Jody Gerson, the executive producer is my neigbor here in Beverly Hills. I know her personally. Crazy. I may have to approach her about this...

christobole said:

Jody Gerson, the executive producer is my neigbor here in Beverly Hills. I know her personally. Crazy. I may have to approach her about this...

If you do, let us know what you find out...

brokenhearted1972 said:

I wonder if this’ll be a movie more like “Across The Universe”, where the music was used to help tell the story.

Always said this would be a great idea with Prince music, since my first viewing of that flick.

Now, make it great.

ChocolateBox3121 said:

lrn36 said:

Who wants to bet Janelle Monae will star in it? I just hope they use Prince's recordings and not covers. There are artists out there that can do his music justice, but they probably not mainstream enough. I'm not a fan of how sterile music recording sounds now. And also All My Dreams should be the closing song.

Janelle(whom I met at a ultra private screening of her brilliant performance in "MoonLight") I'm sure would LOVE to be a part of her close friend Prince's new Universal picture. I actually prefer her acting over her singing. She just lights up the screen.

Janelle gave me a screening so ultra that she wasnt even seen.

gandorb said:

mtlfan said:

Ahem... Universal, do you need a screenwriter?

I would want to see this movie so long as it avoids a sanitized, PG-13 version of Prince's catalogue. Make it rated R, polysexual, delve into race, gender, and spirituality issues... Fuck family-friendly.

And who would play Nikki ?

Maybe Cardi B or Nicki Minaj.

Sucks that I already know it will close with "Purple Rain"

I think it would be smart to stay away from music already used in Purple Rain, Parade, SOTT, Batman, and Graffiti Bridge. Prince already had a vision for those songs paired with movies so they should leave them alone. I don't want to see someone's visual idea of Girls and Boys or Mountains when we already have one.

It would be cool to use character names from with Prince monikers like Jamie Star, Camille, Alexander Nevermind, or Joey Coco.

lrn36 said:

Smacks of greed and desperation.

funksterr said:

lust said:

My advice to the producers: watch I'm Not There, attempt something as thoughtful without turning incoherent, and play up a Camille character - a trickster parallel to Prince, maybe a woman defying gender norms.

brokenhearted1972 said:

I wonder if this’ll be a movie more like “Across The Universe”, where the music was used to help tell the story.

Unfortunately it's going to be more like "Mamma Mia".

PennyPurple said:

gandorb said:

mtlfan said: And who would play Nikki ?

Maybe Cardi B or Nicki Minaj.

Indeed!

lrn36 said:

I just hope they use Prince's recordings and not covers.

.

That co$t$.

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

The problem is always that to appeal to middle America, you have to automatically knock 80 IQ points from the project. That automatically insults and turns off 50% of audiences, it’s a no win situation.

.

So it would have been better if it were a 'foreign' film made in e.g. Japan or Europe.

Hmm.

Interesting theory.

Is that a sign of the times?

udo said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

udo said:

.

So it would have been better if it were a 'foreign' film made in e.g. Japan or Europe.

Hmm.

Interesting theory.

Is that a sign of the times?

Why? I’ve seen foreign film. They go for lowest common denominator just as much. I just think a Prince film unlike an action film is more for the American market and possibly Western Europe markets. If we’re talking about movies Hollywood makes for the international market. They automatically knock more than 100 IQ pointing [Edited 12/7/18 6:54am]

I see your points but consider how much "smarter" tv has become. There is a large market for higher-brow (or at least middle-brow) product. Hollywood ignores that a lot but Hollywood's business strategy is to sell pre-sold product (ie. comic book adaptations, sequels, prequels, etc.) Prince is a pre-sold product. And the industry is looking for the next Bohemian Rhapsody, and the Mama Mia franchise has nowhere to go without more ABBA songs. An Elton biopic is coming, so Prince-inspired musical could very well get off the ground, but it doesn't has to be dumbed down to sell - it just has to appeal to Prince and pop/rock fans.

mtlfan said:

is all this hoopla because of the success of the Queen movie?? tryin to cash in

luvsexy4all said:

luvsexy4all said:

is all this hoopla because of the success of the Queen movie?? tryin to cash in

.

