Cʜʀɪsᴛᴏᴘʜᴇʀ Dᴇʀʀɪᴄᴋ

The red and blue lights [of police sirens] are the boxing bell that signal “the fight is about to start,” where continued life is the prize for lasting 12 rounds. guernicamag.com/sirens #BLM #PoliceReform #PoliceBrutality .@GuernicaMag .@rgay .@juliaioffe

@CinemaTweets1 He didn’t win Oscar for Malcom X, Cry Freedom, The Hurricane, Flight or American Gangster. No nom for Devil in a Blue Dress … so why hold any scorn for the BAFTAs?

Denzel Washington has never earned a #BAFTA nomination. I didn’t say win- he hasn’t even received a nomination. It’s something I always think about whenever the BAFTAs roll around, which take place tomorrow. Zero nominations for Denzel Washington really damages BAFTA’s standing.

Uh… there’s no age gap romance in this film…

All the people declaring Hollywood dead because of AI generated video are about to discover that creating images on screen was the easiest part of filmmaking.

The WGA Staff Union is facing tough times as they strike. Many work hard for low wages and are now risking their livelihoods. Your support can make a real difference. Please consider donating or sharing to help them through this challenging period. gofund.me/3cf67c433

@BogeyGuyC @20thcentury Thanks Guy! Yes 20th has done an amazing job. Original movies in the theater are rare these days, and if we don't show up for them, they'll go away completely.

@kimmonismus It totally looks like AI

This is 100% AI generated. And I couldnt tell anymore. Holy moly.

@JosephKahn But look at his skin. And his prolapsed sphincter says otherwise (maybe too much pegging on the island though)

Donald Trump has been drinking 12 Diet Cokes a day since 1982. He's Coca Cola's test human and he hasn't gotten cancer. It's safe.

If a DP lit a scene like this today, they’d fire him at lunch.

if you tried to light a film like this now they would kill you with a gun

Spike Lee on how he overcame funding shortfalls & Warner Bros' indifference to get 'Malcolm X' (1992) made: "The making of that film was the hardest thing I ever had to do. And the great Marvin Worth bought the rights from Dr. Betty Shabazz, way back. Way back. And for 20-something years, he tried to get it made — several directors, several — several actors. And finally, Norman Jewison was the director, with Denzel. And when I heard that Norman Jewison was directing this, I said, “Hell to the nah!” But here’s the thing, though. I respect Norman Jewison, because it was his job; he gracefully bowed out. He didn’t have to do that. And so, once we got that, I knew we had to do the film. But from the very beginning, we didn’t have enough money. We didn’t have enough money. I put half my salary into the film. Warner Bros. knew it. We all knew it. But we’re just gonna go. I mean, this whole thing is — and, you know, in the studio system, you got to get them impregnated. So we knew one day the money would run out. And Warner Bros. did not want the length of that film to be three hours. We knew — it was not about ego. To tell the many different lives that Malcolm led, we needed that time. We needed that time. And we went out — it’s crazy. We showed the four-hour version to Warner Bros. Four hours. We knew we’d cut it down, but… It was the day of the Rodney King verdict. So, we’re screening a film for Warner Bros. executives, the two presidents, and the secretaries are coming in and out, because L.A. is burning. But to their credit, they stayed throughout the whole four hours. And so, it was a long discussion, because they had to — we had — I think a helicopter came to Warner Bros.’ lot and took them to where they had to go. And they said, “How long the film might be?” I said, “I need as long as” — I said, “How long is JFK?” Because JFK was coming out. And they said, ”JFK is two hours.” They didn’t know I know Oliver Stone. I call Oliver. I goes, “Oliver, how long is JFK?” He says, “Spike, it’s three hours, but don’t tell them I told you so.” So we knew that we had to keep going. We did not cut the film, the length. And Warner Bros. let the bond company take over the film. All the people in postproduction got registered letters saying, “You’re fired.” As I said before, I already put half my salary already into the film. So it was the lowest point in my life, with the exception of my mother dying. And Malcolm came to me: self-determination, self-reliance. I kept thinking about that again and again and again. What does that mean? And then it hit me like a ton of bricks: I know some Black folks that got some money. So, this was the plan. Not did I only know them, but I had their phone number. So I made a list. And here’s the key thing. This was not — it was not — they couldn’t get any money back. It wasn’t a tax write-off. This had to be like, “Here, take it. Take it.” And the first person I called was Bill Cosby. Called him up, said, “Bill” — first thing I said was, “How’s Camille?” Then I told him what it was about. He said, “Spike, I’ll put the check in the mail.” I said, “Nah.” I knew he lived in a townhouse, Upper East Side. Knocked on the door. Didn’t even come in. Snatched that check, ran to the bank before he could change his mind. So I made a list. And I always get the order mixed up. A great woman, Peggy Cooper Cafritz, she wrote a check. Tracy Chapman. Janet Jackson. Prince. And then there were two left. So, here’s the other thing, though, is that every time they said yes, I was asking for more money, ’cause I was feeling it. So, I had two people on my list. Called up Magic. Boom. And then the last call, the GOAT, who was born in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, not North Carolina: Michael Jordan, born in Cumberland Hospital on Myrtle Avenue, same hospital where Mike Tyson and Bernard King were born in, Bernard and Albert King were born. So, I mean, one thing about Michael, he don’t like to lose nothing. Very competitive. So I just let it slip how much Magic gave. Oh, oh, oh, Ms. Oprah Winfrey — sorry, sorry. She’s in there. I told you I get the — so I let Michael — I said, “Magic gave…” He said, “Magic gave what?” Boom! So now we had the money, and I had the money to rehire the crew. And at this time, there was no talking between myself and Warner Bros., because Warner Bros. gave the film to the bond company. So, on this date, on Malcolm’s birthday, we had a press conference at the Schomburg Collection, Schomburg Library, 135th and Lenox. And we announced that these prominent African Americans wrote these checks. And the next day, Warner Bros. financed the rest of the movie. True story." ("Spike Lee on “Malcolm X” & How Hollywood Almost Prevented Landmark Film from Being Made", Democracy Now, 2023)

