Hollywood filmmakers are not always very good at being original. But they sure are original when it comes to being unoriginal. As remake fever grips movie studios, filmmakers are finding entirely new kinds of movies to redo.

The freshest fads: 

Remaking 1960s and '70s movies that few have seen but most have heard about. 
Remaking little-seen foreign films so recent — and so foreign — that nobody's heard of them. 
Gregg Dean Schmitz, movie tracker for the Yahoo portal, reels off titles that filmmakers are toying with that fit the first category: Flight of the Phoenix (1965), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), The Italian Job (1969), Willard (1971), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Swept Away (1975) and Barbarella (1968).

Madonna and Adriano Giannini act in the motion picture Love, Sex, Drugs & Money, a remake of Swept Away.  
 
"More people have an idea of what The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is than have actually seen it," Schmitz says. "I've never seen Barbarella, but I know what it is."

So when moviegoers see "Madonna in Swept Away," they picture Madonna trapped on an island with a macho man. When they see "Drew Barrymore in Barbarella," they visualize Barrymore in a sexy spacesuit. In both, that's most likely what they're going to get.

That kind of movie brand name also attracts other brand names, says Mark Malinowski, senior vice president and director of Ketchum Entertainment Marketing, which places products in movies. For example, Wendy's fast-food restaurant plays a role in Mr. Deeds, which opens Friday, and Thandie Newton sports Robert Marc eyewear in The Truth About Charlie, a Charade remake, out Oct. 25.

Malinowski cites 2000's Shaft, a loose remake of the 1971 hit, as the perfect example. "Shaft is a known fashion brand name. Armani dressed the lead character in that film" and also sold the clothing in stores. So two generations — stylish men who loved the original and stylish younger men who dig the new version — were targeted.

On the other hand, filmmakers remake obscure foreign films because they like the stories, not the titles. Vanilla Sky, starring Tom Cruise, is a remake of the 1997 Spanish film Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes). Critics were cool to Vanilla Sky, but they have praised director Christopher Nolan and writer Hilary Seitz for their current update of the 1997 Norwegian hit Insomnia. And though it was nominated for an Oscar for foreign-language film, the Norwegian comedy Elling isn't well known even by American art-house audiences. But they'll know more when Kevin Spacey's production company remakes it.

Brian Cox played Hannibal Lecter in Manhunter, the original version of Red Dragon, being remade with Anthony Hopkins. Cox himself stars in a remake. Ring, opening Oct. 18, is a remake of Ringu, a 1998 Japanese horror hit about a cursed videocassette that kills its viewers one week later. It also stars Mulholland Drive's Naomi Watts.

"I didn't even know it had already been done till I finished the movie," says Cox, who can be seen in The Bourne Identity, which was a TV miniseries in a previous incarnation. "It didn't strike me as a Japanese film. I just thought this was a very exciting thriller."

That's Ring producer Roy Lee's red-hot idea, one that has had him holed up with recent hits from all over the world. Many foreign films that hit big in their native countries never make it to the USA because the mainstream audience here doesn't want to read subtitles or watch an actor it hasn't heard of, Lee says.

"Ringu became the highest-grossing horror franchise in Japan," Lee says. "It's really scary. ... I get the rights for a foreign title that's never been exposed to the U.S. and get it rewritten for the U.S. audience and hopefully made. The studio that makes the movie can look back at the film, see what works and emulate that for the USA."

And if there's a call for a sequel or prequel, they've already been written.

In all, Lee has pitched 15 films; 10 of them are now set up at various studios. Lee sold Miramax the rights to the South Korean film My Wife Is a Gangster, which he describes as a female version of True Lies. ("The wife is hiding the fact that she's the head of the Mafia from her husband," he says.) He placed Il Mare, another South Korean film, in which two people fall in love but live two years apart in time, with Warner Bros.

More titles in the hopper include the South Korean romantic comedy Sassy Girl and the Japanese Chaos, a cat-and-mouse thriller that will star Benicio Del Toro. Robert De Niro is a producer and might also star. Two other Japanese films are in the works: Dark Water, a horror movie, and Turn, which Lee describes as "The Others meets Groundhog Day."

