$ummer

My estimates for the summer:

Pirates 3 - 390 million

Spiderman 3 - 360 million

Shrek 3 - 320 million

Transformers - 24o million

Potter - 235 million

Bourne Ultimatum - 185 million

Surf's Up - 180 million

Oceans 13 - 150 million

Fantastic Four - 170 million

Knocked Up - 160 million

Ratatouille - 140 million

Die Hard 4 - 130 million

License to Wed - 150 million

Chuck & Larry - 120 million

Mr. Brooks - 110 million

Evan Almighty - 90 million

Hostel 2 - 75 million

1408 - 60 million

28 Weeks Later - 30 million

Bomb of the summer - I Know Who Killed Me (sorry Linds) - I bet it won't clear 20.

Possible sleepers of the summer: Superbad & Hotrod

Finally My Meme (Updated!)

Been out of the loop for the past week due to CPU issues (thanks, Comcast!). That MovieQuill punk tagged me to answer his 5 things nobody knows about me meme. Here goes.

I had to go back and add this. Consider this 1A - I thought it'd be a good addition to my list, so I guess I got six things listed. Anyway:

White pregnant with me, my mom smoked like a chimney and worked in some kind of plant, and I was born with a birth defect! Thanks, Ma! Bitch! Anyway, the middle of my chest was sunken in. Sweet!

Had operation when I was 5 by C. Everett Koop (went on to be Surgeon General). And they installed a metal plate in my chest so I wouldn't die and all (I wouldn't have made it to my teens they said). Now I've got a cool scar to prove it! And no, I do not set off metal detectors.

1. Growing up, I'd eat salad plain. No dressing. I finally upgraded to French in my 20s, and now in my 30s I'm moved up to Creamy Italian, too.

2. First movie experience that I remember - Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind - Got scared shitless, made Grandparents get me the hell out of there. The fucking toys came alive, man!!!

3. Career - Growing up, I wanted to study oceans. Then I wanted to be a forest ranger. Then a pilot, preferrably of an Apache helicopter. Then I wanted to be an Architect. Then I graduated high school and did squat for a few years. Finally I decided to become an actor. I met my future wife, she put the kabosh on that and I decided to study journalism, which led to screenwriting, which led to producing & directing, which led to producing & directing extremely low budget movies that went nowhere, which led me back to screenwriting. Too late to study oceans?

4. I have a hatred for assholes who smoke in front of their kids. Hey guys, you're killing them!! I saw some dopey bitch driving the other day, her window cracked, her cigarette dangling from her ashtray mouth, and her little kid is in the backseat sucking in the smoke. Real nice, dope! Might as well just shoot him. By the way, guys are obviously as guilty, I was just using this lady as an example. I've seen plenty of dopey pricks doing the same thing.

It also bothers me to no end when I see kids/babies not buckled, or sitting in the front passenger seat with their mommies - Hey people, if you get into an accident your kid is gonna get torn to shreds - Wake up, fuckers.

5. I've never been to a strip club. Nope. I'm 34 now, and I've never been. And we have a few around here, I've just never gone.

So, I shall now tag Tommygun Crymes & Scriptweaver, mainly since they're bastards and haven't posted in a long damn time.

3:10 To Yuma

This just looks great. Directed by James Mangold, it stars Christian Bale, Russell Crowe (playing a really bad guy), and Peter Fonda, in a really cool western. Coming October 5th. Could be Oscar bait!

Norton = Hulk

Edward Norton has been cast as the Hulk in the sequel to Hulk, called The Incredible Hulk. That's a lot of Hulk. He's a great actor, so I think it could work. Thoughts?

Oh Uwe

If you wanna get pissed off, check out this link for a horrible trailer from the WORST director/boxer working in movies - Uwe Boll. It's for his latest piece of videogame-to-movie garbage, Postal. The link takes you to joblo.com, then just click on the trailer. Simply tasteless.

Wah-Wah

What movies make you cry like a little bitch? C'mon, be honest. Here's some of mine:

Old Yeller - Brutal, especially when I was young. He shot poor Yeller in the face, man! And throwing him a freakin' puppy at the end is useless. He'll probably just blow it away some day anyways. Thanks, Disney.

