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Scorsese's THE AVIATOR taking flight with a really neat cast coming together!
Hey folks, Harry here with a cast forming up for Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes Biopic starring Leonardo DiCaprio as well... Mr Spruce Goose himself! Given Howard Hughes knew and affiliated with everybody that was anybody, there's an awful lot of casting modern types for gods of long ago...
So far... the most perfect casting has been... Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn... I tremble at the thought of Cate Blanchett bringing Hepburn to life on-screen, because she's just damn near the best actress working today with that ethereal recklessness that Katharine so easily let fly.
Then the oddest casting is Gwen Stefani, taking her feature film debut, as Jean Harlow. Personally... Harlow is one of those screen beauties that defies imitation. Her pre-code wanton sexuality... her tragic early death... her glow. Nobody has that today, certainly not Gwen Stefani. I love Jean Harlow movies desperately... My mom was a Harlow freak and brought me up on RED DUST, CHINA SEAS, DINNER AT 8, PLATINUM BLONDE, LIBELED LADY, BOMBSHELL and RED-HEADED WOMAN. On my own I devoured PUBLIC ENEMY, HELL'S ANGELS, SARATOGA and RIFF-RAFF. If you've never seen her work, it is absolutely great and is more wanton than Marilyn was ever allowed to be... though that unfinished last film's swimming pool scene was right up there. Hehehe... Hell, I even have a LUCKY STRIKES Cigarette Cardboard One-Sheet sized advertisement from the late 30's, where Harlow's endorsement reads:
"There's none so good as LUCKIES"
"And incidently I'm careful in my choice of
cigarettes. I have to be because of my
throat!"
Jean Harlow
FAMOUS SCREEN STAR
Anyway... I just don't believe Gwen Stefani will pull a Harlow through the whole shoot, meaning... wear zero undergarments and ice up her nipples before every shot. TRUE STORY FOLKS! Like I said, Harlow ruled!
There's also Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner and Kelli Garner as Faith Domergue.
I hear that John C Reilly is in negotiations to play Hughes' former buisness manager Noah Dietrich
Then there's 3 cast members playing parts that I don't know who they are playing. Like Jude Law, who can be anything. Then there's that PARTY OF FIVE guy... Adam Scott. Lastly an Austin Powers Go-Go Dancer whose real name is Chekesha Van Putten - she was one of the Spartanette cheerleaders in AMERICAN BEAUTY and a Cotton Club Dancer in HOODLUM.
This film's coming together very very nicely. And I'd love to read this John Logan script... There's all sorts of takes one can pursue in bringing Mr. Curvy Nails and Kleenex Shoe Boy to life. There's that Playboy side, but then there's the genius business man and flight innovator... but also the freak. Hopefully they'll focus the film on a period or side of his personality rather than trying to capture it all... Can't wait to see this one!
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+ Expand All
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Not DiCaprioooOOoooOOOoo!!!!
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Woo hoo new catchphrase ahoy!!!
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Jun 05, 2003 6:23:14 AM CDT
Is anyone on this talkback going to be buying 'Hail to the Thief
by kid ab
I've heard it played in full and loved it. All the British music press hate it though, apart from Bang magazine. Well anyone getting it?
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Jun 05, 2003 6:56:06 AM CDT
Still, there's at least three women I'd like to see naked in thi
by earthworm
...anyway, THE definitive take on Hughes was Mr Burns in the Simpsons. People do forget that Leo can act, but then so does he sometimes. I'll reseve judgement till I've seen more.
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Jun 05, 2003 7:01:01 AM CDT
Why does Harry take every opportunity to show off about how much
by trouserpress
Yes, I will be buying Hail to the Thief.
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And what does it sound like? Are they still drifting on into space as they've been doing since OK Computer? If so, I'm there. DiCaprio's fine, stop hatin.
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But Radiohead are the most boring, over-rated band in the history of boring, over-rated bands. I've listened to most of their stuff to try and find even a spark of the 'genius' that every music rag on the planet creams over, but all I hear is flabby jazz with non-sensicle samples. I know Radiohead fans would flay me alive for saying such things, but people just need to hear some things. Radiohead are self-indulgent drone-rock toss.
