Procrastinating...Sort Of...

I don’t think I can go a day now without writing. To be perfectly frank, I write in my blog to procrastinate from script writing. I’ve got three features now that I’ve not gotten to since…I’ve been distracted by watching movies again. Not sure what the new drive is, but a lot has to do with studying how the great ones did it. To, possibly, make movies the way they did. I LOVE Billy Wilder, Preston Sturges and Ernst Lubitsch. And they all respected each other. I was listening to Peter Bogdanovich speak on Gilbert Gottfried’s podcast recently and he mentioned that the younger filmmakers today refuse to watch older movies. I hope he wasn’t referring to my generation, because the guys I know really love them. They are as fresh to me as any superhero movie. Any of these comedies from the 40’s is EXACTLY the same banter they did 60 years earlier. They didn’t need tights and super powers to do it. It’s like people don’t credit classical music to notice that Aerosmith RIPPED OFF Bach. Or that rappers ripped off EVERYONE. Even Michael MacDonald…you fiends! (Warren G).

But, I suppose I’m no better. I study their movies to see what I can steal. According to Bogdanovich though, a lot of these old timey guys don’t care if you rip them off. He mentions the movie Howard Hawks’ “Bringing Up Baby” to which Bogdanovich told Hawks he stole parts to make “What’s New, Pussycat?” To which, after he saw it, Hawks wondered why he didn’t steal MORE from it. Haha. Then Hawks traveled the world taking photographs of the marquee that showed Bogdanovich’s movie. THAT’S fucking why we make movies.

The best anecdote from this is what Jimmy Stewart said to him. The question being what we all who make movies wonder…why do we make movies? Stewart’s answer was so simple it's endearing…he simply said that there was one time when a guy had stopped him and told him he loved a speech he did for a movie. It was a movie that was already 20 years old. But it left an impression on him. Even that many years later. To Stewart, we make movies to give people moments of and to their lives. Creating memories, or perhaps recalling memories. I think, in the end, all we have are memories. We cherish them like gold. More than gold.

Preston Sturges wrote every day. Even when he was at his lowest and Hollywood turned its back. Like most of his characters, he's an optimist. Something that didn't necessarily set him up for his last days. But...I would guess he lived life to the fullest.