1st Anniversary!

As I was loading this blog on my profile, it just occurred to me that it was one year ago today that I created it.  It has certainly changed since then!

So far, Captain Von Trapp is on!

I am now contemplating Christopher Plummer for the role of the protagonist's grandfather.

I keep track of what movies I've seen with my favorite stars.  Of him, I just found out I've seen Syriana, Up, Dolores Claiborne, The Sound of Music, An American Tail, Dracula 2000, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and A Beautiful Mind. (There's also Twelve Monkeys which I own used on VHS but haven't watched yet)

Actually, a family member recommended Plummer in case Mickey and Betty croaked.  Now I guess I'm returning the favor!

Upon looking him up on IMDb, I was surprised to see how many of his films could be described as "contemporary" (considering he was born in 1929).

Let's see how many of the actors I have in mind decide to sign!

Top 200 Movie Songs

There will definitely be an original song in this movie.  In fact, I plan to write original songs for all of my scripted movies.

So while I was thinking of it, I reckoned I would give this list as well.

1. Somewhere Over the Rainbow - The Wizard of Oz
2. White Christmas - Holiday Inn
3. Rock Around the Clock - Blackboard Jungle
4. When You Wish Upon a Star - Pinocchio
5. When Doves Cry - Purple Rain
6. Stand by Me - Stand by Me
7. Born to Be Wild - Easy Rider
8. Stayin' Alive - Saturday Night Fever
9. Lose Yourself - 8 Mile
10. A Hard Day's Night - A Hard Day's Night
11. Fight the Power - Do the Right Thing
12. Jailhouse Rock - Jailhouse Rock
13. Mrs. Robinson - The Graduate
14. This Land Is Your Land - Bound for Glory
15. As Time Goes By - Casablanca
16. Bohemian Rhapsody - Wayne's World
17. Moon River - Breakfast at Tiffany's
18. Thanks for the Memories - The Big Broadcast of 1938
19. Knockin' on Heaven's Door - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
20. The Way You Look Tonight - Swing Time
21. Everybody's Talkin' - Midnight Cowboy
22. I'm a Believer - Shrek
23. What a Wonderful World - Good Morning, Vietnam
24. I'm Easy - Nashville
25. Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire
26. A Whole New World - Aladdin
27. Gangsta's Paradise - Dangerous Minds
28. Born Free - Born Free
29. The Way We Were - The Way We Were
30. My Heart Will Go On - Titanic
31. Try Again - Romeo Must Die
32. Say You, Say Me - White Nights
33. Take My Breath Away - Top Gun
34. Be My Baby - Mean Streets
35. Gonna Fly Now - Rocky
36. Unchained Melody - Ghost
37. God Bless America - The Deer Hunter
38. Do Not Forsake Me - High Noon
39. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
40. Theme from Shaft - Shaft
41. Don't You (Forget About Me) - The Breakfast Club
42. Kiss - Under the Cherry Moon
43. Eye of the Tiger - Rocky III
44. The Harder They Come - The Harder They Come
45. Fame - Fame (1980)
46. You've Got a Friend in Me - Toy Story
47. Beauty and the Beast - Beauty and the Beast
48. Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon - Pulp Fiction
49. We Will Rock You - A Knight's Tale
50. We Are Family - The Birdcage
51. I Will Always Love You - The Bodyguard
52. The Entertainer - The Sting
53. Ain't Too Proud 2 Beg - The Big Chill
54. People - Funny Girl
55. Breakaway - The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
56. The Rainbow Connection - The Muppet Movie
57. Singin' in the Rain - Singin' in the Rain
58. Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
59. King of the Road - Brokeback Mountain
60. Colors of the Wind - Pocahontas
61. Can You Feel the Love Tonight - The Lion King
62. A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Cinderella
63. Tequila - Pee-wee's Big Adventure
64. Under the Sea - The Little Mermaid
65. The Power of Love - Back to the Future
66. You Can't Stop the Beat - Hairspray (2007)
67. Evergreen - A Star Is Born (1976)
68. My Favorite Things - The Sound of Music
69. Up Where We Belong - An Officer and a Gentleman
70. You're the One That I Want - Grease
71. Beyond the Sea - Beyond the Sea
72. Wind Beneath My Wings - Beaches
73. Are You That Somebody? - Dr. Dolittle
74. Theme from New York, New York - New York, New York
75. I Got a Name - The Last American Hero
76. Things Have Changed - Wonder Boys
77. The Hands That Built America - Gangs of New York
78. If I Were a Rich Man - Fiddler on the Roof
79. Love Me Tender - Love Me Tender
80. The Look of Love - Casino Royale (1967)
81. I Just Called to Say I Love You - The Woman in Red
82. Arthur's Theme - Arthur (1981)
83. Love Is All Around - Four Weddings and a Funeral
84. Blue Moon - An American Werewolf in London
85. Baby, It's Cold Outside - Neptune's Daughter
86. I Got You Babe - Groundhog Day
87. Aquarius - Hair
88. The Man That Got Away - A Star Is Born (1954)
89. The Morning After - The Poseidon Adventure
90. Yeah! - The Hangover
91. In Your Eyes - Say Anything
92. Believe - The Polar Express