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Radiohead is easily one of the top five bands of the last 30 years, and probably the best band out there today. If you listen to all of their music and can't find anything good about it, you don't have a scrap of intelligence. I'm not saying that everyone has to think that they're the best, but how many bands can put out albums with completely different sounds and still make all of them kick ass? And yes, I will be buying Hail to the Thief. '2+2=5' and 'Go To Sleep' rock.
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you heard it here third folks.
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Sorry to hijack the thread.
Hail To The Thief is a fantastic album that kind of bridges the gap between OK Computer (their best to date in my eyes) and the Kid A/Amnesiac double-header. So if those were a bit far gone for you, HTTT could still float your boat. Still, it could have done with some werewolves.
And any Radiohead fans are gonna be delighted. Roll on Glastonbury :) -
Yo Kid AB, I heard the 'unmastered' version last month and thought it kicked ass. It was perfect, don't know how the mastered version would sound any more polished. as for the british press, they can go wank over their Strokes albums or which ever band is hot shit this minute. The 'Head shit down on any other band from up on high. I haven't counted down days like this (the 9th) since I cant remember.
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Now THAT'S a movie. Thom Yorke sure loves writing songs in 5/4. They are running out of ideas; I found that the album sounded exactly like I thought it would, which for a Radiohead album, is a first for me. Funnily enough, when on tour, the band share Howard Hughes' penchant for bottling their urine and eating nothing but Hershey bars. Hughes also donated money to Richard Nixon's "Committee to Re-Elect the President" or CREEP as it was known so there's another Radiohead link to add to the Bush/Nixon similarities. I am VERY bored. Someone give me a job, please...
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Jun 05, 2003 10:19:06 AM CDT
Radiohead vanished up their own arse after O.K Computer
by jon lee ander
why Q or NME or whoever seems to keep acclaiming as the best band in the world year after year is beyond me. And one thing that pisses me off is left wing agit-rock slogan-eering. Hail to the Thief? Yeah profound Thom....
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courtney love would make a way better jean harlow. she posed as jean in kevin aucoin's makeup book Making Faces and she looked exactly like Jean.
and i'm sure she has no problem icing her nipples. -
How in the world is it possible for one man to have "grown up" on so much crap. It seems no matter what the genre, no matter what type of film, its not that he has seen it, but that he grew up with it somehow and has dreamt about the day he would revisit it again. Harry is there a film from the past that you haven't always loved, no wonder you have become a monstrous land whale, you never went outside to play as a child, you were too busy getting the Malcom McDowell treatment ala Clockwork to 24 hours a day films, or so your pointless articles would lead us to believe. Yikes
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...and U.S. Marshalls? If so, he sucks.
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They're about 5 episodes in Hughes' life that would make for interesting film, but the story about the Glomar Explorer is far and away the most interesting. To hell with the Spruce Goose.
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I love it that he's going to be Errol Flynn. Watching that AFI "Heroes and Villians" thing, when Errol Flynn's "Robin Hood" came on, I thought of Jude. He will be perfect as him. I can't wait. Marty is so loved, he can get anyone to do anything, and I think he's probably going to cast a few more cameos before this is over. I love it that Cate Blanchett is in it, and I love it that John C. Reilly might be. It's going to be classic!
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You're right, that story is crying out to be made, they wouldn't even have to embellish it its that incredible. For those that don't know, Hughes built (the worlds biggest?) deep sea exploration ship for the CIA, to dig up a crashed soviet sub of which the Russians had no idea of the whereabouts, under cover of some other job (which also temporarily escapes me). It's kind of like Hunt for Red October on steroids. Some excellent books about it around as well.
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Hughes built the GE for the CIA to recover the K129 Soviet ballistic missile submarine. We heard the sub go down via our underwater SOSUS warnng net and marked its location on the map. Years later after the GE was built it went to the site and recovered an undisclosed portion of the sub....maybe even the missiles and codebooks themselves. The definitley recovered bodies, though, because they sent a tape to the USSR showing the crew of the Glomar giving them a burial at sea.
The GE was built under the guise that Hughes was going into the business of excavating the sea floor for minearals and precious metals. What's funny is that other companies such as Shell and Kerr-McGee actually believed it to the point that they launched deep sea excavation departments of their own in fear Hughes was about to revolutionize their industry and leave them in the dust.
