list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around World's Greatest Dad on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/World_s_Greatest_Dad/386018/default.aspx Title: World's Greatest Dad
Year: 2009
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Plot: Robin Williams stars as a father who fakes a suicide note for his recently deceased son in order to give him a bit of dignity rather than admit to his accidental autoerotic death in this black comedy from writer/director Bobcat Goldthwait. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 6
Number of Lists: 5
Number of blog posts: 8
SpoutRating: 2
]]>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:00:49 GMTWorld's Greatest Dad2009Bobcat Goldthwait<a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___116900/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Robin Williams</a> stars as a father who fakes a suicide note for his recently deceased son in order to give him a bit of dignity rather than admit to his accidental autoerotic death in this black comedy from writer/director <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P____91975/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Bobcat Goldthwait</a>. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide6Taggedy Taggged (6-10)582http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s386018.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/World_s_Greatest_Dad/386018/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/mbsgirl/archive/2009/12/9/44505.aspx Post By: mbsgirl
Post To: mbsgirl Blog
Post Date: 12/9/2009 3:11:27 AM
Body: I just watched "Worlds Greatest Dad". I really don't know where to begin. MY girlfriend said that people in Hollywood will do anything for money and attention and I realized, if that is true then you do have one excuse. I saw Robin on that talk show with you and I couldn't wait to see your movie. I have never written anyone about a movie. I would really like to give you a chance to try and let me understand where you were coming from when you wrote this "comedy". I believe in art by accident and in left field antics. The only reason I watched the whole movie is to be sure that over extreme prodictablity would ring true to the very end, as it did. I knew he would tell on himself before he finished the meeting with that horrible actor/comic that was playing the grief counselor. Who I'm sure is also an old friend like Robin. Which is probably the only reason this "comedy" got made in the first place. I respect an artist staying true to his vision or even lack there of. I understand what could have made you think that stupid old men or dumb teachers, two timin' girlfriends, cool black guys, bad principals, shut in old wemon, gay jocks and even teenage suicide could possibly be so superficial and untopic worthy that it would be funny, but it WASN'T. Not even a little. It was slow, sad, predictable and only worth watching to see if the train would finally wreck and it did. I'm not being hateful. I've seen you plenty of times that made me roll on the floor, crying with laughter, but I am blown away with how predictable and unfunny this "comedy" was. I'm not around you all the time and maybe your surrounded by people that say yes to everything you ask. If I would have been there when you asked "Do you think this would make a good movie", wanting to stay your friend, I might have also said yes. And I WOULD like to be your friend. But your movie was not funny, "not even a little." Worlds Greatest Dad" could be the worlds greatest failure. By Trevor Lee Rogers
]]>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:11:27 GMTmbsgirlmbsgirl Blog12/9/2009 3:11:27 AMI just watched "Worlds Greatest Dad". I really don't know where to begin. MY girlfriend said that people in Hollywood will do anything for money and attention and I realized, if that is true then you do have one excuse. I saw Robin on that talk show with you and I couldn't wait to see your movie. I have never written anyone about a movie. I would really like to give you a chance to try and let me understand where you were coming from when you wrote this "comedy". I believe in art by accident and in left field antics. The only reason I watched the whole movie is to be sure that over extreme prodictablity would ring true to the very end, as it did. I knew he would tell on himself before he finished the meeting with that horrible actor/comic that was playing the grief counselor. Who I'm sure is also an old friend like Robin. Which is probably the only reason this "comedy" got made in the first place. I respect an artist staying true to his vision or even lack there of. I understand what could have made you think that stupid old men or dumb teachers, two timin' girlfriends, cool black guys, bad principals, shut in old wemon, gay jocks and even teenage suicide could possibly be so superficial and untopic worthy that it would be funny, but it WASN'T. Not even a little. It was slow, sad, predictable and only worth watching to see if the train would finally wreck and it did. I'm not being hateful. I've seen you plenty of times that made me roll on the floor, crying with laughter, but I am blown away with how predictable and unfunny this "comedy" was. I'm not around you all the time and maybe your surrounded by people that say yes to everything you ask. If I would have been there when you asked "Do you think this would make a good movie", wanting to stay your friend, I might have also said yes. And I WOULD like to be your friend. But your movie was not funny, "not even a little." Worlds Greatest Dad" could be the worlds greatest failure. By Trevor Lee Rogers http://www.spout.com/blogs/mbsgirl/archive/2009/12/9/44504.aspx Post By: mbsgirl
Post To: mbsgirl Blog
Post Date: 12/9/2009 2:59:01 AM
