Moonfall director Roland Emmerich tells us he’s not that into action scenes; a Scream screenwriter shares a brilliant approach he learned from Wes Craven; Pam and Tommy is here and very watchable. Plus: a new Slamdance doc looks at the realest wrestler.
The Power of the Dog: In the latest Low Key Podcast, we have a very good discussion of who or what “the dog” of the title is, performative masculinity, and whether the Jane Campion movie has a bad guy. That’s really just scratching the surface of a movie I consider perfect. You can listen on Apple or Spotify or here:
Advice From Wes Craven: James Vanderbilt, the producer and co-writer of the latest Scream, revealed to the key to a Scream screenplay to our Caleb Hammond. He says original Scream director Wes Craven imparted this advice: “Everybody should look guilty. So don’t worry about someone looking too guilty or not. You don’t want to try and convince people that this character is innocent. You want to convince them they’re guilty.”
The Disaster Artist: Roland Emmerich, whose humanity-in-crisis action movies include Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, confesses in this interview with Micah Khan that he’s not actually that into shooting action scenes. He also explains how his films, including the new Moonfall, are built on very, very simple ideas.
What’s the Very, Very Simple Idea Behind Moonfall? The moon isn’t what we think it is. That turns out to be very bad for Earth, and two astronauts (Halle Barry and Patrick Wilson) have to work with a conspiracy theorist (John Bradley) to save us all. In other words, I am going to see this movie. It opens tonight.
Pam and Tommy: Speaking of The Disaster Artist, The missus and I watched the first episode on Hulu last night and it’s as good as I hoped it would be. Sebastian Stan has a very good take on how excessive and capricious Tommy Lee must have appeared to a contractor (Disaster Artist star Seth Rogen) tasked with building him a bedroom.
The Pam Anderson Factor: While Stan says that Tommy Lee spoke to him about his portrayal (“He seemed touched and appreciative that I took the time to even reach out and connect,” Stan told Variety), two of the other people prominently portrayed in the series did not take part: Pamela Anderson and Rogen’s character, Rand Gauthier. Gauthier is presented surprisingly sympathetically in the first episode, given that he is accused of stealing a very private tape from a couple who didn’t consent to its release. But Vanity Fair, among others, wonders if Pam and Tommy is exploiting Lee against her will all over again. Anderson could come forward any day to comment on the show, and if she denounces it, Hulu and everyone involved in the film will be in a very tough position.
Sympathy: Executive producer D.V. DeVincentis has made it clear that the show is very pro-Anderson. “With Pamela Anderson, what I always come back to is that [she and Lee] were doing the exact same thing. And filmed doing the exact same thing together. And one of them was slut-shamed and virtually drummed out of the business and turned into an unserious person. The other was given a new act and turned into this sex god. And the only difference between these two people [was] their gender. That’s it,” he told Variety.
So… Was Tommy Lee’s Solo Music Good? If you’re like me, you wondered about this for the first time while watching Pam and Tommy. (We see Tommy rehearsing with some non-Mötley Crüe collaborators.) I looked around, and didn’t know until now that Tommy Lee did a big meta commentary on the whole sex-tape scandal in the video you are about to see. It’s very Nu Metal, the worst genre there is, but it’s a lot better than I expected, honestly. Click below to bear witness:
Spike Lee and Colin Kaepernick: The director will work with the former NFL quarterback on an ESPN docuseries about Kaepernick’s life and activism, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence inspired many to emulate him, and raised awareness of racial discrimination in policing. But it also brought accusations that he was [person writing this rolls eyes] politicizing sports and [rolls eyes more emphatically while making offensive “jerk off” gesture] disrespecting America.
The Realest Wrestler: The new Slamdance doc New Jack looks at the life of Jerome Young, aka New Jack, who didn’t get the memo that wrestling is supposed to be fake. To be more precise, he got the memo, set it on fire, threw it in the trash, watched the flames dance hypnotically to the curtains, and walked away cackling as the whole estate exploded behind him like something out of a Roland Emmerich movie. His most famous moves include the famous “stabbing opponents with razors without telling them in advance” and “dropping them 20 feet after they beg him not to.” Moves you just can’t fake.
Toto, I Have a Feeling We’re Not in Kansas Anymore: Here are the terrific opening 5 minutes of Moonfall.
Main image: Sebastian Stan and Lily Taylor as Pam and Tommy in Pam and Tommy.
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