Insurance first, Skills later: Nicole Kidman's case

The below-listed quote is from Edward Jay Epstein's book The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind the Movies. Bottom line, skill sets are important and obviously of primary importance. They are not, however, the only thing of substance. Nicole Kidman's portrayal of Virginia Woolf in the film The Hours didn't just depend on her acting skills. It mostly rested on her insurability. If the artist is not insurable, no matter how brilliantly talented they might be, they will not get to work. Epstein's book is an interesting and informative read. It placed the current discussion of health care and insurance in a gripping, new context.

A bit says:

Kidman injured her knee during the filming of Moulin Rouge in Australia in 2000, resulting in a $3 million insurance loss, and then quit Panic Room in 2001, leading to the insurer having to pay some $7 million for the replacement actress (Jodie Foster). As a result, her public and critical acclaim notwithstanding, Miramax was initially unable to get insurance on her for its film Cold Mountain, which had a budget approaching $100 million. From the perspective of the insurer, Fireman's Fund, she was a definite risk. As an insurance executive noted in an email, "...the fact remains that the doctor we sent her to for her examination noted swelling in the knee." The executive goes on: "The other major fact that can't be changed is our paying three claims for this actress's knees over the years."

To get the necessary policy from Fireman's Fund, Kidman agreed to put $1 million of her own salary in an escrow account that would be forfeited if she failed to maintain the production schedule, and she agreed to use a stunt double for all scenes that the insurer considered potentially threatening to her knee. In addition, the co-producer, Lakeshore Entertainment, added another $500,000 to the escrow account...Having made the all-important move from borderline uninsurable to borderline insurable, she could make movies again. No matter how great their acting skills and box office drawing power, stars cannot get lead roles if they are uninsurable. Great acting skills and box office drawing may make the star, but insurance is what it takes to make the movie.

Tip of the hat to MR for the pointer.

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'Hari Putar' Postponed

"Hollywood company Warner Bros has filed a lawsuit against all parties involved in the production and distribution of the Hari Puttar film.
It has been quoted as saying the the title of the Indian movie is confusing.
Mirchi Movies, the makers of the Bollywood children's film, have denied the accusations.
It told the BBC that India's Hari Puttar had nothing to do with the Harry Potter wizard movies, to which Warner Bros owns the rights.
Mirchi says that Hari is a popular Indian name, and Puttar means 'son' in Hindi and Punjabi."

Well, Harry Potter folks, not all the lexemes out there, especially those found in non-West Germanic languages, that happens to sound like 'Harry' and/or 'Potter' want to cash in some of the so-called "Harry Potter" cachet. In Hindi and Punjab 'puttar' does, indeed, mean 'son'. What gives?

Read more here
graph per bbc

Mulholland Drive

While reading the NY Times this morning, I noticed a bit on Naomi Watts. It got me to thinking of her past performances and a film I don't believe I've mentioned here yet is David Lynch's Mulholland Drive. If you haven't seen it, do so.
It's grotesque, sad, funny, mysterious, and vain all at the same time. In other words, a good metaphor for Hollywood.

Tropic Thunder: Above Average

Tropic Thunder is worth a watch. I wouldn't use the kinds of superlatives some reviewers have used so far but I will give it a more than lukewarm recommendation.

What sells the movie to some, me included, is the performance by Robert Downey Jr. But then again, I'm rarely disappointed by his work, anyway.

So, here are a few reasons to watch this Ben Stiller-penned and -directed film:

1) Tom Cruise's portrayal of a despicable Hollywood producer by the name of Les.
2) 'Alpa Chino''s repartee with Robert Downey Jr.
3) 'Sandusky''s encouraging and mobilizing words to his 'platoon.'
4) Matthew McConaughey's portrayal of a manager with, yes, conscience.
5) Jack Black's withdrawals
6) Last but not least, Tom Cruise's dance moves to Hip-Hop at the end of the film.

So, if you have already seen the superb Brideshead Revisited, go see Tropic Thunder. It is bound to produce a couple of chuckles. It could have been funnier and Jack Black could have been used more, but it's an ok attempt overall.
And here are a few memorable quotes from the film:

Kirk Lazarus: I know who I am! I'm the dude playing the dude disguised as another dude!
...
And the conversation between Alpa Chino and Downy Jr's Kirk Lazarus:
"Alpa Chino: Maybe I just knew I had to represent...
Kirk Lazarus: Hot damn!
Alpa Chino: ...because they had one good part in there for a *black* man, and they gave it to "Crocodile Dundee"!
Kirk Lazarus: [offended] Pump your brakes kid, that man's a national treasure.
Alpa Chino: I'm sorry a dingo ate your baby!"
...
Speedman: I don't believe you people!
Kirk Lazarus: What do you mean, "you people?"
[silence]
Alpa Chino: What do you mean, "you people?""
graph per google image

Hollywood to Bollywood

When it comes to the Hollywood to Bollywood move, globalization might not work quite as fast.
The Wall Street Journal features an article on the topic. A bit says:
"Indian moviegoers, too, are seeking familiarity. So far Hollywood seems to understand that in India, one must do as the Indians do. In November, Sony Pictures released "Saawariya," the first Indian movie financed from abroad. "Saawariya" has Bollywood written all over it: song, dance, love story -- all the usual ingredients. Hollywood knows what sells in India; it is not about to replace a formula that sells 3.6 billion tickets annually.
...