Body: I just watched "Worlds Greatest Dad". I really don't know where to begin. MY girlfriend said that people in Hollywood will do anything for money and attention and I realized, if that is true then you do have one excuse. I saw Robin on that talk show with you and I couldn't wait to see your movie. I have never written anyone about a movie. I would really like to give you a chance to try and let me understand where you were coming from when you wrote this "comedy". I believe in art by accident and in left field antics. The only reason I watched the whole movie is to be sure that over extreme prodictablity would ring true to the very end, as it did. I knew he would tell on himself before he finished the meeting with that horrible actor/comic that was playing the grief counselor. Who I'm sure is also an old friend like Robin. Which is probably the only reason this "comedy" got made in the first place. I respect an artist staying true to his vision or even lack there of. I understand what could have made you think that stupid old men or dumb teachers, two timin' girlfriends, cool black guys, bad principals, shut in old wemon, gay jocks and even teenage suicide could possibly be so superficial and untopic worthy that it would be funny, but it WASN'T. Not even a little. It was slow, sad, predictable and only worth watching to see if the train would finally wreck and it did. I'm not being hateful. I've seen you plenty of times that made me roll on the floor, crying with laughter, but I am blown away with how predictable and unfunny this "comedy" was. I'm not around you all the time and maybe your surrounded by people that say yes to everything you ask. If I would have been there when you asked "Do you think this would make a good movie", wanting to stay your friend, I might have also said yes. And I WOULD like to be your friend. But your movie was not funny, "not even a little." Worlds Greatest Dad" could be the worlds greatest failure.
]]>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:59:01 GMTmbsgirlmbsgirl Blog12/9/2009 2:59:01 AMI just watched "Worlds Greatest Dad". I really don't know where to begin. MY girlfriend said that people in Hollywood will do anything for money and attention and I realized, if that is true then you do have one excuse. I saw Robin on that talk show with you and I couldn't wait to see your movie. I have never written anyone about a movie. I would really like to give you a chance to try and let me understand where you were coming from when you wrote this "comedy". I believe in art by accident and in left field antics. The only reason I watched the whole movie is to be sure that over extreme prodictablity would ring true to the very end, as it did. I knew he would tell on himself before he finished the meeting with that horrible actor/comic that was playing the grief counselor. Who I'm sure is also an old friend like Robin. Which is probably the only reason this "comedy" got made in the first place. I respect an artist staying true to his vision or even lack there of. I understand what could have made you think that stupid old men or dumb teachers, two timin' girlfriends, cool black guys, bad principals, shut in old wemon, gay jocks and even teenage suicide could possibly be so superficial and untopic worthy that it would be funny, but it WASN'T. Not even a little. It was slow, sad, predictable and only worth watching to see if the train would finally wreck and it did. I'm not being hateful. I've seen you plenty of times that made me roll on the floor, crying with laughter, but I am blown away with how predictable and unfunny this "comedy" was. I'm not around you all the time and maybe your surrounded by people that say yes to everything you ask. If I would have been there when you asked "Do you think this would make a good movie", wanting to stay your friend, I might have also said yes. And I WOULD like to be your friend. But your movie was not funny, "not even a little." Worlds Greatest Dad" could be the worlds greatest failure. http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/8/19/43634.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 8/19/2009 10:00:49 AM
Body: This interview was originally published during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. World’s Greatest Dad debuts in New York this week, and it’s already available on VOD. In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwait says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murder.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwait’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwait about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:00:49 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog8/19/2009 10:00:49 AMThis interview was originally published during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. World’s Greatest Dad debuts in New York this week, and it’s already available on VOD. In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwait says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murder.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwait’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwait about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/8/19/43633.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 8/19/2009 10:00:37 AM
Body: This interview was originally published during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. World’s Greatest Dad debuts in New York this week, and it’s already available on VOD. In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwait says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murder.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwait’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwait about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:00:37 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com8/19/2009 10:00:37 AMThis interview was originally published during the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. World’s Greatest Dad debuts in New York this week, and it’s already available on VOD. In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwait says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murder.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwait’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwait about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/jenn/archive/2009/6/28/42841.aspx Post By: Jenn
Post To: Jenn Blog
Post Date: 6/28/2009 1:58:33 PM
Body: I admit the film redeemed itself in the last half, though I was still so shocked by the raunchy behavior of the son early in the film that I was unable to get over it. While I don't necessarily recommend this film, I feel Goldthwait did a great job confusing our emotions and taking us on a dark journey to explore the true inner soul of most. Robin Williams is fabulous in this film as all others.
