The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
There's been a lot of hubbub lately surrounding two conservative pieces of filmmaking. The first, Steve Bannon's "The Undefeated," has been making a splash not only because of its wide publicity and distribution, but because it's about the ubiquitous Sarah Palin.
John Nolte at Big Hollywood has been doing yeoman's work in analyzing the box office data.
The second piece of conservative entertainment getting scrutiny is Colony Bay's new dramatic production, Courage, NH:
I haven't seen the movie, but it certainly has high production values, at least if the trailer is any indicator.
There is a third movie in production down in Texas by my good friend Jeremy Boreing at Declaration Entertainment. Here's a sneak peek of production from what looks to be an exciting Western called "The Arroyo":
As someone who knows with and works regularly with folks inside Hollywood, I applaud Bannon, Jeremy, and the folks at Colony Bay for putting together the cash and the effort to create these films. That isn't easy by any means; they're a vital first step if we're going to move against the prevailing Hollywood establishment.
The question now is whether to infiltrate Hollywood or to work outside of it. I think that the answer is both. Hollywood isn't going to change from the inside without real competition from the outside. That will take serious cash -- Hollywood is funding its films to the tunes of hundreds of millions, while each of the projects above probably cost well under a million ... probably more like low six figures. That's a starting point in the short run, but in the long run, it's unsustainable. We have to make great entertainment, and that takes commitment and cash and investment.
We can do it, but it will take time. Which one of the above are you most interested in seeing?
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Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
Courage, NH seems like it might have potential. I really loved HBO's John Adams mini-series, and the trailer for Courage looks somewhat reminiscent. Fingers crossed for believable acting and a compelling storyline.
Jul '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
While I don't think it was partisan, Unthinkable with Samuel L. Jackson and Carrie-Ann Moss was a brilliant example of what can be done on a shoestring budget (very low millions). US theater distribution went south when the US distributor folded just prior to the US release, but it is a compelling story that gores a number of PC shibboleths.
Part of the trick is to pick the right topics. In the current climate, I would love to see a fresh dramatization of the founding of Israel and the first Arab-Israeli War. The Hollywood that made Exodus was a very different place than it is now.
A Revolutionary War drama centered around Williamsburg is overdue, there is a large body of research that has been barely tapped surrounding Williamsburg and the legislative class there, the divisions in the Randolph clan, the radical Whig George Wythe - tutor to Presidents, the transition from subjects to rebels in 1773-1776, Thomas Jefferson's odd governorship and the British raid on Monticello, Payne's radicalism. Plenty of good, old fashioned, bop the King Whiggery in there. Show a Guy Fawkes Day celebration. Americans didn't get crazy overnight.
Jul '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
Which one of the above are you most interested in seeing?
I am not that interested in Palin the celebrity, but if she entered the race I would give it a look. The title is galling for a documentary about a woman that resigned in the middle of her term as governor, but if it came down to her or Romney, I would need to know what I was voting for.
Courage would draw in the little Sisyphuses. They visit Colonial Williamsburg regularly and mostly enjoyed John Adams.
Arroyo, being a Western, would be a hard sell to the little Sisyphuses, but I am a big fan of the Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck westerns so I'm game.
Aug '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
Courage, New Hampshire looks promising. But I wish Colony Bay or some company would look into making a movie of Joan Samson's novel The Auctioneer. Andrew Klavan should write the screen play.
Sep '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
You can't tell much about Arroyo from the clip, but I will go that way.
Sep '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
Ben do you have any insight into why fox doesn't produce many consevative films? NewsCorp has taken advantage of the immensely underserved conservative market in America’s newspaper and cable news. Why don’t they try to fill a similar (gigantic)niche in the film industry? I understand the primary market is overseas now, but looking at the success of the Passion of the Christ, The Dark Knight, and Fireproof, it seems like these films all had huge profit margins. It is bewildering.
May '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
An interesting question, Charlie. In fact, Fox produced Warren Beatty's "Bulworth"; the policies of the studio have always been at arm's length from those of the New York Post and Fox News. AEG bucked the trend with moderate-to-good results with the Narnia series. But--and I'm going to play devil's advocate here--if there's so much pent up demand, what happened to An American Carol? or Atlas Shrugged? OK, they didn't get every break, but that's not enough of an answer. People knew they were there. Conservative filmmaking is just as chancy as any other kind, and nobody's eager to take a $20 million bet that the public wants to see the Right equivalents of liberal snorefests like Redacted or Lions for Lambs.
Sep '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
I
You’re right about conservative films being a risky proposition. I should have been more specific and said there seems to be a demand for Christian films. Mel Gibson is (rightfully) a pariah now, but he was a hugely popular and profitable actor/director when he tried to get a major studio to produce The Passion of Christ. He made it for $30 mil and it made over $600 mil. You would think studios would have financed the movie just to get in his good graces at the time. Mark Steyn once said he went to a movie studio conference and someone asked why there were no more religious movies being made, and they were told that it was because the Last Temptation of Christ was a failure, with no irony that it was about a horny Jesus. It seems conspiratorial that no major studio will produce a biblical movie. I actually hope one of them does and it loses money so I can regain my sanity and chalk it up to a self-delusion.
Jul '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
The Last Temptation was not a religious movie, it portrayed Jesus as a confused and crazed man. The best and most popular two Indiana Jones films used strong biblical elements evidencing real and miraculous power. While I enjoyed the Crystal Skull more than some, it did not carry the same power.
Oct '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
The Arroyo isn't a Western.
