281 “I was wrong. I didn’t get it…”: Russell, author interview.
281 “a brilliant exercise in popular but palpable surrealism …”: Richard Schickel, Time, October 4, 1999.
281 “Salvador, with elements of M*A*S*H…”: Owen Gleiberman, “Spoils of War,” Entertainment Weekly, October 8, 1999.
282 “Three Kings is Hollywood with a twist…”: Kenneth Turan, “A Crowning Effort: David O. Russell has made Three Kings a Gripping (and Wickedly Witty) Movie That Is More Than Just a War Film,” Los Angeles Times, October 1, 1999.
282 “Too little, too late”: Janet Maslin, “Fighting the Battle of Money and Greed,” New York Times, October 1, 1999.
282 “Mark Wahlberg?”: David Fincher, author interview.
282 “uncomprehending concern and panic …”: New York Times, September 1999.
283 he called George Clooney: Harvey Weinstein, author interview.
283 “it was the best movie of the year”: Weinstein, author interview.
284 “It’s a revolution …”: Lynn Hirschberg, “His Way,” New York Times, December 19, 1999; Russell, author interview.
284 “New Line loves the movie …”: Ibid.
285 In a behind-the-scenes documentary: That Moment, by Mark Rance, Magnolia DVD.
285 “What did you think of the script?”: Ibid.
285 “I have two words for you: Final cut”: Robert Shaye, author interview.
286 “I hate that kind of arrogance …”: Shaye, author interview.
286 On a lark, he showed it to a general audience: Paul Thomas Anderson, author interview.
286 De Luca heaved a big sigh: Dylan Tichenor, author interview.
286 “It’s indulgent. Let’s leave it”: Hirschberg, “His Way.”
287 “Fuck you, buddy,” shouted De Luca: Tichenor, author interview.
287 “You have to sit in the movie and really absorb it…”: Hirschberg, “His Way.”
287 “I thought about what you said …”: Shaye, author interview.
287 “I’d take out eight”: Anderson, author interview.
287 “If I needed to take out ten more minutes …”: Anderson, author interview.
287 “I love Magnolia …”: Mike De Luca, author interview.
288 “didn’t get what Paul wanted, didn’t understand him.”: Joanne Sellar, author interview.
288 “He developed the film himself, too”: That Moment, Magnolia DVD.
289 “I know I’m a lucky guy”: Hirshberg, “His Way.”
289 “shrill”: Desson Howe, “Shrill Magnolia,” Washington Post, January 7, 2000.
289 “heady”: Rita Kempley, “Flower Power: Cruise & Company in a Heady Magnolia,” Washington Post, January 7, 2000.
289 “…a God-mad chunk of pure American magic …”: Stephen Hunter, “Miraculous Magnolia; That Swirl of Surreal Images? Take Them at Faith Value,” Washington Post, January 23, 2000.
289 “Magnolia is drunk and disorderly …”: “Kenneth Turan,” Random Lives, Bound by Chance,” Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1999.
289 “as the desperate reach for some larger meaning …”: Janet Maslin, “Entangled Lives on the Cusp of the Millennium,” New York Times, December 17, 1999.
289 “emotional immaturity”: Henry Sheehan, “A False Feel to Magnolia,” Orange County Register, December 17, 1999.
291 “We didn’t like where we were going …”: John Horn, “Safer Movies, Less Moxie at New Line,” Los Angeles Times, December 9, 2002.
Chapter Twelve
293 “cheerfully fascist …”: Roger Ebert, “Fight Stresses Frightful Ideas; Fascism Wins by Knockout,” Chicago Sun-Times, October 15, 1999.
294 “a witless mishmash …”: Kenneth Turan, “Fight Club, Alternating Between Sheer Tedium and Churning Violence, Has a Bigger Misguided Idea at Its Core,” Los Angeles Times, October 15, 1999.
294 “dumb and brutal shock show of a movie …”: Lisa Schwarzbaum, “Dead Battery,” Entertainment Weekly, October 22, 1999.
294 “a load of rancid depressing swill …” Rex Reed, “Membership Can Hurt Careers … Cross Country by Law Mower,” New York Observer, October 19, 1999.
294 “not only anti-capitalist, but anti-society and indeed, anti-God,”: Alexander Walker, “How could Brad and Helena do it?,” Evening Standard (London), September 10, 1999.