]]>Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:58:33 GMTJennJenn Blog6/28/2009 1:58:33 PMI admit the film redeemed itself in the last half, though I was still so shocked by the raunchy behavior of the son early in the film that I was unable to get over it. While I don't necessarily recommend this film, I feel Goldthwait did a great job confusing our emotions and taking us on a dark journey to explore the true inner soul of most. Robin Williams is fabulous in this film as all others. http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/1/26/39933.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 1/26/2009 7:01:14 PM
Body: I’ve been tagged by Indiepix’s Danielle DiGiacomo to participate in this Sundance favorites blog meme. I’ve, in turn, tagged eight over bloggers. Find out if you’re one of the lucky octuplet after the jump. Rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 2. Players start with listing their Sundance favorites, separated into 8 categories. 3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 favorites and include these rules. 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and that they should read your blog. Here goes: 1. Favorite feature: Moon by Duncan Jones 2. Most problematic/interesting/thought-provoking feature: A tie between O’er the Land by Deborah Stratman and Spring Breakdown, starring Rachel Dratch, Parker Posey and Amy Poehler. I’ll be writing more about the surprising connections between the two films this week. 3. Favorite short film: I don’t remember a single short I saw other than The Blindness of the Woods. Which was pretty great. 4. Film most regrettably missed: Push, Big River Man, Stay the Same Never Change. 5. Most fun party: I didn’t go to any real parties — I was not invited to the now-legendary BritDoc party, alas –– but I had a few memorable nights at the Late Night Lodge. 6. Best post-screening Q & A: Bobcat Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad on the morning of the inauguration. 7. Favorite nonfiction character(s): If we’re confining this to characters that appear directly on screen, then Grace Coddington, The September Issue. If their presence is dramatized/implied, I’ll go with Colonel William Rankin from O’er the Land. 8. Most memorable moment: Getting called out by Steven Soderbergh at the IFC breakfast. More details on this week’s episode of FilmCouch. The following 8 people, consider yourself TAGGED! Tom Hall Matt Dentler David Carr - The Carpetbagger Scott Macaulay - FILMMAKER Blog Alison Willmore - Indie Eye Mike Jones - The Circuit Noel Murray - The A.V. Club Lou Lumenick Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:01:14 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog1/26/2009 7:01:14 PMI’ve been tagged by Indiepix’s Danielle DiGiacomo to participate in this Sundance favorites blog meme. I’ve, in turn, tagged eight over bloggers. Find out if you’re one of the lucky octuplet after the jump. Rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 2. Players start with listing their Sundance favorites, separated into 8 categories. 3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 favorites and include these rules. 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and that they should read your blog. Here goes: 1. Favorite feature: Moon by Duncan Jones 2. Most problematic/interesting/thought-provoking feature: A tie between O’er the Land by Deborah Stratman and Spring Breakdown, starring Rachel Dratch, Parker Posey and Amy Poehler. I’ll be writing more about the surprising connections between the two films this week. 3. Favorite short film: I don’t remember a single short I saw other than The Blindness of the Woods. Which was pretty great. 4. Film most regrettably missed: Push, Big River Man, Stay the Same Never Change. 5. Most fun party: I didn’t go to any real parties — I was not invited to the now-legendary BritDoc party, alas –– but I had a few memorable nights at the Late Night Lodge. 6. Best post-screening Q & A: Bobcat Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad on the morning of the inauguration. 7. Favorite nonfiction character(s): If we’re confining this to characters that appear directly on screen, then Grace Coddington, The September Issue. If their presence is dramatized/implied, I’ll go with Colonel William Rankin from O’er the Land. 8. Most memorable moment: Getting called out by Steven Soderbergh at the IFC breakfast. More details on this week’s episode of FilmCouch. The following 8 people, consider yourself TAGGED! Tom Hall Matt Dentler David Carr - The Carpetbagger Scott Macaulay - FILMMAKER Blog Alison Willmore - Indie Eye Mike Jones - The Circuit Noel Murray - The A.V. Club Lou Lumenick Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/26/39932.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/26/2009 7:00:53 PM
