Cool News
The Director Of 5-25-77 Surfaces With A Few Answers!!
Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Heh heh heh... I knew I could smoke him out. Yesterday, I ran a tip from a reader that said Frankie Muniz might be playing the lead in Patrick Read Johnson's upcoming comedy 5-25-77. The scooper said Johnson wanted Muniz, and that several other roles had been cast. And then tonight... whattaya know? PRJ shows up in our chat room, looking for me, joking about wanting to kick my ass.
At least... I think he was joking. At any rate, he once again refused to tell me who is playing the lead in his film, but he sent along the following e-mail for you guys that clarifies a few other things about who Patrick is and what film he's making. I root for Patrick because he is a Hollywood survivor. He's been burned on things he really cared about. He's made a few films he's proud of. He's pretty much had every experience a writer and director can have in this town except seeing something personal really connect with a mainstream audience. 5-25-77 could change that. It's a sweet script with a big heart, and it's interesting to me to see a Hollywood survivor who is still so in touch with what it was that first made him want to make movies. You can take shots at his resume all day long from the safety and the anonymity of the Talk Backs, but Pat's still in there, still writing things he cares about, still fighting every day to make a film he loves. If you can't be optimistic about a guy like that, then I give up on you. Besides... I don't need to defend PRJ. He does just fine on his own in this letter to AICN:
Okay... Before this gets out of hand.
I can neither confirm nor deny the identity of my LEAD for this film at this time.
Well... I COULD... but it's more fun to drive Moriarty crazy.
I CAN confirm...
Carrie Fisher as Janet...
Joe Pantoliano as Dr. Johnson...
Christopher Lloyd as the owner of the Genesee Theater...
Bob Balaban as Herb Lightman, Editor of American Cinematographer Magazine...
And Sara Tanaka as Linda Augustyniak...
There are a bunch of other cameos, most of which will be confirmed in the next month or so... Though 2 or 3 of them will NEVER be confirmed. They'll just... be there...
What else... hmmm....
Alan Parsons will be doing the original score.
John Knoll will help out with FX...
Now, for those of you who haven't cared much for my previous films... There's probably not much I can do to change your mind about me other than to try to do better next time. Films are alchemical creations. Rarely do they turn out exactly as you envisioned them. The reasons that some films work and others just plain don't are far too many and far too complex to go into in a post.
But if you choose to believe that, in every case, the fish stinks from the head, you probably haven't seen much more of a real motion picture production than the heavily edited, studio approved "behind the scenes" looks delivered by Entertainment Tonight. The writer is not always the writer. The director is not always the director... And even when they really ARE allowed to do their jobs... There are countless agendas and countervailing forces threatening to rip a project to pieces throughout its birthing process. In order to save one aspect of a picture, one sometimes has to kill another... It's an exhausting sometimes heartbreaking struggle that's as close to all out hand to hand combat as I ever want to get.
Dragonheart is a heartbreaker for me... If you want to know why... go to Moonwatcher.com, click on FILMS and then click on DRAGONHEART... There's an old story from Sci-Fi Universe magazine that tells THAT sordid
tale better than I can muster up the strength for now.
Baby's Day Out? Not really my film. The result of what happens when a very talented writer/director (John Hughes) is too busy to direct a film he really wants to direct. So instead takes on the positions that would typically be directly above and below the director in the normal film food chain. Specifically Producer and Writer. Only when it's John... Those positions are most definitely BOTH ABOVE the director. The result is a film made by two directors trying to be really nice to each other while
fighting over one movie. A mistake. Compounded by 20th Century Fox actually believing they could rush Baby's Day Out through post-production in half the time it was scheduled to have in order fill the gaping hole in the studio's summer release schedule when it was learned that TRUE LIES would not be READY to fill those THOUSANDS of theaters that Fox had booked to compete on opening day against THE LION KING.
Was any of it my fault? You bet. Not a scene goes by in that movie where I don't wish I'd spent more time turning up the speed control on the PACING... I was so wrapped up in just getting the babies to do THEIR THING, the rest of the film was more the result of hurried attempts to get SOME kind of coverage with what was left of each working day. Still I shot the script I was required to shoot. I TRIED to put some genuine laughs in places there had been few before. Sometimes the material failed me... Sometimes I failed the material. It happens.