The whole tale is fascinating. -
I think she's a good choice for Harlow. She has the same quality. Who else could play Jean Harlow? Maybe Chloe Sevigny... And who says Stefani can't act?
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Thanks for filling in the blanks. I have a book on the "Secret History" of the US sub program written by a couple of NY TImes journos I think, which has the details. Lent it my dad though. In fact, that book is full of stories that would make decent film (including K-19 come to think of it) Some of the stuff the Yanks did took some balls. Sending subs to sit outside the Barents Sea (?) naval base to tap into undersea communications cables to name one. There should be more submarine movies.
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obviously. And Harry, presumably, the actors you name will be playing these Hollywood legends as themselves, out of character, as it were. You think Katharine Hepburn was a sparkling wit and two-fisted Connecticut spitfire off-screen? Come on, bro! That was Garson Kanin and George S. Kaufmann putting words in her mouth. Off-screen, she was probably as ordinary as the rest of us, just rich. It would actually be funny to show the banality of celebrity, stars just sitting there waiting to be told what to say, pestering their runners about how much mustard is on their sandwiches, and waiting for their dry cleaning.
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That initial post was my first ever at this site. I lurke a lot, but have never posted any thoughts.
Also a funny tale re: the Barents Sea phone taps was when one U.S. dive team left a cow skull 180ft underwater next to the phone cable to scare the next crew that had to come out to listen. You're right. More true sub movies would be good. -
Jun 05, 2003 4:45:51 PM CDT
What about Christopher Nolan's Hughes pic with Jim Carrey?
by supertoyslast
Now that I am more interested in.
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Although any future conversations may well be littered with homophobic insults ;-) Anyway, I'm off to watch the end of Where Eagles Dare. Have fun...
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Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow is bad
enough. Scorsese and Cammy Diaz I
can take, as she's a real actress
and actually has talent--see BEING
JOHN MALKOVICH for further proof
of this. But Gwen Stefani? Pardon
me, but as much as I love Scorsese, this REEKS of a marketing ploy to reel in the kids. Singers and musicians should
stay away from film in general
and vice versa. Kate Beckinsale
makes this MUCH worse as she is an
ugly and vacuous actress, sucking
all the energy out of whatever she's in black-hole style. Seriously, Beckinsale should be prohibited by LAW from being in
ANY films ever again. So the script sounds great, but with this
dubious cast...I dunno...
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Three strikes and you're out Mr. Logan!
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Leonardo DiCaprio, Jude Law, John C. Reilly, Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale ... I really like this cast already. The Gwen Stefani thing surprises me A LOT ... but who knows, she might surprise us. Or not.
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...I think Gwen Stefani is hot, hot, hot. I haven't a clue as to whether she an act or not but she's got the looks in my books. Cate Winslet...aarrrrrr. You said it brain! Gotta say DiCaprio surprised me in 'Catch Me If You Can' so this does sound cool! Cool New Indeed! ** Anybody know if the Spruce Goose is still up in McMinville, Oregon?
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...Heh! And who said you couldn't learn anything new at AICN? I've only ever been interested in Hughes's aviation stuff but you've piqued my interest in GE. Thanks again and good on ya {[:^)
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Even though "Gangs" got nominated for the Oscar and all, I'd still say it was a qualified non-success. "Cape Fear" aside, Marty hasn't really had a through-the-roof critically acclaimed kick-ass hit since "Goodfellas" ('tho I think "Age of Innocence and "Kundun" were both excellent). "The Aviator" looks like it has promise. And the casting of Leo seems more like a gutsy move than a financial move to me. Anyone else might've got George Clooney or some other joker. But personally, I think the Golden One will continue to elude Scorsese until he tacks on a happy ending to one of his films. And speaking of endings, I think Shade missed the real point of "Gangs." Scorsese doesn't make melodramas in the "Mohicans" sense. His characters are much too gray. This film was much more about the big picture of New York, always the main character in a Scorsese pic. In the end, I think Marty wanted to show that the little spat between Bill the Butcher and Leo's character was really meaningless. And I think he succeeded at that.