294 “How can a movie that is a proponent of no solution whatsoever be labeled …”: Andrew Pulver, “Fight the Good Fight,” Guardian, October 29, 1999.
294 “I wanted the Pauline Kaels of today …”: Bill Mechanic, author interview.
294 “Early on in Fight Club …”: David Thomson, “Brilliance and Promise Will Only Go So Far,” New York Times, October 17, 1999.
295 “visionary and disturbing …”: Janet Maslin, “Such a Very Long Way from Duvets to Danger,” New York Times, October 15, 1999.
295 “a provocative experience …”: Stephen Hunter, “Fight Club: No Holds Barred,” Washington Post, October 15, 1999.
295 Anita Busch, wrote a scathing column: Anita Busch, “On the Beat,” Hollywood Reporter, October 12, 1999.
296 “I don’t care if you didn’t like the movie …”: Mechanic, author interview.
296 Anita Busch letter to David Poland: Courtesy David Poland.
296 Fincher overheard two women: Pulver, “Fight the Good Fight.”
296 “I honestly thought the film was funny …”: David Fincher, author interview.
296 “a sharp stick in the eye …”: ‘Todd Doogan,’ “Todd Doogan Interviews David Fincher” available at www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/fightclub/fincherinterview.html
297 “It wasn’t violence with no context…”: Laura Ziskin, author interview.
297 “Fight Club belongs to a distinct moment …”: Gavin Smith, “Gavin Smith Goes One-on-One with David Fincher,” Film Comment, September/October 1999.
297 “an incredibly irresponsible film”: David Konow, “PTA meeting,” Creative Screenwriting 7, no. 1 (January 2000).
298 “In some ways Quentin inspired me …”: David O. Russell, author interview.
298 “It’s the rare movie …”: Quentin Tarantino, author interview.
298 News item, Auburn, Washington: Beth Laski, “Injury linked to Fight Club Match,” Hollywood Reporter, November 1, 1999.
299 News item, Utah: Julie Cart, “Utah Governor’s Son Charged in Fight Club,” Los Angeles Times, April 11, 2002.
299 News item, Bumfight: “Fight Clubbed,” Hollywood Reporter, June 23, 2003.
300 “Ever been at a movie where people all laugh, cheer, and clap …”: Blayne Haggart, “Fight Club Cult: Why the Brad Pitt Film Has Risen from Box Office Bomb to Satirical Masterpiece,” Ottowa Citizen, May 7, 2000.
300 “I need one of those clubs”: New York Daily News, September 15, 1999.
301 “Once in a great while …”: David Green, “Counterpunch: The Fight Club Debate,” Los Angeles Times, November 1, 1999.
301 “It was palpable …”: Edward Norton, author interview.
302 “In twenty, thirty years …”: Tom Sherak, author interview.
302 Murdoch “thought this was a despicable movie”: Mechanic, author interview.
302 “Any movie can get you fired …”: Mechanic, author interview.
Chapter Thirteen
303 “Are you offering him the part …” Laura Bickford, Benicio Del Toro, author interviews.
304 He went down over the border: Del Toro, author interview.
304 “My character was not very researched …”: Del Toro, author interview.
304 “The thing is, I had to believe …”: Del Toro, author interview.
304 “So many times we’ve done movies …”: Hugh Hart, “Every Word Counts, If He Can Help It,” Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2000.
305 “Benicio was better as a bad guy …”: Confidential source, author interview.
306 Seagram’s chief, Edgar Bronfman, Jr.: Geraldine Fabrikant, “Diller Is Leaving Vivendi Ente
rtainment Post,” New York Times, March 20, 2003.
306 “USA is hunting for smart thrillers …”: Charles Lyons and Dan Cox, “USA Now on Map,” Variety, February 18, 2000.
306 “There was a sense of quiet desperation …”: Russell Schwartz, author interview.
307 “an abused-child executive”: Confidential source, author interview.
307 “We didn’t want to be at Miramax …”: Bickford, author interview.
307 “Why haven’t you offered Harrison this movie?”: Bickford, author interview.
308 “But we’re shooting in March …”: Bickford, author interview.
309 “Pat, we only have two million dollars …”: Bickford, author interview.
309 Ford’s script changes: Steven Soderbergh, author interview.
310 “It was a real mess”: Bickford, author interview.
310 “Let’s get Harrison and make the film at USA …”: Bickford, author interview.
