Anyone watching the new season on Bravo (it premiered on Tuesday)?

Typically, I'm not a fan of reality TV. But this series has always interested me, on HBO, and now Bravo. This season started off quite well, I thought. I was really surprised, and actually pleased, to see Matt Damon attacking the folks from Dimension. He was really upset with their choices, and their attitude, and it made for entertaining television.

Best line: "You're sitting two feet from the Master of Horror, and he's telling you it sucks!"

I caught the first one the other night. I didn't see the past seasons so it's all new to me. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon crack me up, hehe. Gotta love that Boston attitude.

Lisa

The show ended up just making me a little angry. I felt that Matt and Ben were completely correct, but the film company just ran right over them.

In a good turn of events, the script that they wanted to do, Wildcard, was purchased by Wes Craven. He is going to do it.

Also, they aren't saying it is reality TV, but they are calling it a documentary. Now, we don't have to feel so guilty watching it.

The director/winner...whats his name, John something. He is totally getting on my nerves. He seems to think that since he won the contest that he can't be replaced.He is absolutely ridiculous and I think he is somewhat special. He cannot function in aggressive situations and he refuse to speak up. When he does it is too little too late and he cannot pick a battle to save his life. I mean, they guy is made director and the first thing he wants to do is hire his entire family to play all the major parts. I wish the casting director would just haul off and smack him. I loathe this guy and can't figure out if I am supposed to hate him or feel sorry/cheer for him.

I can tell you one thing, I am embarassed for him because he doesn't have the sense to be embarassed for himself.

I think they really turned the show into something much more dark and evil. It is all about the money, money, money now. It is no longer the best script. It is which script will make money. The director, well, they still maintain that he made the best movie out of them all.

The commercial I saw later on last night said that the director starts standing up for himself.

I typed this already but for some reason it disappeared. Perhaps the Gods of the message board don't like this thread...but I am nothing if not persistent.

I watched the most recent episode on tuesday and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. John Gulager just might get the axe he deserves. The man is hell-bent on casting his entire family in the film, he has even said nepotism is good. I want to reach through the set and smack him around.

Does anyone else think Gulager has some mental issues? He creeps me out in a way I can't describe. Somewhere in the world a bridge is missing its troll.

Tony

I believe there is absolutely something wrong with the director. He cannot function in any situation well. He is extremely sensitive, and easily intimidated. I don't think they will fire him, though.

I think the reason he wants to cast his family is because he doesn't function well. They are a safety blanket for him. He does all of his films with them. I think it is important for him to have some support to fall back on. Wrong, but important, anyway.

I understand what you are saying and agree it is a security blanket, but he is under the impression that because he is the director that he has the final say. The studio still dictates whatthe director can do. And I may be wrong on this, but unless you are a big time director, you don't have much say as to who gets cast. Again I could be wrong.


He is a contest winner and needs to be grateful that he made it as far as he did, but he has never had any of his movies distributed before, and from what they showed, the movies he did make were nothing more than home movies. For crying out loud he made a rock opera! The image from the clip they showed is still burned into my mind.

At least this season has me talking, I slept throught he first two...this season has some dynamic to it. I look forward to the next episode where John is confronted with possible termination. I know he wont get fired, but a boy can dream can't he?

I actually worked with John and Diane on an indie film (AOR and foley session) and I must say that he is not as "quirky" as he appears on the Bravo show. He was ebullient and personable and had a vast and varied film knowledge, and Diane was fine as a voice performer. I've seen several of John's short films and they are all pretty good -not good for low budget, just good. Period. While he certainly hasn't handled things in the most diplomatic way on Project Greenlight, it must be said that if Michelle (Morris) Gertz had meddled on any other production the way she did on this, she would have been sh*tcanned in a heart beat. I find it ironic that she fought John wanting to cast his friends and family, when in essence she went around the director and producer and sent in tape on one of her friends to get her the lead role. It must also be observed that Michelle has only cast one successful film as primary casting agent, and it was a sequel- American Pie 2 -but she has cast 17 projects that were either largely unsuccessful or flopped outright (one of them was actually a very good film; Donnie Darko). The producers should take the majority of the blame for letting his casting notions get as far out of hand as they did for not setting boundaries up front. The studio exec from Dimension by selecting the script that was selected and outlining the budget that was outlined, has pretty much guaranteed a straight to video release, like 90% of Dimension's films. I think that in the grand scheme of things, you have to root for John, because he seems to be the only person who wants to make an interesting film, and all the odds are stacked against him. The whole deal seems to stink of a "hand off" because Chris Moore isn't even actively producing, and neither Matt nor Ben were willing to be in the film that was selected. They seemingly wanted to pick a project that would derail intentionally because it would mean boffo ratings, and the money they'll make as a series will more than pay for the paltry budget of the (tax write-off) film. The DVD of the third season is even more gravy. The star of FEAST is Eric Dane, a relative unkown who appeared regularly on Charmed, and believe it or not, from what I've heard is one of the highlights of the film (along with Clu Gulager and Krista Allen) which unfortnately resorted to washed-ups (Henry Rollins and Balthezar Getty), never weres (Jason Mewes and Josh Zuckerman) and a shouldn't be (Navi Rawat) who continuously prove why they are mainly relegated to straight to video crap or the pity work thrown them by famous friends. None of which is testament to the skills or lack of the director. Maybe by playing off the low expectation factor, they can garner some hindsight praise in time for Halloween...

Yeah, I think Michelle, casting lady, should have just been fired. She was sneaky and nasty. She went behind the backs of everyone to get that girl (Navi?) hired. She even admitted that she knew Navi personally, and they were friends. Whatever.

The writing winners suck too. I mean, they win, and stop showing up? When they finally show, they go on and on about how the script changes suck? If they were there, it would have helped out quite a bit.