The busy producer is convinced he's onto something, but he's worried that other entrepreneurs might option movies that are hits in countries he hasn't gotten to.

Lee says: "The stuff I've seen from Thailand is incredible." 

And he's not worried that people will say he's sullied a classic. "Like most people who think they saw the original, I had Mr. Deeds Goes to Town confused with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," he says, referring to a later Capra film, starring James Stewart. (Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is being reissued on video and released on DVD.)

Ganis is not the only producer combing the vaults. "There's a vast amount of material," says Arthur Sarkissian, who's remaking the Charlton Heston-Sophia Loren 1961 epic El Cid and the Alain Delon 1970 thriller Le Cercle Rouge. For El Cid, he has approached Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly about playing the Loren role and thinks that Tom Cruise "would be great" in the Heston part.

"The generation that goes to the movies, I don't know if they want to rent the old movie and watch it." But, he says, they'll go to a new version with current stars.

That perhaps explains why we are getting new versions of Alfie, the 1966 movie that made Michael Caine a star, and a live-action Peter Pan, loved as both a Mary Martin TV musical (in 1955, 1956 and 1960) and a Disney animated feature. It was also a 1924 silent hit.

The concept of remaking hit films is older than any of the movies being remade, says Charles Musser, co-chair of Yale University's Film Studies Program in New Haven, Conn. "The Biograph Company's Empire State Express (1896) was remade a couple of months later by the Edison Company as The Black Diamond Express."

It's nothing new, but it's being done more than ever, says Robert Osborne, Oscar historian and Turner Classic Movies cable host. "It's a desperate need for material. There are not a lot of original ideas, but there are so many outlets."

Gregg Dean Schmitz, who tracks upcoming movies online at the Yahoo! portal, says filmmakers are best off remaking movies that aren't perfect. "Jackie Chan is remaking the Jerry Lewis movie The Bellboy (1960)," he says. "Is there going to be an outcry of Jerry Lewis fans saying that Jackie Chan's version is a sacrilege?" The remake might even lead the curious to check out the original film.

Producer Edward R. Pressman agrees. "There's no reason to remake something that's been done so well that anything that comes after it would pale by comparison," he says, citing Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot flop remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

Pressman himself produced the third movie version of The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996), starring Marlon Brando. (Island of Lost Souls, from 1933, with Charles Laughton is the original.) He's now working on Hunter/Victim, a remake of the Marcello Mastroianni-Ursula Andress thriller The Tenth Victim (1965). He's even producing a remake of one of his own movies, the 1973 horror film Sisters, originally directed by Brian De Palma and starring Margot Kidder.

Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen are remaking a Peter Sellers comedy, 1955's The Ladykillers, because it isn't too famous, says the remake's producer, Tom Jacobson.

"It's slightly well known among film purists, but it's not a huge, well-known movie among the public," Jacobson says. "That made it a candidate." And the Coen brothers, whose films include Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, will give the very British story an American spin, he says.

Remakes can be a thorny issue. Yale's Musser points out that what people consider to be the classic version of The Maltese Falcon, directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, was actually the third movie adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's novel. "When the remake is better, we often forget that the earlier versions ever existed," he says. "Of course, when the remake is not as good, we tend to see this as an indication of the current system's failure."

So when word gets out that director Joel Schumacher (Batman and Robin) is remaking A Star Is Born, possibly starring Will Smith, purists gasp. But what are they gasping about? The 1977 version, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, was a remake of the 1954 version starring James Mason and Judy Garland, which was a remake of the 1937 version starring Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, itself a partial remake of 1932's What Price Hollywood?

Remakes also happen for hidden commercial reasons. Mark Malinowski, senior vice president and director of Ketchum Entertainment Marketing, linked the Wendy's restaurant chain with Deeds in a big way. The hero forces a private plane to make a pit stop at a Wendy's en route to New York — and even talks about how good the Frosty shake was later in the film.

"Mr. Deeds has a very upbeat message," Malinowski says. "You've got your small-town guy coming to the big city, and the lessons he learns and teaches other people. That's the message of Wendy's brand, too."