93. It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - Independence Day
94. The Trolley Song - Meet Me in St. Louis
95. Yellow Submarine - Yellow Submarine
96. Cabaret - Cabaret
97. (I've Had) The Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing
98. Last Dance - Thank God It's Friday
99. My Guy - Sister Act
100. If I Didn't Have You - Monsters, Inc.
101. Misty - Play Misty for Me
102. A Love Before Time - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
103. Three Coins in the Fountain - Three Coins in the Fountain
104. Pennies from Heaven - Pennies from Heaven (1936)
105. Ave Satani - The Omen (1976)
106. Streets of Philadelphia - Philadelphia
107. On the Road Again - Honeysuckle Rose
108. Cheek to Cheek - Top Hat
109. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah - Song of the South
110. Wicked Game - Wild at Heart
111. The Rose - The Rose
112. Stuck in the Middle with You - Reservoir Dogs
113. 9 to 5 - 9 to 5
114. When You Believe - The Prince of Egypt
115. Swingin' on a Star - Going My Way
116. High Hopes - A Hole in the Head
117. Footloose - Footloose
118. Al otro lado del rio - The Motorcycle Diaries
119. Pure Imagination - Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
120. You'll Be in My Heart - Tarzan
121. Flashdance…What a Feeling - Flashdance
122. Upside Down - Curious George
123. Life's a Happy Song - The Muppets
124. They Can't Take That Away from Me - Shall We Dance (1937)
125. Because You Loved Me - Up Close & Personal
126. My Kind of Town - Robin and the 7 Hoods
127. Baby Mine - Dumbo
128. Jean - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
129. Chim Chim Cher-ee - Mary Poppins
130. Hard to Say I'm Sorry - Summer Lovers
131. Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) - Shallow Hal
132. The Living Proof - The Help
133. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing - Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
134. I Need to Wake Up - An Inconvenient Truth
135. Into the West - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
136. Jackson - Walk the Line
137. Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend - Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
138. You Must Love Me - Evita
139. It Might as Well Be Spring - State Fair (1945)
140. You Light Up My Life - You Light Up My Life
141. Suicide Is Painless - MASH
142. Life Is a Highway - Cars
143. Somewhere in My Memory - Home Alone
144. Call Me - American Gigolo
145. For All We Know - Lovers and Other Strangers
146. Alfie - Alfie (1966)
147. Put a Little Love in Your Heart - Scrooged
148. Days of Wine and Roses - Days of Wine and Roses
149. The Day I Fall in Love - Beethoven's 2nd
150. We Belong Together - Toy Story 3
151. Suddenly I See - The Devil Wears Prada
152. Skyfall - Skyfall
153. Georgy Girl - Georgy Girl
154. It Had to Be You - When Harry Met Sally…
155. One Week - American Pie
156. The Shadow of Your Smile - The Sandpiper
157. It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song) - Mermaids
158. Goldfinger - Goldfinger
159. Iris - City of Angels
160. And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going - Dreamgirls
161. Some Day My Prince Will Come - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
162. Endless Love - Endless Love
163. Book of Days - Far and Away
164. Tiny Dancer - Almost Famous
165. Falling Slowly - Once
166. Somewhere - West Side Story
167. As I Lay Me Down - Now and Then
168. Lean on Me - Lean on Me
169. You'll Never Know - Hello, Frisco, Hello
170. Tubular Bells - The Exorcist
171. Build Me Up Buttercup - There's Something About Mary
172. Change the World - Phenomenon
173. Magic Moments - Bridget Jones's Diary
174. It Must Have Been Love - Pretty Woman
175. It Might Be You - Tootsie
176. Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) - Beetlejuice
177. The Bare Necessities - The Jungle Book
178. The Ballad of Cat Ballou - Cat Ballou
179. Love Is a Song - Bambi
180. Somewhere Out There - An American Tail
181. Father and Daughter - The Wild Thornberrys Movie
182. Live and Let Die - Live and Let Die
183. The Longest Day - The Longest Day
184. Whatever You Imagine - The Pagemaster
185. Belleville rendez-vous - The Triplets of Belleville
186. Sooner or Later (I Always Get My Man) - Dick Tracy
187. Blue Velvet - Blue Velvet
188. Accidentally in Love - Shrek 2
189. Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) - The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
190. I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - Benny & Joon
191. How Do I Live - Con Air
192. Tammy - Tammy and the Bachelor
193. I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Armageddon
194. True Grit - True Grit (1969)
195. Blazing Saddles - Blazing Saddles
196. Tomorrow - Annie
197. No Ordinary Love - Indecent Proposal
198. What's New Pussycat? - What's New Pussycat?
199. Bring Me to Life - Daredevil
200. Where the Boys Are - Where the Boys Are

