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January 5, 2016 12:18 PM

One-hour Director Roundtable With Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, Tom Hooper, Alejandro G. Inarritu, Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle and David O. Russell (SLYT)
posted by Huck500 (38 comments total)

So does Ridley Scott just do twice the amount of roundtabling, or what?
posted by Navelgazer at 12:27 PM on January 5, 2016 [4 favorites]

Haha, oops, cut and paste error...
posted by Huck500 at 12:30 PM on January 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Clearly, one of the Ridley Scotts is a replicant.
posted by mellow seas at 12:32 PM on January 5, 2016 [24 favorites]

'We'll hear from the directors of the year's most acclaimed films and Danny Boyle"
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:37 PM on January 5, 2016 [6 favorites]

fearfulsymmetry: "'We'll hear from the directors of the year's most acclaimed films and Danny Boyle""

Eh, "Steve Jobs" bombed in theaters but the critics liked it quite a bit.
posted by octothorpe at 12:44 PM on January 5, 2016

A roundtable so nice Ridley Scott showed up twice?
posted by Requiax at 12:59 PM on January 5, 2016

biggerridley.wikidot.com
posted by shakespeherian at 1:04 PM on January 5, 2016 [5 favorites]

Clearly, one of the Ridley Scotts is a replicant.

um actually you mean ridleys scott
or
ridlies scott
or
ridleys' scott
or
ridley's scott
or
ridley scotten
or
risky slot
or
ripley shot
or
ringley brot
or
ripley's believe it or not
posted by robocop is bleeding at 1:12 PM on January 5, 2016 [8 favorites]

Rangely Brett and Rita Broust in Ridley Scott's "Operation Risky Slot".
posted by selfnoise at 1:21 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

One of my good friends worked on a previous Tom Hopper film and wow, did that guy leave an epic trail of bad feeling among crew and post production, one of the most storied bad vibe sets ever. Its like when you know something about someone's spouse you shouldn't and then you can't look at them safely when you're in the same room, I want to remove him in VFX.

Love motor mouth Quentin, Boyle and all the rest!
posted by C.A.S. at 1:29 PM on January 5, 2016

Would it actually have killed them to put Sarah Gavron (Suffragette) at the table?
posted by Augenblick at 1:31 PM on January 5, 2016 [6 favorites]

Clearly, one of the Ridley Scotts is a replicant.

No, look carefully. It's Ridley Prime and Bigger Ridley.
posted by The Bellman at 1:46 PM on January 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

Hedley Lamarr: "You said Ridley Scott twice."

Huck500: "I like Ridley Scott."
posted by brundlefly at 1:46 PM on January 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Would it actually have killed them to put Sarah Gavron (Suffragette) at the table?

To be fair, that is her first feature I believe (Brick Lane was tv? can't remember). I think the idea of this roundtable is veterans who have multiple significant indie/hollywood films each under their belts.
posted by C.A.S. at 1:48 PM on January 5, 2016

I dunno, the youtube description just says "the most notable directors of the year" and doesn't include anything about their previous years or work. So I kinda took it to be about that.
posted by dogwalker at 1:59 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

No Ryan Coogler either. :-/
posted by kmz at 2:09 PM on January 5, 2016

Clearly, one of the Ridley Scotts is a replicant.

No, look carefully. It's Ridley Prime and Bigger Ridley.

No no no, it's Ridley and Meta Ridley.
posted by selfnoise at 2:33 PM on January 5, 2016

I love THR roundtables and have watched (and probably made FPPs about) several of them across the past couple of years. I'm glad to see a new batch of them being released. They're worth the time to sit through if you like movies, TV, acting, writing, and directing, even if you normally don't like dealing with online video.
posted by hippybear at 2:47 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Of course there are two Ridleys Scott. Do you really think the same dude could have directed both Alien and Prometheus??
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:16 PM on January 5, 2016 [6 favorites]

We recently learned that it's nearly impossible that a panel of mathematicians would be all-male by random chance. That's in a field where a conservative estimate places the number of female math Ph.D.s at 25%. I wonder what those chances are in Hollywood, where women direct only 6-7% of theatrical films? Even when they do direct prestige pictures (Suffragette, Selma) they're apparently snubbed by panels and award nominators. In 87 years of the Oscars -- that's 435 nominations -- only 4 women have ever been nominated for Best Director. Only one (Kathryn Bigelow) has ever won.

