As I mess with the fine tuning of “Nick’s Van,” there are a
lot of doubt as to whether or not the movie plays. I honestly lost perspective
as I’ve seen it more times than I care to think about. Yes, even I get burned
out. I really can’t imagine what it must be like in the feature world. One
thing to consider when putting together a story: with logistical problems, my
main focus now is smooth out some really uneven parts.
The movie in total (now that I’ve been away) seems to be a
longer movie. In other words, a feature length film crammed into a short film.
I’m not sure how it got to this point, or whether or not it’s just me being
paranoid, but a movie CAN be ruined by overthinking it. I think once you get a
lot of eyes on it, everyone obviously has an opinion. This is why it is
imperative to watch with an audience and gauge their reaction. Unfortunately I
don’t have the money or time to do so. So I get what I get. Intuitively,
something about my first cut always felt like the right pace. I’m not sure why,
but I’ve been advised to shorn off the call and response dialogue. In other
words, you talk then I talk, then you talk again. For some reason, this seemed
to abbreviate the movie to a place I don’t like. The mood suddenly has felt
more hurried. Or maybe that’s just in my mind. I’m not sure. Do the characters
bond too fast, not fast enough, is it believable, how do we feel about them?
Are they flushed out right? These are painful questions that need to be
answered for the final. It may also be that I’m hearing too many voices when it
comes to the direction of the movie. Not sure.
This made me think of the fiasco which was “Fantastic Four”
this weekend. A movie directed by a young guy named Josh Trank. He directed a
movie which left a bad taste in my mouth…”Chronicle.” It was well done, but
fell apart in the end. That aside, he was hired by 20th Century Fox
to reboot the franchise. If rumors are correct, the studio really did a dance
with this guy. Not sure the logistics, but basically it seemed he had ideas of
what the movie should be, the studio had THEIR idea of what it should be. Seems
he wasn’t present for the re-shoots or the re-edits. In other words, the studio
hired this youngster to be just a director by proxy. Man…that’s gotta smart.
Personally, I’d like someone to give me feedback, though doubt it’d be that
helpful during the actual shoot. What makes this issue much more interesting is
that Trask later went on to Tweet (most likely knowing what this could do to
his career) a harsh criticism to how awful the movie became when the studio
took over. Waaaay too many cooks in the kitchen. Worse…the cooks were in
charge. If you were to put two high profile projects together and compare, you
could see where one went wrong and one that went right. The example I mean is
“Jurassic World.” Colin Travarrow is a hired gun. He has neither the pedigree,
nor the experience to helm something this large. BUT, he had the guiding hand
of Steven Spielberg. Obviously a filmmaker who is trustworthy. On the other
end, Josh Trask had…no one. He as a director thrown to the wolves to fend for
himself. Which is the impression I get. A lot has been said of his ego, which I
can’t vouch either way. All I can say is that when studio wants you to do it
their way, you either go with the machine, take the paycheck and remain quiet.
Or fight the uphill battle. If that is arrogance and ego to you, so be it. But
we’re not in the wilting lily business. It’s a hard grind. And insecurity
breeds bad behavior. I’m in a quandary that doesn’t have Spielberg to bail me
out. I deal with what I got. And all I can say is the adage of…if I’ve made a
mistake, at least make it big. At least that what my football coach use to say.
He didn’t care if I committed a penalty, as long as it’s on a big play and it
prevented the other team from scoring, he didn’t care if I de-pants the
quarterback. This is the risk of putting your guts into everything you do. Sometimes
you will get drawn and quartered. Is it a good product. I can sense it is. But
sensibilities are different. As are perspective. Since it’s my baby, I don’t know if it’s ugly. Just that
it’s mine. And not to sound corny, but I am proud of the accomplishment. In the
case of Josh Trask, it seems they took was could’ve been his baby and gave it
rhinoplasty, fake boobs and hair plugs and called it a baby (it seems from his
statements).
I hope I don’t get to that point. It is a constant warning
to all those who want to make studio movies, these aren’t YOUR movies. Those
who want to buffer themselves from the angry public…would do well to maybe make
a studio movie. Those who want their stamp will be facing bigger obstacles. I
think the Duplass Brothers navigated it best, by making nickel and dime movies.
Staying out of the studio is the surest way to do what you want. But the longer
road. I think it’s respectable to suffer for your art. Just not in the way the
studio wants. That’s the other adage…if you’re going to suffer, it might as
well be something you believe in.
The lesson here is that, if you deal with the Devil, no one
blames the Devil.
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