Another Book

As a precurser, my massive amount of blogging today has been to avoid reworking my script that I need to register with the WGA. Pathetic how most of the interesting things I do tend to be in opposition to the things I schedule. For instance, I do my best writing when I'm scheduled to be at work. I do my best reading when I'm scheduled to be writing. I see the most interesting movies when I should be out drinking and I go out drinking when I should be working. It always more fun that way, though.

So I started a book I got for Christmas and can't believe I haven't look at it before now. It's called Conversations with Walter Murch and it's with Michael Ondaatje, who wrote the novel the English Patient, which of course, Murch edited. I love the stories of film school days spent with Lucas and Coppola and company. Am I having those times? It's hard to know while you're experiencing it. I certainly feel thrilled creatively, sometimes. I dunno. I look up to those guys, but at the same time, don't feel that connected to Lucas or Coppola. I mean, I love Star Wars like anyone else, but the new ones? Come on. And Coppola made some magnificant movies in the 70s, but honestly, hasn't done shit in 20 years as far as I'm concerned. And he keeps re-releasing things...and I saw Apocolypse Now Redux last night and I must admit, it was interesting....but I feel like it was interesting from a film student with an interest in cultural and political things versus an interesting movie.

It's like reading an old manuscript of a great novel.

But he tried to release some musical last year that was a bust in the 80s and turned out to be a bust again. And now I hear Lucas is re-working THX 1138. Porque?

I saw Lucas speak at school earlier this year. He said that after he completed his Star Wars project that he would probably go back to making avante garde movies on the cheap. Yeah right. That guy doesn't have the balls to do something like that anymore. Because it's freaking hard to make movies and it's scary to put in on the line and take risks and he has no need to do so anymore. And secretly, I'm not sure he trusts his talent - which he has, incidentally, but it's so hard to trust yourself.

I've just noticed that people seem to have a couple movies in them. It's really amazing how many great filmmakers make terrible movies. Some of my friends think it's because they take the money and let other people's hands on their work. But I'm not so sure. I think we idolize these people who touch us in a certain way at a certain point in time, but they're just people trying to tell a story and sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail. To blame "producers" or the studios is BS. I mean, Lucas is the perfect example of that. He's done the new star wars outside the studio and they massively suck. But who honestly knows...