"The car's on fire and there's no driver at the wheel and the sewers are all muddied with a thousand lonely suicides and a dark wind blows" - monologue intro to "The Dead Flag Blues"
When British director Danny Boyle made his comeback film, “28 Days Later” – a genuinely terrifying zombie film ostensibly about the end of the world – he wanted dark, apocalyptic music.
“I always try to have a soundtrack in my mind. Like when we did 'Trainspotting,' it was Underworld. For me, the soundtrack to '28 Days Later' was Godspeed. The whole film was cut to Godspeed in my head," Boyle told the Guardian.
Obviously. Boyle was so smitten with the punctuation-moving, Montreal squatter-orchestra Godspeed You! Black Emperor, when he could only acquire one song from the notoriously anti-corporate, fiercely anarchistic doomsday rockers, he contracted composer John Murphy to essentially write an entire soundtrack that sounded like Godspeed facsimiles.
Months before, Boyle ceaselessly harassed Godspeed; chasing them via email, begging them to use songs, taking them out for a herbivorous dinner (naturally) and sending many a passionately-worded letter. Naturally suspect of any commercial endeavors GY!SE initially declined, but eventually relented after they met Boyle face to face and were down with what seemed his honest, pure intentions. And more importantly – his disassociation with the studio hegemony.
“We went to meet them and they were very reluctant as normally they don't license their work for features. They were a lovely bunch of people. This slow, very elegiac start which their music builds from virtually nothing to an apocalyptic crescendo; it was a fantastic template for the film. And what we did was use that track at the beginning and then the composer, John Murphy, took it as inspiration for the end.” - Danny Boyle in Res Magazine.
However, when Boyle sold the militant, landlord wary politicos his idea, “28 Days Later” was an indie, not yet backed or financed by big-business interests – this would change (Initially however, ‘28 Days’ was shot on a shoestring budget and indeed came on the coattails of two major financial and critical Boyle bombs – "The Beach" and "A Life Less Ordinary." At the outset, Boyle was forced to keep it simple and scale back).
Allegedly, Godspeed and the film auteur agreed to the terms on a handshake deal and then later, when Boyle and producers were looking for distribution and financing, Fox Searchlight came a knockin' and acquired the film.
To these PETA-endorsing, gentrification-fighting communists, this was tantamount to treachery of the highest order. Godspeed felt swindled and quickly disavowed any association with the film.
One measly song, “East Hastings” (the movement, "Sad Mafioso," specifically, from the album f# a# oo) was used in the film, but Godspeed still had a shit-fit, fearing that their reputation as difficult, stringent assholes might be ruined with Sassy magazine readers the world round (as part of their initial agreement, the song would be utilized in the movie, but it would not appear on the soundtrack CD and this agreement was never breached).
Some ardent extremists were shocked that Godspeed would even agree to such a thing to which the irritated collective would point to the disclaimer above their heads reading, “Please do not ask Godspeed about 28 Days Later, to us it does not exist.”
(As an aside: curiously enough, not one article from this period exists. I googled up the wazoo, but could not find one such case to back up the story I had read years ago; utitizling multiple search engines and various Internet archives. If you can find any article where GY!BE disassociates itself with “28 Days Later,” please, please send it to me. I challenge you to find even one instance and will paypal you $10 if you can find substantial information).
So Boyle basically went without, grabbed an Eno and Grandaddy song, used the Murphy knock0ffs and voila, the soundtrack was complete.
Contrary to popular opinion though, GY!BE weren’t completely dogmatic; two years earlier they had lent their music to the IFC documentary about the golden age of horror films, “This American Nightmare” (the group allowed the documentarians to use "Moya" also from f# a# oo)
Not surprisingly, after the “28 Days” experience, the self-righteous ideologues shot down further film inquiries. Reptilian director, Oliver Stone’s asked to use "Moya" in his absurdist football comedy, “Any Given Sunday,” but the band naturally refused to give their consent. Stone apparently even had cut a scene to their music and then was forced to re-edit the scene after Godspeed refused at the last minute.
Godspeed's, I'm-not-the-spokesperson, spokesperson/Charles Manson-look alike, Efrim Menruck told the story in this poorly translated French interview (we tried to clean it up a bit)."We had many calls [about soundtracks], it's true. What shocks [filmmakers] is that we want to know what the film is about; what is it's goal, what is the director's background because we do not want our music used in bad films.
