This Savage Art

Sundance and CineVegas short film programmer Mike Plante gives us the lowdown and then some on what makes a good short [Via Filmmaker]. Check out his other sites like Lunchfilm too.

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Script Enabler posts about setting up scenes with uninflected action [video clips to illustrate].

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Mike Curtis at HD For Indies has written a thorough article for DV Magazine.

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William Monahan’s screenplay is available for download from the Warner Brothers site [Via Movie City Indie].

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Here’s a collection of articles via CinemaTech that illustrate the making of David Fincher’s new film Zodiac.

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“…for a short film this is pretty ambitious in terms of character development and drama.”

Probably too ambitious. My short film gets a little love. Thanks Ajit.

Anyway, go to Works where you can see for yourself.

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Update: Finally!

Warning! The following post will be stating the obvious like so many before me.

I don’t want to say it’s about time but we all know it is. This time around The Departed is up for five awards tonight including Best Film and Director. Now we know the odds are always in Clint’s favor and we know The Queen is getting tons of adoration but…look who is presenting the Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing.

Best Quote About Scorsese Winning An Oscar Ever goes to Christopher Campbell [Cinematical]:

“Personally, though, I think if Scorsese is a definite lock for the award, then Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Barry Levinson and Roman Polanski should be the ones presenting it.”

I mean, how many directors could you make a film like this about?

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It’s official, “ThinkFilm and Killer Films announced an unusual multiyear agreement Wednesday that will allow them to jointly develop, finance, produce and distribute pics worldwide.” [via Variety]

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David Samuel Peckinpah. Born February 21, 1925. Died December 28th, 1984. A director with a reputation for creating mayhem on screen and off.

Always unpredictable and never tame, Peckinpah lived his life to make movies. Everything else was just filler. Today we celebrate this sometimes misunderstood, sometimes reviled loner auteur.

I’ll be adding links as I get them so please feel free to contribute through the weekend. Make sure you contact me with your link. A big thanks to everyone who contributes and visits.

Links:

Forager Blog: The Osterman Weekend

The High Hat | Nitrate: Sam Peckinpah

[This Savage Art]: Bloody Sam And Theme Explored

Cineaste: Sam Peckinpah’s Legendary Western Collection Reviewed

The Hollywood Reporter: Risky Biz Blog: Happy Birthday Sam Peckinpah

Oggs’ Movie Thoughts: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

[This Savage Art]: Intoxicated With The Madness

Big Media Vandalism: “There’s nothing sacred about a hole in the ground or the man that’s in it. Or you. Or me.”

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After the holidays I had a meeting with a production company who had an office on the Lower East Side (more on this later). The two partners were looking for a writer to develop a screenplay and get their production slate moving by the latter half of 2007. When talking to one of the partners the first thing he mentioned was a film he liked and was inspired by. It was Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia. Little did he know I spent the previous night watching Peckinpah’s nihilistic and twisted journey into the abyss. I think it won me some points, we’ll see.

(pull)“There ain’t nothing sacred about a hole in the ground or the man that’s in it. Or you. Or me.“(/pull)

The films of Sam Peckinpah were volatile and messy like the world erupting around him and Garcia was no different. The story about a second rate piano player turned bounty hunter in Mexico was pure sleaze and chaos. Cut the head off of a man and use it to collect your ticket out of hell. Irony, there is none. This was Sam’s world. Unadulterated. Another loser trying to hold onto what little shred of dignity this world was allowing him. Bennie (played superbly by Warren Oates) didn’t have to look far for inspiration. During production he was staring it in the face every single day.

Out of all of his films this is the most autobiographical. It’s no surprise it is the only film he had final cut on. You are watching a man scrape and claw for his humanity and realize in the end all the money in the world won’t buy it. If Bennie is going out, he’s going out justified on his terms because that is all a man has. Peckinpah battled actors, producers and just about everyone who stepped foot on his set. All he wanted to do was get it right because he knew he had to leave it all behind one day. Creating chaos was a way to control. He pitted crew members against each other by questioning their manhood and brandished loaded weapons to the Academy Awards. When he made a film he went to hell and took everyone with him. He was a magnet for loyalty, something he held in high regard thematically in his films but probably abused from time to time off screen.

His joy and his torment were one in the same, directing. All his films were him and Sam was every film he made. I don’t think there is another director living or dead who actually personified every frame of the films they directed. He was a Hollywood legend and he suffered both physically and mentally because of it. It didn’t matter, what was on the screen was everything. That is with us forever.

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