Afternoon Finger Lickers! As I hope most of you have noticed, we have moved our domain fingerlickinindie.com from WordPress.com hosting to our own hosting solution. This has given us far more flexibility over the site itself, allowed us to begin work on new features and means that we can really take things to the next level. As always we are amazingly grateful for you support and hope that if you haven’t found your way to our new site yet that you’ll follow the link and update your bookmarks and RSS readers.

Thanks, and see you over at fingerlickinindie.com,

Kieran Masterton – Founder

Left pane: Suspiria poster; Top right: David Gordon Green; Bottom left: Vibrant lighting in a scene from Suspiria.

Afternoon splatter fans! What is it with remakes that really enrage me this week? Today, Finger Lickin’ Indie has learnt that rising indie director David Gordon Green, known for his 2000 film George Washington and his upcoming flick starring Seth Rogen, Pineapple Express, is planning to remake 1977 slasher-classic Suspiria by Italian horror maestro Dario Argento.

Suspiria is an extremely stylised expressionistic film which is the first of a trilogy known as The Three Mothers, all focusing on evil/supernatural forces attempting to break through into our world. The film stars Jessica Harper as Suzy Bannion, a young American dancer who arrives at her prestigious German dance school to discover it is actually an evil witches coven. Suspiria is brilliant, with vibrant colours and dramatic lighting, and while some would dismiss his work as disgusting or depraved, I believe Argento should be considered alongside Hitchcock and Orson Welles.

The news that Green is planning to remake Suspiria is extremely unfortunate as the horror canon is already deluged with crappy remakes that do nothing to reinterpret the original and often copy the films frame for frame. Even worse, some of them attempt to explain the unexplainable. A perfect example being the case of Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween. These films that try to provide a reasonable impetus to a formerly motivationally devoid killer baffle me! Anyway, it is true that these films have had some box office success but with torture porn fans crawling all over the horror scene, this is only to be expected. One thing I can say is that I don’t expect the same expressionistic flare to the lighting because lets face it, that really wouldn’t sell these days. It could only have been the 70s folks!

Finally, I want to leave you with this. Instead of going out and rampantly consuming all these horror remakes. Go online, go to your DVD rental shop, rummage through some old VHS and find the original and enjoy!

Here’s just a taste of what to expect from Suspiria:

Left pane: Simon Pegg; Top Right: Simon Pegg as Tim and Nick Frost as Mike; Bottom Right: Jessica Stevenson as Daisy

Goooood lord! Is nothing sacred anymore?!?! US producers McG, Wonderland and Fox have teamed up with Will & Grace screenwriter Adam Barr to create an American version of Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes (formerly Stevenson) and Edgar Wright’s British comedy classic Spaced. Spaced! What in all hells name are they thinking?!? For those that don’t know, and indeed don’t hold Spaced dear to their hearts like I’m sure many Finger Lickers do, Spaced is a surreal postmodern TV series that originally aired here in the UK in the late nineties.

Written by Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson the show followed strangers Tim (Pegg) and Daisy (Stevenson) as they pretend to be a couple in order to secure a place to live. Directed by Edgar Wright the series was the launch pad for the likes of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and features much of the same postmodern, intertextual humour that’s present in their feature films. In short, this was an important TV show, not just for myself and my filmmaking peers, but also for British TV. It proved that we still have some fight left in us and that we could produce something of substance that spoke to a generation and was also hilariously funny.

However, the Spaced team only produced two fantastic seasons of the sitcom before moving on to new projects, for Pegg, Wright and Nick Frost (who was also in the series) it was Shaun of the Dead and an incredibly prolific and successful acting career awaited Jessica Stevenson. Ten years later… America decides it’s time for a remake. Simon Pegg, this week, made a statement about the American producers confirmation that a pilot has been green lit explaining his discomfort at not being consulted and his objection to his name being used in the production companies press release. But rather than speak for the man, here is the meat of what he had to say:

