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- “What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death?” — James Cameron
- The last photo and the Stutz
- “I had never seen anything like him . . . I vowed nothing would stop me from signing this boy for films.” – producer Hal Wallis on Elvis Presley
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- “I gave my eardrums to MGM. And it’s true: I really did.” — Esther Williams
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Tag Archives: Network
April 2025 Snapshots
Had breakfast with one of my oldest friends (she who rescued a hawk, in a blazing act of bravery, which I think the hawk recognized and appreciated). We now live pretty near each other, which is wild, after me living … Continue reading
Sidney Lumet: Excerpts from Making Movies
It’s Sidney Lumet’s birthday. Here are many excerpts from his classic and invaluable film-making handbook Making Movies: In Murder on the Orient Express, I wanted Ingrid Bergman to play the Russian Princess Dragomiroff. She wanted to play the retarded Swedish … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Al Pacino, Dean Stockwell, Dog Day Afternoon, Faye Dunaway, Ingrid Bergman, Jane Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Marlon Brando, Network, Paul Newman, River Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Running on Empty, Sidney Lumet, William Holden
15 Comments
Fall 1995: Acting Notebook
Going through all these old notebooks – I came across the notebooks I kept during grad school. At first they start out all work, no play … which is interesting in and of itself – but the notebooks I kept … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Personal, Theatre
Tagged Al Pacino, Anton Chekhov, Brian De Palma, Chinatown, Christopher Walken, Dog Day Afternoon, Elia Kazan, Faye Dunaway, Harold Pinter, John Guare, John Strasberg, Johnny Depp, Lee Strasberg, Lili Taylor, Mickey Rourke, Network, Nicholas Mosley, Nijinsky, Olympia Dukakis, Sanford Meisner, Tennessee Williams, Two-Character Play
11 Comments
Tribute to Network
Another great tribute to another great movie – from my friend Alex. Tribute to “Network” “Network” trivia She’s so right that that movie is prescient. It depicted a “nightmare” scenario where TV became solely about “reality”. The freaks of the … Continue reading
Sidney Lumet: On the Camera Work in Network
Lumet does not make a splashy use of style. He likes the camera to be “invisible” and yet most definitely THERE. Excerpt from Sidney Lumet’s Making Movies: Sidney Lumet: Network. Owen Roizman, photographer. The movie was about corruption. So we … Continue reading
Posted in Directors
Tagged Faye Dunaway, Network, Robert Duvall, Sidney Lumet, William Holden
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Sidney Lumet: On William Holden in Network
Excerpt from Making Movies:
Sidney Lumet: Faye Dunaway in Network
Excerpt from Making Movies: Sidney Lumet: When we did Network, Paddy Chayefksy knew what he wanted. After all the difficulties in getting the picture OK’d, I knew he was in no mood for any rewrites demanded by stars. I’d heard, … Continue reading
Sidney Lumet: What Is the Movie About?
Excerpt from Making Movies: Sidney Lumet: Having decided, for whatever reason, to do a movie, I return to that all-encompassing, critical discussion: What is the movie about? Work can’t begin until its limits are defined, and this is the first … Continue reading
Posted in Directors
Tagged Dog Day Afternoon, Eugene O'Neill, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Making Movies, Network, Sidney Lumet
Comments Off on Sidney Lumet: What Is the Movie About?
Thoughts on William Holden
William Holden, over his long career, racked up an astounding body of work. He is one of our greatest actors. Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17 (later to be made into a TV series called Hogan’s Heroes), Picnic, he played Joe Bonaparte … Continue reading