Body: I’ve been tagged by Indiepix’s Danielle DiGiacomo to participate in this Sundance favorites blog meme. I’ve, in turn, tagged eight over bloggers. Find out if you’re one of the lucky octuplet after the jump. Rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 2. Players start with listing their Sundance favorites, separated into 8 categories. 3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 favorites and include these rules. 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and that they should read your blog. Here goes: 1. Favorite feature: Moon by Duncan Jones 2. Most problematic/interesting/thought-provoking feature: A tie between O’er the Land by Deborah Stratman and Spring Breakdown, starring Rachel Dratch, Parker Posey and Amy Poehler. I’ll be writing more about the surprising connections between the two films this week. 3. Favorite short film: I don’t remember a single short I saw other than The Blindness of the Woods. Which was pretty great. 4. Film most regrettably missed: Push, Big River Man, Stay the Same Never Change. 5. Most fun party: I didn’t go to any real parties — I was not invited to the now-legendary BritDoc party, alas –– but I had a few memorable nights at the Late Night Lodge. 6. Best post-screening Q & A: Bobcat Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad on the morning of the inauguration. 7. Favorite nonfiction character(s): If we’re confining this to characters that appear directly on screen, then Grace Coddington, The September Issue. If their presence is dramatized/implied, I’ll go with Colonel William Rankin from O’er the Land. 8. Most memorable moment: Getting called out by Steven Soderbergh at the IFC breakfast. More details on this week’s episode of FilmCouch. The following 8 people, consider yourself TAGGED! Tom Hall Matt Dentler David Carr - The Carpetbagger Scott Macaulay - FILMMAKER Blog Alison Willmore - Indie Eye Mike Jones - The Circuit Noel Murray - The A.V. Club Lou Lumenick Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:53 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/26/2009 7:00:53 PMI’ve been tagged by Indiepix’s Danielle DiGiacomo to participate in this Sundance favorites blog meme. I’ve, in turn, tagged eight over bloggers. Find out if you’re one of the lucky octuplet after the jump. Rules: 1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts. 2. Players start with listing their Sundance favorites, separated into 8 categories. 3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 favorites and include these rules. 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and that they should read your blog. Here goes: 1. Favorite feature: Moon by Duncan Jones 2. Most problematic/interesting/thought-provoking feature: A tie between O’er the Land by Deborah Stratman and Spring Breakdown, starring Rachel Dratch, Parker Posey and Amy Poehler. I’ll be writing more about the surprising connections between the two films this week. 3. Favorite short film: I don’t remember a single short I saw other than The Blindness of the Woods. Which was pretty great. 4. Film most regrettably missed: Push, Big River Man, Stay the Same Never Change. 5. Most fun party: I didn’t go to any real parties — I was not invited to the now-legendary BritDoc party, alas –– but I had a few memorable nights at the Late Night Lodge. 6. Best post-screening Q & A: Bobcat Goldthwait’s World’s Greatest Dad on the morning of the inauguration. 7. Favorite nonfiction character(s): If we’re confining this to characters that appear directly on screen, then Grace Coddington, The September Issue. If their presence is dramatized/implied, I’ll go with Colonel William Rankin from O’er the Land. 8. Most memorable moment: Getting called out by Steven Soderbergh at the IFC breakfast. More details on this week’s episode of FilmCouch. The following 8 people, consider yourself TAGGED! Tom Hall Matt Dentler David Carr - The Carpetbagger Scott Macaulay - FILMMAKER Blog Alison Willmore - Indie Eye Mike Jones - The Circuit Noel Murray - The A.V. Club Lou Lumenick Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/1/22/39791.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 1/22/2009 1:01:35 PM
Body: In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwaite says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murdr.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwaite’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwaite about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:01:35 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog1/22/2009 1:01:35 PM In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwaite says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murdr.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwaite’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwaite about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/22/39790.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/22/2009 1:01:21 PM
