Filmmaking

DICK’S MPAA ADVENTURE, PART 2

The Reeler has a piece up today following up on the IFC press release blogged below regarding Kirby Dick’s upcoming Sundance doc This Film is not Yet Rated and its MPAA controversy. It’s all a bit more complicated than the release made it sound…

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2005 Filmmaking
MOVIE POSTER WORD BALLOONS

I saw one for the first time while walking past a poster of the Jennifer Aniston pic, Rumor Has It, yesterday: a big empty white word balloon coming right out of the Friend’s mouth. I thought it was part of the poster, its blank space some sort of Kaufman-esque pitch having to do with the vapidity of celebrity culture. But at the 14th St. station tonight, I saw a few more, on different posters, and I realized that these professionally printed stick-ons are some artist/prankster’s works of media detournement. Amplifying the intention of the movie poster — to “draw you […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2005 Filmmaking
TEN BEST… LATER

Now that Matt Ross has thrown down the “10 Best” gauntlet, below, I guess I have to make a list. It’s a seemingly mandatory task required of all participating in the film blogosphere, but mine will have to wait until I see a few more films, including Matt’s #1, King Kong. So expect mine sometime before the end of the year.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 14, 2005 Filmmaking
TRUTH IN MARKETING

I am very much looking forward to New Line’s thriller Snakes on a Plane for one reason: the title. In this day of bland, would-be exciting one-word movie names — Derailed, Havoc — there is something refreshingly straightforward and old-school about the title of this Sam Jackson movie about, well, poisonous snakes let loose on a plane. Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Today Dave McNary has a piece in Variety about the buzz for the pic created just by its title: “Though New Line has done no publicity and the thriller is eight months away […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 11, 2005 Filmmaking
RICHARD PRYOR, 1940 – 2005

Richard Pryor died today of a heart attack in California. To those old enough to remember his stand-up routines and many TV appearances preceding his string of hit movies, Pryor was both a cultural pioneer, the comedian who made so many other careers possible, as well as an entirely original and never imitated cultural voice. Even at his angriest and most sardonic, a vulnerability and hurt laced his stage persona, a pain that cut against his outrageous satire and made it all feel sometimes too real. Over at Firedoglake one linked commentator (I”m sorry, the blog doesn’t make clear who) […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 10, 2005 Filmmaking
BLOGGING FROM SYRIANA

Syriana director Stephen Gaghan is blogging over at the Huffington Post. From his inaugaral post: “What’s the way in? My first blog. You only get one first time at anything. I’m on a plane. I’m drinking bad coffee. I’m promoting a new film, Syriana, that I’ve spent the last three and half years writing and directing, cutting and scoring, agonizing as recently as three weeks ago over details like the font and point size of the end-title scroll — I chose Highway Gothic, considered in some circles to be the new Helvetica. Since this is an inaugural blog and it’s […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 9, 2005 Filmmaking
THE NEW ORDER OF MARIE ANTOINETTE

Any confusion about the kind of movie Sofia Coppola has been making about the life of Marie Antoinette can be rectified by watching the New Order-scored trailer.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 9, 2005 Filmmaking
CINEMA POVERA

Filmmaker Sujewa Ekanayake posted below in the comments section about Caveh Zahedi and his Gotham win. Over at his blog, Filmmaking for the Poor, Ekanayake talks with filmmakers working with tiny budgets — like this conversation with Zahedi — as well as offers his own DIY advice. Check out the blog in general and this entry on on how to set up a digital editing system for less than $1,500.

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 8, 2005 Filmmaking
THE RATING GAME

A year ago at Sundance Kirby Dick (Sick, Derrida, Twist of Faith) talked to me about his new documentary, promising that it would blow the lid off some very powerful forces within the film industry. He wouldn’t directly tell me what it was about, though. It was one of those “if I tell you I’ll have to kill you” things. Now, the film, This Film is Not Yet Rated, is headed for Sundance and then broadcast on IFC. And it’s about, yes, the MPAA. Over at Ain’t It Cool News Moriarty posts the press release detailing the film’s own twist […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 8, 2005 Filmmaking
MORE MUSIC FOR FILMS

The music-related Pitchfork Media is one of my favorite websites, and below I’ve linked two pieces from the site that have something to do with music and film. I thought I’d make it three with this link to a story up today about the U.K. band Underworld, whose “Born Slippy” was a big song on the Trainspotting soundtrack. The site reports that the members of Underworld are collaborating in an interesting way with Anthony Minghella on the soundtrack to his upcoming Breaking and Entering: “Furthermore, the lads have teamed up with acclaimed film director Anthony Minghella and composer Gabriel Yared […]

By Scott Macaulay on Dec 7, 2005 Filmmaking

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