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Recent Headlines
a la Mod:

Domino is
a "disarmingly
straight-forward"
work that "pushes
us to reexamine our
relationship to images
and their consumption,
not only ethically
but metaphysically"
-Collin Brinkman

De Palma on Domino
"It was not recut.
I was not involved
in the ADR, the
musical recording
sessions, the final
mix or the color
timing of the
final print."

Listen to
Donaggio's full score
for Domino online

De Palma/Lehman
rapport at work
in Snakes

De Palma/Lehman
next novel is Terry

De Palma developing
Catch And Kill,
"a horror movie
based on real things
that have happened
in the news"

Supercut video
of De Palma's films
edited by Carl Rodrigue

Washington Post
review of Keesey book

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Exclusive Passion
Interviews:

Brian De Palma
Karoline Herfurth
Leila Rozario

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AV Club Review
of Dumas book

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« March 2018 »
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Interviews...

De Palma interviewed
in Paris 2002

De Palma discusses
The Black Dahlia 2006


Enthusiasms...

De Palma Community

The Virtuoso
of the 7th Art

The De Palma Touch

The Swan Archives

Carrie...A Fan's Site

Phantompalooza

No Harm In Charm

Paul Schrader

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The Master Of Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock Films

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a la Mod

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a la Mod

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and the Infield
Fly Rule

Movie Mags

Directorama

The Filmmaker Who
Came In From The Cold

Jim Emerson on
Greetings & Hi, Mom!

Scarface: Make Way
For The Bad Guy

The Big Dive
(Blow Out)

Carrie: The Movie

Deborah Shelton
Official Web Site

The Phantom Project

Welcome to the
Offices of Death Records

The Carlito's Way
Fan Page

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Kubrick on the
Guillotine

FilmLand Empire

Astigmia Cinema

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Cultural Weekly

A Lonely Place

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italkyoubored

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Not Just Movies

Hope Lies at
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EatSleepLiveFilm

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De Palma a la Mod
site

Entries by Topic
A note about topics: Some blog posts have more than one topic, in which case only one main topic can be chosen to represent that post. This means that some topics may have been discussed in posts labeled otherwise. For instance, a post that discusses both The Boston Stranglers and The Demolished Man may only be labeled one or the other. Please keep this in mind as you navigate this list.
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Ambrose Chapel
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Thursday, March 8, 2018
LITHGOW ON STAGE WITH FORMER DE PALMA STUDENT
BRADLEY BATTERSBY WORKED ON 'HOME MOVIES', NOW HEAD OF FILM DEPT AT RINGLING
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/lithgowringling.jpgJohn Lithgow spoke on stage the other day at Ringling College in Sarasota, Florida. The moderator was Bradley Battersby, the head of Ringling's film department who got his start as a student of Brian De Palma's when the director taught a class at Sarah Lawrence by making Home Movies with students there in 1979, with stars like Kirk Douglas, Vincent Gardenia, and several De Palma house regulars. Battersby went on to work with fellow students on films such as The First Time before directing the noir Blue Desert (1991, starring Courteney Cox), followed by several more pictures, including The Joyriders (1999), which starred Martin Landau and Kris Kristofferson (and also featured Elisabeth Moss). The Herald Tribune posted an article with a video featuring some highlights from the on stage discussion-- here's a brief bit centered around De Palma:
Bradley Battersby: I was telling John that it was Brian De Palma who really influenced me in creating this program the way it developed. In that, you know, you put the young people with veterans-- the pros-- from the industry, and it just, it can take off, and be such a win-win for both parties. Because I think Brian got a lot out of it, stayed in touch with everybody for a long long time. So, pretty interesting. He gave you a number of roles, didn't he?

John Lithgow: Yeah, in three Brian films. Obsession, Blow Out, and Raising Cain. For some reason, he loved the idea of me, this sort of bland, benign WASP, ending up the villain of the piece... [laughter] ... the sadistic killer.