And then, they are so sure you will say yes, that they make you the offer once that the addition of your music is completed! Take for example the Oliver Stone film, it was our bass player, a big mouth who said that their 250,000 dollar offer was accepted!
Finally you have call one of their assistants to ask that they tell their boss we refused.
The American Football movie was to illustrate a scene where the quarterback throws the ball, it is the most important moment of the film, and you have this long journey with the ball in slow motion in the air, it was ridiculous."
Sounds like our Oliver. Godspeed may have denied Stone, but DIY classical group the Rachel’s seemed to have no problem with “Any Given Sunday.”
For the sequel, "28 Weeks Later" (which opens tonight in North American and the U.K.), the filmmakers – not Boyle this time; he executive produced and Spanish, "Intacto" director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo took the helm– used composer John Murphy again and allegedly some Brit-Pop tracks (Muse's "Shrinking Universe" is in the trailer).
An interesting aside: “28 Weeks Later” producers begged original '28 Days' star Cillian Murphy to make a cameo as a zombie in the film, but he flat out refused. But don’t think that relationship is in disrepair: Murphy stars in Boyle’s upcoming psychological sci-fi drama “Sunshine.”
Download: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - "East Hastings"
Download: John Murphy - "Rage" ("28 Days Later Soundtrack")
Download: John Murphy - "Tower Block" ("28 Days Later Soundtrack")
Download: John Murphy - "The Beginning" ("28 Days Later Soundtrack")
Scene: Godspeed's "East Hastings" in "28 Days Later"
Trailer: "28 Weeks Later"
5/11/2007
28 Days, Weeks and Years Later: Godspeed Vs. Danny Boyle
The Weekend Almost Starts: Mel Gibson 20% Less Drunk, Moore Shockingly Upset With Bush
California judges are reviewing Mel Gibson's progress in rehab and they're happy to report that the blockbuster-directing anti-semite is 30% less intoxicated than usual. d Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence J. Mira said, "He had drank only two beers by noon and a Jewish woman walked by and he barely registered any discontent aside from a low-mummering grumble; we have high hopes for Mel." [Reuters]
- In shocking news, disheveled anti-patriot Michael Moore is asking his dear friend George W. Bush to call off an investigation examing why the filmmaker took ailing 9/11 rescue workers to Cuba. Our guess is a little R&R? In a letter mailed to the White House, and sure to bring the administration to empathetic tears, Moore wrote. "I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions — President Bush — would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience." [Associated Press]
- If smooth jazz singer Ben Gibbard farts in the woods will someone write about it? Hell yes.
Morning Dailies: Miranda July, Michael Moore, Banksy; More
- Affected art-house phenom Miranda July (née Miranda Grossinger) has followed up her preciously titled, "Me And You And Everyone We Know" debut film with the preciously titled debut short story collection, "No One Belongs Here More Than You." No word on a follow-up film though. [NYMag]
- Schlubby Academy Award winner Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S.Treasury Department for taking ailing 9/11 victims to Cuba for his upcoming health-care harangue, "Sicko." [AP]
- Did famously anonymous guerrilla graffiti artist Banksy get outed? [Complex]
- Valenti's last MPAA gasp from the grave? Smoking may soon become hazardous to movie ratings. [NYTimes]
- A clueless Associated Press puts glaring spoiler in their "28 Weeks Later" headline. Way to go. [AP]
- Green Day will appear in the decade-too-late "Simpsons" movie. [MTV]
- A flurry of activity begins on previously assumed MIA Australian auteur Baz Lurhman's new film. It stars fellow chazwobbler's Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. [Coming Soon]
- After an alarming semi-serious turn in "Dream Girls," Eddie Murphy assures America he remains committed to a worthless, vapid career. [Hollywood Reporter]
5/10/2007
What Ever Happened To Guy Ritchie? (Besides Madonna...)
Whatever happened to Guy Ritchie? After Danny Boyle went south with "The Beach" and the godawful "A Life Less Ordinary," Ritchie was poised to be the new heir apparent to the British cinema world. His Tarantino-esque, British heist films were wildly popular both in the U.S. and the U.K. and tricked American audiences into believe the blatant lie that English films could be fun and not remarkable tedium-fests about class struggle or Merchant Ivory-esque restraint dramas.
