brian lehrer Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Panelists:

Lloyd Levin, Producer of United 93
David Alan Basche: stars in United 93 as Todd Beamer
Ann Hoog: Library of Congress, curator of "September 11 Documentary Project".
Paula Berry: Lost husband in WTC, on advisory council of Lower Manhattan Development Corporation

Moderator:
Brian Lehrer, morning anchor on NPR's NYC affiliate, WNYC

Though ostensibly about the role of art in response to the events of September 11, this panel essentially functioned like an expanded press conference for Paul Greengrass' United 93. Lehrer, who is usually nothing if not a muscular journalist, did his best to stir up a discussion, but those involved with the film brilliantly deflected each attempt to steer the talk off a "go see United 93" course. Still, there were some strong moments – particularly when Lehrer pressed producer Levin on what Lehrer feels are aspects of the film that "really ripp[ed] the government, and when Levin admitted that some of the marketing on the film (including its first trailer) may have been misguided. My notes follow; I couldn't type fast enough to quote word-for-word, but it's pretty accurate.

Brian Lehrer: When we first heard in the media about this film coming out, it generated immediate negative responses from the callers to my show. We've heard a lot about this "too soon" thing ... and of course there was that whole thing that happened with the trailer on the Upper East Side. ... But when I talked [on the radio] about the consultation that went on with family members ... I think it's very interesting, people's gut, first reaction, and then gradual reaction ... when they hear some of the facts, some of the context.

Lloyd Levin: I worked with Paul Greengrass, from the inception of his idea to make the film, all the way through the making of the film ,and the completion of the film, as well as on the marketing. Not as a financier.

Lehrer: Talk about the contact with family members ... because I gather there's going to be some skepticism about a Hollywood studio making a film like this ... when obviously a studio is not going to do it out of the goodness of their heart.

WNYC's Brian Lehrer did a segment this morning with Joshua Horowitz, author of the new book, The Mind of the Modern Moviemaker: Twenty Conversations with the New Generation of Filmmakers, and Kerry Conran, creator of that strange hybrid of painterly geekery and celebrity charity, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It's a good piece of radio, but Horowitz' book is an odd bag, comprised as it is with interviews with both card-carrying hipster aesthetes like Michel Gondry, and dude-movie heroes like Todd "Old School" Phillips. To many of us, a lot of the guys that Horowitz singles out for investigation are unremarkable hacks; to Horowitz, they're a new crop of auteurs, stamping a generation-specific brand of irony and self-referentiality and digital savvy on classical filmmaking.

I'm sure he's probably right, but I'm not sure this is cause for celebration. The segment reminded me of a coversation I had last week about the state of the jump cut, and other technical tactics that filmmakers employ to remind you that you're watching a film. The person I was speaking with praised a certain filmmaker's use of such tactics as "Godardian". In response, I said something along the lines of, "I think if Godard was dead, one would hope that the post-digital flurry of self-referentiality would have him rolling in his grave." (As it is, the old New Wave master seems to be too far afield of relevancy to cause much of a fuss about anything). 

The running theme of Horowitz's argument seems to be that it's easier now, for people who want to badly enough, to make films: Conran spends years developing virtual sets on his home computer and eventually finds himself directing Gwyneth Paltrow in front of a blue screen; Kevin Smith maxes out his credit card, feeds his friends lines about blow jobs and Yoda, and we get Clerks. Which all reminds me of a line from a little dino-film by Steven Speilberg, who probably deserves as much credit for the filmmaking foibles of this new generation as anyone: "You spent so much time worrying about whether you could do it, you didn't stop to think if you should."

Later today, you'll be able to listen to the interview here.