Audio Edition – November 23rd 2006

Welcome to a new experiment. We are going to be trying a mid-week Audio Edition again for a couple of weeks to see what we, and you guys think about it. My guest for these mid-week shows will be former Audio Edition guest and Canadian Comedian, Mr. Jesse Boner. Let us know what you think. On today’s show, Jesse and I talk about:

1) The new idea I had for a charity mini-film festival.

2) Sam Raimi to direct The Hobbit

3) Ian McKellen’s statement

4) Changing how actors get paid

5) No Revenge of the Nerds Movie

6) A digital Bruce Lee

7) No Old School 2, and why we should NEVER take what a celeb says at face value

All this and a few things more.

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31 thoughts on “Audio Edition – November 23rd 2006

  1. The title of the Bruce Lee film should be. Fist of Fury – weekend at bernie’s … Huh sorry Fist or fury – weekend at Bruce Lee’s.

    On a other note. I’m in favor for top actor having a piece of the pie of the box office revenue. If the trend for big movie actors salary is on downward spiral and you are a top notch actor who as proved himself as an marquis actor who attract a certain volume of revenue, then it’s natural that you get a bonus at the end of the movie.

    What movie compagnies should do is pay a base salary for the marquis actor to acknowledge the work he has done on the film and then a bonus based on a percentage of the overflow that the film generate.
    By “overflow” I mean this: revenu that is left after the studios says – we have broken even and made some nice profit to finance other movies and satisfied our invertors.

    Take this as a saleman point of view. Your marquis actor is one of your top salemans for a film, because the fans will want to see the interpetation that the actor will bring to the film. Normally a saleman gets a base salary and a bonus on sales that he makes. Better the sales, better the commission.

    Sorry to bring out hockey, but I will. A-list player will have a great salaries and will get bonuses for their perfomance ( 50000$ for 50 goals in season, 2% bonus for a positive goals for/against average…).

    So yes, you should gives bonus to you crowd magnets becauses they bring that extra revenu that you would’nt get if they were not promoting your product.

    One last thing. the paycheck that actors receives, is it only for their perfomance or does it includes their presence at premieres and all the talk shows the go to promote the movie.

    If you read this, it means your patient enough to read all of my ramblings, Thank you.

    Jay from Montreal

  2. Hey John,
    about the cgi, we all know what happens when a certin something becomes a hit, next we r going to see cgi porn stars, and bringing back old porn stars that had died and maybe , this just a thought , bring back Mayrilnn Mannro.(bad spelling) and have her do a porn movie. yep the porn biz will find a way to make money from it. just a thought..

    Jarrod-D

  3. I believe that living actors should be well compensated and get as much as the gross when they can—because when they are dead and continue to act via CGI, they won’t get a red dime.

    Hahahaha

    No seriously, I think actors getting percentages for profits *on top of* thier normal asking fees should be a thing of the past. Down with gift baskets too.

    – Sealer da Grinch.

  4. 4) I believe actors should get paid but not a % of the box office. Why should they get more money? They already got paid. Lets say I’m working and I earn x amount a week, then if the business makes a lot of profit I get paid even more, sounds great but why should I get paid more just because more money was earned.

    6) I’m intresed to see how a CGI Bruce Lee will look, but I’m the same here, how spooky and just plain weird would it be? And lets say it’s successful, and the director decides to make more movies with Bruce Lee….Like I said sounds like an intresting concept but honestly it’s wrong. The guy is dead. If I was an actor and I died, I wouldn’t want a CGI version of me walking around. And you can’t really say to yourself ”Wow man Lee rocked in this movie” because it’s not him.

  5. in refrence to the dead actors making appreances in film long after they are dead does anyone remember that episode of Tales From The Crypt which was directed by Robert Zemeckis which had Humphrey Bogart in it even though he had already been dead for like 40 years. It actually was a pretty good episode and if i am not mistaken was the first or one of the first to start using this type of technology and this was back in 1995. John i would suggest you check it out it’s pretty intresting
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716912/

  6. It wasn’t my favorite audio editon but still solid. Hey John, i’ll come to your movie festival for sure but you will want to check into getting the rights to the movies you will show.

  7. exactly what I was thinking bunyip….you are forcing an actor to say and do things that they have no control over at all….
    I personally find it morally repugnant to take the choice and control away from someone. to put words in their mouths when they have no forum to fight it.

    you could argue that biopics do the same thing but it is different. you never watch a biopic and think “is that really capote? oh my god how did they get johnny cash back from the dead to do this film”

    putting an dead actor into a commercial is the worst though. to have some dead guy promote and sell something they may have fucking hated is terrible…plus if i was a company I don’t know if i want too many of my products being sold by dead guys…not a good look..

    “Hi I’m Rock Hudson – use Durex!!….I didn’t and look how that turned out”

  8. Studios need actors and actors need studios.

    It isn’t just a fluke that cruise has a long run of films making over a hundred million dollars. He drew audiences so why shouldn’t he be able to negotiate a piece of the action.

    If an actor has a proven record and is pretty much a sure thing then he/she should get what the can….

