You Too Can Be A Movie Director
Posted on | April 17, 2005 at 12:18 pm | Comments Off
I’m still loving this season of Project Greenlight. It’s weird because you really want to root for the people and see them succeed, but OTOH, that doesn’t make for very interesting television. So, we revel in the conflicts and eccentricities, and get jazzed from the sparks a-flyin’. The hope is that out of all this conflict, actual art will be borne, and the final product will rise above its origins and make some money for the studio. But I’m not putting any bets down. John Gulager is definitely the most interesting director winner they’ve had. I can really identify with him because he’s an introvert with a strong vision, but is just not that good at articulating that vision or with interacting with the people he needs to make that vision happen. Although he’s definitely made of much stronger stuff than I am. It obviously helps that he has a strong support system and that he’s part of a Hollywood family (fringe though it may be). I didn’t like him much at first, but now I’m really rooting for this underdog hero. Fascinating stuff.
Winning a contest is one way to get to direct a Hollywood movie. Another is to have a father who runs a studio. Which brings us to Sahara, directed by Disney honcho (for now) Michael Eisner’s son Breck. To be fair, this isn’t his first directing job (I liked Taken, which he directed part of), but it is his first high profile gig. And preposterous though it is, it’s not a bad movie. It rates a zero on the Nod-o-Meter, which makes me think I really need to ditch this rating system, since that’s the same rating that I gave The Aviator. There’s too many external factors that go into my propensity to nod off during a film other than the film itself, such as who I’m seeing the movie with, what time of day it is, when I last ate or drank, etc. I think under other circumstances, Sahara could’ve easily rated 5 or 6 nods on the meter. But, y’know, it’s a popcorn movie and is a decent way to while away a few afternoon hours with friends. It’s just not something you’d want to see when you’re in the mood for something deep. Or when you want to think about what you’re watching. And I could really take Matthew McConaughey a little better if he didn’t smirk so much. His character should’ve been nicknamed Smirkin’ Dirk.
Latre.