Posted by Geoff at 8:06 AM CST
Updated: Thursday, March 8, 2018 8:08 AM CST
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Tuesday, March 6, 2018
CAPONE MAKES CAMEO IN MAMET'S 'CHICAGO'
NEW NOVEL TAKES PLACE IN PROHIBITION-ERA CHICAGO OF 1920s
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/mametchicago.jpgDavid Mamet's new novel, Chicago, takes place in the prohibition-era Chicago of the 1920s, and, according to Ron Charles' review in the Washington Post, includes a cameo by Al Capone:
Although the characters in David Mamet’s new novel, “Chicago,” never sound like real people, they always sound like David Mamet people, which is a strange indication of his success. We would recognize these guys in a dark alley, not from any actual experience in dark alleys but from “Speed-the-Plow,” “American Buffalo” and “Glengarry Glen Ross,” plays that have explored 86-proof masculinity for decades.

In “Chicago,” Mamet returns once again to the city where he was raised and where he started to work in theater. The novel also marks a return to the Prohibition era of “The Untouchables” (1987), Brian De Palma’s gangster film for which Mamet wrote the screenplay. But what’s striking is how little difference the time makes. Past or present, Mamet’s men must always contend with the rapidly changing currents of the day. The moment you hear Mamet working in 1920s Chicago, it’s obvious that this bullet-ridden era fits him as comfortably as a newsboy cap. Yet he’s often felt like an on-the-money writer, catching the zeitgeist even before the cigarette smoke clears the room. Remember that “Oleanna,” his deeply unsettling play about sexual harassment, opened just months after Clarence Thomas joined the Supreme Court. And now, while releasing this novel set 90 years ago, he’s working on a script about recently disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Chicago” is not overly inconvenienced by the actual history of the 1920s. “Received chronology,” Mamet notes at the opening, “has been jostled into a better understanding of its dramatic responsibilities.” (Leave it to Mamet to be more responsible than God.) But if this isn’t the exact history of Chicago, it’s still the city you think you know. Italian and Irish gangsters rule competing halves of the town. Al Capone makes a cameo. With alcohol illegal and ubiquitous, the city government is an institution of organized influence peddling. Every crime scene is picked over by sticky-fingered policemen shopping for their wives and girlfriends.


Posted by Geoff at 11:44 PM CST
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Monday, March 5, 2018
MONDAY NIGHT TWEETS - HMM?? 'THE BACHELOR'??
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/bachelor1.jpg



Posted by Geoff at 10:25 PM CST
Updated: Tuesday, March 6, 2018 8:10 PM CST
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Sunday, March 4, 2018
RED CARPET - PEELE TELLS ABC-TV HIS INSPIRATIONS
SPIKE LEE, SPIELBERG, CARPENTER, KUBRICK, DE PALMA
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/peeleoscars.jpgJordan Peele was interviewed on ABC-TV's live pre-Oscar red carpet show tonight, where the hosts asked him about his inspirations for Get Out. Peele responded by echoing what he said on stage yesterday when Spike Lee presented him with the best director award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. "Getting this award from Spike is crazy — let's make no mistake, I would not be standing here if it wasn't for this man," Peele said as he looked back toward Lee, who had mentioned that Get Out is a "masterpiece." Tonight on the red carpet, after talking about Lee, Peele added a few more directors' names as inspirations for Get Out: Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stanley Kubrick, and Brian De Palma.

 

Previously:

Jordan Peele: “I want to do what Hitchcock did, what Spielberg did, what Brian De Palma did — dark tales.”

Posted by Geoff at 6:59 PM CST
Updated: Sunday, March 4, 2018 7:18 PM CST
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Wednesday, February 28, 2018
VIDEO - 'CARRIE - HOW TO CREATE TENSION'
THINK STORY VIDEO EXAMINES PROM SEQUENCE TENSION & SUSPENSE
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/dollyingtommyandcarrie.jpg

A new video posted by Think Story yesterday on its YouTube channel examines how Brian De Palma and screenwriter Lawrence D Cohen build tension within (and building up to) the prom sequence of Carrie. Breaking the sequence into three segments (Heaven, Purgatory, Hell), the video pays close attention to the characters, as well as other details in the film, and how they all build toward the tension at the heart of it.

