Posted on 10/23/2017 12:31:57 PM PDT by EdnaMode
A change of the old order in Hollywood is long overdue, according to Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning film-maker behind the hit films Crash and Million Dollar Baby.
The Canadian screenwriter and director said many of the established rules of big-budget showbusiness should be re-examined in the light of falling box-office receipts and the recent scandalous claims and revelations about the enduring influence of the casting couch.
“Los Angeles is a town run by a group of powerful corporations, the studios, and they inevitably want to make what they know they can sell. This means they often lag a few years behind creatively,” he said this weekend.
A reliance on sci-fi and youth franchise reboots is not enough, he added. “I love comic-book movies, but do we want a diet of only that? It is about money, of course. The studios have to make more than they did last year, so we have Fast and Furious number whatever.”
Haggis, who wrote the screenplay for Casino Royale (2006), as well as Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, and whose exposé of gritty Los Angeles life in Crash earned him international plaudits in 2005, said a desire to make grown-up films had led him to leave Hollywood. The insular nature of Los Angeles both concealed bad behaviour like Harvey Weinstein’s and inhibited creative risk-taking.
“LA is pretty much a one-industry town and conversations become quite circular. In New York I talk instead to neuroscientists, bakers and restaurateurs,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Ping.
H’Wood was ‘over’ when they made Jason X............
America is hooked on mediocrity, smut and violence.
The dialogue, plots, effects, casting, script, etc. are presented at the level of a moron. It’s entertainment for 12 year-olds.
I all reminds me of movies in the ‘70’s.. there was no real dialogue... just people casting snarky slang and insults into each others faces... THAT’S acting?
We’ve found some real gems on Amazon Prime. If you are into sci-fi, “INK” and “Frame” are two real winners. Great story, editing, photography and acting without a single “famous” actor.
-PJ
“LA is pretty-much a one-industry town...”
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Well, they used to have an aerospace industry, until the high taxes, onerous regulations, and environmentalist wackos drove them to other, more favorable states.
Because they’re selling it for public consumption in China - what was old is new there.
The left would physically destroy everything involved with Hollywood if that happened.
Crash was an excellent movie. Never saw Million Dollar Baby though.
In any case, I think he’s right. Like the NFL, they have gone so far out on a political limb and are so clearly populated mainly by felons or potential felons of one kind or another that many Americans are bailing on them. Who needs that kind of trash?
Movies don’t need to be made in Hollywood. There’s already a core of places in North Carolina and we could use a new center of the entertainment world and let this one rot and fester in their own self-righteousness.
“Crash was an excellent movie. Never saw Million Dollar Baby though.”
In what world was Crash an excellent film?
Lefty tripe from a psycho Scientologist.
The turning point was "Star Wars" which although a great little movie in itself killed the 70's and led to the comic book sequel crapola inflicted upon us today.
The hack’s an idiot who is virtue signaling.
The dude was Scientology for decades and finally quits, not because it’s a psychotic controlling cult, but because one if it’s spokesmen spoke against same-sex marriage.
70’s movies were garbage.
Directors definitely had more control, they were just drugged out freaks who made garbage movies you’d expect drugged out freaks to make, eg anything by Scorsese.
Hollywood has gotten into creative ruts before, for example with 1970s disaster flicks.
I have never seen it as bad as it is now.
“falling box-office receipts”
Hollywood needs to realize movie releases do NOT have to start solely at theaters.
There’s an enormous market for same-day release on streaming media. I’ll pay $20 to own a movie opening day, but not spend $20 (or more, plus sitter, plus popcorn, plus travel, plus inconvenient timing, plus sticky floors, plus obnoxious other viewers, plus...) to see it once in a theater.
Until studios sever the increasingly parasitic relationship with theaters, they’re going to suffer and get confused about what’s actually happening. $20 bucks to own opening day, or I’ll lose the urgency and get it from Redbox for $2. They’ll get $0 from me at theaters.
“There’s already a core of places in North Carolina”
Atlanta is becoming a major movie center.
I totally agree. Independent and non blockbuster films would really benefit from this.
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