In India, Hollywood will become at most an alternative form of cinema for a greater number of Indians. Bangalore may love Rambo, but there is no shortage of fanfare for Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood's premier actress, in the city. Americans, too, may start warming to Indian culture, but the long reign enjoyed by the likes of Mr. Stallone is not about to end. Globalization can wage a long war to remove barriers between nations, but this is one battle it is not going to win anytime soon."
The rest is here.

Sydney Pollack Dies: The Artist Will be Sorely Missed!

I just found out that producer, actor, director Sydney Pollack died today in his home in California. I truly enjoyed his work.
Benjamin and I just talked about him today when discussing the film Michael Clayton which he also helped produce and finding out a few minutes later that he died this very day was a shock.
His Tootsie is a film I enjoyed from day one. My folks thought I'd enjoy the premise and ever since that point in time, it's been a high-frequency film for me. Pollack's own acting in the film was one of the things I enjoyed about it.
But I truly developed an appreciation for Pollack's artistic abilities when I saw Kubrick's last oeuvre Eyes Wide Shut. Pollack's portrayal of the uber-powerful New Yorker is, according to me, one of the most believable 'texts' I have seen on film. Pollack's ever so adequate taming of the main character is a piece of incomparable skill. They simply don't come like Pollack any more.
Whether he directed, acted, or produced, Pollack left an indelible mark of excellence and adequacy.
He was a man who truly got the art form of film.
And I will miss him. A great loss, indeed. Thank you Sydney Pollack for all you gave us.
This is what the Times says about him:
"Self-critical and never quite at ease with Hollywood, Mr. Pollack voiced a constant yearning for creative prerogatives more common on the stage. Yet he dived into the fray. In 1970, “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?,” his bleak fable of love and death among marathon dancers in the Great Depression, based on a Horace McCoy novel, received nine Oscar nominations, including the one for directing. (Gig Young won the best supporting actor award for his performance.)

Two years later, Mr. Pollack made the mountain-man saga “Jeremiah Johnson,” one of three closely spaced pictures in which he directed Mr. Redford.

The second of those films, “The Way We Were,” about a pair of ill-fated lovers who meet up later in life, also starred Ms. Streisand and was an enormous hit despite critical hostility.

The next, “Three Days of the Condor,” another hit, about a bookish C.I.A. worker thrust into a mystery, did somewhat better with the critics. “Tense and involving,” said Roger Ebert in The Chicago Sun-Times.

With “Absence of Malice” in 1981, Mr. Pollack entered the realm of public debate. The film’s story of a newspaper reporter (Sally Field) who is fed a false story by federal officials trying to squeeze information from a businessman (Paul Newman) was widely viewed as a corrective to the adulation of investigative reporters that followed Alan J. Pakula’s hit movie “All the President’s Men,” with its portrayal of the Watergate scandal.
But only with “Tootsie,” in 1982, did Mr. Pollack become a fully realized Hollywood player."
Full feature here.
graphs per ny times

When in Doubt, Digitize.

That we all need to be digital to be functional seems pretty clear to me.

Kevin Morris' article on the Huffington Post this morning was well penned, I thought.

He writes about the current WGA strike in Hollywood and how Hollywood's main problem is actually its inability to come to terms with the new digital age. That, and as Morris puts it, a 'highly untrained work force.'

Here are some stats he mentions to support the point that if the entertainment industry does not come to full terms with the new digital age, things will look progressively worse for it in the future.

'Music. This is the horror story, the nightmare. Global music sales have by some reports dropped by 49% since 1997. The music business as we knew it has evaporated. Sales of CDs in the U.S. have slipped from $13.2 billion in 2000 to $9.2 billion in 2006 (that's down 30%). As of June 2007, overall CD sales have plummeted 16% for the year so far--and that's after seven years of near-constant erosion.'

I don't buy CD's anymore. I don't even have the need to keep adding to my DVD's because I consider them too bulky and well, a tad passé.

I have digitized my entire music library and the films are to follow. Economy of space, simple.

At its core, this is truly a minimalist choice and the digitization of media is minimalism-informed and the way of the future.


graph per huffington post