My main problem with the notion of a Spaced remake is the sheer lack of respect that Granada/ Wonderland/Warner Bros have displayed in respectively selling out and appropriating our ideas without even letting us know. A decision I can only presume was made as a way of avoiding having to give us any money, whilst at the same time using mine and Edgar’s name in their press release, in order to trade on the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, even professing, as Peter Johnson did, to being a big fan of the show and it’s creators. A device made all the more heinous by the fact that the press release neglected to mention the show’s co-creator and female voice, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson). The fact is, when we signed our contracts ten years ago, we had neither the experience or the kudos to demand any clauses securing any control over future reversioning. We signed away our rights to any input in the show’s international future, because we just wanted to get the show made and these dark days of legal piracy seemed a far away concern. As a result, we have no rights. The show does not belong to us and, those that do own it have no obligation to include us in any future plans. You would perhaps hope though, out of basic professional respect and courtesy, we might have been consulted. It is this flagrant snub and effective vote of no confidence in the very people that created the show, that has caused such affront at our end. If they don’t care about the integrity of the original, why call it Spaced? Why attempt to find some validation by including mine and Edgar’s names in the press release as if we were involved? Why not just lift the premise? Two strangers, pretend to be a couple in order to secure residence of a flat/apartment. It’s hardly Ibsen. Jess and I specifically jumped off from a very mainstream sitcom premise in order to unravel it so completely. Take it, have it, call it Perfect Strangers and hope Balkie doesn’t sue. Just don’t call it Spaced.

— Simon Pegg, 2008

What sickens me most here isn’t the fact that these people are taking advantage of the creative teams prior naivety in signing the contracts, or that the parasitic production company is trading off Simon and Edgar’s good name. What really troubles me here is that they chose not to include Jessica’s name in the press release, an indiscretion that, as Simon points out, means the female voice of the original work is ignored. This is not only disgraceful and rude and disrespectful it also speaks volumes about the cynical nature of the LA marketing machine. Do you think the fact that Jessica is chiefly successful in the UK has anything to do with the oversight? I can see the PR meeting now, “Jessica who? What’s she done? Nah, haven’t seen it. Just put Pegg and Wright in the Press Release they had that big film last year right? Yeah great, keep them ditch the dame!” Morons! If they had any understanding of the original series they would know that the interplay between male and female characters and the inclusion of different thematic elements in order to appeal to both men and women is vital to its success. Yes the show was geeky, but somehow it attracted girls as well, you can’t tell me Jessica wasn’t the key to that attraction. Likewise, if they understood anything about the creative process they would understand that in collaborating Pegg and Stevenson poured much of themselves and their personal qualities into those scripts and that won’t be something they can recreate without including them again in the process.

All I can say is it’s a shame that the folks with the money are normally the folks that are so short sighted and as Pegg says it would have been a basic professional courtesy to have contacted them and asked for some input. Instead… here we are… only time will tell I suppose, but I’m feeling the Spaced team’s pain, as I’m sure do a huge amount of Spaced fans out there.

Want more? You can read the whole of Simon Pegg’s comments here.

Right that’s it from me Spaced fans, goodnight!

K

Left pane: Joel and Ethan Coen; Top right: Brad Pitt in a still from Burn After Reading; Bottom right: George Clooney on set.

Evening Coen fans! So as if them Coen’s haven’t been titillating the press enough recently with their smash hit film No Country for Old Men, some lavish critic lovin’ and no less than four Oscars, yesterday they announced the release date of their new film Burn After Reading.

As most of you will know news about the production has been circulating for a while, but Focus Features officially made the announcement that they will be releasing the Coen’s “dark espionage comedy” on September 12th in North America. When it will come to these shores has not, as yet, been revealed however we know it will premier at Cannes Film Festival on May 14th and according to IMDB (known for its unquestionably reliable information ahem) Finland will be graced with the film on the 21st of November. So if you’re looking for a Finger Lickin’ prediction, I’d say the UK will see the film around the second week of October… but don’t quote me on that.

Burn After Reading boasts an impressive cast including, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, and Joel Coen’s wife, Frances McDormand who also played the adorable Marge Gunderson in Coen classic Fargo. As is often the case, the script is an original piece written by both the brothers and centres around a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent that ends up in the hands of two reprobate gym employees who attempt to sell it. The flick is currently in post-production and is reported to contain the Coen’s usual mix of dark drama and comedy. Other stuff in the Coen’s pre-production pipeline includes: Suburbicon due in 2009, written by the lads, and directed by George Clooney; a remake of 1966 crime comedy Gambit; and back-burner project, the 1920s periodpiece Hail Caesar. So, from that little collection, it looks like the prolific duo are showing no signs of slowing down.