310 Murdoch owed Rice’s father a debt …: Tom Sherak, author interview.
311 eventually fronting $200,000: Soderbergh, author interview.
311 “Traffic Jammed with Talent,” Variety, January 27, 2000.
311 “Fox Traffic Jams: Ford, Zeta-Jones Onboard for Soderbergh Pic,” Variety, February 16, 2000.
311 “Ford Exits Traffic as Talks Collapse,” Variety, February 24, 2000.
312 “He didn’t have to give a reason”: Soderbergh, author interview.
312 “We all thought he should do the movie …”: John Lesher, author interview.
312 “We were all hoping on Sunday…”: Bickford, author interview.
312 “We were pushing so hard …”: Soderbergh, author interview.
313 $10 million up front: Bickford, author interview; Jim Wiatt, author interviews.
313 “Michael Douglas with a higher price tag …”: Bill Mechanic, author interview.
314 “Promise me you will not call Jim Wiatt …”: Pat Dollard, author interview.
314 “Someone had to call Jim Wiatt …”: Dollard, author interview.
314 Wiatt does not recall: Wiatt, author interview.
314 “He’ll do it for $5 million …”: Dollard, author interview.
314 Bickford got a phone call: Bickford, author interview.
315 “a $49 million Dogma film …”: Soderbergh in Film Comment, January 2001.
316 “It’s the kind of question …”: Schwartz, author interview.
316 Soderbergh threatened to drop the project. …David Jensen, author interview.
316 “He said it very strongly”: Schwartz, author interview.
316 “The first day’s footage was fine …”: Soderbergh, author interview.
316 “It was white”: Bickford, author interview.
316 “We called the lab, freaking out”: Bickford, author interview.
316 “We never did figure out what happened …”: Bickford, author interview.
316 they learned it cost only $3,000 to order a hit: Bickford, author interview.
317 “Can you imagine …”: Bickford, author interview.
317 “I’d shoot any fucking thing …”: Anthony Kaufman, ed., Steve Soderbergh Interviews (Jackson: University of Press of Mississippi, 2002), 150.
317 “I loved working like that…”: Del Toro, author interview.
318 Del Toro didn’t like the white T-shirt: Del Toro, author interview.
318 Soderbergh “Maniphesto” published in Variety, August 17, 1998.
319 He called five times in a day: Bickford, author interview.
320 Screen Actors Guild complained: Ethan Nadelmann, author interview.
320 Casting Albert Finney: Bickford, author interview.
321 “I had a lot of conversations with Gaghan …”: Soderbergh, author interview.
322 “We were doing the first take …”: Bickford, author interview.
322 “My argument was, if we believe in this movie …”: Schwartz, author interview.
323 “We thought Barry Diller was getting bored …”: Schwartz, author interview.
323 “It was like they’d been waiting …”: Sean Mitchell, “Protesting Another Misgudied War,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2001.
324 “You don’t have to be an artist…”: Owen Gleiberman, “The High Drama,” Entertainment Weekly, January 5, 2001.
324 “Traffic offers an astoundingly vivid …”: David Denby, “Fast Track; Movies for the Holidays,” New Yorker, December 25, 2000.
324 “a willingly anonymous Everyman …”: Ella Taylor, “In a Lonely Place,” L.A. Weekly, December 22, 2000.
324 Michael Wilmington: Michael Wilmington, “Show-Stopping Traffic,” Chicago Tribune, January 5, 2001.
325 “Given what this film shows …”: Kenneth Turan, “Blurring the Battle Lines: Traffic Examines the Costly War Against Drugs. But It Puts Back From Its Logical Conclusion,” Los Angeles Times, December 27, 2000.
325 “People were asking me …”: Rick Lyman, “Traffic Screenplay Author Comes Clean About the Long Weekend That Changed His Life,” New York Times, February 15, 2001.
326 “Where I come from people …”: Bickford, author interview.
326 “bogged down by generic formulas …”: Richard Porton, Traffic Review, Cineaste, Summer 2001.
327 “I thought it was sobering …”: Lewis Break, “Ray Kelly: Film’s the Real Deal,” New York Daily News, December 27, 2000
327 “Shame on you”: Michael Massing, “The Reel Drug War,” Nation, February 15, 2001.
328 “The Nation’s Michael Massing wrote a piece …”: Ibid.
