Acclaimed film director Jonathan Demme has passed away at the age of 73. Despite his long career starting in the mid '70s with Caged Heat, Demme will be forever associated his masterpiece, The Silence of the Lambs. A consummate artist, he worked up to the date of his death, his final project being Seven Seconds, a new show for Netflix.
Demme was not only a gifted filmmaker but a serious fan himself. This story from a fellow attendee of the Toronto International Film Festival illustrates: When I saw Moonlight at TIFF, Jonathan Demme was sitting in front of me. A volunteer pointed out the VIP section and asked if he wanted to move, but he politely refused. After the film he was clearly clearly ecstatic and during the Q&A he waved his arms frantically to ask a question. When it came time for the last question he was randomly chosen, and without introducing himself, he asked a question about the sound design. After the movie got out I saw him get introduced to Barry Jenkins and they hugged and laughed warmly.
Equally adept at comedies, dramas, thrillers and concert films, Demme was a Renaissance man. Since Silence of the Lambs is his obvious legacy let's focus on his other films. Which of his most popular films (other than SotL) will you remember Demme for?
List: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls069114240
Poll: http://www.imdb.com/poll/rWLMUOP2niA/
*minimum rating 6.0 stars, 1,000 votes
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One more story, just because it's so fun... He lost a power struggle with star Goldie Hawn over their film Swing Shift; the rental copy of the movie at Philadelphia’s TLA Video was accompanied by a Post-It note from Demme explaining how different his original, still-unseen version of the film looked.
Demme was not only a gifted filmmaker but a serious fan himself. This story from a fellow attendee of the Toronto International Film Festival illustrates: When I saw Moonlight at TIFF, Jonathan Demme was sitting in front of me. A volunteer pointed out the VIP section and asked if he wanted to move, but he politely refused. After the film he was clearly clearly ecstatic and during the Q&A he waved his arms frantically to ask a question. When it came time for the last question he was randomly chosen, and without introducing himself, he asked a question about the sound design. After the movie got out I saw him get introduced to Barry Jenkins and they hugged and laughed warmly.
Equally adept at comedies, dramas, thrillers and concert films, Demme was a Renaissance man. Since Silence of the Lambs is his obvious legacy let's focus on his other films. Which of his most popular films (other than SotL) will you remember Demme for?
List: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls069114240
Poll: http://www.imdb.com/poll/rWLMUOP2niA/
*minimum rating 6.0 stars, 1,000 votes
-------------------
One more story, just because it's so fun... He lost a power struggle with star Goldie Hawn over their film Swing Shift; the rental copy of the movie at Philadelphia’s TLA Video was accompanied by a Post-It note from Demme explaining how different his original, still-unseen version of the film looked.
Jen, Champion
Posted 3 years ago
this is a tough one...for me it would be between...
talking heads-stop making sense
spalding gray-swimming to cambodia
neil young-heart of gold
i so wanted to love rikki and the flash, but the emphasis on the family instead of the focus on the band ruined it for me...
talking heads-stop making sense
spalding gray-swimming to cambodia
neil young-heart of gold
i so wanted to love rikki and the flash, but the emphasis on the family instead of the focus on the band ruined it for me...
Jen, Champion
A friend of mine worked tech on Stop Making Sense. He said when Byrne wasn't performing he just sat alone talking to himself.
LOVE Swimming to Cambodia...poor Spalding...
LOVE Swimming to Cambodia...poor Spalding...
rubyfruit76, Champion
Agreed. Swimming to Cambodia is a masterpiece. I like Stop Making Sense a whole lot, and Heart of Gold, too, but Swimming is one of my favorite films ever. And, yeah, I miss Spalding Grey.
Jen, Champion
I'm not sure if I like Monster in a Box or Cambodia more. I think maybe Monster, just because of all the mom angst... Did you ever see Soderbergh's King of the Hill? He had a small but interesting role in it.
i never saw 'king of the hill' but i thought he was brilliant in 'the paper' with michael keaton, one of my all time favorite films...it was a small role but so memorable...
Jen, Champion
Oh...King of the Hill is DEVASTATING! You must see it. So great...one of Soderbergh's unsung gems.
will definitely have to check it out...thanx...