Still, the very word "remake" smacks of lesser filmmakers trying to recapture the magic of their superiors. As writer Dorothy Parker once quipped: "The only 'ism' Hollywood believes in is plagiarism." No wonder directors recoil from the word like a vampire from a cross in a Dracula remake.

"Red Dragon is not a remake, for sure," says Brett Ratner about taking on the second prequel featuring murderer Hannibal Lecter. Though the script is based on the same-name book that informed Michael Mann's Manhunter, the director of the Rush Hour movies insists his version is different. "The only similarity that it has is that it's based on the same book and has the same characters."

"The Four Feathers is not a remake," echoes director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth). He's filming what is the sixth big-screen adaptation of A.E.W. Mason's swashbuckling novel The Four Feathers. The earlier versions were pro-colonial British while his film takes a stand against colonialism, he explains.

But Brian Cox, who played Hannibal the Cannibal in 1986's Manhunter, says that filmmakers are kidding themselves when they come up with euphemisms for the "r" word. "The remake will always be a remake," Cox says of Red Dragon. "Michael's film stands as a classic, and I don't think anything can take that away."

Director Jonathan Demme, who won an Oscar for his Hannibal Lecter thriller, The Silence of the Lambs, at first planned to avoid calling his upcoming caper film, The Truth About Charlie, a remake.

"We didn't want The Truth About Charlie to be compared to Charade," Demme says. "So we were thinking of calling it a 're-imagining.' A re-imagining — give me a break! It's a remake. I'm not ashamed of it." (Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, starring Mark Wahlberg, was touted as a re-imagining.)

But Demme, whose film also stars Wahlberg and Thandie Newton, candidly says that Charade comparisons are Charlie's biggest obstacle, because Charade is a famously stylish 1963 thriller starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. The last time an actress stepped into Hepburn's high heels, it was Julia Ormond in 1995's Sabrina, and critics mercilessly stressed that Ormond was no Hepburn.

Charlie has a rougher texture and doesn't ape Charade's style, Demme says. But his worst fear was realized on TV when David Letterman recently said to Wahlberg: "So I understand you play Cary Grant."

Demme says that's far from his intention. "I love Charade, but I feel that it's old enough now that it's past the statute of limitations. It's old enough that it could be remade. And it's so delightful that maybe it should be." 

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Franky G. and Mos Def have been added to the cast of Paramount Pictures' "The Italian Job" for director F. Gary Gray and studio-based DeLine Pictures. 

Scripted by Donna and Wayne Powers, "Job" is a remake of the 1969 Paramount release of the same name that starred Michael Caine and Benny Hill. 

The new version, a reinvention of the action-oriented heist movie, will be set in Italy and Los Angeles. It stars Mark Wahlberg as Charlie, head of a robbery crew that stages a traffic jam in order to steal back a safe filled with gold that previously had been stolen by a double-crossing associate ( Edward Norton). Charlize Theron plays Charlie's love interest. 

Franky G. and Mos Def are members of Charlie's crew. Franky G.'s role, that of a mechanic, is being written for him because the actor so impressed the producer and studio during his audition. Mos Def will star as Half Ear, a robber with a Southern accent and a hearing aid. 

Franky G., repped by AMG/The Firm, recently wrapped shooting Lions Gate Films' "Confidence." 

Mos Def, who stars in the Broadway musical "Topdog/Underdog," recently came aboard the urban indie feature "From the Outside Looking In," which begins production in August (HR 6/12). 

NEW YORK (Variety) - British actor Jason Statham has joined the heist crew of "The Italian Job," a drama starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton. 

Statham plays Smiling Rob, part of the crew of Charlie Croker (Wahlberg), which is out to steal gold bullion by creating the largest traffic jam in L.A. history and making its getaway in Mini Cooper sports cars. 

F. Gary Gray will direct the Paramount Pictures project, which is a remake of a 1969 film that starred Michael Caine. 

Statham first drew notice as an actor in the Guy Ritchie-directed "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) and "Snatch" (2000). Subsequently, he starred last year with Jet Li in "The One." 

He is getting his first true lead role in "The Transporter," a Cory Yuen-directed action film that Fox will open in the fall. He plays a courier who delivers any package, no questions asked. 

