Boys will be boys

Glamour UK did a photo shoot with bright British actors for its February issue.

Spielberg: "This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time"

Lucas Looks Back On Movie-Making



As creator of the Star Wars universe, George Lucas launched a franchise whose impact on pop culture — and on Hollywood — has been immeasurable. His special-effects house has pioneered one cinematic revolution after another.



His latest project, though, is a book. George Lucas' Blockbusting is a go-to blueprint for the aspiring filmmaker, a behind-the-scenes history of movies that looks back over 100 years through the lens of 300 major hits: their creative genesis, why they stood out, how they became lasting icons. But mainly, it strips away the glitz and glamour of the movie-making biz and gets down to the nitty-gritty of how a movie is made, including everything from advertising expenses to production budgets to shooting schedules.

Of course, it all begins with the love of the movie. And with breaking into the business. Back in the '60s, when Lucas was getting started, there was "zero chance" of finding a way in, he says. In that notoriously nepotistic age, "you had to be related to somebody," he says.

Lucas and a small cadre of film-school friends, including the then-unknown Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola, set out to make their own way in.

"We loved movies, we loved making movies, and we cooperated with each other and were helping each other," Lucas says. "We were like, you know, rebels trying to work our way in somehow."

They screened their movies for each other, offering frank feedback and sharing advice. For years, even after the men had made names for themselves — Coppola with 1972's The Godfather, Lucas with American Graffiti in 1973, Spielberg with 1975's Jaws and 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind — they kept up the practice.

"When I did that with Star Wars, it was in really rough shape," Lucas says. The special effects weren't in yet. John Williams's score, either. And not everyone got it.

"Some friends, like Brian de Palma, said, you know, 'What's this crazy Force stuff, and why isn't there more blood?' ... I mean, the great thing about having friends watch your movie is they give it to you, which is what you want."

But one friend saw the promise, Lucas remembers.
"Some of them didn't understand it. ... [But] some of them, like Steve Spielberg, said, 'This is going to be the biggest hit of all time.'"

New Skins!

The Jazz Loft

The Jazz Loft Project is the most amazing thing I heard about recently. The book was published months ago. But I have just found their web site.

White Rose bar sign from the fourth floor of Sixth Avenue 821

From 1957 to 1965 legendary photographer W. Eugene Smith made approximately 4,000 hours of recordings on 1,741 reel-to-reel tapes and nearly 40,000 photographs in a loft building in Manhattan's wholesale flower district where major jazz musicians of the day gathered and played their music. Smith's work has remained in archives until now. The Jazz Loft Project is dedicated to uncovering the stories behind this legendary moment in American cultural history.

Eugene Smith at the loft.

The exhibition starts on February 17th, NY Public Library of Performing Arts.

Childhood Fierceness

I've been following Maxigumee's blog for about 4 years now. It's been a while since I last checked. Came across this sweet photoshoot today.
All about a childhood fantasy where you dream about having the whole hotel room to yourself and trashing it all down!