Body: In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwaite says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murdr.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwaite’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwaite about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:01:21 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/22/2009 1:01:21 PM In the director’s statement slipped into the press notes for his Robin Williams-starring Sundance entry World’s Greatest Dad, Bobcat Goldthwaite says it took him 25 years in show business to figure out that what he really wants to do is direct movies, and doing so makes him feel like he’s “getting away with murdr.” That’s a fair description of what he pulls off in Dad, in which a frustrated novelist/high school teacher (Williams) exploits the death of a loved one to plump up his own popularity. Though far more polished than Goldthwaite’s 2006 Sundance competition film Sleeping Dogs Lie (also known as Stay), Dad rides the same line between obscene satire and almost mushy sincerity. I talked to Goldthwaite about self-Googling, why he has no desire for his stand-up fans to see his movies, and why he’s not going on Celebrity Fit Club any time soon. I was a really big fan of Stay/Sleeping Dogs Lie. Well, I actually know that. I would like to pretend I was more secure and didn’t Google my own name, but you - you were very supportive. [laughter] It meant a lot to me. And you’re also a funny writer. That’s my girlfriend over there, she’s the costume designer and we’re kind of a team. I started reading your stuff out loud to her, because it made me laugh. Not just to hear you say flattering things about my movies. Wow, thank you very much. Anyway, I noticed a sort of interesting theme between that film and the new one, which is that they both kind of send the message that lying makes your life a lot better. I thought it was the other way. I wanted this to be, like, the flipside. Right, ultimately he turns away from lying. Right. And actually, [the main character of Sleeping Dogs Lie] embraces it. No, that was kind of the idea. I thought of the end of this one first and I wanted it to be - the last one was kind of about unconditional love from other people. This one was about … [pause]. This is so pretentious. Often when I’m doing interviews, if I heard them I’d have to come over and punch myself in the throat. But it is a really unpopular thing, I think, [to talk about] a man learning to take care of himself. And this is the part that’s gross for me to say: “to love himself.” Because to me, Lance, he has to earn my caring about him. Because the only people that are kind of nice in this movie, to me, is Andrew, the little boy. When you say that you sometimes say things in interviews that are so pretentious that you’d punch you if you heard it - there was a thing in your director’s statement about how it took you your whole career to figure out you wanted to make movies. And then there this line in the movie about how movies are “for art fags and losers.” Did you feel some resistance earlier in your life about making independent films, or about being a director? You also said something when you were introducing the move about how you’re not an “auteur.” Here’s the thing. I spent all this time in the system being miserable and being really beat up. Not realizing that this is my second life. When I turned away, I was so happy. My goal is to keep on making movies, and really I know that if I do them like I did Stay which was with a crew from Craigslist and was shot in two weeks, I have no problem with that. I really don’t care. And not like I used to say, “I don’t care, man!” [raises both middle fingers in the air]. I really don’t care. I just want to keep making movies. Sometimes they connect and sometimes they don’t, you know? I don’t mean that. I certainly wish I could connect with a bigger audience. But I’m not going to worry about that because I’m happy right now. You also said something about how sometimes you just want to say, “Fuck it,” and write a Kate Hudson movie. [laughter] I’ll say this. I’m probably the only director here who in three weeks is going to be playing an Indian casino in Iowa. Which is true. It’s true. And I go out on the road and I don’t like doing stand-up comedy. And what’s funny is I can say that to you in this interview, that I hate stand-up comedy. And the people who come out to see me, they’ll never see that quote. Because those people come - it’s like I’m Foreigner, going out on the road. There’s still going to be an audience to see Frampton. Are