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that's right. you heard it here first, folks. OK COMPUTER was a bunch of mainstreamish pandering sweet-sounding melodic shit. and in a pretentious artsy-fartsy attempt to 180 from such mtv-approved sap-crap, out comes KID A and AMNESIAC ('tho props to them for the smooth marketing ploy. put out some mainstream crap, and people will buy the non-mainstream crap. it worked for prince w/PURPLE RAIN, 'tho i wouldn't call his work crap). down! down the toilet you go! haven't heard this HAIL TO THE CHIEF yet, but i'm sure it's more of the same. question: what's with the re-make of the SPY WHO LOVED ME song? point is, if you think Radiohead is the end-all-be-all of rock music, you're a friggin' dodo. nice try 'tho. THE FLAMING LIPS RULE!!
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Jun 06, 2003 4:06:23 AM CDT
Decaprio as Howard Huges? It`s official: Scorsese is on Cocaine
by chien_sale
"I picked him because he`s so charismatic(not) and the chicks love him=Box Office(not)." First, Marty, Hughes was a mad adventurer so you need a great actor=not Decaprio. OR at least somebody that looks like Hughes, A MAN`S MAN, DAMMIT!!! Not someone who looks like a retarded teenager, wet behind the ears that still smell of piss. FRANKLY, IT NEEDED TIM ROBINS. Or if you cast young, get Brendan Frazer. Damn the curse of Gangs of Newyork!!!
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Kate Bekingale as Eva Gardner would be the worst casting in the history of movies. Eva was a no-non-sens dark femme fatal going toe-to-toe with FRANK while Kate is this sweet girl. It`s as worst as Beach boy Asselfhoff playing rough Nick fucking Fury. Get real folks...!
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I am a huge fan of the Radiohead that made OK Computer and Kid A. Anyone who doesn't at least respect OK Computer even a little bit is either ignorant or much too snobby for their own good. This has been scientifically proven. However, I probably won't buy Hail to the Thief for a number of reasons. Amnesiac was a glorified B-sides collection that sucked ass; it effectively downed my anticipation for a legitimate follow-up to Kid A. Secondly, Hail to the Thief is an awful title for an album, and Radiohead aren't really what I'd call model examples of political artists. They're too paranoid. It's so much better when they focus on their own paranoia and insecurity rather than blaming all kinds of stupid shit on the right wing. Finally, what I've heard from Hail to the Thief isn't really bad, it's just much too predictable a direction from Radiohead. It's not a leap into new territory like each of their previous albums. Instead, it is a step backwards into the netherlands between OK Computer and Kid A. I missed what Radiohead has to do with The Aviator, but let me just say that if John Logan's script is anything like his Star Trek Nemesis doozy, and if Scorsese's direction is anything like that Gangs of New York mess... this movie will suck. It pains me to say that, cuz Scorsese really is one of the best American directors.
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Both have some noteworthy early albums (Flaming Lips -- Clouds Taste Metallic and Radiohead -- The Bends). Both bands suddenly become huge with important releases: Soft Bulletin and OK Computer. I think OK Computer is easily the better album as it represents a more unified and atmospheric vision. Both albums have great lyrics and music and production, but I think the concept of OK Computer gives it a big advantage. Not to mention that OK Computer has some of the best production ever. Okay, and now they follow-up their magnum opus work with Kid A and Yoshimi. Kid A marks an almost entirely new direction for Radiohead with influences like Aphex Twin, DJ Shadow, and Talk Talk, Ornette Coleman really coming to the fore. Once again, a strong unifying concept and some great songwriting with ace production by Godrich. However, the lyrics suffer and there are a number of songs that don't sit well outside the context of the album. With Yoshimi, Flaming Lips pretty much stagnate and whatever they change, it is for the worse. The songwriting is weaker, the song structures are more straightforward, and Fridmann overproduces the hell out of it. Kid A wins this battle. Well, in my opinion, of course. At any rate, I think to so quickly dismiss and scoff at Radiohead while lauding Flaming Lips is obviously a stance that is purely subjective. But, then, most of this is subjective, anyways.
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What's happened to the legend? Another $100M movie with DiCaprio and other big name stars? Is he turning into that thirs rate hack Spielberg? Marty needs to get back to his roots. A gritty, low budget movie with great character actors, not the acting equivalents of a Big Mac. He should do something with De Niro, who's also in need of a decent movie. Give 'em $10M to go out and make a movie that reminds us of their Taxi Driver heyday. Forget this multiplex blockbuster shit. Who cares about Howard Hughes? And don't even get me started on Gwen "No Talent" Stefani.