For those of you who hated Spaced Invaders... I'm sorry... I did the best I could with 1.75 million dollars in 30 days. It's very easy to attack someone's flawed, but earnest, work from the other side of the screen. But you're not just attacking MY work on the film, you're also attacking the blood sweat and tears of hundreds of other young people who banded together to do the best THEY could do with 1.75 million bucks in 30 days. People like John Knoll, Sanja Hays, Ariana Richards, Jim Carter, Kenny Myers, Scott Lawrence Alexander, Greg Aronowitz, John Criswell. None of us had ever previoulsy held the jobs we took on for this film. We were all first-timers in our new upgraded positions. Was what we did with that money and time brilliant? No way. Was it art? Not a chance. Was it funny? Sporadically. Was it too long? Absolutely.
Was it profitable? It made 1000 percent of it's money back. Why? Because some people... just enjoyed it for what it was. Others hated it. I landed somewhere in the middle... Knowing how much was on the page versus how much we managed to get to the screen... Would I do a thousand things differently if I had a chance to do it over? You bet. Would YOU do a thousand things differently (or better?) if YOU found yourself in exactly the same circumstances with exactly the same cast, crew, and producers? Maybe.
I know I am still sometimes tempted to think I could have done a better job on some project I passed on that another director ended up doing. But the moment passes when I consider my own failings. I would suggest to the harshest of my critics that they sit in the chair at least once before deciding how bad I really am at my job. Now I know there are few EXTREMELY witty and incisive types on these boards who will no doubt take great pleasure in skewering everything I've just said. Good. Go for it. It's guys like you that make guys like me... and others in here... dream of someday rising above the quicksand of quietly raging desperation which our race, as a whole, seems intent on sinking further into with each passing day.
5-25-77 isn't a film about Star Wars. It's a film about a young man who was a lot like many of you... People who dream about what they would do if they got a shot but often think... "Shit, I live in Iowa... A million miles from Hollywood... That's not ever gonna happen."
Well... I lived in Wadsworth, Illinois... Population 750... And I got my shot. What I ended up DOING with it will be judged when I'm DONE doing it. (For some that moment can't come too soon... for others... including many
who've actually READ the script for 5-25-77, that moment can wait a bit longer.
If any of YOU would care to read the script, to form an opinion based on awareness... Feel free to e-mail me. And I'll make sure you get a copy.
Good luck to us all.Indeed, Patrick. And I'd advise any of you who are interested to take him up on his offer. It's a good read.
"Moriarty" out.
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+ Expand All
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surely not. haven't posted in a long time but i would like to say that i am now in the process of filming 3 no budget dv movies and what patrick has to say is pretty good incentive to stick at it. that's me 2cents so i'm off.
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Dear Director Guy,
You sound very passionate about movie making and I wish you the best of luck on this new movie of yours. I seriously enjoyed Spaced Invaders when I was seven. -
Alan Parsons to do the score...
GREAT.
Hm, the rest is fairly uninteresting. -
Most of these talk-backs make me sad -
You've convinced me. When I heard about the project you wanted to make, I was excited. When I heard what movies you had previously been involved with, I was disappointed. But now that I've read your e-mail, I'm excited again. You seem to be a great guy who just wants to make a good movie. More power to you, and I hope you're able to achieve what you set out to do.
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Good work fella.
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I love spaced invaders and I want a bells and whistles DVD !!!!!!
"I dont care what the hell that is" -
That was back when it was a good magazine that wasn't just another cog in the studio hype machine. I admired him for speaking about the tribulations that went on behind the scenes on "Dragonheart" that would mostly go untold. It's the same admiration that I feel having read this article. Bravo, sir, for stepping up to the plate and being forward about your project and your feelings towards the other films you've worked on. That's the kind of interaction between filmmakers and fans I'd like to see more of.
