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Moriarty Has DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH, All About Harlan Ellison!!
Anyone who works in any creative field will probably be able to rattle off a list of the names of the people who inspired them. I’ve written at length about some of those influences here on the site, but there are others I’ve barely discussed here, if only because the right context never came up.
When I was first contacted by writer/director Erik Nelson about his Harlan Ellison documentary, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH, my first thought was “Oh, great! Finally an excuse to write about Harlan!” My second thought was, “I hope the film’s decent.” Harlan seems to me to be a difficult subject, and I couldn’t imagine that he would allow anyone enough control over a documentary to offer up an honest look at his life and his reputation and his work.
So it is a pleasant surprise to see that the film manages to embrace the contradiction of Harlan Ellison with open arms, celebrating his prickly persona while remembering why it is that we love Ellison in the first place: his command of language, the way he has always promoted writing as a craft, not a mystery or a divine gift, and, yes, the stories themselves.
If you’d like to get a taste of the film, you can check out the official site, where they have a nice selection of scenes of Ellison reading his own work. He’s one of those guys who obviously loves performing his words, and he’s great at it. He relishes it, something that’s not a given with authors. There are a lot of guys who are great on a page who just don’t carry themselves well when they have to do a reading. Harlan’s an entertainer, and if you give him a crowd, he’ll give you a show.
The reason the film works is because they also manage to get Harlan to turn off the public persona, and we’re offered a personal portrait of this man as well. By seeing him through the eyes of his friends and family, we get a better idea of who he is, of where the anger that has always been such a part of his persona comes from, and of just what legacy he’s going to leave behind as a person and a public figure.
I remember the first time I ever read his work. SHATTERDAY was the collection. The title grabbed me as soon as I saw it, and I checked the book out from the library, took it home, and worked my way through every one of the stories inside in a single long Saturday afternoon. There were a few stories that stood out in particular, like “Jefty Is Five,” which remains one of my favorite short stories in any genre by any author. But what really stood out to me was the overall voice. Ellison’s one of those writers who makes great storytelling seem effortless, conversational, no matter how tough the subject matter. He invites you in, makes you feel like he’s telling the story directly to you. There are many writers who have influenced me in one way or another, and there are many works of fiction that affected me when I was first exposed to them, but Ellison quickly became one of my favorites because of the range he covered and the grace with which he handled it.
I loved the fact that he was willing to write criticism even as he continued to turn out his own work. If you’ve never read his film criticism, pick up the collection HARLAN ELLISON’S WATCHING. Even if you disagree with his perspective on certain films, I’m willing to bet you’ll find yourself engaged by the way he approaches his subjects. Here’s a guy who never once pulled a punch, never seemed worried about what his brutal honesty might mean for his career. He’s never been afraid to bite the hand that feeds. THE GLASS TEAT is a blistering look at the television industry and the way people digest television, and it’s fair to say that Ellison has contempt for the influence that television has had on our culture. Literacy matters to him, and he’s been active in trying to promote reading and caring about words for most of his career. And he doesn’t just hide behind a typewriter, talking about how the world should work. This is a guy who marched next to Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama in the ‘60s. All of this is covered in the film, and it’s trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together that makes the movie so interesting.
Technically, it’s a solid but unexceptional film. It’s just not that kind of movie. It’s all about the quality of the interviews, the intimacy that the filmmakers have created with Ellison.
If you’re in Los Angeles this week and you’d like to see the film for yourself, and you’d like the added bonus of seeing it with Ellison present, let me tell you just how to do that:
Click Here For Tickets
$20 General Admission
$15 WGA members
$10 Students with ID
Or call 323-782-4692
Josh Olson, the Academy Award nominated screenwriter of A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, will be hosting the Q&A with Harlan, and he’s all over the movie. I know Josh a little bit from message boards we have both frequented, and I’ve started realizing something about hardcore Ellison fans, myself included. I think we all respond to him as an artist first, but also as a personality. I think we recognize something of ourselves in him. Yes, Harlan has a legendary temper, but it seems to me that the thing that ignites it the most is injustice, stupidity, malice or pettiness. I’ve seen Josh ignite when he was passionate about something, and I’ve certainly taken my share of flak for my own proclivity to anger during my time online. And maybe that’s why we find ourselves so strongly drawn to Ellison’s work. His personality has always been so tightly bound to the stories, and he’s always worn his thin skin proudly. I think this film’s greatest strength is the way it shows the man behind that legendary temper as more than just a sharp-witted bundle of rage. So often, we are judged by the worst details of who we are, and this film dares both fans and non-fans, the Friends and Enemies of Ellison alike, to look deeper, and to see him for the fascinating, complicated, valuable artist he is. Anyone can read the Wikipedia entry on him or Google his name and find plenty of people willing to take potshots, but this film offers you Harlan in his own words, laid surprisingly bare, and that's something I never expected.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
$20 General Admission
$15 WGA members
$10 Students with ID
Or call 323-782-4692
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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I love Ellison, it was funny reading his influence on you because I too was first exposed to his stories from "Shatterday".. I first saw him on Tom Snyder's "Tomorrow" show. I think it was the famous Star Trek episode and that he'd written "City On the Edge of Forever"..
