Oscar shoo-in ... Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood
I had a small epiphany at the weekend. I managed to drive all the way from the Westside where I live, to Pasadena, which is north east on four different freeways, without a) freaking out, b) thinking about what I was doing or where I was going. It's taken me almost a year to master LA's suicidal motorways but I've finally cracked it. And boy, it feels good.
Not so good was the weather. We've had three (count 'em!) separate storms. Last year only two inches of rain fell in California, so the 13 inches overnight on Saturday was the biggest sensation since Jamie Lynn Spears got knocked up.
I was at at a friend's house during the storm and as we sat eating an almost traditional American dinner of cheeseburgers and Merlot, the rain thudded against the balcony and windows. For a teeny tiny second I felt like I was back in London. Then someone put the Chargers game on and the moment disappeared as quickly as the fried onions.
I also went to see There Will Be Blood. It's getting so much Oscar heat right now I can see the Kodak Theatre being completely deserted apart from Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson sharing some popcorn while host Jon Stewart mugs it up for the cameras (shouting to make his voice heard over the picketing writers).
DDL was textbook intense but am I the only one who found this performance reminiscent of his Bill the Butcher character in Gangs of New York? It was beautifully shot but slow and a bit thin on subplot. I think I'll feel cheated if it wins best film; as I said very loudly to anyone who was listening in the car on the way home, overall I thought Boogie Nights was the better picture. But that's just me.
My next project is in so I'll stop criticising those who get paid to do it and concentrate on doing the best job I can (for expenses and breakfast at Dennys). I don't know if you've read my profile but when I lived in London I did stand up comedy. One of my friends from the circuit is Abi Roberts and we're scripting her show for Edinburgh this year. I can't give too much away but we're filming some comedy vignettes which will involve a trip to Vegas, the hunt for a much loved screen icon and some wittily printed T-shirts. We're writing the script together but I'll be directing the shoot, which will happen over four or five days in March. I'm flying out to Vegas later this month to secure a DP and a sound guy, and Abi arrives in LA a week before the shoot so we can get the writing finished. Skype may be cheap but it's not the best way to write a comedy script.
In the meantime hope springs eternal that my short, Maconie's List, will be picked up. I met a girl called Tanya Bershadsky at a New Year's Eve party who'd co-written and co-produced a short, The Cinderelli's. It was put it on YouTube, a Canadian production company saw it and offered them a feature development deal. That's all it takes in this town. A good idea and a bit of luck. Here's to 2008.
