Got a Box Full of Pajibas, Think You Might Like to Read
The Daily Trade Round-Up / Daniel Carlson
Dear Mom and Dad,
Just wanted to drop you a quick e-mail to let you know how things are going in Los Angeles. You two have always been so supportive, so I figured I should keep you informed on what’s happening out here.
Have you heard of Night at the Museum? It was a bad movie starring Ben Stiller. I know that’s a little vague, but stay with me. It was about a museum where the exhibits came to life at night: Robin Williams was a kind of an imbalanced ex-president, or something. Anyway, it was directed by a man named Shawn Levy, whose name I know is meaningless to you, since he’s only directed movies aimed at young people with developmental problems. But the point of the story is that Shawn Levy has been tapped (that’s what we say out here) to direct The Way Back for Fox Searchlight, the specialty films division of 20th Century Fox. (“Specialty films division” is how people in the business refer to the studio departments responsible for producing slightly higher quality films with which the studios can then campaign for awards, the winning of which brings prestige and therefore more money, which allows the studios to keep making broad movies like Little Man.) The film’s logline — its essence distilled to a lifeless single-sentence pitch, if you will — says that the story “centers on a 15-year-old boy’s passage into young adulthood over the course of a fateful summer when his family rents a beach house.” At age 15, I was taking driver’s ed and shoplifting skin mags (once), but then again, real life isn’t as exciting as the movies, so the boy in the film will likely meet a willowy blonde with whom he will share a brief but intense connection, after which he will share a wistful parting set to some British-sounding light emo. Claudia Lewis, president of production at Fox Searchlight, says that Levy “brings such vim and vigor to his comedies,” which is a great example of the kind of empty plaudits that fuel the industry out here. Press releases are full of these things. Besides, what does that even mean? Vim and vigor? Is she referring to Big Fat Liar?
Just kidding about the shoplifting, too.
Anyway, that’s that. I doubt it will be a good film, and probably not even a mediocre one. But you like to know what’s going on.
Speaking of boyhood: Do you remember when I picked up that battered but sturdy used copy of The Dark Knight Returns at the used bookstore when I was 12? It’s still on my shelf, because it’s a great book. Well, that was written by a guy named Frank Miller, whose work has been co-opted by Hollywood ever since Tim Burton used that old graphic novel as part of the inspiration for his Batman in 1989. Miller was also the guy who wrote 300, which was this year’s version of Gladiator, i.e., the braindead action movie that pretends to be emotionally resonant and will soon have a place on DVD shelves in dorms nationwide. Well, Miller wrote a comic miniseries called Ronin, about an ancient samurai who’s reincarnated in a futuristic, dystopian New York. The weird part of the story is that the book is being made into a movie by Warner Bros., and Sylvain White is in negotiations to direct. White also directed I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, about horny young white people who get ritualistically slaughtered, and Trois 3: The Escort, about horny young black people who, well, go for the trifecta. Now, sure, I’m not a diehard Millerite, but I dig the guy’s books, and I think it’s a shame that the adaptation of a work from the man who created the worlds of Batman: Year One and Sin City is being trusted to a guy whose biggest feature credit is Stomp the Yard, about horny young dancers (I think). That’s just depressing to me, as a film lover, a reader of graphic novels, and a human being.
Finally, I’ve attached a trailer for The Savages, which looks to be a solid dramatic comedy about family dysfunction. Sure, I can relate to Philip Seymour Hoffman a bit in the trailer — he’s husky and bearded and has a brunette sister (Laura Linney) — but it also reminds me that, when the time comes, you two are gonna get put in the best home I can afford. Windows, even.
Well, I guess that’s most of the news this week. Did you hear that “Studio 60” will come back for its last few episodes in May? If you ask me, Aaron Sorkin got too preachy. And Pops, I’ll keep you updated on “Friday Night Lights” as that situation develops; I know you love the show. Take care, you guys.
— Daniel
P.S. Send money.
Daniel Carlson is the managing editor of Pajiba and a low-level employee at a Hollywood industry magazine. You can visit his blog, Slowly Going Bald.
Pajiba Love 05/03/07 | | Waitress
Comments
Philip Seymour Hoffman. He makes everything better. EVERYTHING.
Posted by: Kevin Longrie at May 3, 2007 4:58 AM
More sexy
Posted by: ferry at May 3, 2007 5:45 AM
Studio 60 may have gotten too preachy, but I need Aaron Sorkin to fill the witty-dialogue void in my life.
Posted by: emily at May 3, 2007 6:57 AM
I HEART PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (Laura Linney is pretty awesome too) I will definitely be seeing it
Posted by: Jenn at May 3, 2007 9:15 AM
Damn, I was going to put in a "FIRST" to put PissBoy's knickers in a knot, along with the other Guardians of this All-Important Flame.
Another day, another shitty coming-of-age crapper, along with a knife in the heart of another potentially dynamite Frank Miller project. Hollywood taketh with one hand and keeps on taking with the other until my entire soul is gone, gone, gone.
Oh, yeah: FIFTH!!
Posted by: socalledonlycousins at May 3, 2007 9:51 AM
Spoon in every trailer...
Posted by: adrianne at May 3, 2007 10:43 AM
How sad, that when I read "The Way Back," I immediately thought of the Way Back Machine, and had a moment of irrational hope that we might be getting a cool Rocky and Bullwinkle spin-off movie. *sigh*
Posted by: pinkcheese at May 3, 2007 10:50 AM
Why does the speaking phrase "vim and vigor" seem so immensely distasteful? I think it's a combination of the doube "v"s and the word "vim" being so Grandpa Simpson-y. Also, nice Wilco reference.
Posted by: Nate at May 3, 2007 10:53 AM
Thumbs up on the Wilco reference in the title.
