Thursday, 20 July 2000

THE FIRST LOOK: On Tuesday, a bunch of us got a first look at the new Ah-nuld picture from Columbia, The 6th Day. The Sony publicists scheduled groups of 4 and 5 to hang out in one of the editing suites where director Roger Spottiswoode is cutting the picture. Normally, serving a glass of red to a journalist suggests that they want you drunk. But not here. Spottiswoode was the consummate host and for a few minutes, his editing suite was your editing suite. We were shown between 20 and 30 minutes of footage, most of it low-tech. But in talking to Spottiswoode, that was the big surprise of this film. It isn't your father's Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The 6th Day is a psychological thriller that just happens to have attracted the Austrian Oak. They added some big action to satisfy Arnold's audience, but it seems that this movie is the first step of the next Arnold evolution, more brain than brawn.

The picture looks beautiful. That's not really a surprise. Spottiswoode knows how to do major motion picture and his collaboration with cinematographer Pierre Mignot seems to be a happy fit. What was interesting was the lack of big effects. Spottiswoode, who made Noriega: God's Favorite for Showtime for $5 million right before this, told me that the budget on the film was in the mid-80s. Welcome to the new world order of Hollywood. Just a few years ago, you couldn't have made a Schwarzenegger movie for under $100 million. Now, even with the big man's big payday, keeping it tight is a priority. And that is in no way a slam or even negative. We didn't see enough of the movie to really know how smart and solid the story is. It sounds terrific--technology speeds ahead of the law and even the philosophers and while one man plays God another fights to figure out where he, surprised to find out that he is the monster, fits into the world. Very Frankenstein 2K. Robert Duvall is there as a scientist who has lost control of his creation and has serious doubts. Tony Goldwyn is back, trying to top his villainy in Ghost with a far more lethal egomaniac. There's some real talent here, including Spottiswoode, who has hit a bit of a wall each time he's gone into a huge film, seeming to be focused on pleasing everyone more than bringing to bear the passionate smarts that he shows on his smaller projects. But he seems to really love the core of this story, so maybe this is the perfect blend for him.

But most of all, the idea of Arnold making a Stigmata instead of an End of Days is music to my ears. There are those who will obsess on the fact that Arnold isn't 29 anymore. So what? It was always about his presence more than his muscle. He has a certain charm. And if he can use that charm to tell a story without killing half the cast every time out, I'm happy. The 6th Day looks to be another sort of retro movie, eschewing the technology obsession for actual storytelling. And that shouldn't be too much of a surprise considering that Mike Medavoy is behind the project. Let's hope that this promising first glimpse holds in the final outcome.

NOTE TO SONY: Kind of hard to take it seriously when you are enraged at Jeff Wells for breaking your Patriot embargo (Wells denies, aggressively, knowing there was an embargo) when you show the film to Harry Knowles for review weeks earlier and now, after briefly banning Internet journalists from all long lead screenings, pay for Harry to go to Eastern Europe to see production of A Knight's Tale. Oh, you didn't pay for it? The producer paid for it? Yeah. And it was the tooth fairy, not mommy who left that dollar for Timmy.

Sony is not alone in this hypocrisy. But if I am going to point it out when journalists do it, I sure better point it out when studios do it. For the record, Sony has been getting better and better about the Internet and I really appreciate that. It's one of the reasons I was so upset by the Wells imbroglio...one step forward and two back and all. But if the studios want to be in bed with the image of freedom, real or false, that the Internet provides, those of us who live on the Web must stand for the reality that information be completely honest and forthright. Not just when convenient, but all the time. Even when it hurts. And I guarantee you, I just hurt myself with Sony. Hopefully, just a little. (And for those of you who think that this is somehow a slam of Harry, it is not. Anyone would go on the trip he just took, given the invitation. And as best I could tell, Harry was completely above board about how and why he was invited. Which is all I ever asked of him.)

HUGE CAT FIGHT: The favorite conversation of the week seems to be Michael Eisner's objections to the AOL/Time-Warner merger, as deflected by Time-Warner's Gerry Levin. Reports have Levin tossing off Eisner's concerns as "psycho-drama." And I suppose it is that, given that the Disney empire's long fingers have created every bit as much paranoia as the ongoing Time-Warner expansion, the Viacom absorption of planets and the News Corp. satellite world takeover scenario. Can't the mega-powers just get along?

WHAT LIES BEFORE: If you want a look at the beginnings of the Bob Zemeckis vision, one of his student films, The Lift, is over at Atom Films. There is also a story on The Lift and on Zemeckis written by Ray Greene, who coincidentally is the guy who has done such a good job cutting together our X-Men footage into digestible digital clips. Zemeckis' film is about 7 minutes long and is a creepy story about man vs. machine. Or is it machine vs. man? It's worth watching, if mostly for a sense of the influences that have shaped Zemeckis. His patience with the camera, even as a student, is remarkable and makes it clear that he got his sense of visual humor from Keaton and not commercials. Atom requires that you get a free membership to watch their films. But to read Ray's story, click here or to go right to the movie, click here. ROUGHCUT WRAP-UP: Just to give you an idea of some of what's in the hopper at roughcut in the next few weeks. Alli Joseph, who you may remember from her trip to the Me, Myself & Irene junket and her conversation with Rocky & Bullwinkle, is now in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Wild West Digital Shoot-Out, where there are 10 young filmmakers in the midst of making films in just eight days, from pre-production to presentation. Today, they are in editing. They had just one day to scout locations, one day to cast and crew up, four days to shoot and two to edit their masterpieces. Helping them on their journey are professionals who serve as mentors, people like Allison Anders and Gregory Widen and Anthony Drazan. In any case, I'll let Alli report the story. Check for a report later this week and a full feature next week.

Also, Rod Hewitt is due to cough up his latest installment of Old, New & Forgotten. This one will be based around What Lies Beneath. I still don't know what the "old" and the "forgotten" will be, but I'm betting that Rod will find something a little less obvious than Hitchcock to hang his feature on.

And I am headed to China on August 1st for the Beijing Motion Picture & Television Conference. Very exciting stuff. To quote the invitation, "the trip will offer interaction with Chinese industry leaders, government officials and a glimpse into the film and television industry. The first portion of the trip is dedicated to conference activities, with a few days at the end for a guided tour of Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhon and Han Zhou." I swore I wasn't going to travel this summer, but this is too good an opportunity to pass up. China is a very important market for this business and seeing the lay of the land with my own eyes is a consummation devoutly to be wished. And thankfully, I will be able to report back to The Hot Button almost daily during the trip. So pack your intellectual bags and get ready for what I expect will be a fascinating journey.

READER OF THE DAY: The Velvet Cush-ing writes: "I beg to differ, it was Leo and Kate. Even with the corny dialogue, special effects---they made you believe. They could have been on a tug boat. They might not be the biggest stars in the world (Tom Cruise, MI 2 vs. Eyes Wide Shut or Magnolia--audience chose one) but for that movie, they were the reason people went back again and again. Director Kevin Smith on MTV (found at View askew) The Transcript Seg 1: Kevin on Titanic: 'Watching the boat break, I remember thinking for the longest time that some of it wasn't digital, like they were actually dropping people from large heights. But then I found out that a lot of that stuff was just digitally created and I was amazed. Visually it's amazing. When they were making Titanic, everyone talked about the boat...the boat looks amazing, you gotta see the boat. Then around somewhere in the middle of the run it changed. It's like Leonardo DiCaprio, you gotta see him. They don't care about the boat, the big boat breaking, they cared about Jack. So in the end I think your stars and your stories are always going to kind of win out as long as there's something at the heart of it.' "

E ME: You know how it works.