THE ARROYO
By Jeremy Boreing and John Bickley
SYNOPSIS:
40 miles north of America’s southern border, nightfall marks the beginning of a mass migration of men and drugs the likes of which the world has never seen. For the ranchers whose acreage is in the path of this exodus, the horror of finding the dead bodies, raped women, and destroyed property is second only to the feeling of betrayal by a government that is happy to take their money, but not to guard their rights and land. Jim Weatherford has taken horror and betrayal alike in stride, but there are some things a man simply cannot abide, and some lines that must be defended.
So it's about illegal immigration and the Cartels from the ranchers POV. It's the opposite of Machete.
Edited on Jul 28, 2011 at 5:17amOct '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
The ARroyo seems the most promising... AND potentially the most controversial.
My advice to these filmmakers is to make sure copies of their films are closely guarded to prevent it from being leaked prematurely on torrents and the internets. Unless you want to see your films sold as pirated DVDs in Quiapo.
Jun '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
CharlieMonroe and Sisyphus: You are both correct about the movie, "The Last Temptation of Christ" -- it was a major disappointment. I remember seeing it in1988 at the theater.
Nikos Kazantzakis was a great mystic and literary genius. I consider The Last Temptation of Christ to be one of the best books (religious or otherwise) I have ever read. What Hollywood did to the story is unforgivable. It's sad to hear how out of touch the people in Steyn's story were with the religious world. They had deliberately chosen a controversial movie and then perverted the basic storyline as a goad to anger Christians. I felt certain at the time that they knew what they were doing. This shows such immaturity and short-sightedness.
Here's the rub: the producers of the movie had to know that this book was controversial in the eyes of most Christians here in America. Why didn't the people in Mark's story at least realize that as part of the reason for its box office flop? This must reflect a meme that has been propagated about the movie to others in Hollywood.
Are they lying to each other, too?
May '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
Steven Spielberg once acknowledged that there are a lot of the best moments of Cecil B. De Mille's 1956 "The Ten Commandments" in the climaxes of his films; compare the opening of the Red Sea with the opening of the Ark of the Covenant in "Raiders", or with the arrival of the mothership in "Close Encounters". There are scenes of religious-like awe in lots of commercial films, but that word "like" is the heart of the issue...post-1960 Hollywood is always more comfortable with vague spirituality than with actual religion. Anybody's religion. Similarly, Hollywood is much better at presenting conservative-ish ideas in films like "Forrest Gump", "Saving Private Ryan" and "Apollo 13"--all made by moderate liberals--than with 100-proof conservative films. You're right that there's a definite market, a definite demand for Christian feature films that isn't met. You'd think "The Passion" was a strong market signal. BTW--and FWIW--"Hollywood" didn't decide what was in "Last Temptation", Martin Scorsese (a lapsed Catholic) and writer Paul Schrader (a Calvinist) were in charge, and were (naively) supposed to have known what fellow Christians wanted to see.
Jun '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
Thanks for the Spielberg story -- that's fascinating. I love most of his films. I will have to look at them anew to see what he's talking about. The use of religious motifs might explain the resonance his films have with us all.
I did know that Scorsese did the film. But, a Calvinist was involved? How could that work?
The film smacked of Hollywood -- you have to admit. In discussing Steyn's story I should have separated out whom I meant. You are right that the people involved with the film weren't in the room (most likely), but what interested me is that, to the extent that they knew about it, it was deemed a good try but the lesson learned was that no one seemed interested in these type of films.
But, my question at the end still interests me. I wonder if Ben can respond? Are these people so in a cocoon away from the real world that the they really weren't aware that the clearly intended message (by Scorsese) of disparaging Christians and damaging the reputation of Jesus was not understood to be the reason Christians didn't support it?
May '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
The film smacked of Hollywood -- you have to admit.
Larry, I do admit! It certainly is an example of the marketers being utterly clueless as to its likely impact among its target audience. I was saying the obvious: the artists don't have to be nudged into these attitudes--they bring them all by themselves. Your post is serious, and I look forward to Ben's response.
Since Ben ain't here yet, I'll opine: "yes". My guess is Universal/Cineplex Odeon figured they had a best selling book, a top director, the screenwriter of "Taxi Driver": by conventional standards, quality "elements" all. Bringing a little artistic respectability to the ancient myth--who'd object to that? Think of 2004: Democrats, really, truly felt that the only hero of the Vietnam war would be someone whose fame rested on denouncing other soldiers. Here's my point: they believed this so much it never seems to have occurred to them that the rest of the country wouldn't see the 1971 Winter Soldier hearings as the final, definitive verdict on Vietnam. This was no calculation; it really never occurred to them. I suspect the same was true about "Last Temptation".
Jun '10
Re: The Outside Hollywood Conservative Hollywood
So, Gary, it's lack of due diligence and laziness? I suspect that this would explain it too well. Also, perhaps they were fooled into trusting an artist to not put his political and personal beliefs above the viability of the company. If so, they misjudged badly in this case. And after all, the company can take the hit if its big enough.
But, there are a lot of movies made that don't make money. I wonder if movies that score political points but don't make money are just considered to be like a charitable cause -- supported by people whom they trust in general. Some of us do this with our churches and with charities that we support. We all need to be more diligent.
But, I worry that something else is going on here. This whole issue smells.
Your point about Kerry is very interesting. Carville and Al Franken just came unglued because they misjudged the very point you mention. "It really never occurred to them." We conservatives study the Vietnam war and the Cold War. Liberals don't bother -- they know everything they need to know. The problem is that what they know ain't true.