There is just so much stuff today that I don’t even know where to begin. Well, as Julie Andrews once told us, "Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start…"
Upfront I need to make a semi-correction from yesterday’s post. In the first section I wrote, "The best show on TV that nobody's watching has got to be ABC's Brothers & Sisters." This is only half true because in my completely egocentric world, I only know two other people who watch it…so I just figure no one did (I must admit though, it’s nice to live in a delusional haze always thinking that the overall tastes of the world are reflected in what I, a "student" of entertainment, deem worthy and unworthy). Anyway, problem with the above statement is that I have said many times (and truly belive) that the best show on network TV is Friday Night Lights. And the sad truth with this is that…well, nobody’s watching that either. I obviously love it, and a lot of the people I know and respect really like it too, so as I stated above…I just assumed EVERYONE liked it as much as "we" all did.
Not the truth, so the rectification of the previous day’s statement is, "The best show on TV that nobody's watching has got to be NBC's Friday Night Lights, but they should also be watching Brother’s and Sister because that’s pretty good too."
Oddly enough this leads nicely into topic one of today’s lecture…
MY COACH, YOUR COACH, OUR COACH…COACH TAYLOR!
I won’t dwell on this too much because I went a bit off the deep end last week with the whole Friday Night Lights thing. Either way after last night’s episode it would be very un-Dan like not to throw out a special "You Rock My Sock Off", to my boy Kyle Chandler and his incredible work as Coach Taylor. What he does with silence and with just small facial gestures is better than half the crap we today (this is true for most of the actors on the show). My favorite scene of the season came in last night’s episode, and it was al because of Chandler. Let me set the scene quickly, Coach and his wife are in their living room. Coach is obviously only half watching the game film that is on TV (because the other half of his mind is rolling over the bullshit lawsuit…I am not even going to touch on this), and his wife is just reading over some school papers. Julie, their daughter comes home, distraught over the fact that she now fully understands the troubles her boyfriend Matt Saracen is going through at home. She approaches her folks, and quietly, and very un-teenager says, "Mom, Dad, I love you. You are the best parents in the world." Now, Tami (Coach’s wife) gets it…the look on her face is obvious, she understands her daughter is an emotion wreck. But what does OUR coach do, he smiles, he smiles, and has a look on his face like he just won a battle…"my daughter finally appreciates all I’ve done for her, it’s gonna be smooth sailing from here on out". It was a classic moment, especially when his wife, essentially calls him a stupid moron for HIM not understanding his daughter. All this with no words… god bless you Kyle Chandler, you are my favorite actor on TV (next to Hugh Laurie) and I will cast you in something one day. Mark my words Kyle Chandler…one dayyyyyyy!
THE LORD OF THE AUDITS: THE RETURN OF THE HOLLYWOOD FEUDS
So to me, the news of the day has got to be this bullshit going on between Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema’s Bob Shaye. That said, it’s the best knockdown, drag through the mud, brawl (in the media) since the 2006 Redstone vs. Cruise battle.
Here’s the crux of the issue (I am condensing almost a year of news into a couple of sentences here so don’t call me out on minor details), PJ (or a I like to refer to him…the good George Lucas) asked for an audit from New Line Cinemas for the three Lord of the Rings films. This is not that uncommon in Hollywood. New Line, and more specifically Bob Shaye, told PJ there is no way they were opening their books and to go fuck himself. "I don't care about Peter Jackson anymore. He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he's suing us for. He doesn't want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we've paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars. ... Cheers, Peter", said Shaye.
To me this all seems a little fishy…why won’t New Line open their books? Is it because they actually do owe PJ the money? Hummmmm? Now so soon after PJ issued a statement to Variety saying that "It is regrettable that Bob has chosen to make [the argument] personal". He went on further about the details saying: "Contrary to recent comments made by Bob Shaye, we attempted to discuss the issues raised by the Fellowship audit with New Line for over a year, but the studio was and continues to be completely uncooperative. This has compelled us to file a lawsuit to pursue our contractual rights under the law. Nobody likes legal action, but the studio left us with no alternative".
It might be just the geek in me, but I totally am on the side of PJ on this. With every fiber of my being I believe that studios do this all the time, but the projects and numbers are never so astronomical or personal. First off, PJ should have been paid 50-100M just in thank you funds for doing what he did with Middle Earth. He saved New Line Cinemas, who were hemorrhaging money like Peter Weller in his "death" scene from Robocop. PJ came in and gave them one of the most publicly, critically, and financially successful film FRANCHISES of all time.
Whatever, I think PJ is right…he should get what he is owed. This will be fun to watch though.
IT’S NOT SOPHIE’S CHOICE…BUT AT LEAST IT’S A CHOICE, RIGHT?
Today the trades reported that the goddess of all thespians Meryl Streep will star in Universal and Playtone's adaptation of the popular ABBA musical Mamma Mia! Jesus Christ…really?! This is the finest actresses of her (or possibly any other) generation staring in an ABBA musical. I love musicals, but Meryl, ABBA? Really?! I love me some Meryl (she was robbed of an Oscar for her Adaptation performance…the dial tone scene alone should have locked her in). I love her so much, that although I did not like The Devil Wears Prada, I didn’t hate it is because Streep gives (as usual) a nuanced and layered performance in what could have been a one note role. But ABBA?! Really?! I think it’s great that she wants to do a musical, just seeing how great she was in the musical number at the end of Stuck on You is a sign of how good she is going to be…but ABBA?! Really?! OK, I’ve said enough about this.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
I would be remiss if I did not mention that Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, along with some other actors I don’t care about (but are really good) because they are not Hoffman and Keener are in negotiations to star in Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York. Kaufman is the genius writer behind Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and it looks like Spike Jonze is going to produce. Hoffman will play a theater director who ambitiously attempts to put on a play by creating a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse. Keener would play his first wife. Mark this one down as my most anticipated film (so far) of 2008. For those who care, my most anticipated film of 2007 (so far) is Hot Fuzz (check it out, if you don’t know what it is http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hotfuzz.html)
No comments:
Post a Comment