The Hot Button by David Poland

Weekend, 24-25 October 1998

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

10. TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL: A few months ago, I was all atwitter over an article in Los Angeles' New Times about the controversial shower scene in Apt Pupil. The story, in a nutshell, is that director Bryan Singer and his crew decided at the last minute to ask a group of under-18 boys to remove their flesh-colored bathing suits in order to make it more realistic. This left them naked and, in some cases, quite uncomfortable. Lawsuits ensued. I felt the story was aggressively one-sided, unfairly outing a man whom the article argues was unfairly threatened because he was outed by the litigants. And, generally, the article took too strong a position by not admitting any error on the part of the filmmakers. However, the central point, that the lawyer behind the suits was a scumbag, seemed perfectly reasonable.
But, as I find myself repeating daily, even treacherous prosecutorial behavior is not an excuse for wrongdoing. As it's turned out, the Screen Actors Guild agrees with me. The Guild has filed for a six-count arbitration over the matter, complaining that consent forms were not filled out and that various procedures for using nude under-aged actors were violated. In the end, it's clear that no true scars were left as a result of the Apt Pupil team's actions, but SAG is not about avoiding scarring. It's about creating a safe, comfortable work environment for actors, and this was not that. If this had happened to teenaged girls, heads would have rolled all over town by now. (But, I will still be seeing the movie this weekend.)
9. ONAISM -- THE POLITICAL STATEMENT: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is still complaining about the movie The Siege. See, director Edward Zwick made the outrageous choice of suggesting that Arab terrorists might explode a bomb or two in New York City. Isn't that absurd? The Hemoglobin Deficient Dead People Association will be protesting next week's opening of John Carpenter's Vampires. The Germans With Bad Memories League will be busy, marching at both the opening of Roberto Begnini's Life is Beautiful and Bryan Singer's Apt Pupil. And, the Society of Out Of Control Egomaniacal First Time Directors with be boycotting the opening of Humpty Dumpty's (or is that Tony Kaye's) American History X. (Fortunately, no one wants to sit in a room with those guys for two hours anyway.)
8. THE END IS NIGH!: Armageddon will pass $200 million this weekend. The Mouse House will celebrate. The Hot Button will have a tall drink of bourbon (Don't drink, kids! Columnists don't let columnists write drunk!) and say goodbye to the story that has gotten me the most unhappy mail this year. As long as Disney doesn't try to do an Oscar release of the film, this should be the last you read about this here. (Can you hear "Taps" playing in the background?)
7. RUPERT BUYS THE ACADEMY AWARDS: OK, don't get too upset. He bought the awards show's TV rights for his BSkyB in the U.K. If you are in the U.K., you might be upset because you won't be able to get the awards for free anymore. You have to subscribe to Rupert's satellite. And when I say Rupert's satellite, I don't mean his wife's divorce lawyers.
6. THE BABY AND THE BATHWATER: Variety's Army Archerd reported this week that Steven Spielberg's take on the Charles Lindburgh story will indeed paint Lindburgh as a rabid anti-Semite. Paul Attanasio will try to do his best Robert Bolt imitation (oversimplification there) and is the perfect guy to turn that trick. The story is one of the great true tales of all time. Hero, victim, weirdo, racist, populist superstar. I don't know when the movie will hit screens (maybe 2000), but it smells of Oscars this far away. Writer, director, picture, stars. It's a Star Wars prequel kind of project on an Academy level. So, it has earned this button.
5. A PLACE TO PLAY IN NYC: According to the New York Daily News, Sony will be building a new studio in the old Brooklyn Naval Yards at a cost of about $150 million. Could it be that they got a whiff of the profits Fox is going to be making with their Titanic-created studio in Mexico? It was time for a new studio in New York, which should make Sony a dominant force there, as Universal is in Central Florida, DeLaurentis (or whoever owns them these days) is in North Carolina and Fox is with its Mexican water tank. If someone can ever get a studio built in Eastern Europe, there is another fortune to be made.
4. FLOATING THE BOAT: Speaking of water tanks, Universal floated a story to the great Michael Fleming of Variety (the primary story breaker in this business, even if he is fed much of what he writes) to keep hope alive for Jonathan Mostow's submarine epic U-571. When Michael Douglas jumped ship, folks figured the project was dead, but Universal has already spent millions on the boat, a 212-foot, 400-ton behemoth. But what caught my eye in the story was the bad news: When they shipped the vessel to Malta, the water tank most likely created budget overruns. Just ask Renny Harlin, who shot Cutthroat Island in the Malta tank and who is now shooting Deep Blue Sea in Mexico -- to his great relief. The stories from Malta were all bad, including basic problems with the aging tank itself. Good luck to U.