Who makes a movie for non-monetary reasons?

udo said:

Ugot2shakesumthin said:

udo said:

.

Who makes a movie for non-monetary reasons?

Lots of people. Plenty of films have been made for tax write offs.

.

Taxes are not money?

udo said:

udo said:

luvsexy4all said:

is all this hoopla because of the success of the Queen movie?? tryin to cash in

.

Who makes a movie for non-monetary reasons?

A lot of people actually.

Kevin Smith famously maxed out his credit cards to finance his first film(s). A lot of people do it for the love of the craft, because they have a vision or, in the case of someone like DInesh D'souza or Kirk Cameron because they are insane (and also for money form easily conned conservatives). John Carpenter filmed Halloween on a shoestring budget. Tobe Hooper did Texas Chainsaw Massacre along simliar lines. Hell, Purple Rain had a really low budget and was largely the product of Prince's unique drive and vision. I sincerely doubt that Prince himself filmed Under the Cherry Moon or Grafitti Bridge with visions of block buster reciepts as the end game.

Artists in general gravitate towards and obsess over their projects because it's the only thing they actually CARE about or have fun with and feel alive while doing. Figuring out how to monetize it is usually secondary to gettiing the god damned thing FILMED. They can't stand the drudgery and repitition of a 9-5 job and aren't challenged by it or see how it matters.

Certainly artists constantly face the challenge of monetizing their work and being able to quit their day job as a minimum bar of success but MOST of them do it because it's what they LIKE TO DO and simply (and rightfully) feel DEAD inside ringing up scratch off tickets, waiting on rich people or stocking shelves.

The pursuit of art is the chasing of passion, meaning and purpose in ones life. The attempt to clarify meaning and express perception as it is filtered through the artist's mindset and particular unique sense of logic. Idealization, solidification and ultimately the creation of one's thoughts and thier internal thought process in a way that is tangible. In many ways, it's an attempt to ESCAPE and mold one's picture of reality. A form of therapy.

Spike Lee had Things to Say™ and mainly just wanted them recorded.

Scorcese, Kubrick, Tarantino, Carpenter...even Lucas and Spielberg early on....were all largely driven by good idaes they had rattling around in their heads that needed to get out. Commercial success was secondary until the point that it actually happened for them. Prince himself said he tried several odd jobs and could never picture himself doing any of them for 40 hours week, 52 times a year for the rest of his life and was freaked out by the fame and fortune that Purple Rain provided him. So he went down the hole with The Quickness and dropped Around the World In a Day into a commercial machine ill euqipped to handle, market or monetize it. He blew off singles and videos as much as he could and throughout his career sought out the delicate and undefinable "middle ground" between his unique vision and the decisions necessary to cultivate its finance.

The only (or main) thing he cared about (and was great at) was music. So, at that point for an artist, the question becomes "how do I make a living at this?" But, trust me, artists hate, hate - HATE - the business and economic side of things that nine times out of ten, poison and distract from what they are attempting to do with their lives. They take on roles and projects that they would otherwise eschew and make calculated decisions, almost always centered around the question of "how will THIS decision free me up to do what I WANT to do moving forward?"

It usually fucks them up, frustrates them and is a tremendous distraction to their creative process.

Further, and still more often, what happens is the artist is faced with the realization that this is not only the thing they're most passionate about and intersted in doing, but, in fact, the ONLY thing that they're actually GOOD AT or interested in. I face this myself. Only things I'm good at are drawing, painting, designing and writing. Just the cards I was dealt. I don't know if I like them because I am good at them, good at them because I like them or some wobbly combination of the two but here I am and, by and large, when I create a piece (written, drawn or painted), unless it's contracted I never set about it with the idea of eventually selling it.

TL/DR: A lot of artists and film makers shoot movies and create things for reasons other than money.

oh no

Seriously this sucks because Prince ain't Dolly Parton. His songs are very personal to him and often times are completely true. Attaching them to someone else's narrative feels wrong.