    Unfortunately that includes chris tucker….although I believe without chan the films wouldn’t be hits chan has outside of rush hour had bombs….tucker…well he hasn’t made anything but rush hours since the first one (I am pretty sure he hasn’t anyway..since the first rush hour rush hour 2 has been his only film…i am pretty sure but if I am wrong sorry) so it is hard to judge him since that is all he has done but as far as new line see it out him in a rush hour film and he makes them millions……so they are willing to give him what he wants….

    but the star system is fading big time….narnia, lotr, harry potter – no real A list stars but huge huge hits…even pirates counts as depp although is a respected actor and huge star he has never been a huge draw with hit after hit….pirates is his first mainstream big blockbuster….I bet he is getting a pretty penny for the sequels…..and fair enough…without him the films would be, lets face it, boring.

  9. Good to see mid-week Audio Editions again!

    We had TV advertisements over here (Australia) featuring old footage of Bruce Lee cut to look like he’s entering a shop and getting a Mars Bar. I guess whoever controls his estate is milking it for what they can. Whatever their reasons (I dunno, maybe they’re supporting cancer research), I decided after seeing these a couple times that it really, really bugs me that the guy has no control over what his image is being used to endorse. I think I’d have the same problem with now-dead actors being put in movies with CGI – it’s someone else’s choice to put them in the movie and eseentially someone else’s (or a team of them) personality and skill being put into the role. I suppose there’s other examples of this kind of thing happening already (you could argue biopics do this already) but I agree with Jesse – let their work stand and let new talent have its day.

  10. John,
    I do agree with you in some aspects but i think your incorrect in saying that Actors aren’t risking anything.

    Everytime they make a movie, especially if it’s an epic. They might make a decent amount of mint even if the flick does bomb, but the thing is, they are gonna have a bit of trouble get another high paying job because the last time they we’re paid ‘so much’ money for an epic it bombed. What studio is gonna take that risk on them again.

    Actors depend on their reputation more than anything else. If their movie bombs. That fucks their reputation. Bad reps don’t get you good movie roles.

  11. But even if an actor or director or anyone makes a deal which gets them their money up front and a cut of the profits..I mean if that is what the studio agrees upon before the harsh light of a bomb or underperformance hits them then the people involved should still receive what they are entitled too under the terms of the original deal. it is up the studios when they make the original deal. Thats why studios are renegotiating there deals now. it used to be great for them. get a big star to work cheap and then the with the costs down they stand to make more money but it has kind of soured now that films are getting more expensive regardless of stars and box office isn’t growing.

    Wasn’t that one of the problems with cruises paramount deal? i think he had a tight contract which gave him his fee plus a huge percent of the overall gross whether or not the film went into profit so he was getting millions regardless of how much the film made. I guess at his peak it was the closest thing to a sure thing as his films pretty much always make money….they just started to make less so as his fee stayed the same the studio started to get less and less. although I think he and speilberg effectively made war of the world for free with a guaranted huge chunk of the BO.

    I don’t think anyone should try to get money that isn’t rightfully theirs. But then some studios in the past have just decided to reward the talent when something extraordinary happens.

    Paramount gave James Cameron a huge bonus (rumoured to be close to a hundred million after Titanic) and also gave bonuses to the cast.Sometimes that is written into contracts that if a film makes a certain amount the cats will get a bonus. whihc is also why studios generally lie about exactly how much a film has made. The makers of Forrest Gump still claim thatthe film didn;t make any real money when it was all said and done.

    It is just a nice gesture when something like Titanic happens. Mind you cameron gave back his original fee and his points in the film when it went wildly over budget…his paycheck ultimately went into the budget.

    I also haven’t listened to the podcast yet so i should probably shut the fuck as i don’t even know what you are talking about but goddamn I am addicted to this site…..
    I’m gonna get the sack one day!!!I must stay away….

  12. Hey Henrik,

    No, that is covered. If an actor willingly takes a lower base salary in hopes they can make up for it with a percentage… then that is the actor assuming a risk.

    If an actor assumes a risk, then I’m all for them standing to reap reward for that risk. I made that really clear.

  13. Well, as usual there is another side to the case not being mentioned.

    When they were doing Pearl Harbor, in order to keep the budget down they really couldn’t afford paying the actors their salaries up front. So they negotiated deals with the actors so that they would get percentage of the box-office, in order to cut their base salary.

    Happens alot of times with directors as well, where studio’s will tell them to take a paycut in order to keep the budget down, and instead give them a percentage of the box office.

  14. Best quote of the show:

    “If you risk nothing, then you shouldn’t stand to reap the rewards of someone else’s risk”

    Well said campea. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about this. Actors seem to want the best of both worlds. Big pay check, and points, but then never want to assume any risk. Time for that to end!

  15. Great show! You guys compliment eachother really well!! I actually laughed so hard that I spit some of MY flask out all over the computer…keep up the good work…Looking forward to you guys keeping this going!
    You guys are fun!!!

  16. Heeeeyyy! One of the K-lite Crew here! Jesse you da man! And funny the girl before me posted that she never knew John was Italian…I never knew Jesse was Italian ;) Anyways, Jesse and John this was awesome…I have never had a more exhilerating 40 minutes sitting at my desk than I did today! Keep it up can’t wait till next week!

  17. Good going fellows. Refreshing to hear thinking outside of the box.
    Looking forward to more shows. Jesse Boner is halarious, great attitude, keeping it light. Ciao!

  18. i enjoyed that very much. Jesse baby, i agree, passing the torch is what hollywood should be all about. Tupac loves the torch. have you seen that chappelle skit? hilarious. and John, i had no idea you were italian. that may change everything…
    I’ll catch you gentlemen next week.

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