3. LET'S CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF: After MGM decided not to buy the Polygram Filmed Entertainment library, the deal finally got done. Universal needed the cash, and MGM wanted the movies. The price, $250 million, was about half of what was expected from the start. And the percentage is only that high because MGM did not take PFE's library from ITC Entertainment, which is mostly made up of TV product (including, I believe, "Space 1999" and The Muppet Movie. Cool!). That segment is likely to be seen for another $150 million or so. And, like so many salvage yards, Universal may be able to sell off PFE's distribution arm as a spare part. Riddle me this though: Did Israel's Benjamin Netenyahu take a page from Kirk Kerkorian's bargaining strategy when he threatened to take the whole Israeli delegation home before winning some concessions for the Palestinians? And, if so, will the Coen brothers get to write the script for Middle Eastern peace?
2: THEYYY'RE BAAACK!: From the Museum of the Unbelievable, Buffy Shutt and Kathy Jones are back at Universal. The pair is the marketing team that got red hot at Sony before moving to Universal a few years ago only to be dismissed last spring. The truth is, Universal's marketing has been better than it was in the year since their departure, with Psycho, Meet Joe Black and last weekend's Bride of Chucky. They are back for one shot, called in by Patch Adams director Tom Shadyac, whose Liar, Liar they launched to great success. Their return and the slight mess that it must have created probably explains why the studio has launched almost no media for the Christmas release. All good things in time. They hope.
1. HERE COMES THE GOOD STUFF: The buzz coming from last week's ShowEast, the exhibitor's convention that the media is absolutely not invited to, is good for the upcoming holiday season. Movies that have people talking (and I can tell you, exhibitors are not "industry insiders" in the traditional sense. They are more like real audiences. You know, sane.) include Waking Ned Devine (Saw it this week and it's great. It won't be as popular as The Usual Suspects, but people will cherish this one.), You've Got Mail (Looks good from every angle. I'll be in New York to see in mid-November), Stepmom (Despite some journalists' obsession with the death angle, a sure hit and Oscar contender for Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts if not Ed Harris. I will not be junketing that one because Sony has decided to keep the Internet media out of the game on this one. Boo, hiss. I love the folks at Sony, but this column has more readers than most small newspapers' arts sections. And, so does Harry Knowles and Mr. Showbiz and others. Harry plays by no rules except his own, so I can understand the studios not cooperating with him -- though they do every time they want to hype a sci-fier. But we should be included every time. The future is here, gang, and it has a URL), Meet Joe Black (A big movie that Brad Pitt will not be supporting with a junket appearance. This stuff isn't making him a lot of friends. He had better stay in that Robert Redford stratosphere if he wants to keep running this kind of crap.) and Patch Adams (It will screen next month and should at least triple the take from Williams' What Dreams May Come.) I'm getting excited.
READER OF THE DAY: ARUANA Z sent in this sensible look at the "knowing too much" issue: "Living in South Africa, we always have the problem of receiving movies a month or two later (sometimes even more so) than it gets released in the States. What makes this even worse is the fact that I have access to the Internet on a daily basis and love visiting movie-related sites. The danger here is that you know what the buzz around a movie is. For example: The Truman Show was released here last week (Friday, October 16). Because of access to the Internet I knew exactly what it was about. That spoiled it for me, even though I wanted to see it (went to see it on opening weekend). The surprise would have been so much enhanced if I hadn't known what it was all about. The same can be said for Saving Private Ryan. It was a great movie, but, because of the Internet, I knew the first 25 minutes were going to be hectic and I was prepared (if one could ever be for those scenes).
"I, of course, have the choice of not reading reviews on the Internet and reading ahead about what movies are going to be released, but it's very difficult. The information is there, and I find myself drawn to sites like Coming Attractions and Harry Knowles' site, to mention but a few. I also read Entertainment Weekly, Mr. Showbiz and People Online daily on the Internet.
"The other problem I have is that trailers these days give away way too much. There's no surprise in going to watch a movie anymore. Good examples would be (they are not in South Africa yet), Snake Eyes and The Negotiator. Then, there is the next big buzz -- Beloved. Oprah has been promoting this movie like hell and there's already talk of Oscars next year. I don't even know when this movie will be released here, but I already know everything about it and I'll probably still go and see it. In conclusion, one could say it's a matter of choice -- one can choose to read ahead about movies, which is such an exciting process, or one could have that element of surprise. It's up to you as an individual."

E ME: Reviews are welcome. If you liked Soldier, please explain why. If you didn't like Pleasantville, please explain why. And what would offend you enough to protest? Anything? Should art be protested? Should art be protected? Should I stop asking questions? Then e-me!