Continued ...
27 July 2001

THE UGLY (Cont):  What’s really ugly, however, is the response from Lot 47’s Jeff Lipsky.  Now, before I get into this, let me point out that I am a huge fan of Lot 47, a company that has saved some great films from utter obscurity.  Their first release, The War Zone, actually has my pull-quote on it, after I called it The Best Film of that year… an opinion that still stands.  The response came in the indieWIRE newsletter.  It wasn’t pretty.  (Here’s the link)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:  In Response to -- The Scarlet Box: Solondz Alters "Storytelling" to Secure "R" Rating

Dear Editor:

For Todd Solondz to proclaim "I just didn't want to be a victim of censorship" in response to his having, yet again, to take it up the ass by Jack Valenti and the MPAA by cutting his film is delusional and a sure-fire sign he is sucking up to Hollywood, the majors, and commercial cinema (not that there's anything wrong with that -- as long as you face up to it).  In fact, twenty years from now he'll no doubt be Fox's first choice to remake Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes!"

Todd, obfuscating sections of the graphic shot in your new film is the same as deleting it, shortening it, attenuating it, "cubing" it, and/or blurring it.  You might as well have placed big digital dollar signs in front of the offending portions of the shot and do some ADR so your character says "Say, 'show me the money, nigger!' "  You were censored Todd!  You signed a contract with AOL guaranteeing to deliver an "R," knowing you'd written an "NC-17."  That's de facto censorship, buddy!  "I'd rather take it by the cajones and say this is what it is," says Solondz.  But instead you're saying, 'this is what it isn't.'  Whatever.

At Lot 47 Films we don't censor filmmakers.  We didn't cut "L.I.E." and we won't touch a frame of Claire Denis' upcoming controversial and graphic masterpiece "Trouble Every Day," with Vincent Gallo.  In fact, we give our directors final cut.  That's having "cajones."  Hey, Todd, "Welcome to the Mainstream!"  (Cue music.)

Jeff Lipsky
Co-president, Lot 47 Films”

Jeff, babe, love the sentiment. But I think the hyperbole is more than a little thick.  I don’t know whether Lot 47 was in the running to produce Storytelling or not.  I’m thrilled that Lot 47 is giving its directors final cut and proud of you for being willing to go into the marketplace without a rating.  But there is a big leap from Solondz’ work and Planet of the Apes.  Your point would have been better served by suggesting that Todd might be the directing choice of Fox for Freddy Got Fingered 2… much closer to reality.  What about Solondz helping Adam Sandler get his “serious” credentials by directing Sandler in Pedo-Fun-Ia?  If the studios would allow their directors to be this overt about the censorship of the MPAA’s rating system, the system would change within six months.  Let’s see Burton’s Planet of the Apes with the ape/human sex scene intact, obscured only by some big object, like a red box or Estella Warren’s lips. 

Also, I think it’s quite unfair to beat up a filmmaker for making a more commercial decision in order to get the level of funding they feel they need.  Much as I respect the value of art for adults, talented, sincere people write, direct, and act to spec all the time.  The problem with the “edit-by-CG’ on Eyes Wide Shut isn’t so much that the film couldn’t have lived without the specific images that were covered up in this country.  The problem, for me, is that those images were some of the most overt clues in the entire film about what was going on.  They surely would have impacted critical insight into what the orgy sequence meant.  (Specifically, people were engaging in sex acts that required oral activity while still masked, suggesting the artificiality of the whole sequence.)  If Kubrick were alive and stuck with an NC-17, he may have added a whole new scene to make up for the loss of those images.  My guess is that his solution would not be to simply cut around the sex.  But who knows? 

And I guess that’s my point.  I know that the incest scene in The War Zone was as painful as it was because it was so graphic and so human.  The NC-17 was inevitable and the decision to take it out unedited and unrated was wise.  But if we start saying that every decision made for the sake of commerce is a form of de fact censorship – and I guess it is – where does that put us?  Would it have been nice for a Cuban actor to play the old Cuban in Before Night Falls?  Yeah.  But Julien Schanbel needed financing and Sean Penn’s cameo helped him get it.  Could a better version of Bully been made as an R?  Absolutely.  Could it have been made as a PG-13?  That would have been tough. 

But these are the judgments that people are forced to make all the time.  Fine Line read Solondz’ script.  They made him sign an agreement to deliver an R.  He knew what he was getting into and so did they.  And the studio let him throw it in the face of the MPAA.  Ask people who deal with the ratings board all the time and they’ll tell you that Fine Line and/or New Line will pay for this “impudence” the next time they are fighting to get an R instead of a NC-17 or a PG-13 instead of an R.  There will be payback. 

In the end, I think Lipsky’s letter was kind of light hearted and a pretty good ad for Lot 47 as a defender of filmmakers’ freedoms.  I just think that Fine Line and Solondz were unfairly targeted.

BIG LIST O’ QUOTES:  It’s updated!

BAD AD WATCH:  When did Fox start thinking their movie was about Mark Wahlberg and Estella Warren, the only recognizable characters in the Planet of the Ape double truck in Friday’s L.A Times?  Strange.  Maybe the tracking is telling them, “Enough with the monkeys already!”  Maybe there is a sense that the monkey audience is sold and that they now have to work on horny 25-49s.  I don’t know.

JUST WONDERING:  Has anyone noticed that The Hollywood Reporter is offering daily box office to premium subscribers when you can get it here – and a couple of other places – for free right now?

READER OF THE DAY:  The Snakey One says:  “For some reason, this whole Blockbuster thing just angers me.  It angers me, because once in my life I can buy movies on a platform that doesnt suck like Videotapes.  Im sure alot of people love video, but outside of recording I have never enjoyed renting or buying them.  Now, thanks to the wonders of DVD I can buy film in the way they are intended (in mymind, I just dont count letterbox videotapes or laserdiscs.  Even though some laserdisc still love ther disc more than dvd).  DVDs are just amazing.  The features, the picture, and everything else about them makes me want to buy as many as I cam because I am a movie loving freak!.  Now, Blockbuster wants to end my fun of being able to buy new DVDs the day they come out because they want to rule the roost again? Well, all I have to say about that is Best Buy.  Best Buy, and stores like them, have to move more product for the studios than the pleasure taking scum from Blockbuster.  If the studios have sense that god gave a stubborn mule, then they need to realize that Blockbuster has its place, but its place is not what it use to be.  There are better suppliers to the studio money supply, and all they ask for is DVDs at reasonable prices to sell to people like me who dont want to see rental pricing ruin a money making format like dvd.  If Hollywood chooses to kill DVD, its their choice.  Hopefully they will realize that rentals have their place, but they make their real money with people like me.  People who buy dvds retail.  Have a nice day.”

E ME:  Is Planet of the Apes an evolutionary step or a broken opposable thumb?