328 Gary Rosen called to resist that path: Gary Rosen, “Traffic and the War on Drugs,” by Commentary (April 2001).
328 William Bennett warned: William Bennet, “The Real Lessons from Traffic.” Washington Post, February 18, 2001.
328 “They were disturbed by the depiction of drug abuse …”: Bill Hendrick, “Traffic,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 31, 2001.
328 “Within months the dialogue …”: Soderbergh, author interview.
329 “You sent us the Spanish version”: Schwartz, author interview.
330 “He’s a born-again filmmaker …”: David Ansen, “From Erin Brockovich to Traffic in One Short Year,” Newsweek, January 8, 2001.
330 “That period of Out of Sight, The Limey …”: Soderbergh, author interview.
331 “… the process has gotten much harder …”: Soderbergh, author interview.
Conclusion
333 Russell evening at MoMA: Videotape of event, courtesy David O. Russell.
334 Natalie Herniak, had asked Spike Jonze: Natalie Herniak, author interview.
334 “That night felt like …”: John Lesher, author interview.
335 Russell backed out: David O. Russell, author interview.
336 “We sent everyone Requiem for a Dream …”: Darren Aronofsky, author interview.
337 “Here’s payback for Traffic…”: Bill Mechanic, author interview.
338 “Fight Club is very much about the psychological fallout …”: Edward Norton, author interview.
339 “I didn’t watch Boogie Nights …”: Quentin Tarantino, author interview.
340 “This is a story that goes back all the way to the …”: Steven Soderbergh, author interview.
INDEX
The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific passage, please use the search feature of your e-book reader.
About Schmidt, xx, 337
Abraham, Marc, 124
Acord, Lance, 204, 205, 208, 209
Adaptation, 155, 176, 206, 207, 275, 279, 337–38
Aday, Meat Loaf, 225
Aerosmith, 147
Affleck, Ben, 27, 80
Air Force One, xvi
Albee, Edward, 301
Alda, Alan, 48, 216
Alien 3, 140, 147–49
Allen, Woody, xiv
All That Jazz, 145
Almost Fa
mous, 179, 192
Altman, Robert, x, 97, 172, 315, 339
Amadeus, xvi
American Beauty, 175–76, 251, 252, 283–84, 337
American Dream, 39–40
American Graffiti, 143
American History X, 178, 290–91
American Psycho, 134
Amiel, Jon, 32
Anders, Allison, 32, 131
Anderson, Ernie, 83–85, 117, 118, 193
Anderson, Juliet, 174
Anderson, Marguerite, 84
Anderson, Paul Thomas, xi-xiv, xviii-xxi, 32, 76–77, 81, 83–92, 115–18, 120–23, 165–74, 191–98, 218, 251, 252, 268, 284–90, 297–98, 336, 339
Anderson, Wes, x, xiii, 32, 120, 129, 231–32, 334, 336, 337, 339
Angels with Dirty Faces, 329
Anna and the King, 27, 302
Ansen, David, 171, 172, 278, 330
Apocalypse Now, x
Apple, Fiona, 193–94, 286
Arbus, Diane, 163
Aronofsky, Darren, x-xi, 336
Arquette, Patricia, 109, 334
Arquette, Rosanna, 69, 71
Ashby, Hal, x, 339
Asner, Jules, 337
Assassins, 213
Au Revoir les Enfants, 28–29
Austin Powers movies, 192–93
Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, The, 143
Avary, Gretchen, 54, 82
Avary, Roger, 10–11, 20–23, 27, 28–29, 31, 54–59, 68, 77, 82, 133–34, 339
Bacon, Francis, 163
Bad News Bears, The, 143
Ball, Alan, 283, 284
Bangs, Lance, 207
Barb Wire, 233
Barrett, K. K., 205, 207–8, 277
Barrier, Chuck, 97
Barron, Craig, 146
Barrymore, Drew, 158
Bart, Peter, 39
Barton Fink, xii
Basketball Diaries, The, 260
Batman and Robin, 228
Beastie Boys, 158, 162
Beatty, Warren, 51, 166
Being John Malkovich, xiv, xviii, 107, 120, 154–58, 161–65, 184–90, 204–11, 236, 251, 275–79, 281
Bell, Ross, 139–41, 149, 175, 176
Bender, Lawrence, 26–28, 30–31, 40, 42, 55, 58–59, 69, 71, 74–75, 76, 133, 138
Bening, Annette, 284
Rebels on the Backlot Page 42