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Edward Norton will star opposite Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron in Paramount Pictures' "The Italian Job" for director F. Gary Gray and studio-based DeLine Pictures. 

A late July or early August start is being planned. The project reunites Norton with Paramount, for whom he made his acting debut in "Primal Fear" and later starred in "The Score." The studio was said to have had an option on Norton and chose to exercise it on "Job." 

Scripted by Donna and Wayne Powers, "Job" is a remake of the 1969 Paramount release of the same name starring Michael Caine and Benny Hill. The new version, a reinvention of the action-oriented heist movie, will be set in Italy and Los Angeles. 

It stars Wahlberg as Charlie, head of a robbery crew who stages a traffic jam in order to steal back a safe filled with gold that previously had been stolen by a double-crossing associate (Norton). Theron plays Charlie's love interest. 

Norton, repped by Endeavor, is currently shooting Disney's "The 25th Hour" for director Spike Lee. He next stars in Universal Pictures' "Red Dragon" and Miramax Films' "Frida." 

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 4, 2002-- Actor Mark Wahlberg and local TV anchor Phillip Palmer are kicking off United Autism Alliance's (also known as Autism Society of Los Angeles) 24th Annual Walk for Autism: "Celebrating a New Day" health walk and carnival on Saturday, June 8, 2002. The event, running from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Griffith Park, Los Angeles,
supports United Autism Alliance's (UAA) mission to help people with autism reach their fullest potential and lead meaningful lives. All proceeds raised will benefit both the 33 year old non-profit and Jay Nolan Community Services as each provides needed services to families and children dealing with autism. 

The Pre-Walk Rally 

The walkathon begins with a rally at 8:45 a.m. that will focus on the governor's proposed $52 million budget cut in services and support for people with developmental disabilities. United Autism Alliance will distribute post cards addressed to the governor, state assembly and state senate that highlight the public's concern regarding the cuts and relay an important message: "Don't balance the budget solely on the backs of this most vulnerable sector of the population." Concerned individuals need to mail the post cards or personal letters to the state representatives no later than June 10, 2002, as the State Senate Budget Committee is scheduled to approve or reject the cuts on June 12, 2002. 

"The Walk For Autism: 'Celebrating A New Day' is one of our signature events and we expect to draw a crowd of more than 7,500 people this year," said Frank Paradise, executive director of the United Autism Alliance. "This year's event rally is particularly important as we are asking the attendees to join us in reaching out to California state representatives regarding the proposed budget cuts. We hope to generate enough support that our plea to maintain desperately needed support and services are heard by all." 

Cases of Autism 

The increase in number of people with autism in Los Angeles is alarming. The Department of Developmental Services (DDS) reports that autism accounts for 37 percent of all cases currently being registered -- with an average of nine children a day entering the system. According to Time Magazine (May 6 issue), it is now estimated that one out of 150 children under the age of 10 will be diagnosed with autism. In Los Angeles County alone, that estimates to approximately 90,000 to 130,000 cases. These statistics only include those reported and do not account for numerous unreported cases, including milder aspects of autism. 

"As a newscaster, I come across many heartbreaking stories about autism and am constantly amazed at the length to which families go through to obtain the quality of services they need," said Phillip Palmer, anchor of "Eyewitness News This Morning" on ABC7. "The growing number of reported autism cases is staggering to me. This is an issue we can no longer ignore and I will be at United Autism Alliance's walk to help make a difference." 

The Walk For Autism: "Celebrating a New Day" 

The event features an exciting line-up of activities. Participants who sign up for the walk have the option of choosing either a 1K or 5K route. The fun-filled, family carnival includes free rides on the famous Griffith Merry-Go-Round, inflatable slides, face painting, clowns, free food including popcorn, snow cones, water, fruit, juices and cookies, music and entertainment. 

The Lewis Metropolitan Praise & Worship Choir with Pastor Dr. Darryl H. Coleman will be singing the national anthem and the color guard will be provided by the Harry E. Hubbard division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Core, under the direction of L.C.D.R. Clyde Reliford. 

Sponsors include ABC7 News, Star 98.7, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Ralph's, Dole Food Company, Robeks, Krispy Kreme, HomeTown Buffet, Mosaic Advertising and Armadillo Digital Audio. For more information about the walk, please visit United Autism Alliance's Web site at www.unitedautismalliance.org. 

