THE FLY is one of the greatest movies ever made and 87.2% of it takes place on one set with two actors. It should feel small and cheap yet it's grand and operatic. I honestly think it's a perfect movie.
Dean
@deanlines.bsky.social
Screenwriter. Film & TV with @ray_bogdanovich: Past Life, The Banishing, Hounded. Represented by Revolution Talent. https://www.revolutiontalent.co.uk/writer-director-producers/dean-lines-ray-bogdanovich/
Persistence of vision. From James Cameron's early concept sketch to one of his own oil paintings, to trash bag mock up to the finished full sized Alien Queen. Iconic.
The biggest cinematic crime of my lifetime was failing to build a multi-decade franchise around Jodie Foster’s CLARICE STARLING. That should have been her JACK RYAN or DIRTY HARRY. We should have watched her rise from trainee to FBI leadership as the world changed around her.
Spec scrips used to be 100 page lottery tickets. Now they’re 100 page auditions to write a 100 page lottery ticket for free that wins you the opportunity to play the indie film lottery.
I know Spielberg has said he’ll never remake JAWS... But how have we not had a prestige TV show based on the book/movie? Go deep on every character affected. Eight episodes. Huge cast. Call it AMITY. The Beard himself comes in to direct the pilot, titled… JAWS.
ALIENS and T2 are sequence-for-sequence, big-budget remakes of relatively contained originals. AVATAR 2/3 do the same thing, but with the first film’s character dynamics inverted. I’d argue even TITANIC owes a huge structural debt to THE TERMINATOR. Cameron has an idea and refuses to let it go.
I’m convinced a lot of ALIENS, not just its plot, but the way Cameron made it, was dreamt up while he was working for Roger Corman. In another timeline, ALIENS never happened and instead Cameron made GALAXY OF TERRORS for $2 million.
It's mad that the middle hour of ALIENS is basically a handful of people hanging around on a few modest sets. All the scale and most of the threat is played off-screen. Cameron's genius is making sure you never notice. He spends every penny exactly where it counts..
1983. James Cameron lands two writing jobs ON THE SAME DAY. He's already doing free rewrites on another script for a producer... he can't afford to turn down the paying gigs. Gives himself 10 weeks to write all three AT THE SAME TIME. The scripts? TERMINATOR ALIENS RAMBO 2.
Seth Rogen is a generational talent most won’t recognise until long after we should.
One week ago this arsehole had me contacting emergency vets as I thought he could no longer walk and was literally on his last legs. Genuinely thought his days were numbered. Never been so emotionally traumatised in my life. Today he’s playing Tom and Jerry. Absolute pisstaker.
Hate to say it, but out of pure spite, we should just nuke the Falklands.
You know we’re doing well in the World Cup when your local chippy is selling beer and screening England game.
He might be 13 today, and he might have a fresh prescription for joint meds, but the grind never stops. Garden guard duty is a full-time job. Happy 13th, Dexter!
Been up since 5:30 this morning... Was not planning on staying up for the match. But fuck it. You only fall asleep 5 minutes before kick-off once. Let's have it.
It’s gonna be legit mental seeing the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom emerge from No. 10 Coronation Street for the first time.
I have now reached "balancing an ice cube on my head" levels of suffering.
Reckon I would have enjoyed that recent episode of the new GAME OF THRONES show if I had any memory of who anyone was or why they were trying to kill each other.