Ritchie directed the crime capers, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and then "Snatch," starring an incomprehensible Brad Pitt (a performance that convinced people he could actually act) and despite their derivative Tarantino-gangsterness and queasy, music-video-like editing and effects, they were immensely enjoyable (especially whence compared to pigswill like "Way of the Gun," "Two Days in the Valley," etc.), if not somewhat specious. They also injected a comedic, blundering wit to the then-trendy gangter genre (something the all-too-serious knock-offs completely missed).
Then Ritchie married Madonna and his plot unraveled. Everything she became involved with turned his cache to rust. He lensed her “What it Feels Like To Be A Girl,” video and the song’s message was quickly buried under the feel-good direction of Madonna trampling innocent strangers in a car. The couple began to forfeit whatever public goodwill was left after the release of "Swept Away" (starring Madge again, of course). A remake of the romantic Italian classic by the same name, the film was quickly swept away by audiences and savagely brutalized by critics (The film won the estimable Worst Picture and Worst Remake or Sequel at the Razzie Awards; an Academy that congratulates filmmakers for their remarkable achievement in the field of awfulness). A BMW commercial Ritchie directed with his shrew became another failure pile for the director to rest his head upon.
His follow-up, 2005's "Revolver" (surprise, another heist-goes-wrong flick) did so poorly, it barely screened or registered a blip in
Forgoing his pop-smacked soundtracks, Ritchie instead went with original composer, Nathaniel Mechaly; it can be said with some reasonably authority that this didn’t help.
Which leads us to look back at Snatch. Released in 2000, one of the highest compliments this film's score can be paid is making the by-now dated trip-hop score sound incredibly pertinent. Songs by the Herbaliser, Mirwais and Massive Attack may have been by-then passé (don’t argue, they were), but they worked to incredibly portentous and slow-burning effect (Pitt's mom gets fireburned to death to the sounds of Massive Attack's simmering "Angel"; the British-African incompetents being hauled off by Vinnie Jones to the sexy sounds of Mirwais). Then there was the inherent humor to songs by the Johnston Brothers and Bobby Byrd and the tasteful instrumentals of Klint.
Astonishingly and unlike most soundtrack CDs, most of the impression-leaving songs in the movie are actually on the disc (even "Lucky Star," yeah, see above), aside from 10CC's hit, "Dreadlocked Holiday."
To salvage what is left of his career, Ritchie is apparently returning to his uncommon crime genre with a filmed called, “Static.” As of press time, it is currently unknown whether Madonna's failure curse will continue to rob Ritchie of sustained film success.
Hey, What Ever Happened To Guy Ritchie? (Besides Madonna...)
Whatever happened to Guy Ritchie? After Danny Boyle went south with "The Beach" and the godawful "A Life Less Ordinary," Ritchie was poised to be the new heir apparent to the British cinema world. His Tarantino-esque, British heist films were wildly popular both in the U.S. and the U.K. and tricked American audiences into believe the blatant lie that English films could be fun and not remarkable tedium-fests about class struggle or Merchant Ivory-esque restraint dramas.
Ritchie directed the crime capers, "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and then "Snatch," starring an incomprehensible Brad Pitt (a performance that convinced people he could actually act) and despite their derivative Tarantino-gangsterness and queasy, music-video-like editing and effects, they were immensely enjoyable (especially whence compared to pigswill like "Way of the Gun," "Two Days in the Valley," etc.), if not somewhat specious. They also injected a comedic, blundering wit to the then-trendy gangter genre (something the all-too-serious knock-offs completely missed).
Then Ritchie married Madonna and his plot unraveled. Everything she became involved with turned his cache to rust. He lensed her “What it Feels Like To Be A Girl,” video and the song’s message was quickly buried under the feel-good direction of Madonna trampling innocent strangers in a car. The couple began to forfeit whatever public goodwill was left after the release of "Swept Away" (starring Madge again, of course). A remake of the romantic Italian classic by the same name, the film was quickly swept away by audiences and savagely brutalized by critics (The film won the estimable Worst Picture and Worst Remake or Sequel at the Razzie Awards; an Academy that congratulates filmmakers for their remarkable achievement in the field of awfulness). A BMW commercial Ritchie directed with his shrew became another failure pile for the director to rest his head upon.