One more cast member (for now)

I am definitely considering Queen Latifah—rapper, singer, and actress born Dana Owens—for a part in this movie.  However, no longer will I tell my readers what parts these actors will play.

By the way, I've decided to use an unknown actor for the lead role.  It would lend a bigger touch of realism.

'Tree of Life' shapes production possibility

Before tonight, I had seen no Terrence Malick films.  Now I have - specifically, The Tree of Life - and not only does it live up to its reputation as the best film of the 2010s so far, but presently it is influential to my plans.

None of his other notable films - Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World - are as experimental, but they are also very acclaimed.  So I've got an idea: Write my script and sell it to him.

He's never directed something he hasn't written, but if, at almost 69, he is still capable of making such a work of genius as The Tree of Life, I have high hopes IF - and that's a very big IF - he is interested.

No longer a solo project!

I'm going to find a co-writer, because I feel this movie would be inadequate if I were left entirely to my own devices.

100 Best Versions of Christmas Songs

Now that the season that ACTR is named after is impending, I thought I would share this list I created - unrelated to the movie, but who cares?

1. White Christmas (1947 single version) - Bing Crosby
2. The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole
3. The Little Drummer Boy - Harry Simeone Chorale
4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry
5. I'll Be Home for Christmas - Perry Como
6. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
7. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Nat King Cole
8. Ave Maria - Leontyne Price
9. Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms
10. Sleigh Ride - The Boston Pops
11. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
12. O Come All Ye Faithful - Nat King Cole
13. Jingle Bells - Frank Sinatra
14. Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
15. Silver Bells - Bing Crosby & Carole Richards
16. Merry Christmas Darling - Carpenters
17. Adeste Fideles - Luciano Pavarotti
18. (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays (1954 version) - Perry Como
19. Christmas in Dixie - Alabama
20. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Perry Como & The Fontane Sisters
21. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon & Yoko Ono
22. A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
23. The Christmas Song - Carpenters
24. Christmas in My Hometown - Charley Pride
25. Feliz Navidad - José Feliciano
26. White Christmas - The Drifters
27. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Frank Sinatra
28. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Bing Crosby
29. If Every Day Was Like Christmas - Elvis Presley
30. Winter Wonderland / Sleigh Ride - Dolly Parton
31. O Holy Night - Perry Como
32. In Dulci Jubilo - Vienna Boys' Choir
33. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Johnny Mathis
34. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Johnny Mathis
35. Deck the Halls - Mannheim Steamroller
36. Carol of the Bells - Robert Shaw Chorale
37. Coventry Carol - Cambridge, King's College Choir
38. 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians
39. The Christmas Song - Tony Bennett
40. Caroling, Caroling - Nat King Cole
41. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Perry Como
42. Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
43. Jingle Bells - Jim Reeves
44. O Holy Night - Nat King Cole
45. Frosty the Snowman - Red Foley
46. The Chipmunk Song - The Chipmunks
47. Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics
48. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Michael Bublé
49. O Come All Ye Faithful - Celtic Woman
50. What Child Is This? - André Previn
51. Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) - Elvis Presley
52. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day - Sarah McLachlan
