From death to the screen

Today, it's been four years since Paul Newman passed away.

Originally I didn't find out until the day after, but that day was one of the saddest days of my life.  Newman is my favorite actor of all time, and even now I have nothing but "why's?"

Why couldn't he have lived through cancer?  Some people, even celebrities, get it and live.

Why couldn't he have been in Cars 2 as well as Cars?  It might have alleviated the persona of Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy), who'd become Pixar's answer to Jar-Jar Binks.

Why couldn't he have gone on to act further?  He was eighty-three, but some actors were born before or not long after him and are still alive and working today.

In our society we are not allowed to grieve anymore, or else we are prescribed antidepressants.  My parents, who are old-fashioned, believe that grieving is a part of life.  I guess, and I've been thinking less about "that news" through the years.

But if the Newman estate will permit me, he will be the actor I've been hiding from you readers, who will play the protagonist's great-uncle.  I will do it in the same manner that they used to bring LBJ, Nixon, John Lennon, et al back to the screen in Forrest Gump.

And when I cast my Fairly OddParents adaptation, I will choose a Newman look-alike for the role of Timmy. (Well, they both have blue eyes.)

Well-known or unknown?

Should I have somebody well-known play the protagonist, or just an average Joe?

On one hand, maybe the unknown actor could bring more realism to the role of a stingy, obese reactionary.  On the other, he'd have to be a decent actor.

Comment on this post to let me know.

A composer on the moody side

Most filmmakers just select composers for their projects randomly, which is why they tend to be versatile.  I, on the other hand, choose them carefully based on certain projects of theirs.

For over a year, I've believed that Hans Zimmer would be genuinely a good choice for the score because of the dramas and comedies he's scored, and this movie is a little bit of both.  That was before I considered Thomas Newman.

I think Newman would be better than Zimmer, now, because, as a person I polled put it, the films he's scored are "moodier."  That's just what I was thinking, as demonstrated by the following selections from his 30-odd-year career:

• Scent of a Woman (1992).  Al Pacino learns to love life despite the fact that he is going blind.
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994).  A prisoner redeems himself through goodwill.
• Little Women (1994).  The most recent notable adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's beloved book.
• Meet Joe Black (1998).  Dealing with the afterlife.
• American Beauty (1999).  A dead man relates his last months.
• The Green Mile (1999).  A towering convict is scheduled to be fried for prejudiced reasons.
• Road to Perdition (2002).  Gangster drama.
• Finding Nemo (2003).  An over-protective single father fish learns to loosen up.
• Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).  Three orphans find their way in a cruel world.
• WALL-E (2008).  Near the end of the 3rd millennium AD, a robot reflects on previous life and has adventures in space.
• Revolutionary Road (2008).  A violent end to an unhappy marriage.
• The Help (2011).

Doesn't it seem like there's a trend here?  The themes in all of these movies seem to be pretty deep.  He should feel in place scoring a movie about spiritual reckoning.

But it's not just for the rest of these films that I'm hoping he'll accept.  It's also the nature of the scores themselves.  His work for Finding Nemo is one of my four or five favorite scores ever, because it serves as a perfect companion to the wonders that wait beneath the waves, while the main theme illustrates the movie's main theme.

Before he did such deep work, Newman scored some teen comedies in the '80s.

So unless he declines, I'm planning on this guy now!

New Facebook URL

Now that I've restarted this movie's Facebook page, maybe I'll gain an audience prior to its release.  The address is:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Christmas-to-Remember-NEW-PAGE/486860211337745

In praise of a career, in criticism of character

Mel Gibson is no longer being considered for a part, because as a writer I have been unable to write a part that doesn't interfere with the story I have in mind.

It really is a shame that he had his anti-Semitic tirade in 2006.  Not only did it condemn a race, it tarnished his career, and now on Facebook most of his movies have as much as two-thirds as many Likes as votes on IMDb.

Don't worry - he would have been the villain.  Josef Stalin's grandson, to be exact.  Most moviegoers would probably now want him either as a villain or not at all.  My critiquers, employed specifically for this movie, say the part would contribute to the movie being over-stimulating (ie there would be too many plots).

Despite being a conservative, at one point he owned an ill-fated electric car, and was interviewed in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? in 2006.

As for his filmographies, it's only been a year and a half since I've been watching movies nearly every minute of my spare time.  His most widely-seen film among the film-buff crowd, Braveheart (1995), despite winning both Best Picture and Best Director (Gibson himself), is actually not my favorite movie, nor my least favorite, though its powerful conveyance of moral choices and how they intertwine with the Scots' fight for independence even moves me.

Halliwell's editor John Walker listed Braveheart 872nd on his list of one thousand greatest films in 2005.  Personally, I'd replace it on these lists with The Patriot, which has many similarities despite being set 500 years later.

I've expressed interest in going out of my way to watch his movies, of which I've currently only seen 9 (10 if you count Casper, in which he cameoed).  My mom's had thoughts of doing the same with Jason Robards, "even though he was an SOB in real life." (Emphasis added.  And did you know that Jimmy Stewart was a McCarthyist?)

I am not pardoning Gibson.  I am simply saying that in spite of this dogmatism, he is genuinely talented, and that the tirade ought not to have happened because of its role in affecting the public's view of him.  The film where he plays a Jewish person is in post-production, but whether it's just for the money or to genuinely atone - my guess is as good as yours.

Everyone else is still being planned on!

This time we're making it for real!

Okay.  I know this script project has been going on and off, but just let me finish my Manos: The Hands of Fate remake script and I'll start this one again.

What motivated me?

The answer is the fact that time does not stand still, and that I might never have this good a cast again.

'Hall Pass' co-star to land lead

Yep - Jason Sudeikis, I think, would be great for the role.  Seann William Scott has been in the right type of movies (well, sort of), but his appearance does not match what I'm envisioning.  The other cast members are currently static.  And if Rooney and White don't make it, I've decided to use unknowns.