His follow-up, 2005's "Revolver" (surprise, another heist-goes-wrong flick) did so poorly, it barely screened or registered a blip in
Forgoing his pop-smacked soundtracks, Ritchie instead went with original composer, Nathaniel Mechaly; it can be said with some reasonably authority that this didn’t help.Which leads us to look back at Snatch. Released in 2000, one of the highest compliments this film's score can be paid is making the by-now dated trip-hop score sound incredibly pertinent. Songs by the Herbaliser, Mirwais and Massive Attack may have been by-then passé (don’t argue, they were), but they worked to incredibly portentous and slow-burning effect (Pitt's mom gets fireburned to death to the sounds of Massive Attack's simmering "Angel"; the British-African incompetents being hauled off by Vinnie Jones to the sexy sounds of Mirwais). Then there was the inherent humor to songs by the Johnston Brothers and Bobby Byrd and the tasteful instrumentals of Klint.
Astonishingly and unlike most soundtrack CDs, most of the impression-leaving songs in the movie are actually on the disc (even "Lucky Star," yeah, see above), aside from 10CC's hit, "Dreadlocked Holiday."
To salvage what is left of his career, Ritchie is apparently returning to his uncommon crime genre with a filmed called, “Static.” As of press time, it is currently unknown whether Madonna's failure curse will continue to rob Ritchie of sustained film success.
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Incest, Lesbianism, Crispin Glover, Lighthouse Terrors! It's Brand Upon The Brain!
Last night’s debut of Guy Maddin’s “Brand Upon The Brain!” was an almost overwhelming cinematic spectacle – in a good way of course. Throughout the movie one had to decide, would I be watching the weirdly wondrous film, the 3 lab-coated foley artists creating live, on-the-spot sound effects, the 11-piece orchestra, grave narrator Crispin Glover or the Eunuch-sounding Male soprano? (who Maddin apparently met in a Winnipeg sauna: “He has absolutely no body hair. He had some sort of medical misfortune in his childhood that kept his voice very [woman-like].”)
There are worse problems to have. The live silent film extravaganza was an extraordinary and one-of-a-kind experience and the film itself – a surrealistic swirl of German Expressionism, campy Gothic Horror and fairytale dreamstates – managed to be comical, disturbing and magically weird; much like most Maddin films.
Ostensibly an autobiographical look at Maddin’s apparently oppressive, incestuous and tragically fucked-up childhood, the story is about a boy (Guy), his life house-based orphanage, his domineering mother, his vampiric mad scientist father and a crime-fighting lady-boy and a strange sort-of-lesbionic relationship.
Clearly Maddin has issues. Wonderfully surreal and enjoyable issues, but issues nonetheless. The conclusion suggests Maddin is coming to terms with family deaths and reconciling the love/hate relationship with tyrannical family members (though his mother is alive and well and very "loving" according to "Brain!" interlocutor Isabella Rossellini).
Though of course the story is told through the filter of wild exaggeration or is it? “I didn’t grow up in an orphanage, my mother didn’t reverse her aging, but everything else is basically there,” he told the A/V Club. “My childhood was a little bit Grand Guignol (a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment) and horrifying and melodramatic, in the sense that it was very uninhibited.”
Is Maddin exaggerating just a little? "My mother just disapproved of my sister growing up, so it led to big confrontation, an all-out war with a lot of collateral damage," he told Coming Soon in a lengthy interview.
Glover was unexpectedly restrained (aside from a few death-scene shrieks), the score by Seattle's Jason Staczek was delightfully dramatic and watching foley artists make snapping fire sounds with crinkling plastic and bubble wrap was admiringly inventive. If you are in New York, this only runs for 7 days and you would be s stupid, stupid baby to miss this fascinatingly unique event (it also plays in L.A.. Chicago and San Francisco soon)."I define melodrama as truth uninhibited. It’s the kind of truth we dream about. Rather than melodrama being exaggerated, its actually uninhibited. And it’s a big difference – people look down on exaggerations, but I think they should look-up to the un-inhibitions." - Guy Maddin via the A/V Club
Everyone is talking about the fantastical "Brain!," including two separate New York Times pieces (here and here) and multiple other film outlets. It is a cineates wet-dream.
The "Brain!" Trailer
File Under: Did You Know? Beirut Meets Borat
Just a quick scan of the music blogs and it's clear that Beirut's recent 3-night-stand and Arcade Fire encore appearance (which hosted 72 musicians onstage) has gotten all the devotional online typists up in a huge lather, yes?
