EGO MOVES by Directors, Actors, etc.,....

This Thread is Inspired by the Malcolm X Thread & REED's Contention that Spike Lee Inserted Himself into the Flick Out of EGO More than Anything Else...Sometimes, Low Budget Directors Cast Themselves Into Roles Out of NECESSITY (Which was Likely the Case w/Lee in Earlier Films like "She's Gotta Have it" or "School Daze"), but w/Lee, it's his EGO...

He's Done 2 Flicks w/Denzel & BOTH Times he Cast Himself as Denzel's Best Friend...REED Didn't have a Problem w/Spike INSERTING Himself in the Lead Role in "Do the Right Thing", but Casting Rosie Perez as his Baby Momma????....

There's a Scene in "Do the Right Thing" where Lee has Rosie Get Undressed so he Can Rub Ice Cubes All Over her Naked Body...CLEARLY an EGO MOVE, as the Scene Really had NATHAN to Do w/the Film Itself...Had the Scene been Edited Out Altogether, it WOULDN'T have Impacted the Overall Product 1 Way or the Other...

Anyways, Think of Some Other Instances of Directors, Actors, etc., ABUSING their Influence Out of EGO...

 

Denzel Washington plays a fairly limited set of characters - either good everyman characters or complete badasses, rarely a weak or compromised character. The same can be said for several other actors but he stands out.

Clint Eastwood went through a period where he was fairly generous to himself in terms of love interest in his movies.

 

Just about every movie Quentin Tarantino has appeared in.

I love both Spike AND Quentin as directors.............for the most part, but they make themselves look like schmucks when they are getting constantly out-acted by their employees.

By the way, Quentin is way worse an actor then Spike.

Spike actually held his own in "Do The Right Thing". He probably could have gotten a better actor, but he filmed it in such a stylized format, he was able to easily fit his own personality into the atmosphere he created.

 

GREAT Point...

Even when his Characters DIE in Flicks, Denzel is the 1 in CONTROL for 9/10's of them..."Training Day" & "Malcolm X" Being Examples...The Last Time Denzel's Shown EMOTIONAL Vulnerability was probably in "Mo Better Blues", when Wesley Snipes STEALS his Girlfriend, he Gets his Ass Whipped by Some Goons & he LOSES his Abilty to Play the Trumpet...

Even in DEATH, Denzel's Always COOL these Days....



REED:kidcool:

 

Just 1nce, it'd Be Nice to HEAR a Director Say, "It's MY Shit, so I Decided to Put Myself in It"...REED's Actually Read Accounts of Spike Referring to his Own "Screen Presence", as a Reason for Casting Himself, which is a JOKE...

As for Rosie, Yes, the Exposure CATAPULTED her to Other Things, but She's Also Come Out & Said She Felt "Exploited" by Spike, Sexually...& She WAS...




REED:hammert:

 

Peter Jackson in the LOTR trilogy - Ah pick him oot in his scenes everytime and it spoils the magic for a wee while (then Ah hear Gimli's authentic scottish accent and Ah'm happy once moor).

 

Tarantino is the worst at it, he just CAN'T ACT!! I think Scorsese used to do it early in his career.

 

His part in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were nice, sweet and to the point...it wasn't like he was IN the movie for 30-45 minutes...

 

His part in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were nice, sweet and to the point...it wasn't like he was IN the movie for 30-45 minutes...


MOTHERFUCKING DATABSE ERROR...

 

her being noticed had fuck all to do with the flow of the film itself... it was a totally unnecessary scene (not that I minded seeing her half naked)

 

REED Certainly DIDN'T Mind Seeing Rosie's Nude Body Either, but that Doesn't Make Lee's Motives Any Less EGO Driven...

The Fact is, Rosie Perez WOULDN'T have Given Spike Lee the Time of Day if he WASN'T a Famous Movie Director...& Even w/that, he STILL Needed to Whip Out a Superfluous Scene, just to Get her Naked, in Bed...

Makes U Wonder How Many Other Directors CAST Females for EGO Driven Motives...

REED:hammert:

 

REED Could've Done WITHOUT the "Dead nagger Storage" Line from Tarantino, but that's his SCHTICK...



REED:boohoo:

 

Uuuuuh, Ok...



REED:scared:

 

the scene was little more than an excuse to rub ice cubes on Rosie Perez's tits...

 

"Thank God for the Left Nipple.....Thank God for the Right Nipple"...

PERTINENT Scene in "Do the Right Thing" & TREMENDOUS Acting Job on Spike's Behalf...



REED:dancingBaby:

 

It was a really sweet scene, the way he experimented on her tits with ice cubes while filming it at point blank range. That's romantic. It helped me to understand the characters so much better. Without seeing the spindly,homely
Mookie rubbing ice cubes on his unrealistically attractive girlfriend's nipples, I never would have understood her and her motivations. Without those sweet Puerto Rican titties filling my screen, I would have sat there wondering "who is this woman?" ...

 

I can honestly say, I have never methodically rubbed ice cubes on my girlfriend's various body parts in a manner similar to washing a car

The scene showed Spike Lee's internal sexual desires with regard to Miss Perez, it showed nothing of Mookie other than that he could successfully hold onto the ice cube

And Tom Cruise is a plastic man whose emotional range is about as believable as Oscar De La Hoya's

 

Look up Werner Herzog's movie "Fitzcarraldo" and it's accompanying documentary "Burden Of Dreams" sometime.

Nothing but ego's between Herzog and actor Klaus Kinski (who was quite the nutjob), and Herzog's dogged following of his vision for the film.

Herzog had a 300 ton steamship literally pulled up a steep 40 degree hill using an ancient pulley system and South American Indian labor. Re-shot the movie several times when various actors dropped out, and in a key scene let the steamship careen down a set of dangerous rapids with no safety net, with a film crew and actors on board to film the scene, several of whom were injured.

 

great documentary. loved it

 

Yeah, it's funny. I usually enjoy the documentaries about the making of Herzog's films, much more fascinating then the films themselves.

 

Spike just has a way of creepin' actors AND filmgoers out when filming sexual content.

"Girl 6" was all about sex, and it's probably his most unwatchable movie.

Spike needs to just stay away from literal sex AND period war movies. He's just not very good at either subject, unless approached in a metaphorical sense, or from a distance.

"Jungle Fever" was a really good movie, but more for how he approached the relationships around the relationship, rather then the relationship itself.

 

"Soft & Sweet"???...

Mookie was a Borderline DEADBEAT Dad (he Never 1nce Even HELD his Own Child the Entire Flick AND he Openly Bitched about his Name), w/a Baby Momma & Son he RARELY Saw...He Stopped by in the Midst of DELIVERING PIZZAS, "Loooooooooong Enough to do the NASTY", as he Eloquently Put it....

The "Chemistry" was Purely SEXUAL & it was 1-Sided...They ARGUED Prior to the Ice Cube & AFTER it...This "Relationship" Could've just as Easily Been INSINUATED than Shown, but Spike's EGO Wouldn't Allow it...



REED:hammert: