• Screengrab Q&A: James Toback

     

    By Emily Wilson

    It's been over twenty years since Mike Tyson became boxing's youngest-ever Heavyweight Champion of the World. In the decades since, his demons outnumbered his titles, and the former bruiser became better known for his addictions, ear-biting and uncontrollable temper than for his victories in the ring. Filmmaker James Toback (The Pick-up Artist, Fingers, Bugsy) aims to bring some nuance to that image with his new documentary, Tyson. And he may succeed; the film was lauded at Cannes and Sundance, with Tyson himself saying, "I'm afraid of how much money and how much pussy I'm gonna get."

    A self-styled provocateur, Toback has always been able to raise a tempest around himself and his extensive network of celebrity associates — perhaps because the line between him and his subjects, between his art and his life, has never been clear. . .

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  • Screengrab Q&A: "In A Dream"

    When he was nineteen, Jeremiah Zagar began to film his father, Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar. He continued to follow him around with a camera for seven years for what became the documentary In a Dream.

    Jeremiah set out to capture his parents' love, which is the creative force at the source of their family and their art. Then, one day, as they go to pick up Jeremiah's brother from rehab, his parents' forty-three-year relationship crumbles. Seemingly out of nowhere, Isaiah admits, on camera, that he has been having an affair with his assistant for years.

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  • Bud Cort’s Worst Breakfast Ever

    Bud Cort was in Austin recently to present a mini-festival of his films at the world-renowned Alamo Drafthouse, including one of the oddest entries on the Robert Altman filmography, Brewster McCloud, and the one movie pretty much everyone knows him from, Harold and Maude. The usual procedure with this sort of personal appearance is to do a few interviews with the local press in advance, so they can get into print in time to publicize the event. For example, this piece in the Austin Chronicle, in which Cort attributes Harold’s status as the original goth to “the costume designer on the film, Bill Theiss, who met me in New York and took me shopping. We bought this great black trench coat and then lined it in red, and there's one little scene in the film where it kind of blows open in the wind and you see, just for a second, that little line of red. It's so subtle, but it's so cool.”

    And then there’s the interview Cort did with the Austin American Statesman’s Chris Garcia on the morning of his Alamo appearance.

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  • David Fincher: Alien 3 Made Me a Belligerent Asshole

    So many filmmakers have aped David Fincher’s true-grit style since Se7en came out that it’s hard to believe that movie was released a mere twelve years ago. It certainly feels like a lot longer. I haven’t seen it yet but from what I’ve heard Zodiac is on par with Fincher’s best work. His fascination with the story of the Zodiac killer is infectious in this interview with Ain’t It Cool. It’s a good read on the whole too. Fincher talks about the painful learning experience that was making Alien 3 — “Alien 3 probably made me more of a belligerent asshole than I otherwise would have been.” — and discusses his upcoming adaptations of Brian Bendis’ graphic novel Torso and Arthur C. Clark’s Rendezvous With Rama. Shame he isn’t doing Childhood’s End. I was just thinking about how awesome a movie of that would be last week.

    What did you think of Zodiac, Screengrab readers?



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