Yes, but did you know that long before Beirut was the blogger band de jour and previous to "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" becoming an unstoppable cultural juggernaut (the films "It's Niiiiiiiice" catchphrases soon becoming unstoppably annoying and as outdated as "Schwing!"), the indie-polka muti-culti outfit covered two traditional European gypsy anthems that found their way into Borat's movie.
"We don't really play [them] anymore... as we're sick and tired of being the 'Indie Gypsy' band, " Beirut multi-instrumentalist Jon Natchez tells us exclusively (please stand for 2 minutes of silence in recognition of said moment).
Natchez notes that Beirut main man Zach Cordon and the gang have moved away from vagabond whirling dervish ditties to covering the songs of perspiring Gallic crooner Jacques Brel. C'est magnifique! These aforementioned gypsy tracks are huge hits in Romanian youth-dance halls. Please proceed with caution.
While Beirut's Eastern European-inflected canticles have yet to be utilized in bonafide cinema, according to their label spokesman, the group have recieved mutiple offers to compose soundtracks for a few unamed film directors, but timing has been an issue. However, his music has been used in tedious student films. Watch one such example here.
Download: Kocani Orkestar - "Siki, Siki Baba"
Download: Goran Bregovic - "Ederlezi"
Download: Beirut - "Fountains and Tramways" (from the Pompeii EP)
5/09/2007
Clap Your Hands And Say Malkovich
Warbly pitch-challenged indie-rockers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah will not only appear in the new John Malkovich film, "The Great Buck Howard," according to the indie-rock professionals at Pitchfork, the band will contribute new songs to the film’s soundtrack (Are they composing a score? Or composing new songs? If you go by their headline and then read the story, apparently PFM doesn’t know the difference). Regardless, expect songs that sound like Felt, the Talking Heads and the Pixies in a disfiguring car accident and possibly filtered through the garish David Fridmann boombox of sonic distortion (read: paying top dollar for your recordings to sound like utter ass).
The film will also star Tom Hanks, Colin Hanks (how did this kid get the job?) and indie-hottie Emily Blunt (we’re not really sure if she’s actually considered an indie-hottie, but we assume Pitchfork writers don’t get laid a lot and ‘tang of any kind is therefore labelled thusly).
Short Cuts: More Star Wars? Spidey 4 Villains; Other Nerd News
- Neckbearded CGI-buff George Lucas said that there will be two more Star Wars films, but they will not feature members of the Skywalker family and focus on other characters of "that milieu." Let's hope his sharp, oh-do-dynamic directing skills are put to good use again. The glasshouse-smashing toy-licensee also called "Spider-Man 3" "silly." OK , then. [Coming Soon]
- Speaking of, some nerdlinger who claims he broke the Venom as "Spider-Man 3" villain new (congratulations?) is claiming he has the lead on the not-even-confirmed "Spider-Man 4" film villains. They include, the Lizard and Carnage (who?). Many happy returns to you.
- Mike Myers is considering tarnishing the DIY punk-rock aesthetic of "Austin Powers" with a 4th installment in the series. We're crushed. [IF Magazine]
- We may have to disavow our favorite new comedian Demetri Martin for appearing in the new Fountains of Wayne video. His Clearification shorts are so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend watching them.
- Canadians are apparently swashbuckling movie pirates. [Yahoo]
- We're not the only one thinking "The Sopranos" is dying a slow death. However, didja notice Rush's "Tom Sawyer" when Tony comes home and pulls out his sawed-off shotgun? The lame version of Issac Hayes "Walk on By" was killing us. [AV Club]
- Tim Roth will be a villain in the new, starting-over "Hulk" movie which basically asks you to suspend your disbelief about the first Hulk movie's existence. [Coming Soon]
-Kirsten Dunst is going to play Debbie Harry? Antonion Banderas doesn't even know he's supposed to be in "Sin City 2" [MTV]
- Or instead of "Sin City" will Rodriguez just do "The Jetsons" instead? [EW]
Bruce Willis: "Sometimes World Peace Means Punching Guys In The Face"
Bruce Willis rules. Vulture has collected some juicy quotes from his current Vanity Fair piece with movies sycophant/golden-age cinema obsessive Peter Biskind.
Willis: "I am for stopping world aggression. And sometimes that takes punching guys in the face. And keep punching 'em until they don't get up anymore. So the president didn't say the right thing. Who cares? Politicians misspeak and make mistakes all the fucking time. He said the war was about weapons of mass destruction. But because they didn't find all of them, it was bullshit? Not really."
