Authors — Scott Macaulay

WHO RUNS THE YAKUZA, OR THE MASONS, OR THE M15?

The New Yorker this week reports on a Hollywood job opening in this generally deteriorating entertainment economy. The “Talk of the Town” piece by Lizzie Widdicombe quotes an “unofficial” email about what is apparently a real position: cultural attache to Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer. Here’s the email: This person would be responsible for keeping Brian abreast of everything that’s going on in the world; politically, culturally, musically. . . . They’re also responsible for finding an interesting person for Brian to meet with every week . . . an astronaut, a journalist, a philosopher, a buddhist monk. . . . […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 10, 2008
OUTFITTING THE RED CAMERA

Roberto Quezada-Dardon’s article on the Red One camera is one of our most widely read articles on the website this month. If you want to read about the Red from a different angle, check out Steve Tammi’s piece, “Beta Sight: Red Digital Camera Red One,” in the current Millimeter, which is online at their Digital Content Producer site. Here’s his lede: I have been shooting with the Red Digital Cinema Red One Camera for almost six months now. Although I have been asked to write about my first impression of the camera, it is important to realize that shooting with […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2008
RICKY JAY ON SWORD OF VENGEANCE

Here’s Ricky jay, who co-stars in David Mamet’s Redbelt, currently in release, performing a card trick alongside his discussion of Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance. Both Mamet and Jay were interviewed this week, separately, on the XMPR Bob Edwards radio show, and the discussions can be listened to or downloaded here. Both men are fantastic raconteurs and interview subjects, so this is a great hour, with Mamet talking about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the fight film and noir genres, the link between drama, magic and con games, and his approach to rehearsing film actors. Jay discusses performing, card magic, and […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 8, 2008
ROSSELLINI’S GREEN PORNOS

I’ve wondered several times on this blog why more filmmakers don’t try to make original works for the web, works that challenge and alter the storytelling conventions of their feature or other narrative work. Well, now on the Sundance Channel website comes Green Porno, a series of shorts designed to be watched on computers and cellphones. Here’s what Sundance and Rossellini say about the project: Green Porno is a series of very short films conceived, written, co-directed by and featuring Isabella Rossellini about the sex life of bugs, insects and various creatures. The films are a comical but insightful study […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 8, 2008
PICTUREHOUSE AND WIP SHUT DOWN!!!

Variety is reporting the stunning news that Warner Bros. is shutting down both Picturehouse and Warner Independent. Speculation has been running in the indie community about the fate of the companies following the demise of New Line (which was a co-owner, with HBO, of Picturehouse) as a standalone studio and distributor. Observers had imagined a variety of scenarios, but I don’t think anyone thought that both companies would be folded. Here’s Warner prez and COO Alan Horn’s statement: “With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we’re able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 8, 2008
RECUT, REVOTE

CNN is reporting that Weinstein Company head Harvey Weinstein engaged in a “heated phone call” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in late April in which he pressured her to accept a plan in which he would finance primary revotes in Michigan and Florida. From the piece: In a heated phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late last month, Hillary Clinton supporter Harvey Weinstein threatened to cut off campaign money to congressional Democrats unless Pelosi embraced a new plan by the movie mogul to finance a revote of the Democratic presidential primaries in Florida and Michigan, according to three officials […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 8, 2008
THE TRIAL OF JOSEF K

Susannah Breslin has a positively surreal interview at Radar Online with Ira Isaacs, the 57-year-old L.A.-based director currently awaiting trial on obscenity charges for his, um… scat videos. Kudos to the photo editor at Radar for the two improbable shots that run with the piece — one of Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal (voted in 2004 by a group of art critics as the most influential piece of art of all time), and the other of Martha Stewart. On her own Reverse Cowgirl blog, Breslin had previously written about Isaacs and the novel defense he’s mounting against the charges that his […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 7, 2008
BRIAN ENO ON BARRY LYNDON

(Hat tips: GreenCine and Coudal Partners.)
by Scott Macaulay on May 6, 2008
YOUR MONEY, YOUR MOVIE?

Over at his CinemaTech blog, Scott Kirsner writes about the new Seattle-based IndieShares, which is another one of those “democratize the process” companies that has sprung up around some aspect of the film business. Democracy, of course, is (mostly) good. Filmmaker‘s mission statement even includes the goal of democratizing the production process for beginning filmmakers. And last week I interviewed Lance Weiler and learned more about his From Here to Awesome festival (which I’ve concluded is a really cool and good thing, and I’m not just saying that because I know Lance and he’s a writer for the magazine), and […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 4, 2008
"THIS ‘INDIE’ PART OF THE BUSINESS"

With the demise of New Line — one of the two partners behind the creation of Picturehouse (HBO is the other) — speculation has arisen over what’s going to happen to the specialty shingle now that it, like New Line, has been absorbed into Warner Brothers. Warner, you remember, has Warner Independent already on its lot. Anne Thompson penned a piece in Variety stating that WIP head Polly Cohen and Picturehouse head Bob Berney “are likely to accept a bicoastal co-head arrangement.” Stu Van Airsdale at Defamer ran his own story, saying that there are rumors that Berney will be […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 4, 2008

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