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Ismail Merchant passes away...
Harry here... In the blistering Austin summer on 1990 - Ismail Merchant helped to change my life. I was a Pre-Law student with Radio-Television-Film leanings... My hair was cut short and off the collar and I did my best to avoid run on sentences and incomplete incomprehensible thoughts. I was hanging out at a college bud's room named Jess Roberts - when our crazy "actor" friend, Scott Payne, came barging in like Kramer to announce that he had an audition for a Merchant-Ivory film that was going to shoot outside Austin. He wanted company for the audition and convinced me to skip class to join him. Being an amateur Austin Slacker, it really did take convincing, but admittedly - I was curious. So I went.
Beware that crazy college friend - change your life they will. At the audition I landed a part in the film and met Ismail Merchant, Rod Steiger, Vanessa Redgrave, Keith Carradine, Cork Hubbert and Simon Callow... tons of other folks - and it literally changed the direction of my life. I was serious about Law, was fascinated and captivated by politics. I loved film, but didn't see any way to ever work in it - till Ismail Merchant hired me... signed checks... and my eyes went big as saucers... film... a set... movies - this was it... that guy over there was in the rocking chair beside the road in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND!!! Oh yes, I was hooked. I'll never forget his lavish wrap party, the musicians and cooks from India he flew in -- I was charmed. College classes started to skew more towards film, acting, creative writing, public speaking, journalism... I would audition for everything I heard about - landed a couple other small parts... then paralysis - and the site.
I'm relatively sure that Ismail Merchant never knew that by choosing Austin for the physical location for his filmed adaptation of Edward Albee's play adaptation of Carson McCullers' novel got me started good and proper on the path of life drenched in film... it was probably the least of his influences... to me, the collaborations he made with James Ivory were spectacular. Films like THE BOSTONIANS, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, HOWARDS END, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY and SURVIVING PICASSO... elegant films as if plucked from a more innocent time and textured with the emotional depth of modern productions. Exquisite filmmaking. And in particular what makes this death all the more tragic is that he was producing 4 new films. So we'll at least have 4 more films that'll carry his magnificent name and I hope they live up to his wonderful standards. Ismail lived a large life and was uncommonly kind and sweet. When I was 19, he unleashed story after story upon my eager ears. I also love the character name his production named me... Fat Boy. Even then... critics... heh.
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May 25, 2005 5:37:11 PM CDT
Harry, you had short hair, were pre-law and weren't a full-on Au
by toomuchfreetime
Oh come now, you jest! and...first first?
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Sad news indeed :(
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May 25, 2005 5:45:04 PM CDT
So Merchant hiring Harry is like Sebulba not killing Anakin in t
by big bad clone
But seriously, I did like Surviving Picasso and some of the other stuff he did. It's sad when anyone dies but it seems he lead a pretty full life. In the end that's all any of us could ask for.
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He certainly did add a bit of class into an industry sorely in need of just that. In order to save some a trip to imdb: The name of the film Harry appeared in was "Ballad of the Sad Cafe"
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When I hear people talk about the wonders of 1930s King Kong, I think, "For you the amorous monkey is #1. For me, A Room with a View." Yes, howl with laughter [sentimental pap! melodrama! bonham hair!], but that movie is IT for me. RWAV is everything a film should be. Everything I want film to be. Thank you Ismail.
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Very sad news, indeed.
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And will always remember them for their style, class and story. The old expression of "they just don't make them like that anymore," will probably be the case after this.
There is hardly anything good ever made anymore with actual dialogue that does not make one hurl, or deep character studies.
Thanks Harry. -
a Merchant film and the Mummy too. If done "well," and that is the key word, isn't it. I actually sort of liked the Mummy, so there you go. Done well, thank you, not millions put into a pile of poo that stinks to kingdom come.
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May 26, 2005 12:30:56 AM CDT
If only Merrick Biotech had perfected their inanimate cloning te
by prince of space
Damn you Merrick Biotech, you pursuit of extending the average human's life span should have been expidited or at least put on fast-track basis. Now all I have to remember Ismail Merchant by are movies like a Room with a View, Howards End, and the Remains of the Day. *sigh* Luckily, I have this Sideshow Collectibles General Grievous to keep my preoccupied which, by the way, I purchased by taking out a second mortgage on my house.
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i've never even heard of this guy. why make posts about ever random guy that dies?
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Just coz your not film educated enough to know who he is, don't come hear and bitch. He was a very classy gent and a great producer. He will be missed.
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There was a time when Mercahnr/Ivory were the most talked about production company in the UK.
And for a while British critics hailed their work and american audiences and the american media fell in love, with this romantic view of the UK.
When CBS did a news item about brimingham and disorderly yobs, there was uproar and the british media went into a frezy, how dare they portray Birmingham in this way.