Posted by Geoff at 11:42 PM CST
Updated: Thursday, March 15, 2018 11:32 PM CDT
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Tuesday, February 27, 2018
FUQUA CIRCLES BACK TO 'SCARFACE' REMAKE
AYER'S NAME STILL ON SCREENPLAY, LUNA UNCERTAIN TO STAR, NO DATE FOR RELEASE
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/fuquaagain.jpgDeadline's Mike Fleming Jr reported last night that Antoine Fuqua is now back in talks to direct Universal's planned remake of Scarface. The film, previously slated for release on August 10, 2018, stalled last summer when David Ayer exited the project. Fleming states that "the most recent script is by David Ayer, Jonathan Herman and Joel and Ethan Coen." Fleming also reports that Diego Luna is now uncertain to star in the picture due to potential scheduling conflicts with the changing production timeline. In his article, Fleming talks up Fuqua as director of this new version:
Looking at his films from Training Day to Equalizer and The Magnificent Seven, Fuqua seems a strong match for the visceral immigrant gangster storyline that was central to both the 1932 and 1983 film versions. The latter was directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone and starred Al Pacino. Paul Muni starred in the earlier version.

Fuqua will be ready after completing post on the Equalizer sequel with Denzel Washington. He has remained intrigued with reviving the original. In an interview with Deadline when he helmed The Magnificent Seven, Fuqua explained the appeal of the violence and excess of the criminal underworld that has informed both previous films.

“There are stories about that world that you couldn’t make up,” he said. “Pablo Escobar had animals from Africa and they still don’t know how he got them. Right now they’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with the growing population of what they call cocaine hippos. It’s crazy. Their lives are so over the top, El Chapo and the rest of those guys.

“But how do you make him the icon of icons? Because we have a high bar for movie icons with Al Pacino’s Tony Montana and Michael Corleone. I took Denzel into that world as a cop in Training Day, and that was a world that I know probably way too much about. I know where to go with this. I have met a lot of these cartel dudes and understand their mentality, and this f*cked up version of Robin Hood. I saw it with guys I grew up with. It starts with, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to feed my family. Then it turned into, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do to survive. Then it turned into, I want it all. Your moral compass gets lost in the darkness and excess.”


Previously:

David Ayer drops out of Scarface remake

David Ayer in talks for Scarface remake
Coen Brothers will rewrite Scarface script
Fuqua drops out of Scarface remake; Diego Luna will play lead
Terence Winter to tackle Scarface script
The Scarface remake just got a lot less interesting
Scarface remake is Larraín's dream project
The Scarface remake just got a lot more interesting


Posted by Geoff at 1:15 AM CST
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Wednesday, February 21, 2018
TWEET - WES ANDERSON THANKS BRIAN DE PALMA
IN THE END CREDITS OF 'ISLE OF DOGS'
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/tweetisleofdogs.jpg

Posted by Geoff at 8:17 AM CST
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TWEET - DE PALMA STORYBOARD DRAWINGS FOR 'DTK'
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/tweetadorable.jpg

Posted by Geoff at 8:11 AM CST
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Tuesday, February 20, 2018
'PHANTOM' #49 ON GREATEST ROCK MOVIES LIST
THAT'S WAY TOO LOW, OF COURSE
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/phantom49.jpgLast week, Consequence Of Sound posted its list of "The 50 Greatest Rock and Roll Movies of All Time." Phantom Of The Paradise made the list at number 49 (Edgar Wright's Baby Driver is number 50). "Phantom of the Paradise is Brian De Palma’s most whimsical and traditionally funny film," states CoS' Mike Vanderbilt in the film's entry blurb. "Good rock and roll has a sense of humor amid the cynicism and melodrama of the music. Phantom sardonically skewers the music industry, turning a record contract into a Faustian deal with the devil. Paul Williams brilliantly plays against type as the evil Swan and provides a wonderfully bizarre collection of tunes for the soundtrack, featuring faux ‘50s nostalgia with “Goodbye, Eddie, Goodbye”, the Linda Ronstadt-style country-tinged pop of “Special to Me”, the glammy “Life at Last”, and the gloriously cynical closer, “The Hell of It”.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show makes the list at number 4.

Posted by Geoff at 12:21 AM CST
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Sunday, February 18, 2018
TWEET - ANDREW SARRIS SEES 'THE FURY' IN 1978
QUOTED FROM 'VILLAGE VOICE'
https://www.angelfire.com/de/palma/tweetclosemindfury.jpg

Posted by Geoff at 10:56 PM CST
Updated: Sunday, February 18, 2018 11:00 PM CST
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