This is the original Epstein whistle blower, dutch supermodel Karen Mulder. She lost her career, was put on medication and into a psych ward for speaking out. Don’t forget her because she’s a hero.

Way back in the 90s when I was a journalist I did a long interview with Iliad & Odyssey translator Robert Fagles & the thing that stuck with me about him was how after spending decades immersed in both poems, he was completely convinced that they were the work of a single mind.

@MuseZack The overriding “need” for authenticity has gutted films; the mythic is what makes a story compelling

It's like how when you adapt the King Arthur story, you can either try and root it in a plausibly late Roman/early medieval Britain, or do the Excalibur-style purposely anachronistic version steeped in myth and legend. Either is a valid approach. Just make a good movie.

My take on the Nolan Odyssey is that it's clear from casting, production design & costuming decisions that Nolan is doing the Mythic Take on the material. I would have loved a version that felt more rooted in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, but this ain't that. It's fine.

@MW4Liberty @julie_bush Uh… it’s been like that since the Gilded Age… at least

America is now undeniably a country where a small group of wealthy, politically connected people, are protected by the law, but not bound to it; and where the rest of us are bound by the law, but not protected by it.

@soigomaa Please expand your knowledge of film canon. The Piano Teacher comes to mind, Out of the Past, Play Misty For Me, Woman of the Dunes, The Last Seduction.

So many films about women loving monsters. Still waiting for the one where the monster is a woman and she's loved

In the February 9 issue of The New Yorker, writer Michael Schulman details the planned reconstruction of Orson Welles’ "The Magnificent Ambersons" using artificial intelligence to convey the missing scenes. This is truly a must-read piece for Welles fans. wellesnet.com/new-yorker-pre…

@TomAandTom1 I checked out so long ago, I don't even know if I can give it a chance, despite your solid review (and taste)

In the end fans asked the MCU for bigger swings, smaller stakes, less spectacle and less winking at the audience and Wonder Man does all of that Salute

Lupita Nyong'o is not the first Black woman who could portray Helen of Troy. The first was Eartha Kitt, personally chosen by Orson Welles, in a play performed in Paris in 1950.

What do Pasolini's SALO and Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT have in common? The playbook for the Epstein Files...

Decades before Christopher Nolan, @Lupita_Nyongo (or @elonmusk for that matter) were born, Orson Welles cast Eartha Kitt as the beautiful Helen of Troy in his 1950 stage production of "Time Runs." Nobody talked about the color of her skin, just her amazing talent.