Posted by: Scott at May 3, 2007 10:54 AM
In the spirit of the "Philip Seymour Hoffman Love" theme of this morning's postings, I'd just like to voice my continued confusion as to why there is no film version of "A Confederacy of Dunces" in the works, with the beloved Mr. Hoffman starring as Ignacious.
Anyone?
Eh?
Bah, you're right. Maybe he can be in the next Wayans Brothers opus.
Posted by: vuhdanessa at May 3, 2007 10:55 AM
Let me get this straight:
1) There were OTHER Trois movies? I thought the first one bombed too much for that to happen.
2) Somebody actually thought that having the "Stomp The Yard" guy doing a Miller adaptation was a good idea? "Dancing black people, a samurai in the future; totally the same thing."
3) You ask your folks for money? They don't send you a check every month, along with a letter that says "Bills first and stay away from the pot"? Everybody gets those, right? Right?
Addendum: Laura Linney makes me happy in the lower regions. And in a somewhat lesser capacity, so does Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Okay, maybe not that lesser.
Posted by: Vermillion at May 3, 2007 11:00 AM
Right you are Vermillion except my note says "no more tattoos".
Posted by: Alex the Odd at May 3, 2007 11:33 AM
The Way Back from what? The miserable, pimply mess that most 15 year olds are (or was that just me?). I did have my first kiss when I was 15, ruined by the fact that at the same dance my twin sister made out with the same guy, and the next week in school everyone thought it was me! He was gross too...
I think his name was Brian...
The Savages looks wonderful. I just had an experience where a nursing home in effect covered up my grandfather's sickness until we took him to the hospital (against their wishes) and he passed away several days later. It was and remains heartbreakingly awful, but it has forced my father, aunt, and uncle to finally become adults. So I can relate, and I think it's a good theme to examine in a time when so many Americans are struggling with the decision of whether or not to put their aging parents in a home. I will definitely see this movie.
Posted by: Rachael at May 3, 2007 12:20 PM
The Savages was partially filmed in Buffalo- they shot a scene on the Thruway around Buffalo which effectively shut down the Thruway due to all the rubbernecking. Just thought I would share....
Posted by: Blackcapricorn at May 3, 2007 12:22 PM
I loved the "send money" part. I no longer straight up ask my parents for money. I guilt them into it by sharing my tales of deciding between purchasing a fruit or a vegetable at the grocery store, and not having enough funds for either.
Posted by: Bianca Reagan at May 3, 2007 12:57 PM
what does "spoon in every trailer" mean?
Posted by: isabelle at May 3, 2007 1:17 PM
It means the band Spoon's song "The Way We Get By" is showing up in every trailer. One's I can remember off the cuff: The Savages, The Puffy Chair, Stranger than Fiction. Probably more.
Posted by: Kevin Longrie at May 3, 2007 1:30 PM
Sorry for my above first sentence, horrible. I was thinking like ten different things.
It means that the Spoon song "The Way We Get By" is showing up in every trailer. One's I can remember off the cuff: The Savages, The Puffy Chair, Stranger than Fiction. Probably more.
For the record, it's a great song.
Posted by: Kevin Longrie at May 3, 2007 1:32 PM
Wait, wait...the guy who directed m-fing "Stomp The Yard" is itching to take the director's chair for the movie version of one of my favorite comics ever? There is no God. The only thing that would be worse is if Mark Steven Johnson signed on for the...
Shit, I just jinxed it, didn't I?
Posted by: MrSparkle at May 3, 2007 2:11 PM
As much as I wish there was a phenomenal adaptation of Catcher in the Rye out there, it is the production of crap like The Way Back and the cultural influence people like Zach Braff that make me thankful that J.D. Salinger holds on to the rights with claws of steel.
And I'm not just throwing this out there, I really fear for a day when entire generations will remember Holden Caulfield as some mopey guy played by the offspring of Posh Spice and David Beckham in a screenplay adapted by Paul Haggis and directed by an aging struggling for relevance Tom Cruise.
Posted by: missmle at May 3, 2007 2:57 PM
Philip Seymour Hoffman? YIKES! What do other people see in his performances that completely escapes me? There he is acting and sweating and ACTING and SWEATING. Watch him act and sweat, even his sweat is acting. What an overly mannered collection of tics and tricks.
His Capote? Who cannot do an impression of Capote? Ninety-five percent of gay men, 80% of straight men, hell, 75% of lesbians can do a more convincing and less artificial impression of Capote.
Laura Linney is his polar opposite. Subtle, natural, and affecting; not to mention sublimely beautiful.
I'll watch the youtube clips so that I can edit out the offensive and yet simultaneously tiresome PSH.
Posted by: rudy at May 3, 2007 5:00 PM
Missmle - what? The masterful "Igby Goes Down" wasn't enough to satisfy your Caulfield craving? I kid. I detested that movie and its sad attempt to approximate CITR.
I adore PSH. I really do. I'd love to see him together with Linney. She was brilliant as the more-responsible-sister in "You Can Count on Me."
Posted by: Samantha T at May 3, 2007 6:30 PM
Ronin sounds a lot like Samurai Jack, my all-time favorite not-adult-swim-cartoon EVAH. Watch Out!
Posted by: that bees chick at May 3, 2007 7:27 PM
that bees chick:
Actually, the creator of Samurai Jack said that Miller's 'Ronin' was an inspiration for Jack. ANd the episode 'Jack vs. The Spartan' was inspired by '300'.
Posted by: Vermillion at May 3, 2007 10:05 PM
Just forced my way through Night At The Museum for my daughter who aced her state test to graduate to the fourth grade.
WTF? WTF? WTF? This movie made how many millions? WHY?
Posted by: Candy at May 6, 2007 4:03 PM