On Fame. Not Fame, Fame.

Kevin Spacey and John Cusack in a movie I won't name. image:reelcriticism.com

If you thought the best thing in this Guardian story about Kevin Spacey's popularity in London is the phrase "pashmina intelligentsia," you're too easily pleased:

On one occasion, the actress Sienna Miller was sitting next to Spacey at a bar. She had just seen The Usual Suspects and was excited to find herself close to one of the film's stars.

Approaching him she said: 'I just wanted to say I can't believe I'm sitting in a bar drinking champagne next to Kevin Bacon.' 'Spacey,' said Kevin. 'Yeah, it is, isn't it?' said Miller.

Which reminds me, I saw a part of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil the other night on TV, and I realized its similarities to Adaptation haven't been mentioned anywhere. [Of course, my mentioning them here isn't going to help me get ahead at Spacey's online film company, Triggerstreet. What the hey, here goes.]
  • Both are adapted from very popular books, which were in turn adapted from magazine articles (Okay, Midnight just seemed like a 400-page Vanity Fair article.)
  • The writer, desperately inserts himself into the story. Hilarity ensues. We then experience a melange of fiction, fact, imagination and multiple levels of reality. (Okay, Charlie Kaufman was upfront about it. To a fault. John Berendt's been much cagier. No pun intended.)
  • John Cusack is in both films. But he's much better in Adaptation (Okay, I'm guessing, but he can't have a worse role than he did in Midnight, etc.)
  • And most significantly, Midnight director Clint Eastwood is Adaptation director Spike Jonze's father. (Okay, I made that one up, but I had to finish big.)

  • Since 2001 here at greg.org, I've been blogging about the creative process—my own and those of people who interest me. That mostly involves filmmaking, art, writing, research, and the making thereof.

    Many thanks to the Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Program for supporting greg.org that time.

    comments? questions? tips? pitches? email
    greg [at] greg [dot ] org

    find me on twitter: @gregorg

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