Replace Altman?

Started by MacGuffin, November 25, 2006, 09:15:13 PM

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MacGuffin

With the death of Robert Altman, the project he was working on is now up in the air ( http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=9363.msg236145#msg236145 ). Do you think PTA should take over that project? Why or why not?
"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

soixante

Sure, why not.  PTA would be the best person to take over.  Linklater would be another good choice.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Chest Rockwell

I don't like the idea of a director being replaceable. The implication makes the film more the studio's picture than the director's, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. However, if somebody has to take over, I'd say Anderson would be probably the best choice.

Pubrick


the sins of the father laid upon the children..
under the paving stones.

polkablues

I sincerely hope he has something better to do than make "Hand on a Hard Body".  But then, I would have said the same thing for Altman.
My house, my rules, my coffee

modage

yeah i'm not sure i would like such a strange blemish on PTs filmography.  if he hasnt written/developed it, it probably doesnt belong.  plus, i wouldnt want Blood or whatever's after Blood to get pushed back any further.  if we have to wait 5 years between films, they need to be worth it!
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pozer


grand theft sparrow

This is one of those projects that only Altman would have been able to get away with.  If any other director besides Altman originated this project, we'd all be SO uninterested.  The same could be said for Prairie Home Companion, Gosford Park, any number of Altman's films in the last 10 or so years where his pedigree and the cast that he can assemble drew audiences more than the story.

That being said, I think PTA would do a great job with this but I don't think he should do it.  Modage is totally right about the projects needing to be worth it.  If PTA had the output that someone like Soderbergh has, or even Altman had for that matter, then it would be more of an "OK, he can squeeze that one in and then do whatever he had planned next" thing but since he does pick and choose his projects very carefully, this idea isn't worth his (or our) time.   

I like soixante's idea of Linklater doing it.  This feels like the kind of project that Linklater would be able to make something great with.

Gold Trumpet

I voted for the second option, but I'm not sure what "Altman's baby" means. Did he really develop this project? Or did he read a screenplay he liked and saw an opportunity to film it to his liking? I know when he did The Company, he was basically a director for hire. He had little interest in ballet, but he had interest to spin the story to his concept.

I really don't want PTA to remake this. He does take time with his projects and he would personalize this adaptation so this wouldn't be just a quick shoot. I also don't care for the idea of just Linklater doing it. He's done Altmanesque before, but because his resume is so diverse, do we just throw these projects at him?

I say option the project to many directors to do a collaboaration effort in honor of Robert Altman. They will take the screenplay and elaborate on their favorite parts of the screenplay and film it to meet their own idea of homage. Many filmmakers would be interested and they would only be making small films so their schedules could be open to do this. It keeps the project an "Altman" experience but is also different because it is honorary (in light of his sudden death).

MacGuffin

Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on November 26, 2006, 02:32:38 PM
I voted for the second option, but I'm not sure what "Altman's baby" means. Did he really develop this project?

Quote from: MacGuffin on October 06, 2006, 12:19:41 AMAltman and writer Stephen Harrigan are developing a script inspired by the events depicted in S.R. Bindler's 1997 documentary "Hands on a Hard Body: The Documentary," which recounted a Texas endurance contest that offered a new Nissan Hardbody truck as the prize.

The last person left standing with a hand on the truck got to take it home. Altman has wanted to direct the project for years and now says it will be his next film. He compares it to Sydney Pollack's 1969 film "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" which centered on a marathon dance contest.
"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

AntiDumbFrogQuestion

even though the situation is not the same...I think one "A.I." was enough.  The thing we love about these filmmakers are their abilities to have individual voices

and we trust their sensibilities

if anything, future PTA will have that extra li'l earmark of Robert Altman, and not the filmmaker, but the person who was known and loved by those in the life around him.

Pozer

what in the bloody hell is going on here?  he has a movie in production right now and this is the sort of discussion we've resorted to address?  there's a trailer for fred f'ing claus which hasn't even been made yet for crip's sakes.  yes, i understand the reasons why, and i've been trying to be patient, but still... where is the bloody news already?!

MacGuffin

Quote from: pozer on November 30, 2006, 01:17:25 PM
what in the bloody hell is going on here?  he has a movie in production right now and this is the sort of discussion we've resorted to address? 

It was either this or we were gonna stage a mock jury to see if PTA should win his bedbug lawsuit.  :yabbse-undecided:
"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