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When Good Ghouls Go Bad is available for rental on Netflix: http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60020930&trkid=1660
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it would be cool if they actually shot the movie in his hometown. i live about two towns over and it's really tiny. mostly one main road that slows down to damn near snail pace on sundays for church. come to think of it, that probably kills any chance of it shooting there.
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I was so psyched about this film back in those heady months prior to The Phantom Menace, reading about this film (which I believed was already finished from the way Harry talked about it), and could not wait for it. Years passed and I thought the other day, "What ever happened to those two films "Fanboys" and "5-25-77" that were supposed to come out?" I assumed they never found distribution. Well this is GREAT news! I am psyched again, but this time it is in front of another upcoming Star Wars film. So someone answer me this: What ever happened to the "Fanboys" movie??
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This movie is going to rock. The script is sooo special!! When it eventually gets made, it'll instantly become every movie geek's favorite film. It is our story.
Muniz is a talented kid - I hope he signs on. Solid stuff. Keep up the good work Pat! -
I can proudly say I've been a huge fan of PRJ for years, believed in his tremendous talents, and held out high hopes for his career despite seemingly endless setbacks and Hollywood screw-overs... while everybody else was saying, "WHO?!" This guy has so much potential, and thank God he's refused to give up or throw in the towel no matter how many times "the system" has let him down and betrayed his noble intentions. . . . . . . . . . .
Patrick wrote an awesome cyberpunk version of "Speed Racer" that Joel Silver refused to make (then realized his mistake when "Matrix" hit big). . . Patrick tried to make a GOOD teen movie until Dawn Steel botched up "Angus". . . and in spite of John Hughes' weak script for "BDO" (e.g., dull hero characters), Patrick delivered FANTASTIC villain slapstick and phenomenal FX (some of ILM's `94 best, even though most people never saw the movie since it looked like a nightmarishly sappy diaper ripoff of Home Alone; if John had let Patrick retool the concept a little, the story and characters would have improved). . . . . . . . . Of course, we all saw what Rob Cohen and Rafaella DeLaurentiis did to Dragonheart -- originally an interesting idea when Patrick conceived it, then dragged down by dimwits into standard studio mediocrity. . . . . . . . . . . .
And yet he keeps on ticking. . . Go baby go! . . . . . . . . .
If anybody deserves to finally be discovered as a true talent by the studios, it's Patrick. He's one of us, except nicer, smarter and more talented.
5-25-77 will be a joy to behold. -
But no Pantoliano-balls-on-fire scenes anymore please. That was all very painfull to moi.
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5-25-77 literally made me laugh out loud, we've been making bets on the identities of the secret cameos for weeks in #aicn.com,
here's to you and more control over your own movie moonwatcher,
cheers man -
hehe...I heard this a while back. What took you so long to get the news? ;) Good luck, Patrick and I really enjoyed the article. Your desire to make good movies was very clear and I wish you the best of luck with 5-25-77. I'll be there to see how it turns out, of course.____Bee
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this might not be a big deal or it may be, and i hope i'm not ruining any kind of secret, but PRJ confirmed that the movie will indeed be shooting in his hometown of Wadsworth, Illinois. not only that, but he'll be shooting in my hometown of Waukegan, Illinois, which is where the actual Genesee Theatre is located. now i can't wait!!!
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Hey Moonwatcher this is JeTmAn. Don't let idiot talkbackers get you down, Spaced Invaders was cool. I'm sure 5-25-77 will be hilarious.
-Fett -
That movie is very important to me. It took the other side of the high school comedy and made a very important coming-of-age drama out of it. I may be pushing it, but I was like 12 when that came out and it kind of told my story. Yes, in middle school I was a fat geek. And Van Der Beek was actually very good in this. Thank you Patrick Read Johnson.
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Spaced Invaders was great fun and Dragonhart had some really cool scenes. I'm looking forward to see if 5/25/77 can capture a great time in a lot of peoples lives. I wont read the script though , I'd rather experience it fresh in the theater.