you saying you’re a nostalgia act? Oh, totally. Totally. These people don’t come - the last time actually I went on stage, I had to make some money to pay the rent, and I was on the road. I figured it out, and I’d been on the road and only three times did someone bring up that movie. And the rest were like, “Remember that movie with the homeless dude?” Do you think if you starred in the films there would be of more of a connect with that audience? Or do you not even want that connection? I don’t want to star in my movies. Because I don’t. I don’t. I don’t want to. It took me this long to get out of it. I truly don’t like acting. I’m in this one, and I wanted Guillermo from the “Jimmy Kimmel Show.” I don’t know if you ever watch the show, but he’s the parking lot attendant. And he had become my friend, and he had to work that day. Which is truly why I’m in the movie. My daughter and I were laughing about how bad my acting voice was. I almost had Tom Kenny loop my voice, not have it match, because I thought it would be really funny. But then I thought it would take you out of the movie. One thing I really like about both of these last two movies is something that seems to stem from your personality: there’s a split between being obscene and satirically funny, and then being really sincere. And that seems so perfect for Robin Williams, too. Yeah. Well, thanks. I am sincere. It’s so funny, like - I mean, that’s probably why I had that persona all those years, because it was a place to hide and not have to reveal who I was. But these movies are way more about who I am than anything I’ve done or anything…It wasn’t until I’d finished it recently that I realized, “Oh, I get it. Lance turns his back.” It’s like no one believes you that you don’t want to be in front of the camera. If I want to be on “Celebrity Fit Club” it’s one phone call, you know what I mean? Right. I could still be out in the public eye. And I remember at that point during my stand-up, when I set the “Tonight Show” on fire, the director - obviously something happened. I don’t want to become an armchair shrink, but I was trying to get out, you know? But that made me more bookable. When you do something like that you just create attention around yourself. And then attention feeds on attention. Yeah. I really do like being behind the camera. The whole set ends up being like everybody’s family. And all these guys, I’ve worked with them and they show up. Like Tom Kenny and Jill Talley, they show up briefly. I just like working with friends. The actors did a lot of ad-libbing? It’s really funny, because Robin got really defensive when people asked him if he was ad-libbing. And he says, “No. It was all in the script.” I go, “No, but that’s a compliment, they just thought you were being natural.” I’m not a writer who goes, “Ah, these are my precious words.” I like that you do it and you keep working on it and you do some where it’s staged, really, and some where it’s straight as a heart attack. And then I’ve got all these choices when I go back to edit. I don’t like directors who almost embarrass the actors. That’s a real thing. Just to get the kind of performance they want? Yeah. Fuck them, it’s just a movie. We should all be in the same thing. Some days though - I don’t know if you know Tom Kenny, but he one of my best friends since I was 15. He’s Spongebob. We grew up together. And I never felt funny because I always just watched him. He’s really, really awesome. That’s why I like directing him. I’m back to watching Tom Kenny. It really was like the Marx Brothers [on set]. Screaming and running around this PBS TV stage. And I’m pulling out what’s left of my hair. “Come on, guys, really, we’ve got o finish.” And they’re all like, “Whoo-oo-oo.” And I was like that too. And it just feeds it, and it’s good. Does the finished film end up looking really different from what you had in mind before you started? Robin is such a great actor that he exceeded my expectations. And Daryl. And I have to say Alexie, she could be in these scenes with Robin and to not disappear is really impressive for the both of them. There was a guy in the Q&A who thanked you for making movies that make him squirm. He said that that’s what Sundance should be about. But it really isn’t. There are so few independent films or really any films that take risks and are comfortable with making the audience uncomfortable. Why do you think that is? I had the luxury of being recognized and all that crap. I know that it’s bullshit, and I think a lot of these young filmmakers are hoping to make it. And I know that people, when they’re trying to sell a movie, that’s just more pressure. Because I don’t want anyone to take a hit because they believe in me. I want the movie to recoup. But this is the destination. I just