There are some amazing, talented directors in this roundtable, and I'm genuinely glad to have the opportunity to learn from them and hear them speak. But I have to wonder if, at any point, they look around and think, "Dang, my legitimacy is really undermined by the fact that I'm part of a system that's so obviously discriminating in my favor." Because I certainly can't help thinking it. I also can't help thinking that they should be a little embarrassed to be benefiting from such a rigged game. I'm not sure if they're in a position to be able to do much to help (presumably, the producers and the studio execs and the distributors could make a bigger difference), but I do wonder if they could at least help shine some more light on it.

"...Women make up 50 percent of film-school graduates but only had a hand in 7 percent of the top 250 grossing films of the last several years." (via)

"...Behind the camera, diversity is even more lacking, with a ratio of over 16 non-Black directors working to every 1 Black director, and only two black women directors among the 500 films considered." (via)

"Women described difficulty generating finance or interest in films about females or individuals from underrepresented groups, in stereotypically feminine genres, or for female-oriented films." (via)

"...For many female film directors, a career can begin — and end — with the making of short films, and that when a woman director moves into a position of making narrative features or feature films, the financing isn’t there, but the institutional biases are." (via)

"When men directed, the number of female writers shrank to 8%, editors fell to 15% and cinematographers dropped to 5%." (via)
posted by ourobouros at 3:35 PM on January 5, 2016 [21 favorites]

Well, if you're not aware, the EEOC is investigating Hollywood for its hiring practices from the top of the studios to the bottom most rung on the production ladder beginning with the directors. This gender discrimination has been a matter of lots of discussion of late (if you listen to The Frame, you'll hear it brought up there regularly), but it's not going unnoticed.
posted by hippybear at 3:40 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think the idea of this roundtable is veterans who have multiple significant indie/hollywood films each under their belts.

Until Hollywood is in a place where it encourages women directors in the same way that it encourages male directors, these "veterans" you speak of will always be men.

And if Russell is a fucking veteran I'm a monkey's uncle. From what I've read and seen he's an abusive hack with a couple of decent films "under his belt". So let's not kid ourselves.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 3:46 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

David O. Russell is probably one of the directors I would most like to replace on this panel, but not because he's not a veteran filmmaker. He's got plenty of credits. But I guess my definition of veteran doesn't account for taste.
posted by dogwalker at 4:13 PM on January 5, 2016

Films directed by David O. Russell:
1994 - Spanking the Monkey
1996 - Flirting with Disaster
1999 - Three Kings
2004 - I Heart Huckabees
2010 - The Fighter
2012 - Silver Linings Playbook
2013 - American Hustle
2015 - Accidental Love
2015 - Joy

I think the guy's overrated and probably a huge asshole as a person, but there's no denying that the guy can accurately be termed a veteran filmmaker.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:17 PM on January 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Did they do one with soundtrack/score composers this year? That was, unexpectedly, my favorite of the roundtable discussions I watched last year.
posted by mannequito at 4:21 PM on January 5, 2016

there's no denying that the guy can accurately be termed a veteran filmmaker.

I'm certainly denying it.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 4:29 PM on January 5, 2016

Watching now. Thanks for posting, I've never actually heard most of these guys actually talk before. Funny to hear Scott talk about keeping standards of quality up when he's probably got the spottiest record of anyone there. He's done a few of my favorite films but also a whole lot of mediocre product.

I wish that they had picked a few directors who didn't produce such transparent Oscar bait.
posted by octothorpe at 4:34 PM on January 5, 2016

there's no denying that the guy can accurately be termed a veteran filmmaker.

I'm certainly denying it.

I think Atom Eyes mean in the generally accepted use of the term.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 4:41 PM on January 5, 2016

Oh, you guys are so harsh. How many women have directed films as great as Exodus: Gods and Kings and 1492: Conquest of Paradise? I guess one definition of "veteran filmmaker" is when they keep giving you money after producing utter shit.
posted by thetortoise at 4:41 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm certainly denying it.