That’s it from me… take it easy,

K

Left pane: Hunter S. Thompson; Top Right: Hunter S. Thompson; Bottom Right: Benicio Del Toro, Hunter S. Thompson, Johnny Depp

Good afternoon finger lickers! One of my heroes Hunter S. Thompson sadly died just over two years ago. At the time I remember re-reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and thinking, “this man was pure genius.” I had a similar thought during a flight to the states where I read the book in just under 8 hours and on a Spanish holiday where I first discovered his work. What never changes for me when it comes to Hunter’s writing is the speed at which I can read and the extent to which I become engrossed. It is important to note that my fervor for the man is not because of his widely publicised glorification of psychedelic drug use, a component of his writing and life that I believe has receive too much attention. I attribute the longevity of my attraction to his work largely to his infectious prose and a fascination with the man’s life. So, it was with much excitement that I read, this morning, a report of a new documentary about his glory years.

Gonzo, the hyperactive first-person and ultra-subjective writing style for which he became famous, has been borrowed as the title of Alex Gibney’s documentary which focuses on the high point of Thompson’s career 1965 – 1975. According to spout.com, Alex Gibney has stated his documentary is a critique of the present day media’s obsession with “phony” objectivity. A cause I think we can all appreciate. Gibney hot off the back of his Best Documentary win at the Oscars for Taxi to the Darkside, a documentary focusing largely on American torture practices in Afghanistan and an innocent taxi driver who was tortured and killed in 2002, last week spoke and screened his new film at True/False film festival in Columbia, Missouri.

The film is reported to contain as yet unseen home movies, audio recordings and unpublished manuscripts. While I am very very keen to see the flick I hope that it does not give us too much of an insight into the “real” Hunter S. Thompson because one of the most endearing facets of the man, for me, was his enigmatic and perhaps mythical persona. Think of him fondly; read his work; watch the flick.

K

Left pane: Cormac McCarthy; Bottom right: Guy Pearce and John Hillcoat.

Gooood morning finger lickers! As I write this with bed head of astronomical proportions there is glorious sunshine streaming through my windows. Aaaaaaaaaah spring is here film fans. And with it comes news of the latest Cormac McCarthy silver screen adaptation. While slurping a moca-frapa-capa-latte in Starbucks with good friend and fellow Finger Lickin’ contributor Mark this weekend; we discussed my recent article about Literary Arrogance and McCarthy’s work in general. After our chat, I got intrigued and did some high profile investigative journalism (googled it) and found that the very book I am currently reading, McCathy’s The Road, is now in production.

The book and therefore undoubtedly the film, though you can never trust Hollywood, is a tale of a father’s struggle to save the life of his son in a cannibalistic post-apocalyptic America. While I am only half way through the book, I am totally gripped. The prose is beautiful and exquisitely descriptive and I hope that Joe Penhall, who penned the screenplay, will be able to deliver the same flavour. Cast in the role of the father is the brilliant Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence) and the casting of his son has caused a X-Men style who-ha in recent days. As many of you, I’m sure, are aware X-Men Origins: Wolverine was forced to change shooting schedule and this has caused a clash in young Kodi Smit-McPhee’s (brilliant name btw.) diary. Kodi was originally destined to play young Logan in Wolverine but sensibly, in my opinion, has decided to drop the Wolverine flick in order to work with The Road’s Australian director John Hillcoat.

So what else do we know about The Road, well not very much other than the following folks are attached to the project Viggo Mortensen, as I said, Charlize Theron, playing his wife, Robert Duvall is rumoured to be involved and Guy Pearce has an IMDB credit with no character name. Likewise, due for release in 2009 but currently still in development by Ridley Scott is McCarthy’s 1985 Western, Blood Meridian. In an interview with nymag.com Scott has the following insight about the literary adaptation:

It’s about the end and the turning point for the American Indian, but it’s a pocket in that time — and it’s a hard one because it’s a wonderful read, and I think it should be kept that way. When one makes a film, you’ve got to make it like the read.

It would seem that with big names like Scott, Mortensen, Peace and Theron involved in adapting McCarthy’s work that this spree of adaptations might continue, should it prove to pay well at the box office. Which, after the success of No Country for Old Men, I can’t see being a problem for The Road. All I can say is that I hope they are as faithful to his original text as No Country because it seems to have been the Coen’s courage in not contorting the story into a Hollywood mould that has been so successful.

That’s it from me… I’m off to the shops in some glorious sunshine.

