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Directors: cunts and GBOLs

Started by Twit 2, April 02, 2019, 06:06:29 PM

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Twit 2

More evidence of Kubrick cuntery:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/02/how-we-made-a-clockwork-orange-malcolm-mcdowell-stanley-kubrick

Can be added to the long list of stories of him being a cunt on set.

In the GBOL camp, Herzog has to be up there. Even on a film as logistically barking mad as Fitzcarralo, he probably showed less stress than a Hollywood director being handed a luke-warm coffee. Claudia Cardinale claims he was unruffled throughout, and a total gent.

So, best and worst, juicy anecdotes please.

chveik

nah Herzog is an ubercunt, several native people died or were injured during the filming of Fitzcarraldo. but film buffs only seem to care for his relationship with Kinski.

Sin Agog

I still think that was mighty decent of George Lucas donating four smegging billion dollars to charity.  Especially considering how many times I read his name spelt 'George Luca$' on aintitcool.com circa the year 2000.

Just looked up GBOL and because you called Herzog one of them, I was torn between 'German Barcode Of Life (DNA project)' and 'Great Bunch of Lads.'

Twit 2

I was aware of injuries (guy bitten by a snake so chainsawed his limb off) but not so much the deaths. Were any of them directly caused by his negligence, or were they indirectly caused by the nature of doing such a production in that environment?

Sin Agog

Quote from: chveik on April 02, 2019, 06:23:39 PM
nah Herzog is an ubercunt, several native people died or were injured during the filming of Fitzcarraldo. but film buffs only seem to care for his relationship with Kinski.

That's completely unfair!  Some of us are interested in his relationship with Bruno S. as well.

chveik

Quote from: Twit 2 on April 02, 2019, 06:45:19 PM
I was aware of injuries (guy bitten by a snake so chainsawed his limb off) but not so much the deaths. Were any of them directly caused by his negligence, or were they indirectly caused by the nature of doing such a production in that environment?

both I reckon.

QuoteWerner Herzog fatuously claimed that the Indians were lucky that he had a doctor on set, failing to realize (or at least to admit) the fact that his policy of relocating diverse tribal groups in alien territory was bound to create inter-ethnic friction. The Indian extras, almost 1,000 in total, were housed in barrack room conditions. The food was appalling and medical supplies limited. There were not enough women to produce the Indians' staple, a drink made from manioc. The only diversion possible was soccer until the ball burst. One native died of malaria, sparking off a period of heightened tension. Some extras worked on the film for six months, their official rate of pay being around two dollars a day. The majority of them had been relocated hundreds of miles from their homes, families, and most importantly, their gardens. When the extras agreed to work on the film, they were unaware of two facts. First, that the project would take twice as long as Herzog had promised them. And second, that for most of this time the extras would work as laborers, clearing forest slopes and trying to haul a 365 ton ship up a 40-degree incline - a ship that was ten times larger than the original.

QuoteBefore filming could begin, Werner Herzog was immediately faced with the problem of finding an alternative location when the Aguaruna Indians in northern Peru violently ejected the entire film crew, protesting against the arrogant attitude of the filmmakers and the manner in which they had walked into villages and attempted to take control. The Aguaruna are the most politically unified native group in the entire Amazon, with a strong and often militant tribal council that has reacted quickly to outsiders who once again tried to take without giving back in return, or even asking first. Some of the council-members were jailed and a German aid-worker, who had been helping the Indians plant rice, was almost drowned by the film crew. After six months of argument, during which Herzog ordered soldiers to intimidate a village assembly by firing over their heads, the Aguaranas had had enough. They burnt down the film crew's camp and bundled its workers and equipment into three canoes.

not to mention the two plane crashes (5 people killed, one paralyzed), the drowning of a young native, the raid of an another Indian tribe etc.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Cunt: John Landis for the Twilight Zone tragedy, which was caused by his negligence.

GBOL: Stan Laurel, who basically co-wrote and directed most of the classic Laurel & Hardy films, but never took any official credit.

Cunt: William Friedkin during the making of The Exorcist. He deliberately frightened his actors by firing blanks on set, injured Burstyn and Blair by violently yanking their harnesses, and he slapped that little priest fella across the face to elicit a convincingly fraught performance. Still, great film.

GBOL: Martin Scorsese. I've never heard anyone say a bad word about him, he appears to be a genuinely nice fella.

Cunt: Hitchcock for sexually harassing Tippi Hedren during the making of The Birds and forcing her to endure a scene in which loads of live birds were thrown in her face.

GBOL: Ken Loach, for obvious reasons.

Sin Agog

I know it's the current line to offload nothing but hate on John Landis for that Twilight Zone incident, but as a personality he's so effervescent and loveable.  I guess those kind of tragedies are what happens when you let a stunt man become a director, but he clearly was affected by the incident, and I just can't cunt-stamp someone with his level of ebullience.  Probably a bad habit anyway, as if the quirks of fate should be able to determine whether someone's the lowest of the low or a great bunch of lads.  People aren't really like that in reality.