I remember reading his film reviews ( or if I remember right, he called them film essays)as well.
Amazing writer,great storyteller. What always impressed me was when he was pissed off about some injustice he didn't give a shit about going off and naming names of people who screwed him over in the business.
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deserves to be brought to the screen.
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Do they mention the incident where he attacked the t.v. exec and the guy fell backwards and the VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA model fell off of the wall and cracked the guy's pelvis?! Classic! Ellison is a champ!
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Josh Olsen wrote some anti-jewish remarks on a Springsteen board I used to read.
He's not just "angry". He's an arrogant, self-absorbed, foul-mouthed, mean-spirited prick. -
Damnit, for a second it looked like a movie based on a Harlan Ellison SCRIPT was being produced. I'd totally drop $20 for that. For a Bio... notsomuch.
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A pioneer sci-fi editor with an ascerbic and dry wit, pungent viewpoints and insane creative energy. As a personality he can be trying, but for all the things he has produced I don't give a fuck...small potatoes if you ask me. I rebought both hardcover volumes of Dangerous Visions and am surprised how valid these anthologies still remain today. I've waited forever for a film like this and look forward to it immensely.
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... they run down some of the most infamous Ellison stories and ask him which ones are true and which ones are false. It's a great, fun sequence.
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"I See a Man Sitting on a Chair and the Chair is Biting His Leg", even though a collaboration between Ellison and Robert Sheckley gets my vote as a short story I would want to see filmed...it very well might have to have an X rating for full effect.
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I always howl at his appearance as a Psi Cop in a B5 episode and would love to hear what he had to say about his influence on that show.
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..."Last Dangerous Visions"? All the same, the grouchy little bastard's a true national treasure.
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They should have a depressurization salon after viewing it, those 2 energy sources bouncing off each other is bound to be harrowing.
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I actually was first introduced to Harlan via the shitty Sci-Fi Buzz in the early days of the Sci-Fi Channel. The first book of his I read was Mind Fields, which featured the damn amazing artwork of Jacek Yerka. Since then, I've managed to track down nearly every book he's published. Not all of them, but close.
I actually met him at a Powell's signing about ten years ago. Funny story, I shook his hand and told him what an honor it was to meet him. His response, "Well, thank you for sharing your emotions in public like that." Since I'm a smartass, I replied, "Well, thank you for thanking me for sharing my emotions in public like that!"
Harlan's response: "Er, ah... bah..."
And then I beat a hasty retreat, secure in the knowledge that *I* had somehow managed to flummox Harlan Ellison and live. -
But I soon learned that I had been impressed by his work much earlier--when as a kid I saw The Outer Limits episode, Demon With A Glass Hand. He has been inspiring for the aspiring. Getting the Seaview to crack the TV exec sounds like probably a true story. I think I'd go with Sam Peckinpah's tactic of throwing a hunting knife.
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Does Harlan confirm or deny the oft-told tale of his half-day of working on the Disney lot?
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Hey, Moriarty - I just got off the horn with Harlan, and he asked me to relay to you that he was just plain tickled by your review of the movie. (Harlan doesn't do the internet, really, so I'm acting as his humble messenger here. He also asked me to ignore the moron who's posting libellous comments about me, so in deference to our fearless leader, I will.)
I hope you'll make it tomorrow - hell, I hope ALL of you make it tomorrow. It's going to be a real blast. The film's terrific, and I suspect Harlan will be in fine form for the festivities afterwards.
As for your observations about what attracts some of us to Harlan's work, I think you're pretty spot on. The man's enormous personality - as well as his sense of decency - comes through all of his work, and is part and parcel of his art. It's pretty damn compelling, and I know you believe me when I say it's the honor of a lifetime to call the man a friend, not to mention to have written with him.
PS: The Seaview story IS in the film.
PPS: OlsOn, dammit! Only Superman's goony pal and slimy Norwegians spell it with an E. -
...just for kicks. He's an ass-hat.
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i had to deal with him over the phone once for work. I don't give a shit how talented he is, he's subhuman.