About United Autism Alliance 

Based in Los Angeles, the United Autism Alliance (also known as Autism Society of Los Angeles, a non-profit 501 (c)3) is an association that provides education, support services, community resources and legislative advocacy on behalf of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, helping them reach their fullest potential and lead meaningful lives. The UAA serves as one of the largest resources for persons with autism, their families and professionals who work with persons with autism in Los Angeles County. Additionally, because of its size and scope, the UAA exerts its influence as an  advocate surrounding legislation concerning autism and other disabilities at the county and state levels. 

Founded in 1969, UAA is governed first and foremost by the people it services -- individuals with autism and their families -- through its board of Directors, which consists primarily of parents. Additionally, the UAA is professionally guided by a volunteer Professional Advisory Board consisting of nationally known and respected professionals representing more than 20 universities, hospitals, service providers and school districts. 

Contact: 
     Allison & Partners
     Lisa Doiron/Sheila Rasu, 310/452-7540
     [email protected]
     [email protected]

NEW YORK (Variety) - Charlize Theron is negotiating to star alongside Mark Wahlberg in "The Italian Job," a heist drama that F. Gary Gray will start shooting in August. 

Based on the eponymous 1969 picture, which starred Michael Caine, Benny Hill and Noel Coward, the Paramount update will shoot in Italy and Los Angeles and will be grittier than the original, which had comedic elements. Consistent in both films is the presence of the speedy but miniscule Mini Cooper sports cars, a line BMW recently bought and revived, just in time to be the centerpiece of the new film. 

Wahlberg plays career criminal Charlie Croker, who masterminds a massive gold bullion heist that is made possible when the crooks create the largest traffic jam in L.A. history. With the highways effectively turned into parking lots, the thieves are able to get around by using Mini Coopers that can drive over sidewalks, stairways and even subway tunnels. 

Theron would play the daughter of Croker's former partner. She enlists in the heist and proves to be a gifted safecracker and driver. 

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Charlize Theron is in negotiations to star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Paramount Pictures' "The Italian Job" for director F. Gary Gray and studio-based DeLine Pictures. 

A late July or early August start is being planned. "Italian" would reteam Theron with Wahlberg, both of whom starred in the 2000 Miramax feature "The Yards." 

Scripted by Donna and Wayne Powers, "Italian" is a remake of the 1969 Paramount release of the same name that starred Michael Caine and Benny Hill. The new version, a reinvention of the action-oriented heist movie, will be set in Italy and Los Angeles. 

It stars Wahlberg as Charlie, head of a robbery crew who stages a traffic jam in order to steal back a safe filled with gold that had been previously stolen by a double-crossing associate. Theron would play Stella, his love interest who happens to be the daughter of Charlie's now-dead mentor. She is an expert safecracker and skilled driver. 

Theron, repped by UTA, next stars in the Luis Mandoki-directed "Trapped" for Columbia Pictures and Miramax Films' "Waking Up in Reno." 

20th Century Fox is tapping a new Euros 246m German production fund for three of its projects; The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Down With Love and Just Married.

Mediastream III, set up by financial services company Ideenkapital and regional savings banks in Cologne and Duesseldorf, will invite private German individuals to invest a minimum Euros 20,000 in the financing of Steven Norrington's action-adventure The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, starring Sean Connery; Peyton Reed's comedy Down With Love, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor; and Shawn Levy's comedy Just Married with Ashton Kitcher and Brittany Murphy.

While 20th Century Fox will be making license payments for the worldwide exploitation of these three titles, 88.2% of the production costs will be hedged via an assumption of debt by Cologne's Stadtsparkasse. In addition, the regional savings bank will finance 40.74% of the entire
production costs with a registered bond.

The first Mediastream fund backed Universal's The Fast And The Furious which has since taken over $200m box office worldwide. The second fund -with an investment volume of Euros 136mm - backed Big Fat Liar, which clocked up over $47m on its US domestic release this spring, and
Jonathan Demme's romantic drama/thriller The Truth About Charlie, starring Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton, set for an autumn release in North America.

