No love, you're holding cables for those who make movies .

Enjoy your work, V! Do try to get some sleep somewhere in there between everything.

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Welcome to Sparklypoo, mind the unicorns!

Still overflowing with blithe felicity, I see.

Actually, that was a commercial, and production assisting counts as 'making movies'. Non-commercial shit has me even more knee deep, and I'm planning on shooting a Super 8 piece of my own creation in September, not to mention helping a friend with his short, and feature, and probably doing a professional documentary in October, if I have time between all the school movie stuff I'll be doing.

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sweeney todd online

Face it, Harl, this stinks. You're a certified nutso wanted in two dozen states, and hopelessly in love with a psychopathic clown.

and yes, I'll try to get some sleep.

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sweeney todd online

Face it, Harl, this stinks. You're a certified nutso wanted in two dozen states, and hopelessly in love with a psychopathic clown.

I didn't say I'd changed.

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sweeney todd online

Face it, Harl, this stinks. You're a certified nutso wanted in two dozen states, and hopelessly in love with a psychopathic clown.

I know you work hard, and are doing work in films and tv, but to say you know so much better because you make movies...? You help make movies, not make them, as you imply, in the same way that say Tim Burton does. I admire you because you have this never-say-die tenacity to be a success and be damn good at your work, but oh my sweet lord, humility is a good good thing to have if you ever want to learn much in this world. My dear, you've even told someone who's worked with Burton, Lucas, Singer, Etc on a professional level that you knew better... this was before you started school.

*shakes head* I loves ya, V, but you need to settle down sometimes and just... well, settle o_o.

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Welcome to Sparklypoo, mind the unicorns!

Nooo, I was telling people who lack film experience across the board why it won't work. I also wrote a paper on the topic itself. And working with Tim Burton doesn't really give anyone insight into film semantics, all due respect. Okay, yeah, I was being a little shite at the time. But now, after nine months and plenty of practical experience, I've pretty much nailed down to my satisfaction the reasons why it would fail, and a million crazy little Johnny Depp fans aren't going to dissuade me.

As for those directors, they're all very well and good, but the machine that's behind 99.9 percent of industry films has to do with money, not creativity. Tim Burton may have production design going for him, but pretty much every filmmaker that I know personally gets a whole hell of a lot closer to the notion of actually making a film- that is to say, someone with a shoe string budget (see Martin Scorsese, circa 1970s) and their wits and maybe a ten person crew is just as much, if not more filmmaker than Tim Burton is, at least presently. Tim Burton may be directing the set, but he (and Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter) are acting in brand name capacity. Are you going to tell me that's a more legitimate way of making film? That because it's got more money behind it, it will somehow make musical theatre palatable to a film audience?

As far as actual production? The only difference is scale and money.

And when it comes to humility- it goes for people I respect in the field, that I've worked with, or that I generally like and who haven't offended me. And it offends me when people exploit something I love for profit.

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sweeney todd online

Face it, Harl, this stinks. You're a certified nutso wanted in two dozen states, and hopelessly in love with a psychopathic clown.

I really think that Johnny and Helena were sooo a typical 'I have my harem of actors, let me pick two' type Burton decision, of course. I mean - honey - you ain't fooling anyone if you claim that you had to work your arse off to play Mrs Lovett... madame just gave birth to the directors son... but Johnny? While I'd never have picked him (He's too ageless, he's too tiny... I can't imagine him as a threatening villain, can you?) but I am so looking forward to seeing how he works it O_o. I think he'll have to give the performance of his career to make it work, so that's what I'm waiting for. Bad casting choice aside, I think johnny has a chance of actually pulling it off (if we take into consideration his amazing ability to pull miracles out of his arse).

And oh my god... at least Burton can get the setting right! I shudder to think of the many other possible candidates and how they'd have butchered it.

And might I just add... Alan Rickman as the judge. I don't know if that was cheap casting or brilliant casting or - fuck I don't care. He'll be brilliant if he can sing!

I'm looking forward to seeing what'll pop out. To me it's definitely not the only Sweeney movie in the works. I know of at least two more (including yours, when you do get around to it. The other will probably spend a third of it's budget just on bloody Judge Turpin) that are both extremely promising because of the different takes on the situation. Burton's is just, well - Burton's brand movie. Eh, let the Depp girls have it. Wait till they see yours! Ah, who are we kidding, they won't care - they want cheekbones. Isn't it ridiculously ironic that the ones that love Depp the most are the ones who are least likely to see how good a thespian he is?

And let me say, I love indy films the most. For damn sure. Less budget and less bullying for popularity means more art and soul. All the ones I've been involved with have done what I consider far purer cinema - we're talking oldschool art, here. Not commercial products. Love it.

Still. Burton? One of the ultimate indy filmmakers that made good. He'll always have my respect. He's basically running his own theatre group in grand scale, and that's a living dream.

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Welcome to Sparklypoo, mind the unicorns!

I'd respect Burton if he hadn't so completely and utterly sold out to the movie Man- Johnny Depp is kind of going the same way, not that he isn't the cream of the crop- he still comes from movies and tv, though, and therefore lacks the longevity of a stage actor. Fact is, he hasn't really got me jumping in my seat since the first Pirates, and after that, it's been one mediocre role after the other. While I do agree, he's great, I think that studio heads have just stuffed their thumbs up their asses in hopes that this will be a box office hit, so Johnny Depp + dark nasty role seems like a forgone conclusion. I just have no faith that he can sing it, and the story is in the songs. The least they could have done was cast someone who could sing it.

Right now, Warner Brothers is demanding that the film be cut down because of the violence and/or gore, because, get this, they didn't read the script until after production . Because that's how little they care about film. Burton's using his weight, now, too, but I think the total access he has to all these actors and toys and money has really hampered his creativity. Directors need limitations, they need competition, they need to be challenged in order to make the best work possible. If you just let him go, and no one says no to him, or someone takes away his usual suspects (or deprives him of a studio, even) he's just going to run wild and do whatever pops into his head. I don't think he's got the confidence to do something new when he's got people throwing money at him. He needs to become a Robert Altman badass and learn to become uncomfortable again. It's the directors that find a balance between the power they have, and the ability to create cinema that to me are most worthy of respect- like Stephen Spielberg. He's the image of creative power. He can still bring pure class and deliciousness to a big budget feature, without always blinding you with hollywood gloss. Catch Me If You Can is a great example.

In any case- there's a rennaissance on its way, with digital projection/distribution. Cut out the distributors and you cut millions and millions of dollars out of the cost of getting your work into theatres. The studios are already starting to acquiesce (see 20th Century Fox, Sideways is a good example) to Sundance winners, and so on. So I see it as a last ditch attempt before the storm on the part of the studios.

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sweeney todd online

Face it, Harl, this stinks. You're a certified nutso wanted in two dozen states, and hopelessly in love with a psychopathic clown.