Glebe

Cheers for the Grauniad article Twit 2, interesting... I recall a some doco from a few years back in which McDowell opined that Kubrick's lack of humanity held him back from genius status, or words to that effect.

Fuck's sake, the Herzog Fitzcarraldo is awful. I always found John Landis' explosively-happy personality odd in contrast to the Twilight Zone: The Movie dreadfulness.

By all accounts Peter Jackson appears to be in the GBOL category, although there was this, which I have lazily cut-and-pasted from Wiki:

QuoteAlleged animal abuse

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) asked the New Zealand government to investigate allegations that 27 animals used for the film died due to poor living conditions. Claims also include sheep falling into sinkholes, chickens being mauled by unsupervised dogs, a horse falling over a steep embankment, and another one being left on the ground for three hours after being hobbled. PETA says that instead of "vainly defending himself", Peter Jackson should be giving a "firm assurance that this will never happen again". They also called Jackson a "CGI master", stating that he could easily make convincing CGI animals, instead of using actual ones.[170][171][172] Peter Jackson denied these allegations in a press conference hours before the premiere of the first film stating that there was "Absolutely none; no mistreatment, no abuse".[173] Warner Bros. also released a statement which joined Peter Jackson in denying the allegations, questioning the timing and claiming the primary source of the allegations could be traced to freelance animal wranglers who had been dismissed by the production over a year earlier "for cause".[174]

Just watched the extended An Unexpected Journey again the other day, actually. Wasn't Spielberg apparently quite negligent in his use of life snakes on the set of Raiders, apparently?

Twit 2

The Firzcarraldo stuff does seem to be a blot on his copy book. He's such a warm and thoughtful person in interviews and actors' accounts, so I wonder what his own take on it all is, especially as he expressed regret over the rats in Nosferatu.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Glebe on April 02, 2019, 09:01:44 PM
I always found John Landis' explosively-happy personality odd in contrast to the Twilight Zone: The Movie dreadfulness.

It always seemed to me that it was a case a hubris.  A man whom felt that nothing would go wrong and that bad things only happen on other people's sets, if at all.  A man with his eye on making the scene look as impressive as possible and not allowing the thought to enter his mind of 'this could all go horribly, horribly wrong'.

Sin Agog

Quote from: Twit 2 on April 02, 2019, 09:35:40 PM
The Firzcarraldo stuff does seem to be a blot on his copy book. He's such a warm and thoughtful person in interviews and actors' accounts, so I wonder what his own take on it all is, especially as he expressed regret over the rats in Nosferatu.

He's kind of prickly, too.  Had a few of his commentaries playing in the background recently, and whenever the critic with him suggested anything about his movies, he'd knee-jerk contradict it.  He was even more like that roving reporter from Alan Partridge's This Time when Crispin Glover sat in on one with him.  Felt a bit sorry for Crispin by the end.  I guess having an instinct to pooh-pooh any outside suggestion may be a side-effect of being an autodidact, which by all accounts he was, not watching his first film until his tweens.

Hey, Punk!

Quote from: Glebe on April 02, 2019, 09:01:44 PM
Cheers for the Grauniad article Twit 2, interesting... I recall a some doco from a few years back in which McDowell opined that Kubrick's lack of humanity held him back from genius status, or words to that effect.

I was about to argue against this, as it's an example of the lazy humanism most critics go in for (it leaves little space for the uncanny or unsettling), but I'm equally bored with the auteur theory and defending arseholes that I just don't have the energy. Kubrick famously treated Shelley Duvall appallingly and I have no time for people who defend that kind of treatment.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Sin Agog on April 02, 2019, 08:23:16 PM
I know it's the current line to offload nothing but hate on John Landis for that Twilight Zone incident, but as a personality he's so effervescent and loveable.  I guess those kind of tragedies are what happens when you let a stunt man become a director, but he clearly was affected by the incident, and I just can't cunt-stamp someone with his level of ebullience.  Probably a bad habit anyway, as if the quirks of fate should be able to determine whether someone's the lowest of the low or a great bunch of lads.  People aren't really like that in reality.

I know, but the binary premise of this thread is partly humourous in intent. Isn't it? Landis does indeed come across as an ebullient character when interviewed, he's probably a lovely bloke, but as St. Eddie says his youthful hubris resulted in the death of three people. It was a terrible, tragic accident that could've been avoided if Landis had taken more care while filming a very dangerous stunt.

Sin Agog

Let he who is without sin cast the first helicopter.

Gregory Torso

Just tell me that John Carpenter is a cool dude. I don't care about anyone else.

Sin Agog

John Carpenter killed a child in Assault on Precinct 13.

Glebe

Quote from: Sin Agog on April 02, 2019, 10:56:14 PMJohn Carpenter killed a child by having him turn into a murderous monster in Halloween

garbed_attic

Quote from: Twit 2 on April 02, 2019, 09:35:40 PM
The Firzcarraldo stuff does seem to be a blot on his copy book. He's such a warm and thoughtful person in interviews and actors' accounts, so I wonder what his own take on it all is, especially as he expressed regret over the rats in Nosferatu.