Later in the interview: "Have you heard anything useful come out of an actor's mouth lately?"
Don't Look Back: American Psycho
Elizabeth: [laughing] You actually listen to Whitney Houston? You own a Whitney Houston CD? More than one?
Patrick Bateman: It's hard to choose a favorite among so many great tracks, but "The Greatest Love of All" is one of the best, most powerful songs ever written about self-preservation, dignity. Its universal message crosses all boundaries and instills one with the hope that it's not too late to better ourselves. Since, Elizabeth, it's impossible in this world we live in to empathize with others, we can always empathize with ourselves. It's an important message, crucial really. And it's beautifully stated on the album.
Oh man, priceless. Our buddy, the Offside Rules lent me the "American Psycho" soundtrack so I wouldn't have to bother lala'ing it or wasting precious download time (thanks B).
An absurdist satire of '80s excess, privilege and zealous materialism, "American Psycho" cleverly juxtaposed equally slick and gaudy tracks (Huey Lewis & the News, Katrina and the Waves, Robert Palmer and Phil Collins ) next to horrific and unspeakable acts to incredibly comedic and deliciously ironic effect. Presumably for cost-prohibitive licensing issues, the soundtrack disc is unfortunately missing these key songs (and therefore kinda sucks).
However, it does feature Dope's cover of "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive. Dope who? Dope being the early aughts nu-metal band that used to live below me at [address redacted] keeping me up with their jamming sessions and late-night cocaine binge parties (so I suppose their inclusion is somewhat appropriate). It also features an early Playgroup (then using the moniker Underdog) remix of the Cure's "Watching Me Fall," which as offside rules notes is, "pre-House of Jealous Lovers"-like dance-punk.
Another crucial element missing on the soundtrack is John Cale's score, however they are hilariously collected on the disc with Christian Bale's ridiculous manifesto monologues.
Download: Dope - "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)"
Download: Christian Bale & John Cale "Monologue 1"
Download: The Cure - "Watching Me Fall" (Underdog Remix)
Download: Christian Bale & John Cale "Monologue 2"
Download: Eric B & Rakim - "Paid In Full" (Coldcut Remix)
Download: Christian Bale - "Monologue" (Hidden Track)
Marilyn Manson's New Movie, Err... Epic Video, Err... Short Feature Porno Is Explicit
Hey man, someone's got to rob the cradle and then fuck it ever so hard and then gently... Fun times. It sounds like a cross between Duran Duran and uh, Marilyn Manson. It's fun to see MM's career yo-yo back in forth between his obvious love for new-wave and his obsequious need to please his dunderhead metal fans. This week eyeliner fans , splatter-core enthusiasts and pedophiles come out on top. Everybody wins!
link: sevenload.com
5/08/2007
Ridley Scott Nabs Common, RZA, T.I. and Public Enemy Producer For "American Gangster"
I seen the RZA with his afro out, and I was like, 'Man, he look so '70s!' " - Common
Not only are rap menagerie, Common, T.I. and Wu-producer RZA starring in the upcoming Ridley Scott film, "American Gangster" (starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington), the hip-hop troika will also be contributing to the soundtrack according to an MTV interview with the crochet-hat aficianado Common.
However, the real revelation is that legendary Public Enemy beatmaker Hank Shocklee is scoring some of the movie and producing the soundtrack.
"We're most definitely going to do something for the soundtrack," Common said. "Hank Shocklee [will produce] something for the soundtrack with me, T.I. and RZA."
The film is apparently, “Donnie Brasco” meets “Scarface” (wait, are we sure it’s not his testosterone-filled brother Tony Scott directing this thing?). Common made his acting debut in the testosterone-filled Quentin Tarantino-parotting “Smoking Aces.” The role he auditioned for in “Gangster” was not one he was relgated to in the end, but the rhymer/actor says he’s just “happy to be here.”
Aren’t we all?
Download: RZA - "RZA's Theme" (from the "Ghost Dog" soundtrack)
Download: Common - "Dooint" (from Like Water For Chocolate)
5/07/2007
What Would Lars Von Trier Think? Zach Braff Goes Dogme
Ok, so if feel-good milquetoast Zach Braff's "Scrubs" TV show gets the axe (which apparently could happen), his next project is going to be an adaptation of... a Dogme '95 film? (Dogme '95 being the painstakingly authentic manifesto created by a group of Danish directors who adhered to stringent rules of natural lighting, hand-held camera and other willful handicaps that prevented their films from being good).