As the 80's turned into the 90's, Merchant Ivory got replaced by Working Title and WT became the biggest production company in the UK and consequently they conquered america, too.
And WT made hugh grant a star. But ultimatley just like Merchant Ivory,Working Title have become passe and everyone will be looking for the next brit production company.
The films that Merchant Ivory made are beautiful but it is debateable whether in 50 years say will we be watching their slightly staid movies.
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Just so you know, this is a site about *movies*. Did you arrive here by accident whilst surfing for "hot asian babes" or something?
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Like them or loathe them - Ismail Merchant made films from the heart. He
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May 26, 2005 6:21:26 AM CDT
You film snobs should swallow your cynicism and rent REMAINS OF
by cash bailey
It's simply one of the greatest movies you'll ever see.
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that I've come to realse more and m,ore clearly is that, no matter how they showcase sterling scriptwriting abilities, adapting some very internal and novel-esque novels for the screen, and no matter how many woneerful actors get to whet their canines on literature's most wonderful creations (Daniel Day Lewis as Cecil Vyse, anyone? How about Maggie Smith as cousin Charlotte or Simon Callow running corpulantly naked through the wood as the Reverend Beebe), these films are essentially addendums to books. Forster, like Henry James, is very filmable, you just lose so much of what is james or Forster when you do so that it becomes a 'lovely period piece' rather than a magnificent dissection of the secret machinery of the human.
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May 26, 2005 9:28:06 AM CDT
According to IMDB Harry played "fat boy" in that movie.
by rev_skarekroe
Not much of a stretch, eh? Sorry.
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I thought it was really done well. I think anyone can watch it and appreciate that film for it's skill. Great first Hugh Grant performance.
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And it's nice to see the love for Remains of the Day, a wonderful, heartbreaking film. Hopkins's best role ever. The scene where he - being the emotionally crippled, consummate professional butler that he is - is standing by his father's deathbed, visibly wrestling with the discomfort is amazing to watch. Also, the look on Emma Thompson's face in the bus as it drives off is something I'll never forget. Thank God for the Merchant Ivory body of work.
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May 26, 2005 12:26:35 PM CDT
So he's behind all those movies where Anthony Hopkins is a butle
by i dunno
Well, RIP, I guess.
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A good eulogy is about the deceased, not about those still living. Count the number of times Harry uses the word "I" in this steaming pile of putrescence some erroneously refer to as a eulogy.
It's not all about you, Harry. Stop jibberjabbering about your childhood.
I thought Merchand died a long time ago. -
Boo-hoo
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I thought AICN and P.J. were buddies?
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I agree with you completely Sepulchrave. You describe one of the difficulties of film and especially of adapting the musers like those two authors--they can easily come across as vapid. I love that M&I films try. Yes, they have a formula that now borders on self-parody. Once in a great while I actually try to learn from many people out there who are smarter than me, instead of dismissing them with cutting snark. I'm sad because Merchant was one of those smart people , and he gave a damn and tried. I appreciate that--and that he tried to do something to hold today's cynicism at bay.
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I cant believe they took down my post from before.. i was eighth
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It's so beautiful, warm, moving and funny. What the hell happened to Julian Sands after that anyway?
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And in the beginning I thought that was just a cool name for a production co - didn't even know it was two guys' names til later. RIP sir.
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Guess you can't have a point of view eh ??
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It's pretty damn sad.
I always hoped that he would team up again with James Ivory, Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in some other classy film.
Nice one Harry. -
I absolutely loved A Room with a View. Daniel-Day Lewis was great it in. I'll never forget the wet, naked men chasing each other. By the way, did someone mention Julian Sands?? Don't get me started on him.
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Sad day for film lovers. Some of his films were a bit sissy but all in all some good stuff over the years.
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Oops, I forgot. It's cool to dislike school, so I shouldn't like M&I films. (LOL) Has anyone heard when the White Countess is to premiere? And I'm wondering who will direct the Rabindranath Tagore movie now. Darn another movie about one of them smart book writers!
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It always makes my list of best of the 90's. Every scene is perfect. Hopkins is brilliant, much better then his overrated Silencve of the Lambs performance.
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So you don't like the guy, so you don't care about his films, so you don't know who he is (?!), so come on a talkback and piss on his legacy? Wankers. This man was 100 times more interesting, intelligent and hard-working than you will ever be. He and his partner rescued British cinema from the languishing depths which it was heading towards, and he is a true legend of modern cinema.
Never mind he was also one of the biggest characters around, with enough generosity to make nuns blush.
Now he passed away after a long illness, during which he still kept working and maintained all his responsibilities to the end. And you hijack a nice eulogy thread with inane comments and pathetic backbites?
I guess its true what they say in the bible : AICN talkbackers SUCK ASS.
I'm just surprised none of you American assholes haven't tried to use this as another platform for your neo-con vs liberal political debates.
R.I.P. Ismail Merchant
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