K

Evening Finger Lickers! While lounging in the bath this afternoon, yes it was a very lazy day, I was reading the Times Book supplement and came across an article by David Baddiel about the Academy Awards. Regular Finger Lickers will know my feelings about the Oscars and so I don’t want to dwell on the subject in too much depth, however, I felt that this article deserved a mention.

I have no real feelings about Baddiel either way, I have never read one of his books and have never been a particular fan of his stand-up shows. However, I began the article with neither positive nor negative feelings towards the man. He begins his analysis of the proceedings discussing the swing in recent years from “good book, bad movie” to “good book, good movie.” He then continues to explain how significant it is that the three extremely sucessful films at this year’s Oscars Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and No Country for Old Men are extremely faithful reproductions of the original text. Going as far as suggesting that Cormac McCarthy’s book was so cinematic in nature that he alludes to McCarthy doing the Coens (love them Coens mmmhmm) job for them. His parting shot is to suggest these filmic adaptations provide a “literary experience” rather than a “cinematic experience” and here’s the passage that really annoyed me:

This is what I mean by a literary experience: you feel challenged, subverted, disturbed and a bit alienated by the movie. You don’t cry, or punch the air, or shout “you go, girlfriend” or think “cool” in response to a really big explosion. Thus it’s more like reading a post-modern novel than going to the cinema. And thus it has won a lot of awards.

What complete and utter literary arrogance, yes this film undoubtedly owes a good deal of its success to Cormac McCarthy’s original text. That I am not disputing. However, the utter arrogance, to suggest that the experience he describes is made up of facets only found in post-modern fiction. Indie film has been pushing the boundaries of mainstream cinema for decades by challenging, subverting, disturbing, and alienating its audience through alternative forms of storytelling. This mainstream success by a film with indie hallmarks is not solely due to its literary roots. It owes a great dept of gratitude to a huge number of indie films that have paved the way and acclimatised the mainstream audience to a different form of cinematic experience. The suggestion that this film owes its Oscar success to its ability to provide a literary experience is absurd, not only because it demonstrates dreadfully narrow thinking, but also because it highlights the author’s utter lack of knowledge about cinema.

K

Afternoon finger lickers! The following is, without a shadow of a doubt, gross conjecture offered without any solid research or factual foundation, but when did that ever stop me…

I always felt kinda smug about the whole environmental issue. Growing up I always figured that Britain was a far greener nation than the United States. What with the media who-ha over Kyoto and everything. So in my dealings with Americans, my wife being a notable example, I was always suitably pompous in the “it isn’t easy being green” debate. Yes, that’s right, our local town council collects glass, paper, plastic, garden and food waste separately and no, we’re not all driving huge petrol guzzling vehicles that could be used to invade Iraq. But, as I’ve grown older and more socially aware the realisation that I don’t really do anything personally to reduce my environmental impact hit home and I began to think more about green issues in relation to filmmaking. From the miles of celluloid consumed every year to the electricity used in powering countless square feet of studio and post production space, the impact must be colossal.

Recently, after a couple of weeks of reading Hank Green’s ecogeek.org blog, I began to think about the environmental impact of not just Hollywood, who were evil to start with in my book, but also indie filmmakers. Are indie filmmakers intrinsically greener than Hollywood? Is it not just a matter of economic circumstance that forces us to consume less? I believe that we should be continually mindful of environmental issues in our filmmaking rather than resting on our laurels because we’re not as bad as the very bad man on the west coast of north America! Being virtuous only in comparison to the worse offender is nothing to be proud of in my opinion. I instantly thought of the efforts of Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute to encourage us all to be greener. However, I do not believe that having Lexus sponsor the “Lexus Hybrid Living Lounge” at this years festival is the way forward in the fight to reduce global warming… Lexus for god sake! It is however the way forward in advertising really huge unnecessary vehicles.

It seems to me, that if we want to encourage true green credentials for Indies then what is really important here is the epistemological and ideological imperatives behind the two groups. These are of course hugely diverse in the indie world. While Hollywood is contained both physically and demographically Indie filmmakers are undoubtably heterogeneous in nature. This is not just middle-class white america we’re dealing with. This is a gigantic spectrum of artists working all over the globe. However, in comparison to “the industry” the ideology marking the foundations of indie film is still in its relative infancy. So, I believe that while epistemologically Indie filmmakers are naturally disparate it is at the heart of their shared ideology that we need to inject environmental sound underpinnings.