53. Angels We Have Heard on High - Gordon Langford & Orchestra
54. Do You Hear What I Hear? - Bing Crosby
55. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Aimee Mann
56. Sarajevo 12/24 - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
57. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Perry Como
58. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Darlene Love
59. What Christmas Means to Me - Stevie Wonder
60. It's a Marshmallow World - Vic Damone
61. Here We Come A-Caroling / O Tannenbaum / I Saw Three Ships - The Boston Pops
62. The Twelve Days of Christmas - Roger Whittaker
63. O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio
64. Joy to the World - Mannheim Steamroller
65. Irish Carol - Julie Andrews
66. Cool Yule - Louis Armstrong & The Commanders
67. Pretty Paper (E-flat version) - Willie Nelson
68. Jingle Bells - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
69. Sleigh Ride - Harry Connick, Jr.
70. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Lena Horne
71. The First Noel - Andy Williams
72. Joy to the World - Mormon Tabernacle Choir
73. Mary's Boy Child - Harry Belafonte
74. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Philadelphia Chorus
75. Silver Bells - Kate Smith
76. Good King Wenceslas - The Ames Brothers
77. Silent Night - Jim Reeves
78. O Little Town of Bethlehem / It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Canadian Brass
79. O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Virgil Fox
80. Baby It's Cold Outside - Dean Martin
81. You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft
82. The Christmas Waltz - Nancy Wilson
83. Ding Dong Merrily on High - Roger Whittaker
84. The Toy Trumpet - Al Hirt & The Boston Pops
85. Frosty the Snowman - Gene Autry
86. O Come All Ye Faithful - Sergio Franchi
87. Silent Night (Oiche Chiún) - Enya
88. (There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays - Carpenters
89. We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Eugene Ormandy & The Philadelphia Orchestra + Chorus
90. What Child Is This? - Ed Ames
91. Good King Wenceslas - Morton Gould & The RCA Symphony Orchestra
92. The First Noel - Sergio Franchi
93. Away in a Manger - Ed Ames
94. We Three Kings of Orient Are - Dick Liebert
95. My Favorite Things - Tony Bennett
96. White Christmas (1953 version) - Perry Como
97. The Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby
98. Deck the Halls - Ottmar Liebert
99. I'll Be Home for Christmas - Bing Crosby
100. Silent Night - Sergio Franchi

Actually, maybe I can relate them - I'll release this as a boxed set someday to coincide with the movie's release.

A *series* to remember

It's official: ACTR is not just going to be one movie.

If it's successful enough, I plan to make it a series, each one taking place during a different season.

So when you walk out of that theater three years from now, it will be just the beginning.

I would reveal more about each one, but to do that I might have to give away crucial points.

Live till production, can you do it?

Never mind what I've said about hoping Rooney and White will make it to production.  Now I'm thinking of an actor who's a little younger—though not by much, so I will have to keep hoping and praying. (Pray with me! LOL)

Now that Ernest Borgnine has passed on, Rooney and White in question are the oldest working actor and actress in the American film business.  The third is one of the most prolific actors ever, as well as one of my favorites in a way: Christopher Lee, who turned 90 earlier this year.  I looked him up on IMDb just now and it lists him as still being alive.

As long as he is mentally able, I also hope he'll join another of my productions—as the Ghostly Old Man in my remake of Manos: The Hands of Fate.

JT in the house?

I've been thinking…now that he's retired from music and is acting in movies of varying degrees of seriousness (he is 31 now after all), I think perhaps Justin Timberlake would be good for this movie, depending on the role.

Though, it would definitely have to be a supporting role.