White Dog - Movie about a racist dog starring Kristy McNichol & Paul Winfield. Pretty bad movie, and any racial theme went well over my head at the time, all I know is at the end a really pretty doggy is lying in a pool of its own blood.

King Kong (late 70s with Jeff Bridges). Hey, I was young, man. Cried myself to sleep that night. Thump-thump...thump-thump...thump.....

The Elephant Man - All he wanted to be was normal, and get a decent night of sleep! Poor bastard.

ET - This is a no-brainer. Fucked me up for weeks.

Gallipoli - You won't breathe for the last 10 minutes of this.

Platoon - Powerful stuff. The ending always gets me.

Field of Dreams - Yeah, that's a big one. Great, great movie, too.

Dead Man Walking - I cried at this, not because I felt bad for the brutal rapist (Sean Penn) but I think at the whole screwed up tragedy of the situation. Powerful film.

Saving Private Ryan - I sobbed at this. Sobbed! Most I've ever cried at a movie. Ever. Starting with Jackson's death through the death of capt. miller, I felt the tears coming, then went into a full waterfall by the end in the cemetery.

United 93 - Amazing, amazing movie. Can't take my eyes off the screen for this, but the part that gets me bad is when one of the guys on the plane (I forget the name of the guy) is saying that he loves his wife, and "his boys." He knows he'll likely never see them again, and in that moment you can sense that all he wants is for them to grow up and live amazing lives.

Your turn!

R.I.P. Premiere Magazine

Damn, I've had a subscription to this mag for years, since 1989. The 1st issue I received had Indy 3's Harrison Ford & Stevie Spielberg on the cover.

With movie news galore all over the net, it's certainly past its prime. But I always got a kick out of getting the latest issue and filling up on pretty useless movie trivia and news about upcoming releases.

Premiere - godspeed.

Poster Coolness

I came across this pretty cool poster for MR. BROOKS, an upcoming Kevin Costner summer movie (thriller) that's getting good "buzz." I like it because it doesn't throw the typical dopey faces photo-shopped onto the poster.

And don't forget this classic poster, from the great STRAW DOGS (threatening to be remade, by the way):

Wassup?

What have I been up to, you ask?



I went through a pretty lame dry spell for a few weeks after coordinating my son's school's talent show (it's over - yay!). I would get to my Final Draft each night, open a file or 2, then stare at the screen until falling asleep, then I'd tuck myself in, swearing that "tomorrow night" I'd write 10 pages of whatever script. that went on for a week or 2.


I feel better now though. I took a drive through my old haunts the other day, namely the street & neighborhood where I grew up. Got me pretty nostalgic. It's funny to see my old house, which has been re-sided with vinyl plus they've added a pool & deck. But I lived a whole life in there. So many memories, lotta good ones, lotta bad, too.


Anyway, I thought to myself - Get your ass in gear, punkass! Ever since I've been on a writing tear. Thus:


Cricket Hill - I still have it in TV pilot form, but I went back and am finishing another feature-film version draft, including some of the better bits from the TV pilot.


The Stand-In - Deep into Act 2 on this one without even realizing it. I thought I was further behind that I am. It's going well, it's high concept comedy stuff, added some funny shit yesterday involving masturbation.


Rainwater - It's going well. I'm taking my time with this one, it's more of an indie script, dark stuff with bits of humor throughout.


Temp'd - I can't wait to finish this one. Pretty out-there comedy about temps robbing an escort service.



Union - I can't spill the plot yet, but it's GOOD.

Plus, I've got about 50 other ideas/scenes/pages of other scripts I want to write, but need to keep my focus on these so I can at least get something completed soon.

Had a request from an l.a. prodicer for my comedy/horror Headshot so I'm polishing that before I send it off. Then waiting to hear about my 2 scripts currently in the quarter-finals at FADE IN, we should find out in April.

And that's it in a nutshell.

Listen to: Arcade Fire (Neon Bible) and Modest Mouse (We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank).

Watch: Friday Night Lights, The Office, 30 Rock.

See: Children on Men - On DVD tomorrow (Tues)!!!

