Celebrities and Politics

redsk1 · 03-26-2008, 05:41 PM

Everybody has a right to do whatever they want, however some in Hollywood can go a little overboard in their support of a candidate or political stance.

It does turn me off a little, but in the end if i think the movie is going to be a good one i'll watch. And yes, i think Tom Cruise is crazy, but he makes some good movies.

70Chip · 03-27-2008, 02:29 PM

There are two things that annoy me about political celebrities:

1. When a celebrity takes a contoversial position, they have to understand that there will be a lot of people who disagree with them. When your manager calls and tells you the World Concert Tour is now a three week bi-coastal jaunt because they can't sell tickets in Omaha, don't start pretending to be Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the Russian gulag.

2. Actors, Directors, critics, etc are always talking about each others "courage". One obvious example was the film "Philadelphia". Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington made a sympathetic portrait of an AIDS victim, became the darling of the critics, and won a wheelbarrow full of awards. And all along the way everyone kept talking about how much "courage" it took to make that film. The truth is that if you were going to sit down and try to come up with a film concept that was virtually guaranteed to win Oscar nominations, that concept would be "Philadelphia". At least in the nineties. The tastes and sensibilities of the Hollywood elite are always evolving. Sometimes they are moved by Left Wing views of public health issues and sometimes they are moved by Left Wing views of foreign policy.

Here are some film concepts that would really take courage to make in Hollywood:

1. The life story of Whittaker Chambers. This should have been done forty years ago.

2. A movie about Vietnam POWs. (Wait. This one was made. It was called "Hanoi Hilton" and came out around the same time as "Platoon". No major studio was interested. Oliver Stone, again though, was lauded for his courage."

3. An old style Biblical epic. (And by "old style" I mean no gay disciples and no Mary wondering wether she should have an abortion)

4. A movie in which a person who owns an unregistered handgun saves her family by shooting an intruder and is then persecuted by the government as though she were the criminal. The bad guys would include an overweight, drunken, and lecherous politician from an unidentified northeastern state and some wild-eyed anti-gun advocates.

5. The life story of Joe Gibbs. (Movie exec: "Can we change 'The Lord's really blessed us' to something like.. I don't know... '****ing Awesome, Dude! And instead of being a Christian, maybe he could be in to Yoga'")

6. This is really fun. Anybody else have any ideas for couragous movies?

dmek25 · 03-27-2008, 03:19 PM

to me, the word courageous, and making movies, should never be in the same sentence. courage is serving your country. courage is cleaning toilets, or some other menial job that no one in this world WANTS to do. but does it anyway, because their family has mouths to feed. courage is donating an organ, to save someones life. i could go on and on with examples, but making a movie would never even sniff my list

FRPLG · 03-27-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmek25

to me, the word courageous, and making movies, should never be in the same sentence. courage is serving your country. courage is cleaning toilets, or some other menial job that no one in this world WANTS to do. but does it anyway, because their family has mouths to feed. courage is donating an organ, to save someones life. i could go on and on with examples, but making a movie would never even sniff my list

Here here.

But it is sorta fun to think about the types of movies that would be "Hollywood courageous" to make.

- A sympathetic biopic of Dick Cheney's life

- A film adaptation of Michael Crichton's critical novel State of Fear about the environmental movement and his doubts about their truthfulness as to global warming.

- A story about a welfare mom who keeps having babies just to get more welfare money. No happy ending just the screen fading to black as she beds another crack addict in hopes of a 5th or 6th kid.

03-26-2008, 05:41 PM	#16
redsk1 The Starter Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,351	Re: Celebrities and Politics Everybody has a right to do whatever they want, however some in Hollywood can go a little overboard in their support of a candidate or political stance. It does turn me off a little, but in the end if i think the movie is going to be a good one i'll watch. And yes, i think Tom Cruise is crazy, but he makes some good movies.

03-27-2008, 02:29 PM	#17
70Chip Playmaker Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Manassas Age: 53 Posts: 3,048	Re: Celebrities and Politics There are two things that annoy me about political celebrities: 1. When a celebrity takes a contoversial position, they have to understand that there will be a lot of people who disagree with them. When your manager calls and tells you the World Concert Tour is now a three week bi-coastal jaunt because they can't sell tickets in Omaha, don't start pretending to be Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the Russian gulag. 2. Actors, Directors, critics, etc are always talking about each others "courage". One obvious example was the film "Philadelphia". Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington made a sympathetic portrait of an AIDS victim, became the darling of the critics, and won a wheelbarrow full of awards. And all along the way everyone kept talking about how much "courage" it took to make that film. The truth is that if you were going to sit down and try to come up with a film concept that was virtually guaranteed to win Oscar nominations, that concept would be "Philadelphia". At least in the nineties. The tastes and sensibilities of the Hollywood elite are always evolving. Sometimes they are moved by Left Wing views of public health issues and sometimes they are moved by Left Wing views of foreign policy. Here are some film concepts that would really take courage to make in Hollywood: 1. The life story of Whittaker Chambers. This should have been done forty years ago. 2. A movie about Vietnam POWs. (Wait. This one was made. It was called "Hanoi Hilton" and came out around the same time as "Platoon". No major studio was interested. Oliver Stone, again though, was lauded for his courage." 3. An old style Biblical epic. (And by "old style" I mean no gay disciples and no Mary wondering wether she should have an abortion) 4. A movie in which a person who owns an unregistered handgun saves her family by shooting an intruder and is then persecuted by the government as though she were the criminal. The bad guys would include an overweight, drunken, and lecherous politician from an unidentified northeastern state and some wild-eyed anti-gun advocates. 5. The life story of Joe Gibbs. (Movie exec: "Can we change 'The Lord's really blessed us' to something like.. I don't know... '****ing Awesome, Dude! And instead of being a Christian, maybe he could be in to Yoga'") 6. This is really fun. Anybody else have any ideas for couragous movies? __________________ This Monkey's Gone to Heaven

03-27-2008, 03:19 PM	#18
dmek25 MVP Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: lancaster,pa Age: 63 Posts: 10,672	Re: Celebrities and Politics to me, the word courageous, and making movies, should never be in the same sentence. courage is serving your country. courage is cleaning toilets, or some other menial job that no one in this world WANTS to do. but does it anyway, because their family has mouths to feed. courage is donating an organ, to save someones life. i could go on and on with examples, but making a movie would never even sniff my list __________________ "It's better to be quiet and thought a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt." courtesy of 53fan

Celebrities and Politics

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