What happened to Julia Ormond?

Between 1994 and 1995, actress Julia Ormond starred in three pictures about a woman caught in a fervent love triangle. In Legends of the Fall she was torn between Brad Pitt and Henry Thomas. In First Knight she was forced to choose between Sean Connery and Richard Gere. In Sydney Pollack’s remake of Sabrina, she fell in love with Harrison Ford and Greg Kinnear. Ormond seemed destined to become the next Audrey Hepburn. Then, after following these extremely successful films with a tedious thriller, Smilla’s Sense of Snow, Ormond vanished from the public eye. She starred in several TV movies (one of which is about a gang that “turns to witchcraft to handle its criminal enterprises”) and recently made a cameo appearance in  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But for many years now I’ve been wondering, what happened? How could such a stunningly graceful and talented actress go from Brad Pitt, Sean Connery and Harrison Ford to forgettable TV movies?

What are you waiting for?

For the longest time I was held back from making films because I believed I didn’t have the “right camera” or the “proper equipment.” Well, I now refuse to be stuck in that limited mindset. I think this is the secret to becoming a good filmmaker: 1) make as many awful movies as you can and 2) learn from them. If you want to be a screenwriter, 1) write as many awful screenplays as you can and 2) learn from them. If you wait for the “perfect script” or until the “right time,” you’ll end up with nothing but regrets.

Mistakes and setbacks are inevitable. It’s a struggle, no doubt about it. But that is how we get better at what we do, and that is how the story goes: we struggle, we work hard, we succeed. Take the “work hard” part out and you get nothing but struggle.

If you’re passionate about making movies — and I mean really in love with the art, the craft, the utter torture it inflicts on your creative soul — get out there and shoot something. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the lowest grade DV camera, or an old crappy 2001 Sony 3CCD camera like mine. Steven Spielberg never would have become the man he is today if he had said, “I don’t have the right camera. Well, I guess I have to wait until I get one.”

Stanley Kubrick was on to something when he said that young filmmakers should grab a camera and just “make a movie of any kind at all.” I’m certain that’s precisely how he became one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the world.

The possibilities are within us, not somewhere out there in some intangible form. I know there are others out there like myself who need a little push sometimes. So here’s your push. I’m looking forward to seeing your name up on the screen.

Evolution of film editing

A recent story from Variety.com explains how film editing has evolved, thanks to digital technology:

For example, in a back-and-forth office scene between Tom Wilkinson and Tom Cruise from “Valyrie,” Wilkinson’s hand was all over the place — waving a cigarette in the air, on the desk, out of frame entirely. Rather than cutting around it, Ottman simply asked the vfx team to erase the offending arm and superimpose it on the desk, lifting the replacement limb from another shot. “It completely frees the editor to use a take where the performance is terrific but it would have been dumped because of an egregious continuity problem,” he says.

Timing is another consideration. In the past, if editors wanted to tighten a dialogue scene, they could remove pauses or entire lines by cutting between the two characters. Now, they can do it within the shot itself — a technique David Fincher’s editing duo, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, perfected on “Zodiac.” The film was running long, but it had been shot on digital. “There’s no film scanning, so to split a performance for the right side of the frame against a performance on the left side is a very easy and practical thing to do,” Baxter says.

Who is the next Spielberg? (Pt. 2)

 

J.J. Abrams

The producer of Lost, Fringe and Alias packs his stories with so many delicious twists and turns he makes M. Night Shyamalan look like an amateur. Abrams directed Mission: Impossible III, and though the movie isn’t exactly Raiders of the Lost Ark, it’s a solid demonstration of pure, unadulterated storytelling. He also produced Cloverfield, the inventive monster pic that could have easily been conjured up by Spielberg himself. Even his TV college drama Felicity, which catapulted young actress Keri Russell into stardom, was an innovative and unpredictable creation. What Abrams shares with Spielberg, besides an obvious passion for science fiction, is a penchant for sentimentality; but unlike the director of The Color Purple, he doesn’t try to force us into tears. And, like Spielberg, Abrams’ most dominant themes are about family — though not always in the literal sense; the castaways in Lost form a familial bond tighter than their relationships with their own blood. In May, Abrams will unveil his revisionist Star Trek, a reboot of a dying franchise that, if successful, could certify him as the next Steven Spielberg.

Runners-up:

Peter Jackson

You could argue that Jackson, 47, is too old to be the next Spielberg, 62, but the director was just 14 years old when Jaws was released in 1977. He’s no doubt the most powerful of the three listed here, as well as the most “Spielbergian.” In fact, the guy is collaborating with Spielberg himself, on a big screen adaptation of the comic strip character Tin Tin.

Brad Bird

The director of Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille seems to have storytelling built into his genes. The guy can do no wrong. His films are universal, intricately crafted and surprisingly deep. His next film is 1906, about the great San Francisco earthquake, based on a novel by James Dalessandro.

Who is the next Spielberg?

In 2002, a Newsweek magazine cover story declared M. Night Shyamalan “the next Steven Spielberg.” The director of The Sixth Sense had just released his fifth feature film, Signs, a sci-fi thriller starring Mel Gibson about close encounters of the third kind. Shyamalan was “proving himself to be our next great storyteller,” the article’s author, Jeff Giles, thunderously proclaimed. Now, seven years later, after a string of colossal failures — The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening — it seems unlikely the lover of supernatural twists and turns was ever destined to become the next anything.

