Thursday, 1 February 2001

After everything that's been going on lately with me, it is easy to forget that there is almost no real news to look at out there. But we'll make due. All I can say is, thank GOD that January is over!!!!

TROUBLES?: There are reports floating around out there about two films that may be in trouble. One is Shakur Kapur's follow-up to the brilliant Elizabeth, The Four Feathers. The sequel starring Heath Ledger and Kate Hudson is now in its fourth month of shooting and apparently, they don't see the end in sight. The completion bond company has been called in to take hold of the fiscal reins. Meanwhile, the still unstarted Basic Instinct 2 is, according to the New York Post, not only short a male lead, but is now short a director again, with David Croenenberg dropping out this week. Ouch. Next thing you know, Jim Cameron will be passing on Planet of the Apes… uh… passing on Terminator 3…. uh, True Lies 2… uh, Spider-Man… uhhhhh…

GETTING STUFF: DreamWorks is an interesting company. Theories abound about the future and the past of the core trio of powerhouse players, Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg. Yet, whatever you think of them, DreamWorks has clearly taken a leadership position in two areas of the Hollywood game. Since the Saving Private Ryan loss, they are a hard core Oscar player, as evidenced by last year's Miramax-esque run with American Beauty and this year with the shove-it-down-their-throats run with Gladiator.

So, if DreamWorks shares leadership with Miramax in Oscar tactics, they share the "cool stuff" lead with Fox. This week, I got a breathtaking package from Fox, loaded with images from the upcoming Moulin Rouge. I wanted to see it before. Now, I am feeling a little desperate to take that plunge. And yesterday, following the mirror-mirror-on-the-wall for Shrek that came pre-Sundance, DreamWorks' package for The Mexican arrived. A striped, Mexican fabric beach bag, complete with a beach towel, an English-to-Spanish phrase book, an international calling card, a bottle of sunscreen on a rope and, of course, a written pitch for the movie. Not pushy, but definitely cool.

THANKS: The first publicist to send something specifically to davidpoland.com was Kristin Borella the lanky brunette goddess who works with that petite brunette goddess, Bumble Ward. (Bebe Lerner is a blonde goddess and I better say so or she'll be ticked that she was left out!) Anyway, thanks. It was lovely to see that on something for the first time. I don't now how long this URL will be my URL – it's awfully self-aggrandizing, no? – but thanks to Kristin and all the other publicists who have chimed in with their support. It won't get me to like their movies any more, but it's still nice to know that people want you to succeed.

HANNIBAL: I'm not going to be writing about the film today. Some in the industry get upset with me when I write that because the readers obviously know that not reviewing early means that the review will be negative and this, against the rules of this particular road. But since they figured out that piece of subterfuge, I'll be more direct. My problems with this movie speak directly to its mistaken push away from the ideas that drew so much fire when the book was released. Some stuff may have left people uncomfortable, but these big ticket twists speak to what is clearly the heart of this film. And this of note: I've been told that the real reason that Jodie Foster is not in this sequel is not because of her objection to the Clarice character going cannibal, but rather because the DeLaurentiis' offered her half of what they were offering Anthony Hopkins, and were willing to let her go since Hopkins is the center of this film and the big attention getter in promoting the project. Anyway, a full review will be here next week.

GO SEE IT!: If you're in L.A., you can see the Best of Slamdance for yourself. At 7p tonight (Thursday), you can see the Audience Award winner for best feature, American Chai, which will be preceded by the Audience Award winner for best short (and the most often played film in the roughcut house during the festival), White Face. And at 9:15p, award winning shorts Boundaries and The Ballad of Little Roger Mead followed by Best Dramatic Feature, Daydream Believer. For more info, go to www.egyptiantheatre.com.

READERS OF THE DAY: Chicago Joe writes: "Speaking of things I don't understand, what is going on with the writers guild? (by the way, now that you're corporation free, can you run profanity? If so, change that to what the fuck is going on with the writers guild?) With all the very serious, densely entangled money stuff they have to straighten out (and where it sounds like the writers have been getting profoundly screwed), why are they bringing this whiny creative rights stuff to the table? Can they be serious? Is it a bargaining ploy? I'll support just about anybody who has the guts to go out on a strike, but it sounds like they're trying to stuff a committee into the director's chair. I'm stymied."

LL writes: "The theater closing crunch is hitting some places very hard already. In the past three years, nearly 50% of the screens in metro New Orleans have closed. A total of about 75 screens have been lost in that time. Now, one group controls more than 50% of the screens that are left. There are no second run screens where there had been 14. The one pure art house theater is gone. Landmark has a four screen house in downtown New Orleans that shows a mix of "art" and "commercial" and it is the largest of the three venues that are actually in the city. The rest of the screens are suburban multiplexes that are filled to capacity much of the time. And things don't look to get better any time soon. An AMC eight screen house could be gone any moment now. Down here on the bayou, 25% looks good."

Kathleen writes: "Do you think that I am coldhearted if I do not think the media (MTV) should be held responsible for a 13 year old setting himself on fire to imitate something they saw on Jackass, the popular MTV show. There are warnings on the show about the danger of imitating anything on the show. If you followed the logic of the critics, no violence would be shown on television or movies because someone might imitate it. Remember when the movie The Program was criticized because people imitated a scene of people laying in the middle of the street? Don't people have any responsibility for their own judgment and behavior?"

E ME: Coming tomorrow, it's Friday! Box office, reviews and more… just like at that other place.