want to shake them all and go, “I didn’t even have a distributor and they let me in, and gave me a good crowd to see a movie.” Another thing that you said in your director’s statement was that you whole goal is to have an audience see the film, that’s why you make the films. There’s been a lot of talk this week about new distribution models, movies skipping theatrical distribution to go on video-on-demand and all these other things. But aren’t there are certain types of films that need to be seen in a theater with an audience, like the kinds of comedies you make? Yeah. That’s how it’s made. People second-guess whether something works [when watching it alone] versus watching it with a crowd. That’s the nature of comedy. I do hope people - do I want to say I hope people see it? Because that’s not true. [laughs] I hope the right people see it. Who are the right people? I don’t give a shit if people who went to see that goddamn Kevin James movie see this movie. [laughter] I don’t give a fuck if they see my movie. So if the right people aren’t the people who go see a Kevin James movie, and they’re not the people who go see you do stand-up, who are they? I don’t know. I might just be me and a couple of my friends. [laughter] Fuck “American Idol.” Fuck ‘em all. They just gave me the wrap-it-up signal, so I’ll just ask you one more question… Do the voice. [laughs] [laughs] No, I’m not going to go there. What else are you working on? What’s coming up? There’s another script in the so-called the “Boo-Hoo Trilogy, ” in the same tone of these two, although there’s not the same characters. Although my daughter’s really funny. I go, “It’s a little bit based on us, but not really” - she goes, “Fuck off, that’s my life!” But I’m super lazy. This movie was like me remembering horrible things some people said, and I put it in the screenplay. [laughs] That’s basically your process, is just remembering your pain? Just like hearing someone saying something and it be so cringe-worthy that I go, “Ahh.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/16/39586.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/16/2009 9:00:33 AM
Body: Clint Eastwood’s new cranky-old-man epic, Gran Torino, sped past the competition to prove its raw masculine authority at box office. Over the past twenty years, Eastwood has perfected his own sub-genre: the grizzled old timer who comes back for one last hurrah. This latest iteration adds a surprising dose of compassion. Karina shares which movies she’s most excited to see at Sundance this year. The list includes, Moon, The Clone Returns Home, Hump Day, O’er the Land, The September Issue, The Informers, and World’s Greatest Dad. Listen to FilmCouch and win free stuff! We’ve got two contests going on. Send us an e-mail telling us the most absurd piece of merchandise you’ve seen branded with an image of Che Guevara, and you can win a program from the Che roadshow signed by Steven Soderbergh, a copy of Che’s Diaries, and the soundtrack to the film. Also, send us your favorite movie about Hollywood, and you can win a copy of the new film The Deal, starring William H. Macy. Send e-mails to filmcouch (at) spout (dot) com. (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) 0:00 - Intro 1:31 - contests 5:58 - listener feedback 11:55 - Gran Torino 29:57 - Sundance preview filmcouch-104 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:00:33 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/16/2009 9:00:33 AM Clint Eastwood’s new cranky-old-man epic, Gran Torino, sped past the competition to prove its raw masculine authority at box office. Over the past twenty years, Eastwood has perfected his own sub-genre: the grizzled old timer who comes back for one last hurrah. This latest iteration adds a surprising dose of compassion. Karina shares which movies she’s most excited to see at Sundance this year. The list includes, Moon, The Clone Returns Home, Hump Day, O’er the Land, The September Issue, The Informers, and World’s Greatest Dad. Listen to FilmCouch and win free stuff! We’ve got two contests going on. Send us an e-mail telling us the most absurd piece of merchandise you’ve seen branded with an image of Che Guevara, and you can win a program from the Che roadshow signed by Steven Soderbergh, a copy of Che’s Diaries, and the soundtrack to the film. Also, send us your favorite movie about Hollywood, and you can win a copy of the new film The Deal, starring William H. Macy. Send e-mails to filmcouch (at) spout (dot) com. (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) 0:00 - Intro 1:31 - contests 5:58 - listener feedback 11:55 - Gran Torino 29:57 - Sundance preview filmcouch-104 Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/dark/MemberTagFilms.aspxdark
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