Forget about it

Newman is no longer being thought of for a "resurrected" role that would require special effects.  Instead I'll find someone else who's alive and about the age he would have been now.  I was thinking possibly Harry Dean Stanton, but we'll see…

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.

Back to original plan

Despite my previous post, I'm still going to draw inspiration from Ozu's There Was a Father for the single-parent subplot.

The reason is that in There Was a Father, the child's mother is dead—as he is here—whereas in Kramer the parents are divorced.

Replacement movie

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) will replace Ozu's There Was a Father (1942) as the movie I will use to get inspiration for a single-parent subplot.

Rest assured…

I am hesitant to reveal one actor who I want in this movie, but rest assured, he will be the villain.  Although people would now want to see him either as a villain or not at all, I can't think of a better actor for this particular part.

However, I do think it is hypocritical that, on Facebook, users dislike Gibson so much as a person that they've removed his movies from their profiles, but quickly pardon Chris Brown.  I'm not saying I admire either person on the basis of their character, though one has made a lot of decent to deserving movies, while the other is no more talented than any pop music artist still active (who, frankly, are quite talentless).

How do you have a backlash against an anti-Semite, but praise a man who commits domestic violence against women?

Yet, despicable though one's opinions may be, I do not believe it is sufficient grounds to deny them work.  My gay former friend objected to Clint Eastwood being cast in a dead project of mine because the friend thought he supported Proposition 8.

A word about 'The Simpsons'

I'm watching The Simpsons - Christmas DVD, consisting of 5 episodes from 1989 to 2001, and am cracking up consistently.


The Simpsons has been named the greatest show of all time (by Empire magazine), and as the greatest kids' show (though I couldn't recommend it to anyone under age 8).  Both of those accolades are very definitely deserved.  I can't think of a better show I've seen…then again, I'm more inclined toward the cinema than the boob tube.  I used to not be much, though.

From ages seven to nine, I stopped watching it for the stupidest reason ever: because of Treehouse of Horror VI (1995), where Homer repeatedly screams "Crap!" as he goes into the vortex in "Homer3."  Later I got back into it, and in ninth and tenth grade saw every episode through season seven.

But it hasn't been till now that I've truly appreciated everything about it.

Sadly, on my movie review blog, I think I'll give The Simpsons Movie a 3-out-of-5 rating.  The plot development is as good as any episode, but the jokes are not up to scratch by show standards.  The only exception is at the beginning: "AMERICAN IDIOT - FUNERAL VERSION."

Even the later episodes might not be as bad as I used to think.

Now for your next hint: This actor was a guest star on The Simpsons in the thirteenth season.

More cast members!

Hopeful ones, that is.  Until they actually sign, I can't make any promises that they really will appear.

Sam Neill as the protagonist's father.

I'm not sure if Will Smith would be ok with playing a small role, given that he's played much bigger parts in recent years, but if the answer is "yes," I'd like to consider him as the protagonist's physician.

Finally—and I'll try to put this as simply as possible—there's an actor whose work I admire even though many people dislike him as a person now.  So when I realized my script needed a villain—and not just any villain, but Josef Stalin's daughter's son—I thought perhaps I'd give him this appropriate role.  For fear of losing popularity (and this is a blog of note), I'd rather not say who it is.

Now for your first hint as to the answer to my previous post: He turned down the part that went to Roy Scheider in Jaws.

Resurrection of more than just my project

For the purposes of having him be in this movie, I'm going to "resurrect" a dead actor.

Not literally, of course, but I will try to get permission from his estate to use his likeness in a brand-new role.

With the help, of course, of CGI.

Who is it?  I'll give you several clues; the first person to answer correctly will get whatever they wish (as long as it's legal).

Nine to start with!

Without further ado, I decided to just name who I'm considering for the cast in what I hope will be the next masterpiece.


Sean William Scott as the lead role, in the hopes that he could experiment with more sophisticated comedy.

Katherine Heigl as his fiancée.

Anjelica Huston as his son's homeschool teacher.

George Clooney as his dietician.

Kathy Bates as his mother.

Michael Caine as a fabled gift-giver associated with the season, and Julie Andrews as the missus.

Should they make it to filming, Mickey Rooney and Betty White as his elderly grandparents.

