Authors — Scott Macaulay

GUERILLAS AT NBC

When I read about filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) and producer Callum Greene’s film about M. Night Shamalayan for the Sci-Fi Channel running into trouble over Night’s refusal to cooperate once the documenatarians discovered a “buried secret” in his past, I meant to check it out by making a call to Greene. We recently covered his last produced feature Homework in the magazine. But today I was reminded that this had slipped off my “to-do” list by this piece on CNN.com. In it, Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer described the news leak as a “guerilla marketing campaign” that went too […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 17, 2004
WAR ON PIRACY… HITS CANAL STREET

In the current issue of Filmmaker, producer Jeff Levy-Hinte writes a lengthy and provocative essay on the MPAA’s “War on Piracy.” Even if we weren’t the publishers of the magazine, we’d tell you that it’s a must-read. But for those who, after finishing it, may feel that Jeff’s paralleling of the “War on Piracy” with the Bush administration’s “War on Terror” is a bit over-the-top, then check out this link to an article in The Guardian, in which the true cost of that black-market copy of Soul Plane is revealed. Writes The Guardian: “That, essentially, is the message being promoted […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 16, 2004
THE BUZZ AND THE BYTES

Over on his The Hot Button site, David Poland’s got up one of his rambling think pieces, this time on the State of Things in the world of Internet publicity. A lot of it is comprised of his critical take on Ain’t It Cool News and the way in which both the studios and the mainstream media feed off of it. It’s a three-part article and is quite interesting in its attempt to define and argue for the specialized role of Interet publicity while also calling out the most egrigious offenders of the relaxed-sourcing, anyone-can-do-it attitude of the Web press. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 14, 2004
DOC ROCK MYSTERY

When I read the headline in today’s Variety — “Hanks a Rebel Rocker for Biopic” — I wondered what rock star Tom Hanks (or perhaps his son Colin) could be playing. So, as someone whose music knowledge is pretty good, I was surprised to read that DreamWorks has picked up the life rights to a rock figure whom I know nothing about. According to the trade mag, the studio has bought the life story of “Dean Reed, an American singer, actor and filmmaker whose 15-year career in East Germany was halted by his mysterious death in 1986.” Reed apparently became […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 9, 2004
FREE MICHAEL MOORE!

On the 4th of July, this link, via Moviecity News is too rich to pass up: “Urge Ashcroft to brand Michael Moore what he really is — a traitor to America!” headlines a petition by Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood found on the Web site Conservative Petitions.com. “Free speech isn’t free when it costs lives,” the Web site says as it argues that Moore’s Farenheit 911 is endangering the lives of our troops. Those who click on the petition will find their names forwarded to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Speaker of the House […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 4, 2004
ARCHTYPAL FILMMAKER

When it comes to independent film careers, there are few more interesting than that of E. Elias Mehrige’s. In 1991 he finished his years-in-the-making Begotten, a Stygian montage of primordial imagery, summarized thusly by Marty Cassady, a reader at Imdb.com: “God disembowels himself with a straight razor. The spirit-like Mother Earth emerges, venturing into a bleak, barren landscape. Twitching and cowering, the Son Of Earth is set upon by faceless cannibals.” Mehrige worked with a tiny crew and hand treated the film to give it a look like it had been around for centuries. The film, which played at underground […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 3, 2004
HANDSHAKE DEAL

Via Pitchfork Media comes this news blurb about The Guatemalan Handshake, an indie film currently shooting in Eastern Pennsylvania starring musician Will Oldham (Palace, Bonnie “Prince” Billy) and directed by Todd Rohal. Previously, Rohal designed the DVD packaging for Dianne Bellino’s short Slitch and, in the process, met Oldham, who starred in that film as well. Writes Pitchfork: “The Guatemalan Handshake — which bears no apparent relation to The Dirty Sanchez, as far as our sources can tell– is presently in production, and follows a 10 year-old boy named Turkeylegs as he searches for his friend Donald (played by Oldham), […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 1, 2004
THE PRODIGAL CRITIC

Congrats — and welcome back to NYC — to Manohla Dargis, who returns, in print at least, to the Big Apple as film critic for the New York Times. She replaces Elvis Mitchell, who left last month, and joins A.O. “Tony” Scott and Stephen Holden. According to Nikki Finke’s piece, Dargis, who is being allowed to stay in L.A., was hired as much for her ability to write longer film think pieces as for her daily reviewing. Dargis has always figured out how to strike that balance between thoughtful ideas and rhetorical provocation, so here’s hoping that the Sunday Arts […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 26, 2004
BASIC BOLLYWOOD INSTINCT

The Asia Times’ Pepe Escobar is always a good read when it comes to the Mid East and the War on Terror, but today’s web edition of the paper contains this interesting story on Girlfriends, a film that seems to be Bollywood’s (delayed) answer to Basic Instinct. Predictably, the film, which deals frankly with a lesbian relationship, is being attacked — violently — by Hindu right-wing organizations seeking a government ban as well as critics and those on the left. The “grade C film” tells the story of a lesbian who falls in love with a man, causing her female […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2004
RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT

There’s a great lead article in Variety this week by Dana Harris and Claude Brodesser — sorry, subscription only — titled “Films Buried Alive.” And although the headline might lead you to think that the piece is about the many long-delayed films on the Miramax release shelf, it’s actually a perceptive article about the politics involved in greenlighting a studio film. It confirms in print something producers have long known: despite the importance placed by studio execs on the development process, the scripts that actually get greenlit by the studios are often the least developed ones. And if there’s one […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2004

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