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Disney Awakens?
Eight days ago I wrote a post about The Walt Disney Company hitting the rocks of the reality of their chosen politics. Sunday night, that reality came to head as the company’s Board of Directors met and ousted CEO Bob Chapek and replaced him with his predecessor, Bob Iger.
I’m not a big fan of Iger, but this is a plus for Disney shareholders. If you own any shares of the House of Mouse, this should please you. If I were him, I’d be on the phone with the Governor of Florida sooner than later.
Published in General
Kathleen Kennedy has her name attached to $11B worth of box office receipts. I wonder what exactly she brings to the creative process.
Does she actively interfere or does she not interfere enough? Because one of the great myths of movie making is the idea that if one allows a director complete creative control they will hand you a cinematic masterpiece. No, they are entirely capable of handing you a stinker just as well as anyone.
Traditionally, a producer worked with a screenwriter long before a director was attached to a project. There were writer-directors in old Hollywood, like Preston Sturges, but they were relatively rare. The director was supposed to stick to the script. If they had enough clout to change the dialog, it was generally only to fix things that didn’t “read” out loud. Even the strongest directors, like Hitchcock, had crew members whose job it was to submit daily reports to studio bosses on progress–“11:35 am. Shot 126. CU on flower as Novak picks it up. Three takes. 37 ft, 42 ft, 39 ft. New setup 11:54. Shots 128-30. Pages 50 top–53 mid”.
By the Seventies, directors became gods. By the Eighties, the gods got dethroned, and except for superstars most directors once again became no more than skilled coaches for the actors and the director of photography.
We seem to be heading halfway back to the Seventies mindset.
The Last Jedi had a writer/director. Maybe if those roles had been split, the consequent plot holes could have been identified and fixed. Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler fought like cats and dogs. Wilder didn’t like the structure of Chandler’s script Chandler didn’t like the way Wilder dressed. The result of all that bickering was Double Indemnity.
Frank Capra’s writers were tired of him claiming or accepting credit for every good thing in his movies. At one point, Robert Riskin handed him 100 blank pages. “Here”, he said, “Give this the “Capra touch”.
Yeah. When the Lancaster party takes power, those cars with York bumper stickers start looking kinda lonely out in the company parking lot.
What news of the north?
Huh? Wut? We’re just out here taking in some fresh air …
You’ve got to be ready to change sides faster than that.
“You have to be ready to sing either Dixie or The Battle Hymn of the Republic. With equal enthusiasm.”
Josey Wales 2024
From what Steven Spielberg has said, what she mostly brought to the creative process was coffee.
Avatar 2. Opens soon. Needs to make $2 Billion to break even?
It may not break records, but it will break Disney. (my favorite comment on the video).
Under the circumstances, that seems like a welcome development.