After the end credits, there will be a sneak peek at an upcoming, related film, as there are at the end of Marvel movies.

More to come when I think of actors for the other roles!

New hopeful cast & crew: Composer

Hans Zimmer, like so many great film composers, has scored a wide range of films, which calls for a wide range of styles.

My former Facebook friend Lucas Hazlett named him as one of his three favorite film composers, the others being John Williams and James Horner.  Since breaking into the American film business, he has given us:

(asterisks are the ones that inspired me to consider him)

MOONLIGHTING (1982)
SUCCESS IS THE BEST REVENGE (1987)
RAIN MAN (1988)*
PAPERHOUSE (1989)
BLACK RAIN (1989)
TWISTER (1989)
DRIVING MISS DAISY (1989)*
BIRD ON A WIRE (1990)
DAYS OF THUNDER (1990)
PACIFIC HEIGHTS (1990)
GREEN CARD (1990)*
BACKDRAFT (1991)
THELMA & LOUISE (1991)*
REGARDING HENRY (1991)
K2 (1991)
THE POWER OF ONE (1992)
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992)*
POINT OF NO RETURN (1993)
I'LL DO ANYTHING (1993)
CALENDAR GIRL (1993)
TRUE ROMANCE (1993)
COOL RUNNINGS (1993)
THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (1993)
RENAISSANCE MAN (1994)
THE LION KING (1994)
DROP ZONE (1994)
CRIMSON TIDE (1995)
NINE MONTHS (1995)
SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT (1995)*
BEYOND RANGOON (1995)
BROKEN ARROW (1996)
MUPPET TREASURE ISLAND (1996)
THE FAN (1996)
THE PREACHER'S WIFE (1996)*
SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW (1997)
THE PEACEMAKER (1997)
AS GOOD AS IT GETS (1997)*
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (1998)
THE THIN RED LINE (1998)*
CHILL FACTOR (1999)
THE ROAD TO EL DORADO (2000)
GLADIATOR (2000)
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE II (2000)
AN EVERLASTING PIECE (2000)
THE PLEDGE (2001)
HANNIBAL (2001)
PEARL HARBOR (2001)
INVINCIBLE (2001)
RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS (2001)*
BLACK HAWK DOWN (2001)
SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON (2002)
THE RING (2002)
TEARS OF THE SUN (2003)
MATCHSTICK MEN (2003)*
THE LAST SAMURAI (2003)
SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (2003)*
KING ARTHUR (2004)
THUNDERBIRDS (2004)
SHARK TALE (2004)
SPANGLISH (2004)*
MADAGASCAR (2005)
BATMAN BEGINS (2005)
WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT (2005)
THE WEATHER MAN (2005)
THE DA VINCI CODE (2006)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST (2006)
THE HOLIDAY (2006)*
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END (2007)
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (2007)*
AUGUST RUSH (2007)*
KUNG FU PANDA (2008)
THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA (2008)
FROST/NIXON (2008)
THE BURNING PLAIN (2008)
ANGELS & DEMONS (2009)
PIRATE RADIO (2009)*
IT'S COMPLICATED (2009)*
SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009)
THE PACIFIC (2010)
DESPICABLE ME (2010)*
INCEPTION (2010)
MEGAMIND (2010)
HOW DO YOU KNOW (2010)*
THE DILEMMA (2011)*
RANGO (2011)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES (2011)
KUNG FU PANDA 2 (2011)
SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS (2011)

Just FYI, I can't make any promises that who I want will appear in the movie.  These are just biographies of my wishful choices.

New hopeful cast!

Now that pageviews have somewhat taken a dive, I thought I'd share just who I want in the cast.

ATTN: DiCaprio and Winslet are no longer the leads.  But whatever appeal it might lose (because of my changing my mind about them and Macaulay Culkin) should be made up for with the social commentary the film will provide.

Movies to study

As the writer, I will model the seventh draft after seven films, which I will watch until I have them memorized.  In chronological order:

• There Was a Father (1942)
• The Cardinal (1963)
• A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
• The Simpsons Christmas episodes DVD
• Nobody's Fool (1994)
• Heavy (1995)
• The Ice Storm (1997)

New cast! (And more)

Leo and Kate are still being considered for the leads.  But the considered cast has changed!  It will not be revealed until later.