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When I first saw trailers for Spaced Invaders it looked like a dud. I saw it no video and thought it nothing more than cute, but stupid. Then I saw it a second time, and I realized something: The movie features some of the best goofy dialogue and brilliant sight gags I've ever seen. The bad celebrity impressions add perfectly to the lunacy, but if you're in the wrong frame of mind they can easily rub the wrong way. This is a fun B movie that has to be enjoyed for its own sake. I'm dying to get my hands on a DVD version, since my tape has a ferocious case of tape-curl (the very top of the screen is misaligned) despite being pre-recorded. Hey, I'll admit the movie has its flaws; with slightly better treatment perhaps it could have played up its strengths better, appealing more to first-time viewers. As it stands, it's a film that vastly rewards a second screening, and that's not bad.
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Mar 01, 2002 4:12:28 PM CST
Let's just keep one thing in perspective and we'll all b
by alexanderdelarge
...it takes by far more balls to make a film than to criticize it, and I say this as a filmmaker and a critic. And in my opinion, you can't appreciate success to the fullest unless you've felt bad about some of your movies...and I don't think there's a director who hasn't felt that, from Kubrick, to P.T.A., to Lucas, to PRJ. PRJ's article is really about loving the art of filmmaking and the fact that he is able to speak about this with such lack of cynicism after having made some movies where the result wasn't what he hoped for, and managaging to STILL be excited about it...it just shows me that his commitment to film is strong, and that he is big enough to acknowledge what mistakes he felt he made (even though i dont necessarily agree that most of those are mistakes) and brave enough to keep trying. From what little I've spoken to him in the AICN chatroom and from reading this article, I can say that Patrick has the will to not let the past hang him down and to keep pushing the envelope. And I will always be excited to see a movie with a director like that. I salute you, Patrick. (By the way, this is Alex, you know? Alex DeLarge? from AICN chat? dude? dude? you know? huh?) :P
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Mar 01, 2002 4:43:37 PM CST
I Was Gonna Take Shots At His Resume From The Anonymity Of The T
by buzz maverik
...that he said John Hughes was talented or a good writer/director or whatever he said.
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Patrick/Moon is probably the most gracious guy to hang out in the AICN chatroom, and I think most of us that have talked to him feel pretty damn lucky to converse with someone with his level of experience in Hollywood. I've admittedly never seen Dragonheart, but the rest of the man's films are fairly damn entertaining and have some fine direction and performances. I wish him well and can't wait to see 5-25-77 made. It sounds like a winner. "And the New York Times said that God was dead...."
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Mar 01, 2002 5:48:46 PM CST
Probably the nicest scooper to come across AICN in a long time..
by hung-wei lo
Can you remember the last time a full-fledged Hollywood director/writer handed out his pot-of-gold to the masses? I have nothing but praise for you, Pat. Sending movie fans you unfilmed screenplay is probably the coolest thing I've seen here at AICN in a long time. Thanks!
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Mar 01, 2002 7:35:24 PM CST
shit. that was a very touching post. one of the sweetest posts o
by a goonie
yeah, that WAS really sweet. thank you, Moriarty, for posting that in it's entirety. now if you'll excuse me, i have to send a certain email in order to get a copy of a certain script.
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In a word: brilliant. Not in the 2001 way, or the Star Wars way, or the Schindler's List way. In the Ferris Bueller's Day Off way. In the Breakfast Club way. A poignant, funny and moving script. Here's hoping the movie is as good.
-Fett -
I thought it was a great little movie but only $1.75 million!!WOW!! I didn't know it was that litle of a movie.Knowing that it cost so little now makes it even more impressive that its so good.Good job man and screw all the negative people and their BS.
I can't wait for 5-25-77!! :) -
My sentiments exactly, I had no idea it cost that little! I loved it when it came out, I went to see it the first night. It was the film that "Ernest Scared Stupid" could only hope to be!
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Damn, peeps. I just finished reading this screenplay, and it is going to make one heckuva movie! A few problems that I came up with, though, for those of you who already read it. Why does Linda refer to Pat sometimes as "Rat"? Is that just a typo from the transfer onto a computer? Also, I can possibly see the multiple flashbacks as being burdensome on an audience (and boy are there a lot of them). But after reading them, they made sense. However, whenever the screenplay referred to a flashback, all I could say was, "Jesus! Another one??" Don't get me wrong, this was just a minor observation, and should not defer you from reading it. It was quite enjoyable. Great job, Patrick, and good luck on the making of this movie!