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Harlan Ellison, that is
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In the now defunct Science Fiction Age magazine many years ago, probably around the mid nineties? In the article there was an excerpt from a short story he was working on called "The Pet"? or something along those lines that till this day has me intrigued. I still haven't seen or heard of this story. Then again. I haven't read every last piece of fiction Harlan has wrote in those intervening years. Can't wait to see the movie. Even if Harlan did roll his eyes at me once for asking an honest question at a book signing.
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Does anyone know if we'll ever see a sequel? In the intro to the recent version that reprints both the prose stories and Corben's comic adaptations he claims to have written a screenplay.
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I've only read a bit of Ellison, and I think a major reason for this is because I don't see how his stories could possibly fulfill my expectations when they have titles as great as "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Tick Tock Man", "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" or "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream."
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anybody can check out mr olson's unhinged rantings (and anti semitic remarks against hal007, a jewish guy who posts frequently) under the name "badcog".
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His infamous grabbing of Connie Willis's boob at WorldCon last year and whether L. Ron Hubbard really...well, everyone knows the L. Ron Hubbard story.
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Being in "The Arts" is one of the only jobs in the world where if you're REALLY good, some folks give you a license to be an ass.My plumber does a fantastic job, and his recent snake-work on my toilet changed and saved my life. But that doesn't mean he can be a shithead.
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Okay I know the comparison I'm about to make is a bit unfair, for one thing he wouldn't have said anything racist or bigoted as Imus did, but he does share the commonality with Imus in that they both were always given free passes for saying whatever they wanted to because of them having an asshole 'persona', or 'shtick' as previously mentioned. If you took offense at something they said, then it was you who had a thick skin, you who couldn't take a joke. "That's just our Harlan!" *sitcom laugh* Like the boob groping at World-Con. Supposedly it was a gag, an injoke and anyone who thought it was appalling was not getting the joke. Maybe he's right. I didn't see it. But on the other hand with personas there's that old line from Mother Night 'Be careful who you pretend to be, because in the end you are who you pretend to be.'
It's often hard to appreciate a man's work, when he continuously acted as though he held is fellow man in contempt, boasting on many occasions that he was a proud elitist, ranting about the stupidity of the the average reader, or the mindless cattle that watches television...which he wasn't too good to write for. The first book of his I ever read was of course his original City on the Edge of Forever script along with commentary and I still cannot understand to this day why he was so upset. In the end I'm still not sure how I feel about him. I mean I love some of his stories almost like I love old friends. And I hate some of his stories not because they're bad, but because they caused me to have to re-think a lot of things and look at the world in a much more disturbing way. (I.E., I Have No Mouth...) And of course you have to admit that he had certainly earned the right to be an elitist, since he was in the elite of top 20th century American writers, and you could call him the sole American voice in the mostly british New Wave. But he's also fundamentally bitter and unhappy and cruel human being, and a bit of a bully, in my little insignificant opinion. I see humanity in his work, but not in him as a person. -
I've got some mp3's of an interview Harlan did with Robin Williams, where he talks about, among other things, L. Ron Hubbard. I could zip those files and put them on yousendit or something for anyone interested. It's great material and I would probably never have read Van Vogt's 'Slan' if Harlan hadn't mentioned it. So thanks for that, Mr. Ellison.
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... Josh Olson isn't BadCog, that's me.
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actually I'm lieing, BadCog looks like a pretty nasty piece of work. But I could have been. You should either stop with the libel, or pony up some evidence that shows Olson is BadCog.
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This is really great news! Been an H fan for thirty years or so, although we struggle a bit more here in the UK (we all know why!). I'd give my eye teeth to get to that show and meet the guy in person. Also meet and thank the person who wrote A History of Violence. Great movie from a top filmmaker. Which leads me to... I'd have thought of all the collaborations that were made in heaven, it was HE and David Cronenberg. Has Josh got a story/theory as to why this hasn't happened? We NEED more Harlan on the screen.
Yes.. Shatterday was good on TZ and there were others. I particularly liked 'One Life Furnished in Early Poverty'.
And hey.. it's good to thank people you admire in person. Even if they don't thank you for it! ;-) -
http://tinyurl.com/378gnj
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For whoever wants it:
http://download.yousendit.com/D98F45BC23053DD5 -
Apr 19, 2007 4:56:10 AM CDT
Did they quote any of the dwarf's "works" in the docu?
by jackpumpkinhead
If they did, he'll sue them.