Best Flicks of '06 - Belated

Finally got around to slapping together "best flick" list from last year. I had a lot of catching up to do, and still have more to go. I still haven't seen Babel, The Prestige, The Illusionist, Pan's, Casino Royale, Half Nelson, or the Good Shepard. But I've seen enough to make a decent list. Here:

1. Children Of Men

2. United 93

3. Stranger Than Fiction

4. The Departed

5. Marie Antoinette

6. The Proposition

7. Cars

8. MI:3

Underrated gems - Idiocracy & Slither. Both pretty fun movies, and worth a look.

Not bad for a chick flick - The Holiday.

Some days I like it, some I don't - Brick.

The Worst - V For Vendetta. What a god-awful bore. Also, Art School Confidential, The DaVinci Code & Underworld 2 sucked pretty hard.

What were your faves?

Oh, by the way....

I'm looking outside, and we've got like 6 inches of sleet.

Mother Nature is a Beeyotch.

Rainwater - Excerpt

The following comes from my script, Rainwater. The scene unfolds around Page 9, and is between PJ & Lenny, two friends stuck in the small town of Rainwater. PJ runs his deceased parents bed & breakfast, and Lenny drives a hearse.


INT. DINER - DAY
PJ and Lenny sit at a booth in the quiet diner. ROSE, an old firecracker in her 70s, approaches.

LENNY

Ah, there she is.

ROSE

You flirting with me, Lenny?

LENNY

Always, Rose.

ROSE

Yeah, right. You’re gonna be driving me in that death car of yours soon enough.

She coughs.

LENNY

Maybe slow down on the cigarettes.

ROSE

Been smoking for over fifty years. The problem is my piece-of-shit husband. He pisses me off again I’ll slash his throat.

LENNY

Ah, young love.

ROSE

What do you guys want?

LENNY

Coffee and home fries. I’m on a diet.

Rose scoffs.

PJ

Stack of flapjacks, go heavy on the butter.

Rose nods and walks off, hacking.

LENNY

I met this chick. Can’t tell you her name yet.

PJ

Dude, c’mon. This ain’t the fifth grade.

LENNY

In time my friend. But I can tell you this - smokin’ hot!

PJ

Wonderful.

LENNY

Don’t be all bitter. Lucy’s gone. You had your chance.

PJ

I know she’s gone. It wasn’t meant to be.

LENNY

Because you have no balls. When you gonna get your head out of your ass and get your life in gear, man? She was the one for you. You can’t just sit around Rainwater the rest of your life, running that termite-infested B&B.

PJ

Hey, the termites are the only things holding up the place.

LENNY

It was your Mom’s thing, I get that, but it ain’t for you. She’s probably rolling around in her grave, pissed off because you’re wasting your life.

PJ

I didn’t come here or a lecture. I came for some fucking flapjacks.

Rose approaches with a stack of pancakes.

ROSE

Here’s your fucking flapjacks.

PJ

Wow, that was fast.

ROSE

Table six didn’t eat theirs.

She walks off, coughing. PJ looks at the recycled flapjacks.

Lenny chuckles.

LENNY

Yum.

Vs.

Ok, which do you use, Final Draft or Movie Magic? By placing in the Final 10 of the Screenwriting Showcase Awards, they are sending me Movie Magic as one of my prizes.

I've been an avid Final Drafter for a long time now, and don't have any real plans to change that. But at least now I'll have some kind of back-up if my computer implodes/Final Draft disk melts.

Which do you guys/gals prefer, and Y?

Three Years For A Healthy White Baby? What Else Ya' Got?

Updates:

Contests - Eagerly awaiting the next phase of Fade In - I have 2 scripts in the quarterfinals - Zucker & A Couple Of Joes. We'll see if they can make it further. Also, I've got A Couple Of Joes in the Screenwriting Showcase Awards where I've made the final 10 - notification of the winner is 3/17. I've already won Movie Magic software, although I've always been a Final Draft guy.

Talent Show - It's over, and I loved doing it. Can't wait until next year. It was nerve-racking, but the kids were truly amazing. Next one will be better now that I've got this experience under my belt. Can't say enough about the kids, amazing, amazing, amazing. The audience loved it because I kept it short.

TV - Watching mostly Heroes, The Office, Lost & Jericho. Heroes is 1st- Season-Lost good, we'll see if they can keep up the crisp writing and cool stories.

