scare me, please "I just want to apologize to Mike’s mom, and Josh’s mom, and my mom. I am so sorry. It’s my fault. Because this was my project. I’m so scared." Last night I downloaded the trailer for The Blair Witch Project. This little clip is a fantastic and very telling exercise in minimalism. Put the Scream or Halloween H20 trailers next to this one, and tell me which is scarier. And here is this: I used to be opposed or at least not very excited about the film. But the trailer and the trailer alone has won me over. Good for them. And if this film ends up being truly frightening as promised, I sincerely hope that the studios start to rethink their notion of how to scare people, because I haven’t been scared in a film in years. Moments of Se7en, maybe. I don’t even remember the last time. Is it a dead art? Is it impossible in this day of overkill? Are we too desensitized? I tend not to believe this. I think they’ve just lost their way. I can’t even begin to remember what I did Friday night – must not have been very interesting. Saturday I spent the sweltering day rearranging my apartment. Every time I feel like I need a big switch in my life, do I quit my job, or dump my girlfriend, or move? No. I rearrange. And the only two rooms I can really do anything with are the living room and bedroom. And in each of these rooms, the layout and the size of my furniture allow me only 2 possibilities. So as a result my entire redecorating plan consists of moving my bed and dresser – and then moving it right back to where it was – same with my couch and desk. I’m on my fourth set-up in the bedroom, and third now in the living room. I think this will be better, however, because my desk is now back at the window and instead of starring at a blue wall, I can watch the 28 Iranian kids next door killing cats or throwing dirt clods at passing cars for inspiration. It’s a lovely thing. Then Frank and Tom (co-director and editor, respectively) came over and we viewed 4 hours of footage from the movie, logging takes we liked from the timecode Tom put in. It was very exciting to watch as I haven’t seen the stuff in over a month now, and it really looks fantastic. There’s some really really funny stuff. We’re pretty sure we’re going to end up making (at least) 2 separate cuts. One 10 minute, as funny as possible, version as soon as we can – to send around to various industry persons. And then a longer, more well-shaped and narrative-fueled version for festivals and our own artistic satisfaction. It is either very good timing, or very bad timing that we happen to be doing this when short parody films have become the new road to Hollywood success. South Park really started it – where execs passed around this short they thought was funny, taped it for friends, etc., eventually leading to these guys being offered deals all over town – and then Troops and Swingblade and Eating Las Vegas and now George Lucas in Love has made the media take notice. So much so that the San Francisco Chronicle even wrote a front page article on the phenomenon while I was up there. I almost choked on my sourdough bread and Peets Coffee. So this may help us in that this is what they’re ready for, or we may ride the crest of the inevitable backlash. At any rate, my film is not an elongated SNL skit like many of these things – it is, dare I say, a bit more highbrow, which could, again, end up either helping or hurting us. I got my lazy ass on a workout schedule that I’ve actually been sticking to for months now! Here’s the rub: it is hot hot hot today and I’m not sure I should be biking my ass off in the sun. (We’re talking 100+ near record temps.) So what’s a trying-to-do-good boy to do? Going to a screening of the Denzel/Angelina Jolie flick The Bone Collector tonight. I hate going to these test screenings but: air conditioning. And as I am an industry person, as ‘twere, I always have to lie about my profession. Yup, tonight I’m Stee, the veterinarian. This is where I let Larry King take over my body for a few minutes. Good all-star game tonight. However, the Fox guys kept gushing what an incredible moment is was when Ted Williams came out onto the field at Fenway to throw out the first ball. All I saw was an old-ass crumudgeon chewing gum and trying to locate home plate...On the Real World, Ruthie is drinking herself silly and everyone's trying to "help". AA 101...this whole Quick Time video thing is pretty incredible. I know I'm totally out of the loop but downloading trailers and such is fresh. I know this shit will look like peanuts in 1 year...
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