TonyKaye Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When looking to cast a hard-drinking womanizer of the 1920s, the first name that springs to mind probably isn't Dustin Hoffman. Nevertheless, the NY Post reports he wants to take a walk on the naughty side and play Maynard Nottage in a proposed biopic.

Nottage was a PR pioneer in the silent film era, helping to create the all-consuming celebrity culture we live in today. The next time you pick up a People Magazine, say a little prayer of thanks to Nottage -- or curse him, depending on how you feel about Brangelina. He lived a pretty wild life himself, touring with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and enjoying the booze and the babes he encountered along the way. His partying ways caused him to fall out of favor in the moralistic Prohibition era, and he died, a Hollywood outcast, in 1965.

But as if that's not movie-worthy enough, there's more! Nottage's life was largely forgotten until he became the focus of Mark Borkowski's biography, The Fame Formula. Borkowski was given access to Nottage's private papers by his surviving heirs. But the London Times did a little digging, and claims Nottage may not have even existed. They cited the U.S. Census of 1920, and the archives of the L.A. Times as having no record of his existence. Borkowski and Nottage's decendants have angrily denied the allegations, offering proof from his personal papers. (The fact that you have descendants means nothing, apparently.) If a movie gets made, expect this part of the plot to thicken.

"Honestly, if you had to have an orgasm in front of a room full of random strangers you've never met and screamed really really loud at the top of your lungs, you'd probably cry. " -- Elizabeth Banks

I'm not entirely sure what is going on in this video, but I'm oddly attracted to it. Apparently, the controversial (and hard-to-handle) Tony Kaye (American History X) directed this short experimental film for Mean Magazine starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks called This Is Not Sex. And what we're looking at is an assortment of scenes connected through famous quotes about sex in which both Banks and Rogen do some pretty strange things -- like, say, have an orgasm while working a hula hoop ... or, um, wear a noose and hang themselves. Yeah. Exactly.

Here's the description from the site: "Sex sells. Sex kills. Sex thrills. This Is Not Sex pays homage to the subject of the upcoming Kevin Smith flick, Zack and Miri Make A Porno, whilst taking you through a ride of sexual misperception through the lens of director Tony Kaye." So there ya go. Zack and Miri Make a Porno hits theaters October 31.

I've included the video after the jump since I feel like it might be somewhat not safe for work. Enjoy?

After serving ten years in director's jail for declaring war on New Line Cinema over final cut of his debut film, American History X, Tony Kaye has been released for good behavior and gone back to his favorite subject: American extremism. His new documentary, Lake of Fire, is ostensibly a balanced look at the abortion debate in America, and two sides are certainly represented, but when you have Noam Chomsky in one corner and a snake-handling, chromosome-missing, relative-of-Leatherface type in the other corner, is that really a fair framing of the debate? Perhaps you think so, but either way, Kaye's film places such an overwhelming emphasis on abortion-clinic shooters, beady-eyed Biblical literalists and other non-negotiable types that his film ultimately comes across as pro-choice even if it's not intended to. In a film that lasts 150 minutes, there are perhaps five minutes devoted to exploring the position of, say, pro-life liberal Nat Hentoff, who lays out what I would consider a perfectly defensible argument for his beliefs. Couldn't we have had more of that?

Even though the film doesn't present the best possible argument for both sides in the debate, it also can't be denied that Kaye's natural strengths as a filmmaker -- his uncompromising eye and willingness to shock the audience -- are at full-tilt in this film. Specifically, he doesn't shy away even one iota from showing us exactly what an abortion is, what it costs everyone involved, and what is left behind after it's over. In what may be some of the most gruesome footage ever contained in a theatrically-released film, and boy am I not kidding, Kaye takes his small crew inside of abortion clinics and then points his camera (and our faces) directly into the medical waste that remains when an abortion is completed: fully-formed and dismembered hands, feet, heads, torsos, eyeballs, and all the rest of it. If you go in to see this film, know in advance that you'll have to see something that, whatever you choose to call it, is indistinguishable from a small baby cut up into pieces and floating in a pan of liquid gore.

New Orleans is filling up with cast members for Black Water Transit and the latest one to be added is Aisha Tyler. The list already includes Laurence Fishburne, Stephen Dorff and American Dreams star Brittany Snow, and no longer includes Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, who were attached and then dropped out. There's a limited amount of information available on the plot but the story is known to take place in post-Katrina New Orleans and revolves around a man -- maybe Fishburne? -- who is on a crusade to release his drug-addicted son from jail. IMDB describes the film as being about the convergence of law enforcement, criminals and lawyers over an illegal shipment of weapons into America as one man tries to find a safe harbor for his family's illegal firearms.

So in other words, it's about the relationships between cops and criminals. Black Water Transit is written and directed by Tony Kaye who gave us American History X -- thank you for that, Mr. Kaye. As for Aisha Tyler, I have to confess that I'm amazed by her work. I always found her to be terribly annoying as the Talk Soup host, but she's gone about building up an impressive resume since then. Also, we know that she will be playing a police detective, à la her roles in CSI and 24.

If you're not at all familiar with Tony Kaye, then I suggest reading this new Telegraph interview with the infamous artist/filmmaker/lunatic. In it, they explore Kaye's entire career -- from growing up in an Orthodox Jewish home aspiring to be a painter to suing New Line for $275 million after they wouldn't allow him to credit himself as Humpty Dumpty on the final version of American History X, the man has pulled more elaborate stunts than ... screw it; no one has pulled more maniacal stunts than this man. Some might consider the man a genius (he's won a whopping 23 design and art direction awards throughout his career), but his wild temper and nonsensical actions once brought him to a point where no one in their right mind wanted to work with him.