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Scorsese has grown (for better or worse) as a filmmaker, and I don't think can ever go back to making the "Taxi Drivers" or "Raging Bulls" of his younthful years. I don't think he has the energy. Plus, I think it's an issue of film background schizophrenia come full circle. Scorsese's film influences include both gritty independent films (Cassavetes, Italian Neo-realism, French New Wave, etc.) and Hollywood(John Ford westerns, Cecil B. DeMille and Wyler biblical epics, musicals, etc.), among others. Perhaps the once angry young Scorsese is now the older mature Marty who wants to apply his sensibilities to a grander Hollywood canvas. In a way, I see "Gangs" as almost like his version of John Ford's "Searchers." A story of moralistic outsiders in an America whose potential(for better or worse) had not yet been realized. And it took ballsy outsiders like John Wayne's Ethan or Daniel Day Lewis's Bill the Butcher to shape this country, because everyone else was too busy with good manners. The youthful sons like Jeffrey Hunter's or Leo DiCaprio's characters are the promise of that new land. So, not the gritty angry films of the 70's, but these broader scope big budget Hollywood films are what I suspect we'll see from Scorsese in the future, i.e. "The Aviator", as Howard Hughes is another eccentric moralistic outsider who in his own way, helped shape America. Scorsese as big budget epic-era filmmaker. I both welcome and applaud it. As far as Hollywood goes, Scorsese is still da man.
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a very good actor. never really gets the dap he deserves. some wiseass noted a few years back when Scorsese was given an AFI lifetime achievement award that the reasoning was to give it to him before he got much worse. And he has. Gulp!
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They should get James Ellroy to do the screenplay, and get Pete Bondurant in there.
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... and it tasted like Gavin Rossdale's ass butter. Word.
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Jun 06, 2003 9:48:37 PM CDT
... and I liked Radiohead better back when they were Talk Talk
by kenshiro_kane
whut?
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Jun 06, 2003 11:42:48 PM CDT
you know, I just saw "After Hours" for the first time recently
by beamish13
You can see the joke at the end a mile away, but it's a very funny film that doesn't overstay its welcome. Dig the pre-"Perfect Strangers" Bronson Pinchot cameo in the beginning.
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Buy "Bends" and "Computer". That's all you need. Their new single is crap, as is Metallica's.
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Jun 06, 2003 11:48:52 PM CDT
To be honest, I really don't think there are many brilliant West
by beamish13
Kate Bush is still alive, and still a goddess. Peter Gabriel's last album is awful, but he's got an untouchable catalog. I like Queens of the Stone Age. Ian Brown's cool.
Strokes/Vines/Yeah Yeah Yeahs/Interpol can go to hell for all I care. -
Oh yea, Scorsese has grown allright, he has grown a brain-tumour. And Jesse Franco should do his version of Gangs of Newyork to show Marty how it`s done.
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I agree Kate Bush is good. Peter Gabriel has done good stuff but is not as great as Phil Collins, the greatest drummer in the world.
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Yeah! Maybe he'd cast Brendan (George of the Jungle) Fraser or that left-wing big mouth Tim Robbins as Hughes! Mrs. Franco would pay $1 mil to eat Mr. Scorsese's dung for breakfast. Piss off, chien_sale. You're not worthy. They should put you F-grade slasher film cult enthusiasts on some deserted island with the Dead-heads so you guys can go screw each other.
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Forget about Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow, what about DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes. Many stars have had a desire to portray him, but they all backed away like the pussies they are. In no way can DiCaprio bring to life this character. He is one of those actors who I feel gets worse with every performance. Leo was the best young actor at one point, but he has yet to show any true acting chops since
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Antonicus, getting Jess Franco goes back to your argument that Martin has gotten too fruity. Jess does bloody z-movies. Exactly what a subject like Gangs would need. You`ve said it yourself that Gangs would have needed the Sorcese of Taxi Driver and Mean Street. In my opinion, Taxi Driver was a slasher with a low budget made by a better than average director that elevated the subject.(as for Robins I just think he would have the madness to pull it off as Hughes)
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