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Apr 19, 2007 5:20:46 AM CDT
I worked at Titan Publishing and Harlan Ellison called.
by tomthumbstallywhacker
..The girl who picked up the call didn't know who he was, and said "Who?" and he started ranting "Who? Don't you know me? I'm HARLAN ELLISON! Don't you know who I am?? Jesus! HARLAN ELLISON! FUCK!" Dick.
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"Shatterday" was indeed adapted for the mid-80s CBS revival of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. If memory serves it was the first episode. Harlan was serving as script editor/consultant/somethingorother at the time, though I don't think he lasted the whole season, having some sort of blowup with the network. (I think it was over the Santa Claus as home intruder episode.) Bruce Willis starred in the episode and I think it ran just around the time Season 2 of MOONLIGHTING was starting up, so it was the first real time we got to see Willis do something meaty, acting-wise. (Sorry, if some of the details may be off. I don't think I've seenthe episode since it aired. Jebus, I was in high school back then...)
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Some of us have some catching up to do.
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"BadCog looks like a pretty nasty piece of work. But I could have been. You should either stop with the libel, or pony up some evidence that shows Olson is BadCog"
Just do a google search on the newsgroup. He even talked about some of his work, etc. Type in Josh Olson and Bad Cog and it's all there. -
And I've read a lot of Harlan - the short stories, the essays, the film reviews (his words on "Return to Oz" - a rave, if I'm remembering right - are a sight to behold) and even the longer bits are fucking great. But as semi-autobiographical/Nathan Zuckerman-esque as they get, the one that's always fascinated me is "All the Lies That Are My Life," one of the greatest short stories out there. I'd sit for two hours just to hear Ellison talk about the writing of that piece. The guy is incredible. If you've never read him, the story that I always find recommending to people is "The Museum on Cyclops Avenue." It's one that you read and are like, "Who the hell IS this guy?" And then you buy all those great collections and start the long process of reading all the Ellison.
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This is the first I've heard of it, and I'm chomping at the bit to get it on DVD eventually.Ellison is a master storyteller, and has always been a decent guy when I've seen him in person. I almost set him off myself by insisting I'd seen an ad for an interview he did in a non-existant magazine (I misremembered). We went back and forth a couple of times until I realized I was doing *EXACTLY* what I had just read an essay of his complaining about. I said, "I'm sorry; I must be remembering it wrong," and that was that. He was a perfect gent.
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Josh or Mori-
Is tonight's screening/Q&A also a signing?
If it is, that'd be terrific, but if it is not I surely do not want to be the one clod who brought a book.
Regarding Ellison's behavior - I can't claim to know the man, but I've met him at a couple of other events, and one time sent him a book manuscript looking for a blurb (knowing full well that he doesn't do that).
In every case he was polite. With regard to the book, I didn't get the blurb but he did call me and we chatted for a few minutes, which struck me as generous.
My experience is that if you approach the man with good manners, he responds with good manners.
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Too bad THAT can't be made into a movie!
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Moriarty,
Harlan tried to get in touch with Harry, and his numbers are dead. Could you ask him to contact Harlan? Also, he wants to know if you'll be there personally tonight so he can kiss you on the cheek.
Alan,
Harlan will only be signing new copies of three books, which he'll be selling there as well: The new Spider Kiss, the new Dream Corridor, and the new Dreams with Sharp Teeth (the book, not the movie)
Love,
Josh Olson
Assistant to Mr. Ellison
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That's what a FRIEND of his (writer Ron Goulart) said of his work! Funny observation...kinda true, though...
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One of Mr. Ellison's recurring themes -- "You are not alone" -- spoke to me vividly as a lonely teenager. I had never felt so understood, by anyone. Maybe I have not since, now that I come to think of it.
A few years ago, I went back to his writings and (unlike so many things remembered fondly) was pleasantly surprised to find that his work held up well and still spoke to me, though on a different level of course.
"We are all the same, all in this fragile skin, suffering the ugliness of simply being human, all prey to the same mortal dreads." -
Who can't appreciate a ride in the open country on a classic Harlan Ellison Fatboy?
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In the end, he should have eaten the girl AND the dog. That would have been ironic, be-yotch.
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Not sure I like his personality and film critisim though.
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...and there was Harlan's picture! Even more interesting was an inscription that read: "Yeah, I put this picture here. You got a problem with that? -HE"As a longtime fan, I cannot wait for this one. Also, I heard Samuel L. Jackson was interested in bringing 'Mephisto In Onyx' to the big screen. Anyone got the skinny on that?
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...can discuss with Ellison his theory (posted a couple years ago on a popular Springsteen board) that the Jews were behind the 9-11 attacks? Oh I'd pay serious money to see Harlan's face during that conversation.
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One of my all-time favorite short stories ever. The man's brilliant as brilliant gets.
