The formula V-man alluded to is, in fact, from Gerber.
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In my memoir, Adventures of a Suburban Boy, I describe how Deliverance was made. Warners hired me to write a script. I submitted it. They said, OK, if you can cast it and make it for a price, go ahead. How naive that sounds by today's standards.
Today, I would have received pages of detailed notes from a number of studio executives. I would have been obliged to hone the script down to a simple direct storyline that is clear and undemanding, and eradicate any eccentricity or quirkiness.
When the script satisfied their requirements, the studio would send it out to a star. If the star passed, the studio's response would be to hire a new writer. Further rejections by two or three stars and the project would be dropped.
If they found a star who was interested, the title, cast and storyline would then be test-marketed, asking people in the street if they would go to see such a film - four men canoeing a river and one gets buggered. Only with positive results would the studio go forward. Clearly, there is no place for originality in this method. In fact originality is anathema. How can you ask people if they want to see a film that they cannot relate to another film?
Gerber?axordil wrote:are rather patronizing and tend to look down on their audience, like if we're simple-minded kids who need to be spoon-fed everything
The formula V-man alluded to is, in fact, from Gerber.
Good discussion. I think there are still truly great movies - I've watched a lot of movies from different eras this year, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is at least in the top 5 (and the best one that was new to me), and that's only a few years old. And there are still directors who have artistic integrity, don't fit the Hollywood mold, and are at least semi-mainstream like the Coen Brothers and Malick.It may well be--I always like to wait a few years to make the "great" call, just to let things settle down. But it was the movie equivalent of high-brow commercial or middle-brow literary fiction...and Alien was a SF horror flick.
What I'm saying is that there was a time when even meh-budget genre movies could end up being great, not merely movies with a higher purpose in mind. And it's still possible...but I fear it's less likely.
By the way, Aliens is worth seeing too if you haven't already. It is far more of an action movie than the first, but it's a good one.I just watched the first Alien movie which I'd never seen before. I'm not typically one for "back in the good ol' days" type thinking but, man, sometimes I see a movie like this and wonder, did we forget how to make truly great movies at some point in my lifetime??
- See more at: http://www.clickonline.com/movies/incre ... sLd1O.dpufJ.J. Abrams may have done interesting things with his reboot of the Star Trek franchise but there's little to really set the new movies apart from any summer franchise flick. They're big, loud and glossy and make little attempt to really replicate the specific elements which made the original movies and TV shows so long lasting.
Which is fine - new Trek was invented with the understandable aim of making money and they've managed to introduce these characters to a whole new generation, while also toying with the time line to leave the legacy story alone for fans. But if you're into something a little closer to the original Star Trek, then this is a project you'll want to watch.
Star Trek: Axanar is one of the most ambitious fan project ever. In fact, with its recognisable stars, budget and scale its really much more than a fan film - apart from the fact that Paramount own the Trek license.
The story is set more than 2 decades before the original series, and focusses on Garth of Izar, a legendary Starfleet captain who Kirk idolised. He charted the cosmos like no other and came to prominence during the Battle of Axanar - a decisive moment in a long standing war against the Klingon Empire.
That's the tale creator Alec Peters (who also plays Garth) wants to tell and he's already raised $100,000 via Kickstarter to do it. Now, to get the budget up to the necessary $250,000 he's heading to Comic-Con with a very special treat. Prelude to Axanar.