According to MTV Movies (and my nerdy interviewer friend Monty; hi mom!), if "Scrubs" gets deepsixed, Braff will remake Susanne Bier's 2002 Danish film, "Open Hearts."
This of course is the equivalent of Mariah Carey redoing a Will Oldham record (wait, the reverse is happening) or Rick Moranis adapting an Ingmar Bergman Film."I thought it was very moving. An American audience would never see a danish Dogme film. The number of people who would in this country are very small. You can only get the movie if you have Netflix; it's the only place it's available. So anywhoo, I really was moved by it and thought it was powerful and i was looking to adapt something because I didn't have all the time to write something from scratch; which takes quite a bit of time." [MTV]
Original screenplays take time? What is this esoteric Netflix thing you speak of? Is this something that one has to buy on Ebay? Braff is such an obscurist.
Besides being about a family tragedy and its aftermath, Braff said the film interested him because it also managed to be about "lust, love, loneliness and so many things and dealt with them in a way an American movie typically wouldn't." Love it or leave it, traitor.
So I guess Harmony Korines should watch his back? We should all keep an eye on this independent American auteur.
Definition of the Day: Music Bloggers
Characterized by their excessive exclamation marks, fan-boy enthusiasm and trenchant ability to copy, paste and link to other websites, music bloggers have become important cultural harbingers in recent years. Loudly lauding the virtues of underachieving and underappreciated indie-rock acts, bloggers have made chart-topping stars of multi-culti gypsies, Beirut, sing-along emotionalists, the Arcade Fire and off-key caterwaulers Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah.
Much to the chagrin of the media establishment, bloggers' amateur journalism and superfluous fact-checking needs have superseded the institutional press’ authority and social relevance forcing mainstream publications to essentially re-write articles in a conversational, dim-witted voice and post them in rudimentary html blog-designs to appeal to their ardent constituency.
Blogger can range in quality; from the too insightful, therefore tedious Coolfer, the inside baseball echo chamber Idolator, to the feel-good, water-cooler friendly Stereogum.
A reliable species, the music blogger is dependably homely, rotund and socially awkward; more comfortable behind a computer screen than dealing with dreaded public interaction. The one exception being the rock concert – a sanctuary where pasty-skinned bloggers suddenly become mild extroverts; crossing the Mason-Dixon Line between privileged music industry elite and ticket-buying civilians to fraternize with fans, shamelessly snapping photos and vying for set-list access.
Recent empirical evidence shows that despite tangible cultural contribution, the bloggers relevance continues to ascend. France's version of the keener amateur journalist is the blogueur. Dude, did you check out the new Takka Takka mp3 over at Brooklyn Vegan? Bro, it was sick.
The King of Comedy=Golden Child? Former Collaborator May Disagree
Current unimpeachable king of comedy Judd Apatow is on a roll, yes? His unassailable track record includes, "Freaks & Geeks, "Anchorman," "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and this summer's impending "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" look to make him all the more untouchable (he also has "Walk Hard" starring John C. Reily as a washed-up rock star and "The Pineapple Express" on deck for next year).
However, not everybody is down with the comedic Midas-touch man. One person in particular who may have issue is underdog champion and former writer "Freaks & Geeks" writer Mike White who has gone to carve out his own niche in Hollywood writing sweet-natured loser vehicles like "Chuck & Buck," "The School of Rock," "Nacho Libre" and his directorial debut, "Year of the Dog."
White thinks Apatow's boy's club is becoming a little insensitive and calls out their skewering of women and gays.
"To me, I definitely stand in the corner of wanting to give voice to the bullied, and not the bully. Here's where comedy is catharsis for people who are picked on. There's a strain in Knocked Up where you sort of feel like something’s changed a little bit. My sense of it is that because those guys are idiosyncratic-looking, their perception is that they're still the underdogs. But there is something about the spirit of the thing, that comes under the guise of comedy, where — it's weird. At some point it starts feeling like comedy of the bullies, rather than the bullied."
Could White be on to something? Does this mean no writing assignments on "Zohan" or "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"? What do underdog's do once they break-out of their indie ghetto's and become mainstream? A tricky line that Apatow and company will have to think about when their soon-to-be mega-hits are released later this summer.
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