20th Century Fox had previously accessed German equity through seven separate production funds launched a year ago by Munich-based leasing company Hannover Leasing (HL) to raise over Euros 360m for investment in Bobby and Peter Farrelly's Shallow Hal, Mick Jackson's The First $20 Million Is Always The Hardest, Adrian Lyne's Unfaithful, and John Pasquin's Joe Somebody.

Although David O. Russell ’81E has no formal film training, he has become a well-known figure in Hollywood’s world of independent film. Recently, Russell directed and wrote the screenplay for “Three Kings” (1999), an anti-war statement on the Gulf War. Russell also directed and wrote “Flirting with Disaster” (1996) and “Spanking the Monkey” (1994), and he directed “Hairway to the Stars” (1990), a movie about beauticians funded by the New York City Council for the Arts. His films have been nominated for and won numerous awards from organizations such as the Political Film Society, the Independent Spirit Awards and the Sundance Film Festival. After Russell graduated from Amherst with a degree in English and political science, he worked as a union organizer in Maine and taught literacy in Boston. During his spare time, Russell documented his experiences through video—one video documentary of workers’ conditions earned him an internship with Smithsonian World for PBS in Washington, D.C. Russell was recently honored on April 10 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City during its “A Work In Progress” benefit, in which Russell’s work, donated by New Line Cinema, Miramax Films and Warner Bros. were added to the Museum’s official collection. 

Q: How did you first venture into filmmaking? Was it always a passion of yours? 
A: Movies were a passion. Filmmaking was not. I never thought I’d be a filmmaker; I was never a filmmaking or cinema geek. I thought I might be a writer. 

Q: Then how and why did your interests change? 
A: I spent a good deal of time in the dream of movies both when I was watching them and when I was remembering them, probably for unhealthy reasons related to the sadness of my home. When I was a teenager, there were no VCRs yet. But my girlfriend’s grandmother had owned a movie theater a long time ago, and she had some all-access pass to all United Artist theaters. So we would go see films like “Shampoo,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Network,” “Chinatown,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” again and again and again, like six times. Then we’d go have sex in her mother’s station wagon, parked in front of my house. This cinema studies program won high marks from me. 

Q: What other interests have you pursued aside from filmmaking? 
A: I was a journalist, briefly, and a dedicated leftist, including a period that could be characterized by Doris Lessing’s remark, “Joining the Communist Party in my youth was the single most neurotic act of my life.” I never joined the Communist Party per se, but I had my neurotic version of it. Though I don’t regret the critical thinking and subversive inquiry that I’ve kept from that time. 

Q: What do you enjoy most about your work? 
A: I get to learn about and write about things that inspire me, so it’s like on-going learning. I get to be in charge of guiding the realization of the visions that come out of this. I get to collaborate with smart friends and good people. I get to make tiny ripples in the consciousness of our media nation (i.e. we were invited to screen “Three Kings” at the Clinton White House and Clinton went on to say, on national television, he thought the film was very useful to enlightening people about the reality of our intervention in Iraq and probably future intervention). The President said this about a movie that has a scene in it in which Mark Wahlberg has crude oil poured down his throat by an Iraqi who is making the point that we protected Kuwait strictly for oil reasons, and you could add that we needn’t have even been relying on oil, or supporting oil dictatorships in the Mideast, if we’d stayed on the 1979 alternative fuels path. Also, the pay so far is pretty good and I get a lot of independence. I get to spend time with other filmmakers and writers who I respect and have become friends [with]. 

Q: Would you say that there is a common thread that unites your work, or your path in life in general? 
A: This question feels like it could lead to some pretentious hot air, so I’ll skip this one. 