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Mar 02, 2002 12:04:13 PM CST
I loved the Martian prologue in Spaced Invaders! Can you make a
by drath
I know, no money. But really, I loved that whole bit with the Martian overlord(great voice) and his Impieral-probe droid looking minion. I loved the look of the Martian ships too. Can you get together with Pixar and make a whole movie set in that world? If you could get a story working and keep up the visual innovation Pixar is known for, it could be really fun.
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(I'll just paste in part of what I wrote to him) I finished reading your script, and I say congratulations. Sentiment without being sentimental is a tricky thing, and by and large I think you got it. I hope you can get it onscreen in a way that's true to your intentions, because you'd have something very special.
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I hope Mr. Johnson is reading all of the responses. I am, for better or worse, a former film reviewer (among several other things, all part of my longtime career as a journalist). While I was an active reviewer in the late 70s, early 80s, I was pretty hard on most of what I saw. Most of what I saw was pure unadulterated garbage. To this day, I am pretty dismissive of most movies but I still try to see everything. I have to say ANGUS and SPACED INVADERS are two very good movies, and I suspect renewed viewings of them in 2002 would prove they have withstood the test of time. DRAGONHEART, on the other hand, sucked from beginning to end, and I say this as a major Dennis Quaid/Sean Connery fan. Good to know Mr. Johnson is not responsible for the movie's final version. Carry on, Mr. Johnson, carry on!
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I am so glad you are making this film. I remember first chatting with you well over a year ago. What first got my attention was the fact that you were nicknamed after a certain furry critter in a certain Kubrick movie. You were also kind enough to direct me to your scripts. I loved the "Speed Racer" and "Sindbad" scripts, but when I read "5-25-77" I went nuts. It was fantastic. It made me laugh out loud, it made me sad. It hit home because I am a 70s kid and was going through a tremendous bout of nostalgia. I hope to see this movie soon and I hope it is a huge hit for you. And as for all the people taking shots at you. Fuck 'em. They are watchers. On the sidelines. They don't know the balls it takes to create something and put it out there, whether it's a painting, short story or a full-fledged motion picture. I'm going to tell all my friends about this movie and drag them to the theater. Kinda like a certain kid did back in 1977. Um...so...has the Ayatollah line been deleted??? It's '77!! :)
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Mar 04, 2002 12:00:33 PM CST
I apologize to all my fellow TBers in advance, but...
by sod off baldric
I liked Spaced Invaders. Not a great movie, but fun nonetheless. If nothing else, I think it deserves a Killer Klowns-like cult status. Donut of Destruction, indeed. As far as Baby's Day Out, that was some of the best slapstick put to film in recent years. Again, not a great film, but my friends and I could not stop laughing when we first saw it (we were about 23 or 24 years old at the time). Dragonheart...again, not great but not bad. You can't blame Mr. Johnson for that one, though. All in all, this guy seems pretty cool...and his statements really hit home for me. I live in Wisconsin, I want to write/direct but have been thinking lately "I'm too old (27) to start now, I missed my window...I live in Wisconsin, I'll never get an opportunity to make a film." However, thanks to Mr. Johnson here, I just might have to start dreaming again.
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PRJ's pretty cool.
GOOD stuff!
VERRY GOOD STUFF.
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Yo, Sod Off Baldric! It's not too late. You're just too far away. C'mon, move over to LA. The weather is great and the ladies don't get any better. What's holding you back? Probably a wife and kids...
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Salaam, all. This is one of my very rare AICN TalkBack postings, so don't be too nasty, eh? I read Patrick's script for "5-25-77" about a year ago, and loved it to bits. Partly because I'm your typical AICN Star Wars fan, but mostly because it was funny, and genuine, and straight from the heart in so many places.
Rest assured that when it gets to the big screen down in Australia, I will be one of the first to see it. Assuming it makes it that far.
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