So who is the next Steven Spielberg? There are, I believe, three possible contenders. I’ll reveal them in a follow-up post. But first, your thoughts?

Meeting Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a quiet, self-effacing man whose intelligence can be discerned through his wise, gentle eyes. In the summer of 2003, I met the enormously gifted director of Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, when I was a production assistant on the set of Hulk, Ang’s risky foray into the comic book film genre. This is a man who is able to control his set with few words (it was the A.D. who did most of the screaming), and was clearly respected by everyone on the production.

The first time I spoke with him was right after a day’s shoot had been completed. I approached him, my heart pounding with nervousness, my mind filled with incoherent thoughts, and I’m not sure exactly what I said to him first, but I remember asking for his advice on how to break into the film business.

“Write a good script,” he said. “That’s the best way. Keep writing.”

I nodded, shook his hand, and thanked him.

I’m sure we exchanged more words than that, but that’s what I remember most. I was overjoyed, a giddy schoolboy who had just met one of his heroes. I have a black and white photo of him with the director of photography, Fred Elmes, that I took, sitting on my desk. The second time I approached Ang I asked him if I could take a picture with him, which of course he said yes.

It was surreal, being in the same space with one of the most talented film directors in Hollywood — and, like me, he’s Asian American. Meeting Ang Lee was a reminder that we all have the capacity to fulfill our dreams and live the life we desire.

Welcome to L.A.

Long before I moved to Los Angeles, while I was a film student in San Francisco, I was told that the city was a breeding ground for superficiality. People in L.A., they said, were shallow creatures concerned about nothing except for breaking into showbusiness. How ironic, I thought, that the City of Angels was filled with self-absorbed demons. Still, after graduating from the Academy of Art College, I packed up all my stuff and moved to the alleged hellhole.

They couldn’t have been more wrong … and right. L.A. is far from the heartless town people say it is. I’ve met some of my best friends here. Yet there’s an underlying sense of selfishness that I haven’t felt anywhere else (well, besides film school). It’s only natural, of course. This is, after all, a city populated by many wanna-be actors, aspiring screenwriters, and struggling film directors. No one moves to L.A. to be a philanthropist.

I came out here to pursue a career in — yes, showbusiness. I’m a screenwriter. Although I’m not sure if pursue is the right term. The word makes me think of a man or woman chasing after something. But how does one chase after a career? Really, you can only work at accomplishing what you want. You go to a job interview to get a job, but you don’t chase it around like a dog.

Maybe that’s why there’s so much tension in this city. Everyone seems to believe they’re in some sort of competition. The competitive nature of this business is normal, but there’s no guarantee that any of us will reach the finish line — or if the finish line even exists. My theory? It’s all in our head. There’s no race. The best we can do is work on our daily accomplishments and not worry about winning. Because, really, we succeed everyday by showing up and doing the work.

L.A. is a great place to be creative. It’d be a shame to be consumed by the vices of the weak and selfish, when there are far more important things to do in life.

Why Spielberg’s dreams work

Steven Spielberg is not only a gifted film director, he’s a phenomenal entrepreneur. During his youth, he probably never imagined he would become one of America’s most powerful figures. And it certainly didn’t happen over night. Spielberg’s storytelling skills are unquestionably innate; his business skills were developed over the years as he worked for various studios.

He learned from Universal Pictures honchos Lew Wasserman and Sid Sheinberg the art of the deal. Partnered with producer (and nascent film industry titan) George Lucas and Paramount for “Indiana Jones.” Founded Amblin Entertainment and produced numerous film and television projects. Formed a lucrative franchise, “Back to the Future,” with his former protege, Robert Zemeckis.

All of this culminated in 1994 with the creation of DreamWorks SKG, a major studio he co-founded with media moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

Recently, Spielberg’s entrepreneurial insight has become more and more evident, especially with the success of DreamWorks’ “Disturbia,” an iTunes generation thriller that, surprisingly, topped the box-office for three weekends in a row. Spielberg clearly took a risk, and it payed off more than the studio analysts could ever have anticipated.

See also his relatively new relationship with former Bruckheimer team member Michael Bay. Spielberg is executive producer of Bay’s next event flick, “Transformers.” Although “Transformers” is an instant draw for the twentysomethings who grew up watching the 80s cartoon series, producing a feature film based on it is still a risky move; kids today have never heard of it, and if you recall, Bay’s last film, “The Island” (also a DreamWorks production), was a massive flop.

What Spielberg has done with Bay is remarkable. Look at Bay’s unimpressive repertoire of films. This is the guy who gave us the “Saving Private Ryan” meets “Titantic” bomb, “Pearl Harbor,” “Bad Boys II,” and “Armageddon.” But Spielberg obviously saw some potential in Bay, and perhaps found something of a kinship with a fellow grown-up kid. I think we can safely predict that this partnership will pay off.

So, overall, a few key things to learn from Spielberg as an entrepreneur:

1) The importance of risk-taking

2) The importance of strong, lasting relationships

3) The importance of trusting your instincts