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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
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- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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Tag Archives: Billy Wilder
Mirrors #6
I continue to trip over examples in film of men looking at themselves in the mirror. I get so excited! I wrote a whole lengthy essay about it for Oscilloscope Laboratories – and people who have been reading me for … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies
Tagged Billy Wilder, Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon, mirrors
2 Comments
Vicious Circles
From Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend: such a creative way to show the progression of the boozy night, and the intensifying drunkenness of our alcoholic main character (Ray Milland).
Present Tense: Death Scenes
William Holden, “Sunset Boulevard” For my next “Present Tense” column at Film Comment, I wrote about a long-time obsession – which I have covered from time to time here on my site: Actors performing death scenes. And a tribute to … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Bonnie and Clyde, Faye Dunaway, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cagney, Janet Leigh, Jensen Ackles, Marlon Brando, Meryl Streep, Present Tense, Raoul Walsh, Roaring Twenties, Shirley MacLaine, Sunset Boulevard, Supernatural, Vincente Minnelli, Warren Beatty, William Holden
6 Comments
August 2017 Viewing Diary
Columbus (2017; d. Kogonada) I loved this movie so much. One of the best of the year so far. My review. Dunkirk (2017; d. Christopher Nolan) Overwhelming. Saw it in IMAX 70 mm so I can’t compare to others’ experiences … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged Billy Wilder, Channing Tatum, Charles Laughton, Dana Andrews, David Lean, David Lynch, documentary, Elvis Presley, France, Frank Capra, Henry Fonda, Howard Hawks, Lawrence of Arabia, Olivia de Havilland, Otto Preminger, Thomas Mitchell, Twin Peaks, women directors
44 Comments
The Books: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays, ‘It Happened on Sunset’, by Christopher Hitchens
On the essays shelf: Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays In this 1995 essay for Vanity Fair, about the history of Sunset Boulevard, Hitchens gives Joan Didion a run for her money in delving into the history (social, cultural, … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Billy Wilder, Christopher Hitchens, essays, Love Poverty and War, Mervyn LeRoy, Sunset Boulevard
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Happy Birthday, Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder’s Tips for Writers 1. The audience is fickle. 2. Grab ’em by the throat and never let ’em go. 3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character. 4. Know where you’re going. 5. The more … Continue reading
“Audrey Wilder’s Recipe for the Perfect Martini”
(as told to Cameron Crowe, in his book-length interview with Audrey’s husband, Billy Wilder:) “I use a bitters bottle … and I do it by eye. I pour enough vodka for one or two martinis, then add the vermouth. These … Continue reading
Francois Truffaut on Sgt. J.J. Sefton in Stalag 17
This is, perhaps, the best analysis of that character, played by William Holden, that I have ever read. Sefton is intelligent; that’s why he acts as he does. For the first time in films the philosophy of the solitary man … Continue reading