been canceled. Green is one of my favorite directors and I have high hopes for his career. What is the story behind the cancellation and what will this do to his career?

Jonathan Warner, Evanston

A: At 30, David Gordon Green is one of the brightest talents of his generation, and the maker of three wonderful films ("George Washington," "All the Real Girls, "Undertow"). "A Confederacy of Dunces" would have been based on the cult novel by John Kennedy Toole about a quixotic New Orleans character. He responds:

"To the disappointment of many of us, 'Dunces' was put on hold last year. We had assembled the cast of my dreams (Will Ferrell, Lily Tomlin, Mos Def, Drew Barrymore, Olympia Dukakis, etc.) and I adopted New Orleans as my new home, but politics over the property rights -- torn between Miramax, Paramount, and various camps of producers -- put a weight on the project that wasn't creatively healthy to work within.

"The draft of the script by Scott Kramer and Steven Soderbergh did the novel justice, and also provided a healthy cinematic spotlight for these eccentric characters, but it didn't cater to a lot of the cliches or conditioning of contemporary American studio sensibilities. So I suppose the difficulty was even beyond the political baggage and paperwork, and stemmed in many ways from the manner in which I wanted the film to be executed.

"I believe in the dramatic foundation and comedic highlights of these characters and am not interested in the cartoon version of obvious comedy that has often been pushed for. I have yet to develop a project within the studio system that has been made, for whatever stubborn resistance to compromise on my part with the machine.

"That being said, many of the rights issues have since expired and from what I am told, Paramount holds all consideration on their own shoulders. That at least simplifies the objective. I am hopeful, with the new names and faces over there under Brad Grey, that Kramer, Soderbergh and I can again arm-wrestle some enthusiasm. Scott Kramer is the die-hard producer who has been with the project since before the book's publication.

"The history of the book and various efforts for a filmed version make an epic of their own. (I would have loved to see the Harold Ramis-directed early '80s take with John Belushi, Ruth Gordon and Richard Pryor). My hope is that we get our paws on the flick, and Kramer writes his memoirs of the whole deal."

modage



for anyone in the NY area, David Gordon Green will be at the IFC Center Aug 15th showing a movie of some kind.  what movie, i'm not sure... http://www.ifccenter.com/index
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

matt35mm

Quote from: themodernage02

for anyone in the NY area, David Gordon Green will be at the IFC Center Aug 15th showing a movie of some kind.  what movie, i'm not sure... http://www.ifccenter.com/index
THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (1974, Michael Cimino)
JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972, Sydney Pollack)

Showing both, I believe.  I found that somewhere on that site.

socketlevel

i'm so pissed about dunces!

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

modage

slightly more info...

Movie Night with David Gordon Green
THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT and JEREMIAH JOHNSON
Monday, August 15 at 7:30

Writer-director David Gordon Green in person at the IFC Center to present two of his favorite films of the 70s: THUNDERBOLT AND LIGHTFOOT (1974), Michael Cimino's directorial debut, a heist comedy starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges, and JEREMIAH JOHNSON (1972), Sydney Pollock's revisionist Western starring Robert Redford.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

modage

so i saw those two movies tonite, it was sweet (though Jeremiah Johnson had more endings than Lord Of The Rings).  DGG said he wasn't sure if Dunces was still happening or not or if it would happen with or without him in the future because of all the rights being tied up in stuff.  he also said he had seen Dukes of Hazzard and enjoyed it.  and Devils Rejects and appreciated what Zombie was trying to do there.  and that it was pointless to remake good movies, people should remake bad movies.  seemed like a nice dude.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

killafilm

So his southerness didn't freak you out.  Seeing/hearing speak of Days of Heaven last year, then seeing him on the Undertow dvd... well he just kinda weirds me out.  It seems odd seeing someone direct a movie w/out a shirt on and talking about bugs eating everyone up.

Gamblour.

I finally saw George Washington and like All the Real Girls, I just don't really feel the rhythm of his films. It's like the images and scenes are leaves floating on water, tenuously forming the semblance of something, but really just a bunch of nothing. I mean, I enjoy looking at his films, and appreciate what he's shooting for and like the mood of his pictures, but they're not something I watch and actively enjoy. It's always passive. I would watch his films again. I don't feel they're very engaging. Maybe they're meant to be seen in the theater.
WWPTAD?

ono

Quote from: Gamblour on December 22, 2005, 09:41:14 PMI would watch his films again. I don't feel they're very engaging. Maybe they're meant to be seen in the theater.
Freudian?  Either way, I saw All the Real Girls in a theatre, and thought it was just okay.  Overrated here at Xixax.  Melodrama.  But George Washington, I thought, is the real deal.  Second and third viewings just reinforce that.  It's like a poem, really.  Give that one a chance again.  The Undertow, however, sucks.

cron

what most of you
feel for me and you
i feel
for all the real.
context, context, context.

The Perineum Falcon

Quote from: cronopio on December 23, 2005, 11:35:03 AM
what most of you
feel for me and you
i feel
for all the real.
:bravo: It's where I fell in love with Zooey.

but ono could still be sorta right...  :ponder:
We often went to the cinema, the screen would light up and we would tremble, but also, increasingly often, Madeleine and I were disappointed. The images had dated, they jittered, and Marilyn Monroe had gotten terribly old. We were sad, this wasn't the film we had dreamed of, this wasn't the total film that we all carried around inside us, this film that we would have wanted to make, or, more secretly, no doubt, that we would have wanted to live.

hedwig

Quote from: rené on December 23, 2005, 11:41:37 AM
Quote from: cronopio on December 23, 2005, 11:35:03 AM
what most of you
feel for me and you
i feel
for all the real.
:bravo: It's where I fell in love with Zooey.

but ono could still be sorta right... :ponder:

SORTA is the keyword. basically it goes like this:

ono's right
about George Washington, a film of overwhelming beauty.

don't know if ono's right or wrong
about the other DGG films, cuz i havn't seen 'em.

but ono's DEFINITELY wrong
for his eye-gouging use of the comma. writes, in his sentences, like, which is to say, this, or maybe, that. or he writes. Like. This. One. Word. Each. Sentence. he'll find his happy medium someday. keep hope alive!

ono

Commas are for pauses.  Since when, did you, turn into, an asshole?

polkablues

My house, my rules, my coffee