Despite my natural cynicism about Hollywood—from an audience standpoint and as a screenwriter who's been in the business for 30 years—I'm kinda stunned that Barbie and Oppenheimer have been so completely linked. It's largely due to marketing, of course, but it still leaves me shaking my head. In most ways, Oppenheimer is just as mainstream as Barbie but there's still a huge difference in terms of artistic ambition, right? Isn't there? Am I wrong? I mean—Taxi Driver was also a mainstream movie. I'm sad and confused.
These are timely and interesting insights. It makes me think of streaming television shows, which are permitted creative control and which are considered high quality and which would not have been permitted to air on network television.
Have these creators “sold out”? In my view, not exactly, since they are able to put forward all varieties of creative vision, sometimes “successful” (whatever that means on streaming services) but sometimes appealing to a very niche audience.
I think the medium makes a huge difference on this point. The movie theater business has long been limited by the need to “open” or at least recoup investments. Not nearly as true with streaming. Seems that you can work there and not really sell out.
How do you follow your “artistic vision” while making a Barbie movie? I had to laugh even while typing that sentence.
Despite my natural cynicism about Hollywood—from an audience standpoint and as a screenwriter who's been in the business for 30 years—I'm kinda stunned that Barbie and Oppenheimer have been so completely linked. It's largely due to marketing, of course, but it still leaves me shaking my head. In most ways, Oppenheimer is just as mainstream as Barbie but there's still a huge difference in terms of artistic ambition, right? Isn't there? Am I wrong? I mean—Taxi Driver was also a mainstream movie. I'm sad and confused.
These are timely and interesting insights. It makes me think of streaming television shows, which are permitted creative control and which are considered high quality and which would not have been permitted to air on network television.
Have these creators “sold out”? In my view, not exactly, since they are able to put forward all varieties of creative vision, sometimes “successful” (whatever that means on streaming services) but sometimes appealing to a very niche audience.
I think the medium makes a huge difference on this point. The movie theater business has long been limited by the need to “open” or at least recoup investments. Not nearly as true with streaming. Seems that you can work there and not really sell out.