This realisation in turn got me to thinking about the indie dream. Digital self-production and digital self-distribution. We have an extremely viable and successful model for self-production using digital platforms, however, what the environmental impact of this model is, I have no idea. I would hazard an uneducated guess that given the economically frugal nature of our productions means our footprint must be massively smaller than the beached whale that is Hollywood. However, as I said earlier this ‘only in comparison to’ thinking is flawed. What we need to do is inject green values into the progress of the indie take-over. With the likes of From Here to Awesome making the dream of self-distribution an ever growing reality the indies will undoubtably garner far more control over the market. Should this model grow as I know Lance, Arin and M dot Strange are keen for it to do I believe that the market can be truly flattened creating an almost seamless connection between filmmaker and viewer. It is with this “indie take-over” that could come the collapse of Hollywood and the democratization of the art form. With indie filling the Hollywood void it should therefore have progressively green values and it this I want to encourage.

I believe it is more important to encourage the indies, who I am certain will ultimately replace or grow to be a serious threat to Hollywood to undertake green practices than to attempt to retroactively impose these values on an industry that evidently doesn’t care. If we can introduce these imperatives at this relatively early stage we have a fighting chance of educating the world through one the most powerful entertainment mediums on the planet and reducing the impact of an industry that is no doubt a huge contributor to global warming. What are these imperatives and practices I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. Anyone with more knowledge of these issues please get in contact and maybe I can get Hank Green to write a guest Finger Lickin’ blog to highlight some of the most important issues.

I need to go away and get facts and figures to back up my assertions so for now… watch this space….

K

Left pane: Rotoscoped Richard Linklater; Top left: Patricia Arquette and Ellar Salmon; Bottom left: Scene from Linklater classic Slacker.

Good evening fancy free finger lickers! Tonight’s bloggage is more of a musing than a piece of indie news. As I’m sure loads of you are aware Richard Linklater, inspirational director of Slacker and Dazed and Confused, is working on a long term project with the working title Boyhood. The concept behind the flick is that Linklater’s fictional family Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Salmon are visited every year for twelve years, meaning the child will actually grow-up in front of the camera.

The film will follow divorced couple Hawke and Arquette and their son Ellar Salmon, pictured above with his on screen mother Patricia Arquette. Ellar is aged six at the outset and the flick will culminate when he finishes High School, meaning the film will be released, at the earliest, in 2013. There’s not really much more information about the project but I have to say I’m incredibly excited about the alternative form that this film seems to be taking. I would love to see an online teaser or something and it makes me wonder if Linklater will take the online/viral/longtail approach to marketing the picture.

I heard about Boyhood a good long time ago but I have been thinking a lot about alternative forms of filmmaking and narrative structure for my own films and it got me thinking about filmmakers that are in their element with this type work. Linklater is undoubtedly at his most powerful when he’s working with different, avant-garde filmmaking forms. Slacker, Dazed and Confused and A Scanner Darkly being notable examples of these alternative takes on film narrative. And this gives me huge confidence that Boyhood might be something really special, but with 5 years to wait I better learn to be patient.

Right, that’s it from me… more information when I have it!

K

California based film festival Cinequest opens its doors today in San Jose. The festival will present an impressive 250 films before its over on March 9th. Of those 250, 100 films have been chosen for online distribution through Jaman. The festival this year will be honoring the likes of Danny Glover (The Royal Tenenbaums), Bobby Moresco (Academy-Award® winning writer, Million Dollar Baby and Crash) and Michael Arndt (Academy-Award® winner Best Original Screenplay, Little Miss Sunshine). As well as showcasing those films that don’t fit the Hollywood mould.

Jaman, an online film rental site, is showcasing the trailers for 100 of the films on their website and are generously (or not so generously) giving away three films of your choice for free. While I applaud the film festival for embracing the internet as a new form of online distribution… three films… really? I can see the business model. Get film fans onto the site by offering the festival a platform etc. But three films? Come on Jaman you can do better than that! Also I wonder what percentage of the online rental price the filmmakers are getting, I suspected 0% which is an utter crime. I may be wrong and Jaman are offering the filmmakers a cut but I suspect, like so many others, Jaman are getting the full whack and the filmmaker is just grateful that his or her work is being seen… criminal. Anywho, check out the Cinequest website and Jaman’s festival selection pages for more information and to watch the trailers – there’s some gooduns!

That’s it from me,

K