Well OK if we're deciding on our own idiosyncratic definitions of words then I hereby declare that inflammable means the opposite of flammable.
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:43 PM on January 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

First of all, could Hollywood be a more friendly environment to women? YES

a place where it encourages women directors in the same way that it encourages male directors

But - Hollywood isn't friendly or encouraging to anyone, except the established few figures who have heat at any given time. No one knows anything, and everyone chases momentum. It will take a prolonged effort to make it better for women, but frankly that goes for everywhere. I'm still waiting for more women on corporate boards.

Hollywood is a weird place. Its a very tough business and changing all the time, and anyone directing features that you see or read about is in the very top percent of a pyramid. It is very very hard to establish a career for anyone.

As for David O. Russell, he by any definition is a veteran with 9 indie and Hollywood features over 3 decades, plus uncredited script work across that period. Are all his films good? no. Many are interesting, many are interesting attempts, usually has given critics something to talk about though and some are quite good.

I know he has the reputation from the Lily Tomlin video and the George Clooney 3 Kings incident. But all I know about David O Russell is that years ago, I was hired on a network tv project and one of my fellow producer/directors was a NY woman who made an independent doc that was in the running for an Oscar. He was a friend of hers while I knew her, and he was very encouraging towards her and her career (when his wasn't nearly as established as it is now). I don't know why everyone is so sure that he is an asshole but this was not the kind of woman to maintain a friendship with an asshole, that is all I know. He sounded like a decent guy.
posted by C.A.S. at 4:44 PM on January 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

Well OK if we're deciding on our own idiosyncratic definitions of words then I hereby declare that inflammable means the opposite of flammable.

Just so we're clear, are you changing the definition of 'flammable' or 'inflammable'?
posted by pmcp at 5:02 PM on January 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm grateful others quickly reminded me how sexist Hollywood is...because I as quickly go ga-ga with glitterati stuff...

And to poke a little fun-- when one of the origin stories of HAL was offered as fact and received as a mutual revelation, my response was: Hacks!
posted by lazycomputerkids at 5:42 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

I still believe that to be the true origin story of HAL's name. Clarke tried to make people think that it stood for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer but that sounds like a BS back-formation.
posted by octothorpe at 6:14 PM on January 5, 2016

thetortoise: How many women have directed films as great as Exodus: Gods and Kings and 1492: Conquest of Paradise? I guess one definition of "veteran filmmaker" is when they keep giving you money after producing utter shit.

They give you money after you've produced utter shit because you still produced Alien, Blade Runner, and Thelma & Louise, and every movie is a gamble to produce a good one. If they'd stop giving him money to make movies after 1492: Conquest of Paradise, we wouldn't have gotten Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, or Kingdom of Heaven. If they'd stopped giving him money after Exodus: Gods and Kings, we wouldn't have gotten The Martian. I reject the binary thinking that either Ridley Scott gets to make more movies or we have greater representation by women in the directing. I can want both. It's a really uphill battle to argue Ridley Scott isn't a veteran filmmaker with a thirty-seven year career bookended by Alien and The Martian.
posted by bluecore at 6:54 PM on January 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

Derails are just seductive-- Maybe I'm misreading, but the issue of veteran was pointed at O. Russell, with no parameter given other than taste, and now argued in terms of box office...which doesn't make sense in regard to analyses such as Peter Biskind's book (Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, 1998) and "New Hollywood". In terms of expectations, bemoaning outcomes is practically arguing for a return to a studio system.

I don't believe anyone has said everyone doesn't want both. What was noted early in the thread is we don't have both as often as we should. Hollywood's sexist prerogatives plod along despite having included someone like Penny Marshall (and who knows if she was invited) and the importance of recognizing that privilege is deadening to progress.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 7:33 PM on January 5, 2016

Um… I liked hearing these guys talk about making movies. I wish there had been people who were not white guys sitting at the table. There weren't, I enjoyed it anyway and I thought - these six got asked and showed up, how many got asked and politely declined? Because you kind of have to wonder that as well. But yeah, I would be a little more interested in seeing a broader variety of directors. It would make an interesting conversation better.
posted by From Bklyn at 1:38 AM on January 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

That was great! The 2015 producers roundtable has a better demographic balance and includes discussions of gender and race in contemporary Hollywood. The producers of several of the same 'most notable films' of the year as in the directors' version are there, broadening the perspective a bit.
posted by Casimir at 3:55 AM on January 6, 2016 [1 favorite]