This Savage Art

Screenwriter John August, now writer/director, gives us a first hand account of what it’s like to direct your own screenplay. Also related from his site.

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Director Doug Liman needs an assistant. If you want the job you also need to get crushed twinkies out of paper. [via Filmmaker Magazine blog]

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For the three people who come by this savage art… I apologize for not posting all that much. I was finishing an editing job which turned out well, clients were very happy. Hopefully the pilot will sell and I can continue to work with them and stash lots of money away. So over the big 4th o’ July weekend I’m going to do some general housekeeping, add a new feature or two and post a little. So if you see the site in “maintenance mode” don’t be alarmed.

Remain calm, all is well…

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The Worldwide Developer’s Conference showcases “Leopard” in San Francisco.

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The Times has launched a blog dedicated to the coverage of viral, webisodes, podcasts, mashups and other random internet flotsam. It’s called Screens.

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Jon Deer over at The Thinking Writer gives some advice to a question I have about developing ideas based on previously produced material.

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Entertainment Weekly posted it’s 25 most, uh, controversial films of all time. I mean, yes, it’s EW and it has given us many hours of enjoyment while on the toilet but I know I have walked down the shock corridors and I can come up with at least ten that they didn’t even touch. This is their list:

1) The Passion of the Christ 2) A Clockwork Orange 3) Fahrenheit 9/11 4) Deep Throat 5) JFK 6) The Last Temptation of Christ 7) The Birth of a Nation Natural Born Killers 9) Last Tango in Paris 10) Baby Doll 11) The Message 12) The Deer Hunter 13) The Da Vinci Code 14) The Warriors 15) Triumph of the Will 16) United 93 17) Freaks 18) I Am Curious (Yellow) 19) Basic Instinct 20) Cannibal Holocaust 21) Bonnie and Clyde 22) Do The Right Thing 23) Kids 24) Caligula 25) Aladdin

Here’s mine: 1) Salo 2) Irreversible 3) Bad Lieutenant 4) Crash 5) Crash 6) Heaven’s Gate 7) Taxi Driver Henry:Portrait of a Serial Killer 9) Straw Dogs 10) Brokeback Mountain

1) Hands down the most disturbing film, ever. Let me repeat, EVER. 2) A close second 3) A cop jacks off on the side of a car filled with two underage teens. Need I say more? 4) Having sex with an open leg wound is probably not a good idea 5) Oprah can move mountains and so can the Academy 6) $$$ 7) Inspiration for assassins everywhere Did I just witness a rape on camera? 9) Did she smile while being raped? 10) Boys, boys, boys

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Shake, Apple’s tool for 3D compositing, keying, image tracking and stabilization, is now offered for Universal Macs and at a mind blowing $499 from $2,999. I’m still checking if this is a hoax.

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In his wife’s 1991 documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, Francis Ford Coppola speaks of the madness of making Apocalypse Now. He also has this to say:

To me the great hope is that now these little video recorders are around and people who normally wouldn’t make movies are going to be making them. And suddenly, one day some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart and make a beautiful film with her father’s camcorder and for once, the so-called professionalism about movies will be destroyed, forever, and it will really become an art form.

The funny thing about this quote is I was going to use it in an entry about the future of filmmaking but I put it on the backburner. For some reason it seems so much more appropriate now with this story. I could be wrong, it might go better with this. Ahhh, order is restored.

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Check out this twisted, kinda creepy and funny commercial for Folders. Yes, it’s real.

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