Music - Latest CD's we're spinning are Peter, Bjorn & John as well as Silversun Pick-Ups. Just got the new Arcade Fire - DAMN they are GOOD. Buy The Neon Bible.

Scripts - now that the talent show is done, I can re-focus. I've got 4 scripts I've been bouncing between. I'd like to finish Union and The Stand-In, but I'm also eager to finish Westville and Rainwater. Rainwater is an older script that I never finished, okay, I never got off page 6, but I've got some great ideas for it and am looking forward to tackling it again.

Oscars 2008

Last year, I predicted some possible Oscars for this past year. Kinda fun, trying to guess what might be at the Oscars a year out. I actually got a few correct. Well, here's my prediction of what we might see for next year:

No Country For Old Men - Coen Brothers. Look for a Tommy Lee Jones nomination.

Charlie Wilson's War - Tommy Hanks, Julia Roberts & Phillip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols.

Michael Clancy - George Clooney

Rescue Dawn - Werner Herzog directing Christian Bale. Might be coming out too early though (March) to be remembered at the end of the year.

American Gangster - Ridley Scott directing Denzel & Russell Crowe (Would have liked to have seen Antoine Fuqua's version)

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson directing Daniel Day-Lewis.

The Golden Age - Elizabeth 2. Easy Blanchett nomination. Clive Owen, too.

Stop-Loss - Iraq war drama directed by Kimberly Pierce.

The Brave One - Easy Jodie Foster nomination here.

A Mighty Heart - Angelina Jolie could get a nomination here.

Trade - Looks amazing, dark as hell. Might also suffer from being released too early.

Zodiac - It'd be a bigger release in December. I only included it because it's Fincher. Probably wouldn't get any nominations.

The Darjeeling Limited (pic above) - Wes Anderson - Maybe a screenplay nomination.

Sweeney Todd - Depp & Sasha Baron Cohen (both could get nominations) directed by Timmy Burton

Things We Lost In the Fire - Halle Berry & Benecio Del Toro drama.

King Of California - Michael Douglas nomination.

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford - Brad Pitt & Sam Rockwell nominations.

Che - Not sure if & when this is coming out.

So, if I had to pick the best pics for next year's Oscars, I would guess......

MICHAEL CLANCY

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR

THE GOLDEN AGE

AMERICAN GANGSTER

RESCUE DAWN

Of course, any or all of these could suck. Dark horses here are There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. If either or both are good, they could easily sneak in and take out American Gangster & Rescue Dawn. Also, I love the Trade trailer and hope the movie is as good.

Keep in mind, there may also be plenty of indies that come out of nowhere and take a slot or 2.

Best Animated possible nominations - Surf's Up, Simpsons, Ratatouille, Beowulf & Bee Movie. Bee Movie wins.

I'd Like to Thank........

Well, they finally gave it to Marty, but with his old gang coming out to give the award, was there any doubt? By the way, glad to see Coppola back in the game, with his movie Youth Without Youth in the can and Tetro getting ready to shoot.

A few surprises, namely Eddie Murphy not winning. And I doubt very much it had anything to do with Norbit. It's not the 1st time he's donned make-up for a goofball mindless comedy. No, I think it's his reputation as a douchebag. He's always been a stand-offish guy, at least from what I've read, and I think people remember that shit. But I think it was probably a close race anyways, but Arkin had a lot of sunshine support in the actors ranks, so he snuck on in.

Also, I figured Children Of Men would win cinematography. And I thought Cars was a no-brainer, very surprised Happy Feet won for animated.

Ellen did a good job, she did what she had to do.

What pisses me off about the Oscars is the actual presentation. They can EASILY cut an hour off of it. Do we need to see the "creation of America through film!" montage over and over, as well as the wacky sillouette people in the background? Or the motherfuckers making sound effects like the dude from Police Academy? If they cut some of the bullshit, then they could actually let people finish their thoughts, or if more than 1 person wins the Oscar for whatever category, they could actually let the 2nd Person speak!

Overall, it was a fine time. Glad Marty got it. And I'm looking forward to the soon-to-be-announced Leonardo DiCaprio/Al Gore buddy comedy, a remake of Like Father, Like Son. C'mon, they'd be perfect!