Also, the plot is being written, experiencing a change of direction if you will.  I, writer, will watch 7 movies over and over until I've memorized them.  The idea is for them to draw inspiration to this film.

Activity ceased, now resurrected

Like the title says, I'd discontinued this project for a while.  But now I'm back!  More to come later.

Part 1 scripted!

Good news!  A Christmas to Remember: Part 1 has reached its first draft.  It is now entering review.  Once it is finalized I will post on that.

Thank you, Mr. Cameron!

I assume you've read my recent post saying that Owen Wilson's son is not in the cast anymore.  As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of R.M.S. Titanic, allow me to say: It's a shame that those people drowned and everything.  But if it hadn't happened, his daddy would be stereotypically cast as the lead role in ACTR.

"How is that so?" would be a reasonable question.  And I'll do my best to answer it.

I guess it all started the day after Christmas, 2010, when my sister and I were at Goodwill.  And, you know, VHS tapes today are a steal; it's been so long since they dominated the home entertainment market that movie collectors can save a lot of money on them almost anywhere.  I chose Two Rode Together (1961), a classic Western movie; Jurassic Park (1993), which I wanted to revisit and which I see so often in used-goods stores that at the time it had to be the biggest-selling video ever; and Titanic (1997).

When I first saw the doomed-vessel/romantic epic on the first day of spring, 2011, I thought it was pretty good—particularly the sinking sequence—but that a lot of the dialogue was cheesy, with Jack's line "This is bad" after the iceberg encounter making the 1999 book Stupid Movie Lines.  But as time has passed, I've come to look at it differently, and now I almost concur with Joseph McBride, who in his awful (as in "WAY too critical") 1998 Book of Movie Lists listed it as one of his top 25 movies ever.  In late 2006, the film peaked at #973 on the "1,000 Greatest [i.e. most acclaimed] Films" project at:
http://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm.
I ultimately sided with its champions and at the end of August 2011 requested that the copy I'd purchased join my collection.  (This was about the time I got back into VHS, the way some people enjoy collecting LPs.)

I had thought of Owen for a long time in the lead role, but after watching Titanic the second time I literally dreamed about resurrecting my ACTR idea, and in this dream I got the idea that Leonardo DiCaprio should play it instead.  And I thought, "Why not?  He's about the right age now."  So the project was reinstated.  I got other ideas for the cast, but the only one I've kept to this day was the actor to play his grandfather.

By the way, Titanic is being reissued in 3D in just 7 weeks to commemorate the centennial of the disaster it depicts.  Now that it's grown on me, I would have gone, but since the revival of 3D at the beginning of 2009, the 3D has added very little to the experience (Disney/Pixar's Up is testimony to this).  Couldn't they have just given it a Blu-ray release?  I know Hollywood has been a lot more conservative about releasing movies on Blu-ray, but it seems to me like it would make a great candidate for the format.

Where is the love?

ACTR has a follower here on Blogger, yet its Facebook page has no likes as of yet.  If any of its viewers are on Facebook, please feel free to click the "Like" button.

Owen Wilson's son dropped from cast!

Robert Ford Wilson, the son of Owen who recently turned one, is no longer planned on as a cast member.

Robert was considered (by me) for the main character's preschool-age son.  If I'm trying to have part one of the movie come out in time for November 2014, he will seem too young.  And if I want the main character's grandparents to be played by Mickey Rooney (born in 1920) and Betty White (born in 1922), I'd have to shoot their scenes first before they pass away.

R.F. may also be too young to act yet.  The DVD commentary for Finding Nemo describes how it was much easier to work with six-year-old Nicholas Bird (who played Squirt) than toddler Mary Gibbs, who played Boo in Monsters, Inc.  Some scientists say the human brain does not capacitate memory until age three.  And even in Judy Blume's book Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing, Fudge is three and has issues filming a Toddlebike commercial.

But maybe someday when RFW is older, I'll consider him for a part.

Welcome back to me!

I know I haven't posted anything about this movie for a while, but it's definitely happening.  Updates coming soon.