The Hot Button by David Poland

Thursday, 7 January 1999

MOVIE HORROR STORIES: My request for theater horror stories kept my e-mail box busy. So much so, that I've decided to do a Hot Button Extra to give your stories a full airing. Click here to read them. I'm sorry that I couldn't run all the letters, but keep writing and one of these days, you too will be a Reader of the Day.

BIG TIME DINOS: Word has leaked out and thus got leaked to the trades by Disney, that Dinosaurs will be the next $200 million budgeted film in Hollywood. Disney is managing the "media problem" of such a massive number by selectively getting word out that the film will push the CG envelope. For those who question new Disney marketing chief Chris Pula's wisdom, this would be some cutting edge publicity. I've been saying it for two years: start to promote how expensive the movie is as a good thing. "You want to see something you've never seen before? Well, we're paying the price for your amusement!" Of course, if the film sucks, there will be no saving it. Just ask the folks promoting Godzilla. (Even though I felt the film was overly attacked, it wasn't some classic either.)
MAY THE FORTRESS BE WITH YOU: The Presidio, the San Francisco military base that was horribly committed to film by Peter Hyams (a director I usually like), is up for grabs as its trustees try to convert it into a moneymaker. What better irony could there be than to have the company that fought the Empire so brilliantly, Industrial Light & Magic, moving into the fortress by the bay. The purchase or lease would give ILM 23 acres to stretch out on as the company continues to grow. Theoretically, this could mean larger soundstages for Lucasfilm as well, perhaps allowing much of the upcoming Star Wars II and III to be shot at home. (As I'm sure you know, Lucas has recently put the kibosh on projections of a Star Wars VII, VIII and IX.) Now if only Steven Spielberg could get the U.S. to sell him half of the Los Angeles Veterans Administration property, he could stop being accused of trying to destroy the wetlands by building a DreamWorks studio. (By the way, that deal has been cleared by the courts, so the wetlands will soon be dry. I wish I could say it was keeping me up nights, but I'm an insensitive lout about loot.)
JUST WONDERING: Did anyone else notice that Miramax's Shakespeare in Love moved ahead of Warner Bros.' Jack Frost to take 10th place in the final box office numbers released Monday? The difference was only $5,822.
SPECIAL K & C: Tony Kaye will have to buy new pants if his cajones get any bigger. After all the screaming, yelling and advertising about American History X, which combined with mixed reviews to bury the film, including Edward Norton's great performance, Kaye is now trying to position himself for a Best Cinematography Oscar nod. The ad ran in Monday's Daily Variety. If you want to see the earlier Variety ads of Kaye or if you just want to taste the madness, check out my Working Hollywood on the whole mess by clicking here. In other Oscar sales news, James Coburn has hired a publicist to try and grab an acting nomination for his turn in Affliction. And you know what? He deserves it. Big time. It is a superlative performance. I say, nominate Nolte for The Thin Red Line and Coburn for Affliction and all will be right with the world.
THE "OTHER" TONY: Stories about Anthony Hopkins quitting the acting game may be more about his personal than his professional life. According to Mitchell Fink, Hopkins will soon be leaving his 24-year-long marriage. Gee, that'll put a crimp in your week. I once said au revoir to a girlfriend, a job and a car all in the same weekend. It made me feel like a 60-year-old who didn't feel like acting anymore, but no one seemed to care.
WHININ' FOR RYAN: Here's an issue suggested by a reader: "So when did the tide turn against Saving Private Ryan? When it came out it got rave reviews, good business, tons of media attention, and it was generally recognized as an important, powerful work. Now some time has passed, and the awards are being handed out, and I notice that not only did the National Society of Film Critics not give SPR a single award, but apparently only the cinematographer [Janusz Kaminski] was nominated in the first place. Somewhere along the way the film turned from a work of art into an also-ran, and I must have been sleeping in that weekend."
Well, it's interesting that Saving Private Ryan's not winning one award now makes it "not art." I'd say the reader is taking awards a bit too seriously and essentially insulting every film that doesn't win awards. There is great art that isn't Saving Private Ryan. However, there has been a bot of a backlash against the film. Why? 1) Because it's a summer film and, like The Truman Show, once the excitement dies down, people start dissecting it and being more critical. 2) Because despite some of Spielberg's very finest work, this is still a conventional war movie, excluding the spectacular opening 20 minutes. 3) Because critics want to promote films that need help. 4) Because the movie made so much money and Spielberg is Spielberg. Some New York critics apparently voiced their feelings that they dare not give Spielberg a Best Director Award and Best Picture. 5) Because it's still the only clear favorite for an Academy Awards sweep. It's hard to be the king. (Thank you very much.)
WELLS OF SORROW, WELLS OF PAIN: Jeff Wells continues to moisten himself over Rushmore. (I loved the movie too, but geez!) But after that, Jeff offers his look back at 1999. It's very funny and worth a look. Some of the choices are a bit too easy and, even in jest, it's odd to look forward to being disappointed by Star Wars.
TAKE THIS MOVIE AND LOVE IT: The first of Universal's cost-cutting droppings has been picked up: 13 Days, the $100-million Cuban Missile crisis drama starring Kevin Costner and directed by Field of Dreams director Phil Alden Robinson which was dumped by Universal in December (THB 12/19), has found a home at Sony. Apparently, the studio beat out four other competitors for the film, which has been financed primarily by Beacon Pictures' groundbreaking bank-based domestic financing deal. Will this be another embarrassment for Universal? We'll know in about a year.
In the meantime, the buzz about how Universal will bring PolyGram/Gramercy into the fold continues. One rumor has Universal taking all the still-pending PolyGram products in-house while having PolyGram's artier arm, Gramercy, essentially taking over the mega-company's art interests, meaning a virtual end to October Films, despite the fact that Universal just took over the company about 18 months ago. Both studios have potential Oscar players, but Gramercy's slate (which included The Big Lebowski, Elizabeth and Your Friends and Neighbors in 1998) was higher profile and higher profit than October's (including High Art, The Celebration and Hilary and Jackie). If this all comes down with Bingham Ray and company in the outs, there will be plenty of other companies looking to pay for their services in art divisions, including Warner Bros., Paramount and maybe even Sony.
MANN, OH MAN: There's a good story in Variety about how Michael Mann ended up being Alan Smithee when Heat ran on NBC last week.
MARCHING TO SUNDANCE: Today's Film is Sex: The Annabel Chong Story. A documentary of epic proportions, Sex is the story of one woman, 251 men and 10 hours of professional quality sex. Personally, I'm not sure what to make of this one, since the star, Chong, claims she breaks the stereotype of the women in that business and the Sundance program feels that the documentary exposes her very real personal damage. Where are the boundaries of voyeurism? I bet we'll have a better idea after sitting through this screening.
READER OF THE DAY: John wrote: "Hi, Dave. I saw your thing on the Screen Actors Guild and the LDS church. They're doing it because they don't want any PR embarrassments. There was a church movie filmed a few years ago where the actor who played Joseph Smith happened to also act in a porn film that year. I also just wanted to point out that the Mormon Church abandoned the practice of polygamy in 1890. Over (sic) 100 years ago!!! These polygamist cults that have sprouted and grown in Arizona, Utah and Colorado are not Mormon. If they were, they would have been excommunicated since. A lot of people still think polygamy is part of being Mormon. To me it's almost like making jokes that white people still own slaves. That practice ended only 25 years earlier."

E ME: My apologies if I offended any Mormons. Or Mor-womons. OK. So if you saw an ad for "The Most Expensive Film Ever!!!!" would you go? Let me know now.