Q: How did you feel about being honored at the MoMA’s “A Work In Progress” gala benefit and having your films in their official collection? 
A: I despise museums as bourgeoisie institutions that only serve to validate the ruling class’s sense of superiority while pacifying the masses with so-called cultural entertainment. Wait, I don’t know what just happened. I think I fell into some kind of time warp or parallel self from another era. How can it not be an honor to have my films in the same collection with such movies as “Eraserhead,” “Faster Pussycat Kill Kill,” etc. Obviously, the museum has decided to make their collection a little more current and dynamic and bring in filmmakers who are fairly young and still figuring it out. Due to a stroke of luck I got to be the first filmmaker in this new MoMA tradition, and I suggested they name the annual event “A Work In Progress.” I actually love museums and would be happy to have any excuse to hang around in one, so MoMA said they’d let me curate a film series in the future. I’m thinking of doing one called “Sexual Compulsion,” which could simultaneously commemorate an era [of] Amherst’s past with “Carnal Knowledge.” Other films that could go in it would be “Klute,” “Vertigo,” “Blue Velvet,” “Mulholland Drive,” a bunch of films by Bunuel, such as “El,” “Viridiana,” “Obscure Object of Desire,” “Belle de Jour,” “Un Chien Andalou,” Kubrick’s “Lolita,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Human Nature” and “The Celebration” by Thomas Vinterberg. One of my favorite bonuses of being a filmmaker is that I have gotten to know curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art while researching film ideas and I get to go to the museums with friends when the museum is closed and nobody’s there. Though I also go a lot during regular hours. 

Q: What are some of your favorite parts from your movies? 
A: Although there are many things I would do differently now, I like a lot of “Spanking the Monkey.” In particular, how twisted and suffocating the main character’s bind is, as well as the painful mind-fuck his parents put him through, which he, in turn, puts the young girl through. In “Flirting With Disaster,” I like the opening montages of Ben Stiller’s imagined parents and Patricia Arquette waiting in bed, respectively. In “Three Kings,” I like the kinetic energy, the politics-woven-into-action genre, the bullet in the body sequence, the way the Arabs are humanly portrayed for better or for worse and the interrogation scenes with Mark Wahlberg and Said Taghmaoui. I hate the heist/gold premise and would never do that again and the slightly sentimental ending, though I do think that, in retrospect, the gold serves neatly as a metaphor for decades of oil extraction without regard for the human or political costs in oil producing countries. 

Q: What are your future projects? Where will you take your career now? 
A: What I learned from “Three Kings” is that I am not interested in playing with genres and big studio budgets and I want to do lots of strange personal and philosophical/spiritual, smaller films. My next film will begin production in the winter and is a strange comedy that will star Jason Schwartzman among others who I am still speaking to. 

Q: What are your best memories of Amherst? 
A: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Evelyn Waugh, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, Vimilikirti, Milarepa, Flaubert, Aeschylus, Robert Stone, William James, Karl Marx, Salvador Allende, Thomas Pynchon, Donald Barthelme, Emily Dickinson, Talking Heads, Puffer’s Pond [and] Quabbin Reservoir. 

Q: Did you find any students or professors particularly inspiring? 
A: Nick Schorr [’81], Heather White [’80], Tom Keenan [’81], Robert Thurman, [Professor of English] Barry O’Connell, [Professor of English] Bill Pritchard, [Professor of English John] Cameron, Doris Somers, [Professor of Spanish] Jim Maraniss, [Professor of Classics and Women and Gender Studies] Rick Griffiths, [Professor of Sociology] Jan Dizard, [Professor of Political Science] Pavel Machala, [Professor of Religion and Black Studies] David Wills, half of [Professor of Political Science] Bill Taubman, half of [Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science] Austin Sarat and many others. 

Q: From what did you get most of your education? (e.g., travel experiences, other students, etc.) 
A: All of the above, but mostly being pretty passionate about ideas, even if it meant being stupid sometimes. 

Q: Do you have any advice for students interested in cinema, media, etc.? 
A: Only the ones who are subversive. Don’t give up. 

Q: How does it feel to return to Amherst as a commencement speaker? 
A: I wasn’t aware that I was the commencement speaker. I’ve actually been asked not to say anything to anybody during commencement weekend and to wear a false beard for some reason that I don’t understand, but I signed the agreement, so that’s how it’s going to go down. 

Q: Do you have any additional comments that you would like to add? 
A: Yes, I just want to add that the nature of reality is nondual, defying our habitual awareness of subjects and objects, and that we are all inexplicably linked in a net of interdependence that creates cognitive dissonance if we try to hold it in our consciousness every day, but is ultimately liberating. Thanks, that's all for now.