Oscar Love

It's kinda fun this year, since at least some of these awards are anybody's guess......

Best Pic:
I think it goes to the Departed, but if anyone steals it, it will be Iwo Jima. The Queen has zero chance, while Babel just doesn't hold up as a film (great performances, great sequences, but just too disjointed). Little Miss Sunshine is a fun movie, but the BEST of the year? Nah.

Actor - Give it to Forest, but I've love to see Gosling snag it.

Actress - Mirren, whatever. Yawn. Wish Winslet would upset.

Supporting Actress - Looks like Jenny Hudson. Love that Rinko though.

Supporting Actor - I've always liked Murphy, so I'm cool with him winning, although it'd be awesome is Jackie Earle won, or even Wahlberg.

Foreign Film - Not Pan's. Can't picture the Academy getting behind it.

Director - Marty. But don't count out Clint.

Who do YOU think will win?

Good News!

A few months back I entered 2 screenplay contests, Fade In and The Screenplay Showcase Awards. Sent 2 screenplays to each, and this week I discovered:

One of my Fade In entries (they don't say which one) has been named a quarter-finalist. Yay! I think they announce semi-finalists next month. Fingers crossed!

And, another one of my scripts, A Couple Of Joes, was named one of the top 10 finalists for the Screenplay Showcase Awards (winner announced 3/17).

Sweet!

Next contests on my radar - Bluecat & Austin.

Mother Do You Think They'll Drop The Bomb

My option? Kaput.

Almost 1 year ago (April) I had a script optioned. Yay! Today, the company that optioned that script has dissolved and is no more. Boo!

Prospect Pictures - look them up. They gone.

What happened was they stopped developing new projects back in August (Cricket Hill was still on their slate at that time, however). It turned from a movie script into a TV pilot script.

But it seemed less likely that things would happen, as the more I talked to the director that was attached to direct the Cricket Hill pilot, the more he was saying that it was a great WRITING SAMPLE. Hmm. That's nice and all but.......

Luckily, I still have a good relationship with him. He's done movies, TV, commercials, and music videos, and is a great, great contact to have on my side. And he seems to honestly like my writing, so at some point in the future, I'm sure we'll work together.

Now, why are they gone? Don't know, and at this point, it doesn't matter. I've still got my new manager, which is good. I'm working on the Stand-In (high concept comedy) as well as my family/comedy Union, both of which I plan to finish within the month. Oh, and I plan on sending Union to Austin this year because I'm pretty damn sure I can win with it.

Point is, I've moved on. I've had enough ups & downs in this bidness so far not to let this crush me (this was my 4th option), and in the long run, perhaps it's all for the best.

Team to root for - The Fightin' Phils!
Movie to check out - Children Of Men
Music to check out - Peter, Bjorn & John as well as Silversun Pickups.
TV shows to watch - Flip This House, Intervention, Juvies, The Office, Scrubs, Dirty Jobs, What About Brian, Lost, Bones, Friday Night Lights.
Script to sell - Cricket Hill
Competition to win - Austin

Dialogue Can Be Overrated

Werner Herzog's got a new film coming (hopefully) in 2007, called Rescue Dawn, starring Christian Bale & Steve Zahn, about downed pilots (I believe they're in Vietnam). Looks good, I'm just glad to see more of Herzog's work.

One of the coolest, creepiest, screwiest films I've seen is "Aguirre, The Wrath Of God," starring his favorite whipping boy, Klaus Kinski. Simply mesmerizing. A stunner. Some if its pacing is like watching a snail race, but the end result will stay with you. Same goes for his fucked-up (that's a compliment) version of Nosferatu from the 70s. Great stuff.

He certainly doesn't rely much on dialogue, but more on the image. It got me thinking about how certain scenes can really blow the viewer away with little or no dialogue. I always fall back on the amazing Apocalypse Now. One of my favorite scenes of all time is when Robert Duvall is talking to Martin Sheen on the beach. It's not when he gives his classic "I love the smell...." line, but what comes after. He says, "You know, some day this war's gonna end......" and that's it. He has no words. He can't even think about that day. Good stuff.

They don't make 'em like they used to!