Django Film News!

a · September 2006

in reality, the movie itself will actually have nothing to do with django, only johnny depp and his ideas about django. that's my problem with it.

Jack · September 2006

a wrote:

in reality, the movie itself will actually have nothing to do with django, only johnny depp and his ideas about django.

Of course, but that's not the point (in fact, when this first came up a year or two ago I said much the same thing). The flick he (Depp) did about Ed Wood probably wasn't to the core honest either, but it got a lot of people interested in the man, and I think that many people whose interest was piqued by that film went on to search out the original films...I think that even if we end up denouncing whatever happens as a biography, there's still room for it to be a good film, and something that gets people interested in the music. To me that seems like something good...

Best,
Jack.

MichaelHorowitz · September 2006

Courtesy of Wayne Nakamura...awesome!

a · September 2006

very good. but i thought jerry bruckheimer was directing. also, i thought they were going to get sigourney weaver to play grapelli and dany devito as django. def. the gypsy kings.

plankity · September 2006

excellent: I knew someone had that stored somewhere.

Norman CT/USA

Jonny · September 2006

Ahm, I don't quite understand why we're so hung up on a Hollywood-company producing it..should you not think it logical for a french company to be interested in shooting it. I mean; he's more or less a hero there, right? A national icon etc. I'd rather see a french-speaking Django, than a hollywood-actor with some corny french accent anyway.

Elva Ledesma · September 2006

I agree with Elliot that Django's story has a lot to offer if made into a movie. The more people who know about Django and hopefully hear some really great music on the soundtrack--will embrace the music as beautiful, warm and fun. I think if it was released by a Hollywood studio, it would get wider distribution.

--Elva

wayne nakamura · September 2006

I lost my copy of this when I got a new computer. It's nice to see

Wayne

scot · September 2006

Hollywood movies that are based on fringe/cult activities are almost always failures on every level. Hollywood is basically set up for and is only capable of making films about middle-class and mainstream subject matter. Hollywood movies about difficult-to-understand things like surfing, climbing, motor racing, jazz music, etc may find some success with the public (not always, though - the public's BS detector is a lot better than Hollywood gives credit for), but to the initiated they are always a disaster. Such films likewise usually do nothing for the activity itself, either. Hollywood biopics about Charlie Parker and adventure movies about mountain climbing had zero effect on attitudes or participation in those activities. Which has generally been a good thing - the kinds of people who would see something in a Hollywood movie and want to get involved with it because it was "cool", spare us that.

Simply put, there isn't anyone working in Hollywood today who could be trusted to make a movie that would make the djangopath cult happy. Every non-factual detail would get picked apart to death in places like this forum. I could start now. Elliot, who's so enthusiastic about it, in his screenplay proposal adds in the self-hating Hollywood touch - that Django was rejected by idiotic Americans, that his North American tour wasn't a success. Something not backed up by the facts.

There HAVE been a lot of excellent (and successful) documentary films about fringe activities - including good film biographies about Monk and Chet Baker - made over the last 50 years, so it can be done. Films made by talented directors like Les Blank, Bruce Brown, Errol Morris and Terry Zwigoff managed to give good, accurate, and sympathetic coverage to various fringe activities. The difference seemed to be they actually liked the activities they were filming and were relatively expert on the subject matter, or bothered to pay attention to what experts told them. As opposed to say, Scorsese's film on the blues, that PBS/Hollywood production about jazz, or Jamie Kastner, who did not understand or like his subject matter in "Djangomania!". I'm all for a biopic of Django being made. I just don't think that Hollywood is the right culture to do it any justice - they'd do more harm than good.

MHO, for sure.

There have been many good documentaries on this subject made in Europe over the last 50 years. I know there are more to come, too. If you must have a biopic of Django, try to track down the Paul Paviot film from 1950, It's in French and it's black and white and only 40 or so minutes long, but it's what we have for now.