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"...they found him doing a DISGUSTING thing with a disgusting THING."
One of the funniest alien invasion/sex/apocalypse/ stories ever written. -
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, the greatest story Harlan Ellison ever wrote!
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And sometimes, his essays are better than the stories...that's sayin something, for sure. For me, favorite living writers would be Ellison, Thomas Berger, John Irving, Tom Robbins, and Stephen King, in that order. Only got to meet one of em, and it was Harlan; I couldn't think of a better tribute than to put him in a story of mine own...a small but important part, and though he is never named and not too clearly described, he is revealed to those in the know by the line, "I'm just an everyday force for good in my time." Also, he provides a potion called Strange Wine to the protagonist, who drinks it and conjures up his own Cybill Shepherd circa Moonlighting and...ah, never mind. Just find Ellison's books, read em, treasure em; and for God's sake, don't loan them to anyone!!!
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Harlan Ellison kissed me tonight!
And there were witnesses! Hundreds of them!
I hope all the AICN readers who showed up for this event had a great time. The Q&A between OlsOn and Ellison was far more A than Q, and the audience ate it up. A great evening out, and did I mention...
Harlan Ellison kissed me! -
...was hearing/watching Harlan read his own work on screen. Seriously, you grow up and you have the "Harlan voice" in your head - the narrator you've created that you may have pieced together from whatever interviews you've seen or just kind of have taken from the ways he writes. Then, you see and hear this guy reading those words and it can't help but just sound like some random guy doing a good, thoughtful reading of a very familiar story as you - the reader - already know what Harlan's words sound like to you. It was a strange disconnect for me knowing that the man doing the reading was the author. An odd point to make, but every time they showed one of those cool interstitials of him performing his work, it struck me. It also made me think about all the other really forceful narrators in literature - Conrad, Hardy, Dos Passos, etc. - and how interesting it would be to then hear them deliver their own words as they relate to them. As for the rest of the movie, it was quite excellent - a real fun look at the man AND the personality (Gaiman seems to "get" both sides of Harlan the best, but of course he would). From the Q&A, it sounds like Ellison would HATE this, but forget "Hogan Knows Best" and "The Family Jewels," the Sci-Fi Channel could have a very interesting reality show exploring the day-to-day life of Harlan Ellison, certainly. And yes to all doubters, Harlan CHARGED off the stage and rushed to the back of the room to kiss Moriarty (made more dramatic by how much shoe leather there was between the two) to thank him for the kind words above. My own Harlan story? He was coming down the aisle to his seat and passed me and my wife. After he asked "which one of us was the fan?" (I admitted to having an entire shelf of his stuff, though I declined to really "go geek" and say I collected his stuff in the original pulps), he commented on the book I was reading - "Here and On Earth" - that he had known its author, Jim Thompson before heading down to find his seat. I would've loved to hear that story, certainly.
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Ellison did indeed run down a very long aisle, stopping his Q and A, to kiss Moriarty. I believe a local news crew captured it also.
The film is truly great. I'm not even a huge Ellison fan, but it's one of the best films about being a writer I've ever seen.
Ellison stayed and signed books into the wee hours. Long after the reception had cleared out, he was still there. Now that's cool. -
I was at the (packed) WGA theater for the DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH screening last night, sitting within –- well, not spitting distance -- but possibly rock-hurling distance of Moriarty (not that hurling a rock had ever been considered). I can vouch for the kiss and it was movie-magical in a completely platonic, heterosexual sort of way.
As for the film, I share raging anti-Semite and 9/11 conspiracy theorist Josh Olson’s summation: It’s as close as you’ll get to the experience of actually hanging out with Harlan in the flesh. It was hilarious, offensive and razor-sharp. But more importantly it was STIMULATING. Not in the German fetish porn sort of way but in that it got the old synapses firing and knocked the dust off some less-used portions of my brain.
Harlan Ellison is a WRITER’S writer. Baby-eating hate-crime advocate Josh Olson compared him a guitar god who plays words instead of Stratocasters, and that’s completely on the mark. But beyond that he’s a champion of the PROFESSION of writing. He doesn’t take shit, he doesn’t back down and he will not under any circumstances compromise his art. If you’re a writer, want to be a writer, or are for whatever reason sexually attracted to writers this film should be required viewing.
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There was this blonde bombshell sitting on the front row. Hourglass. You could bounce a fucking quarter off of it... She had to be with the media. Unfortunately, smart speculative fiction girls aren't that hot.
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Was it Werner Herzog's wife?
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Herzog's lady is nice, but this chick was a goddess. Early 30s.
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... was apparently some Russian actress.
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