He's a genius and an incredible self-mythologist... but I really don't see him as warm! I mean, in Grizzly Man he films himself listening to a man's death in front of his ex-girlfriend and then hands her back the tape telling her to never listen to it!

And the animal abuse stretches much further than the rats in Nosferatu - I think there's probably at least one mistreated or suffering animal in at least half of his 1970s output. The monkey in Even Dwarfs Started Small is the one which genuinely disgusted me.

I think artistically he's the most important director living, but I think his re-self-packaging as "cuddly eccentric uncle Herzog" is deeply cynical at core.

garbed_attic

oh and Agnès Varda was a GBOL obviously

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


grassbath

Cunt - Lars Von Trier. You can tell he's a cunt just by the kind of films he makes, let alone all the other stuff.

grassbath

See also: Michael Haneke, Gaspar Noe.

garbed_attic

Cunt - Godard for the pig in Weekend b/c not harming pigs is one of my consistent ethical values... but perhaps more pertinently, supporting Mao's revolutionary violence until he decides he found the aesthetics boring; having Anna Karina reenact arguments she'd had with him on film with an actor standing in for himself, which strikes me as a Kubricky thing to do; sending assholey letters to Truffaut when Truffaut actually cared about working class people more than Godard ever could; really upsetting Varda during the making of Faces Places.

GBOL - Shane Meadows always seems genuinely decent and likable to me and I've never heard actors speak badly about him

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Ricky Gervais apparently runs a very relaxed, friendly set where he encourages actors to improvise and appreciates their input. GBOL?

St_Eddie

Quote from: Gregory Torso on April 02, 2019, 10:54:17 PM
Just tell me that John Carpenter is a cool dude. I don't care about anyone else.

By all accounts, John Carpenter is a very cool dude.  He comes across as very down to Earth and non-pretentious in interviews and audio commentaries.  Nowadays, he's just just content to spend his time playing videogames and performing music.  He seems to have little in the way of ego; he's repeatedly stated (and followed through on this statement) that he couldn't give two shits if someone wants to remake of one of his films, just as long as he gets a cheque in the mail.  John Carpenter is the man.

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on April 02, 2019, 11:58:30 PM
Ricky Gervais apparently runs a very relaxed, friendly set where he encourages actors to improvise and appreciates their input. GBOL?

He also belittles and bullies those lower on the totem pole than himself (see 'Taping Nigel') and he farted on Karl Pilkington's head.  I suspect that his GBOL tendencies are mostly restricted to his peers.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: St_Eddie on April 03, 2019, 12:02:45 AM
He also belittles and bullies those lower on the totem pole than himself (see 'Taping Nigel')and he farted on Karl Pilkington's head.  I suspect that his GBOL tendencies are mostly restricted to his peers.

I know, it was supposed to be a joke of sorts. I love the fact that Karl - who Ricky regarded as a subordinate - eventually went, "Nah, fuck this, I don't need to deal with this cunt any more" during the first series of Derek.

Quote from: gout_pony on April 02, 2019, 11:49:05 PM
Cunt - Godard for the pig in Weekend b/c not harming pigs is one of my consistent ethical values... but perhaps more pertinently, supporting Mao's revolutionary violence until he decides he found the aesthetics boring; having Anna Karina reenact arguments she'd had with him on film with an actor standing in for himself, which strikes me as a Kubricky thing to do; sending assholey letters to Truffaut when Truffaut actually cared about working class people more than Godard ever could; really upsetting Varda during the making of Faces Places.

Also, according to a few biographies I've read, some very, very weird behaviour towards younger actresses. There's a story about him coercing a woman to strip naked in an audition in the mid-90's which is just all kinds of sad and strange

Also he's made quite a few flagrantly antisemitic remarks

I mean, he's probably my favourite filmmaker, and my relationship to his work is lengthy and complex, but my god he is an absolutely horrendous person

Dusty Substance

David O Russell can't go unmentioned for going berzerk at Lily Tomlin on the set of I Heart Huckabees - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SG43wa7Alo. Even if she is being a difficult actor that's surely no reason to completely over-react the way he did (Having just watched for the first time in years it never occurred to me how much he sounds like On Cinema Tim Heidecker going into a rage).

Based solely on the commentary track for Company Of Wolves, Neil Jordan came across as a complete cunt.

One of the most delightful commentary tracks I ever heard was Ronald Neame doing The Poseidon Adventure, he had a showbiz story about everyone. Not sure what came first, but it was very much like Rob Brydon's under-rated Director's Commentary series.

I met Troma directing legend Lloyd Kaufman a couple of weeks ago and he was exactly and everything I had hoped for. Unbelievably nice, humble and welcoming. It seems that the more blood and gore filled the film, the nicer the director (Peter Jackson, as mentioned, and Wes Craven always seemed like a very nice man).





greenman

I suspect quite a lot of the time morally strident directors work isn't a mark of them as incredibly nice people but actually driven more than a little by personal guilt plus of course a belief that what your making has importance is more likely to drive people to push others harder.