For example, when New Line wanted to make changes to Kaye's first cut of American History X, the director proclaimed, "I'm fully aware that I'm a first-time director, but I need the same autonomy and respect that Stanley Kubrick gets." And that was him being nice. From there, he spent $100,000 of his own money taking out advertisements in the trades denouncing Edward Norton and the producer, he would show up to studio meetings with a Priest, a Rabbi and a Tibetan monk, and was so upset about the eventual 18 minutes of footage that was added in, he hasn't watched the finished film in 10 years. But that's just the short version; how in the world they found a way to get a great film out of this experience is beyond me, but reading about it is almost as much fun as watching it. The best part is that Kaye is finishing up a documentary about the whole experience called Humpty Dumpty, and guess who's distributing it? Yup, New Line.

But after spending 10 years in Hollywood prison, Kaye is currently prepping his first narrative feature since AHX, Black Water Transit. This time he's older, wiser -- and hopefully he's learned his lesson. Humpty Dumpty is set to get a small theatrical release, and then New Line will put it on the 10th anniversary DVD re-release of American History X next year -- a DVD I will purchase, even though I already own an older copy. Kaye's abortion documentary, Lake of Fire, finally premiered last year at Toronto after the director had been working on it for years. ThinkFilm will distribute later this year. What's your favorite Tony Kaye story?

The man who rose to the head of Universal at the age of 26 (in the 70's), and is rumored to be the inspiration for The Player, Thom Mount, is getting back into the production business. He had disappeared from the scene after 1997's Night Falls on Manhattan, but has been sliding back into the role as producer on Are We Done Yet? and the upcoming Bathory and A West Texas Children's Story. Now he's borrowed a nice $75 million chunk from a bank in Ireland to start a new production company -- Reliant Pictures. (I assume that the Irish weren't as concerned about his fraud and hoodwinking reputation.)

With a plan to produce six $10 - $15 million features over the next three years, he's gearing up for the shingle's first film, an action/thriller called Penitentiary, which MGM has already signed on to distribute. The script, which has been penned by Carl Lund, will begin production this summer in New Mexico, so maybe at some point we'll get word on what the film is actually about. Tony Kaye, not the Yes pianist but the director of American History X, is in talks to direct it. It seems suitable that the guy who has his own hamper of dirty laundry would look to the man who hasn't had a smooth go of things. With X, he wanted his name off the script after Edward Norton re-edited the film, and a few other features also fell to his...differences. Now, however, things are gearing up for him, as he has three films on the pike, and I imagine that his involvement with Mount will depend on how it fits into his rapidly-filling schedule. Is this a marriage made in heaven, or one hell of a mess waiting to happen? I'm sure that we'll find out either way. Nothing is free from the internet these days.

After what could be called a self-imposed studio feature film hiatus, controversial director Tony Kaye seems poised to finally return to more mainstream filmmaking. According to Production Weekly, Kaye is currently negotiating to take over directing duties on the Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson starrer Black Water Transit. The film, adapted from the Carsten Stroud novel by Live Free or Die Hard scribe Doug Richardson, was to be directed by Samuel Bayer but "creative differences" caused Bayer to leave the project and the offer went out to Kaye.

This film marks the first re-teaming of Willis and Jackson since the third Die Hard film and tells the story of successful businessman Jack Vermilion (Jackson) who is trying to help his son after he is arrested on drug trafficking and armed robbery charges. In his desperation, Vermilion makes a deal with the feds to trade them something in exchange for leniency for his son. He hatches a desperate plan to ensnare Earl Pike, a hard-nosed soldier with CIA ties (Willis) and get him to commit a crime and be arrested by the feds . Unfortunately, his plan backfires leaving several people dead, Vermilion wanted for murder and Pike out for revenge.

The film sounds interesting and its good to see Kaye getting another chance at a studio film. Kaye, whatever his perceived difficulties, is probably no more difficult than any other creatively driven director or actor in Hollywood. His problems during and after American History X and with Ed Norton more than likely sprung from a desire to make the best film possible and not from being "difficult" just for the heck of it. It wouldn't be the first time directors and stars clashed over "creative differences." Shooting is expected to start in April on location in New Orleans.

It's been almost ten years since Tony Kaye's American History X debuted. Okay -- it's been exactly eight years last week, but it's been close enough to ten for the director to be prepping for a 10th Anniversary DVD. In order for everything to run smoothly with the special edition release, he's patched up things with New Line, the studio he fought with over the final cut of History, which was his first feature. In these eight years since that film's release, Kaye has not been able to put out another feature -- possibly because of his reputation following the New Line battle. However it's not as if Kaye was idle during that time-- and has been screening his newest project, a documentary about abortion titled Lake of Fire. The doc premiered in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it was reportedly well-praised, but Kaye's still trying to find distribution for it. It is unclear whether distributors are apprehensive in dealing with Kaye out of fear that he will put them through a similar battle as he had with New Line. Since Kaye claims to have spent 16 years and upwards of $8 million on the film, it would be a shame if no company bites with a substantial deal, especially since Kaye's announced that he does not need to make anymore changes to it, even though he kinda wants to.

In addition to shopping Lake of Fire, Kaye is keeping very busy and with many projects for the future. Aside from his success directing commercials and music videos (including the new Johnny Cash video for "God's Gonna Cut You Down"), he's apparently doing well as a director-for-hire and is currently working on special assignments for Johnson and Johnson and the United Arab Emirates. For his next fictional feature, he will be concentrating on a script by Robert McKee titled Madness (this would ironically be the first feature film written by McKee, who is famous for his books and seminars on the craft of screenwriting -- he is the guy portrayed by Brian Cox in Adaptation), which focuses on a doctor with a cure for schizophrenia who marries a former patient.