(Edited)
rubyfruit76, Champion
Oh, yeah, King of the Hill is brilliant! And Monster in the Box, as well -- Swimming to Cambodia introduced me to his work, so it edges out Monster for me but it is a tough call: both are exquisite. Gray left such a hole in the worlds of cinema, writing, and theater.
Rocky, I'm a big fan of The Paper, as well. 'Great story, great cast (including for the smaller roles like Grey's) , culturally/socio-politically compelling, too, I think. I think it's one of Keaton's best performances and he and Tomei had uncommonly authentic chemistry.
Rocky, I'm a big fan of The Paper, as well. 'Great story, great cast (including for the smaller roles like Grey's) , culturally/socio-politically compelling, too, I think. I think it's one of Keaton's best performances and he and Tomei had uncommonly authentic chemistry.
rubyfruit76, Champion
Oh, yeah, King of the Hill is brilliant! And Monster in the Box, as well -- Swimming to Cambodia introduced me to his work, so it edges out Monster for me but it is a tough call: both are exquisite. Gray left such a hole in the worlds of cinema, writing, and theater.
Rocky, I'm a big fan of The Paper, as well. 'Great story, great cast (including for the smaller roles like Grey's) , culturally/socio-politically compelling, too, I think. I think it's one of Keaton's best performances and he and Tomei had uncommonly authentic chemistry.
Rocky, I'm a big fan of The Paper, as well. 'Great story, great cast (including for the smaller roles like Grey's) , culturally/socio-politically compelling, too, I think. I think it's one of Keaton's best performances and he and Tomei had uncommonly authentic chemistry.
rubyfruit76, Champion
Jen, Champion
Jen, Champion
Ok, it's live, so thanks.
But...the formatting is off in the intro... Dan can you tell me how to make it work?
But...the formatting is off in the intro... Dan can you tell me how to make it work?
rubyfruit76, Champion
Oh, yeah, around the "1,000 votes..." and the line demarcating the two parts. I think it still looks okay, but you're right, it's cleaner on your list. If you haven't heard from Dan, I'll send him a quick note.
Dan Dassow, Champion
Jen, Champion
leavey-2
15yearsIMDber aka ElMo
Very sad new and I appreciated that you disqualified "The Silence of the Lambs" but I think we can all agree that "Philadelphia" will take the lion-share of votes. If it was up to me, I would make this a two-parter:
Face-Off: The Silence of the Lambs vs. Philadelphia
then a poll about the other movies.
OR
Face-Off: What's your favorite Demme's film?
And the choice would be between The Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia and a third option that includes all the other films.
I understand that the best tribute to a director would feature his complete body of work (or the most acclaimed part of it) but it's always nice to avoid the situations where one option gets more than 80% of the votes.
Or you can make a poll of Best Oscar-nominated performance... well, it's still be between Hanks and Lecter, forget about it.
Jen, Champion
rocky-o
leavey-2
Jen, Champion
rubyfruit76, Champion
I think Jodie Foster could be a contender, especially in a three-or-more race, and I love Demme, hint, hint. ;-)
I don't think it would be too much if one poll (Jen's since it is the only suggestion so far) went live soon and then in a week or so, another (if different enough) went live. I was going to suggest a Oscar-performance or popular character poll for some time after Jen's, as I think for a first homage a full canon of work is best, but I will hold off suggesting another one if you, Leavey (or ElMo? etc), wants to do another one different from Jen's.
I'm really tired so I hope that was coherent.
rubyfruit76, Champion
leavey-2
rubyfruit76, Champion
15yearsIMDber aka ElMo
rocky' o said
I don't know, I feel like I said something wrong, I didn't make a comment on the film but also on its fame, as an objective parameter. Maybe there was a possibility for a face-off between the two films and a second poll about his 'lesser known' movies and a question such as "which one would you most be interested to see?"
That's all, but I'm not sure I like the way when you suggest something to a feel poll user and the answer is "feel free to make any of these suggestions", which in subtext, means "no, I don't want to".
15yearsIMDber aka ElMo
rocky' o said
I don't know, I feel like I said something wrong, I didn't make a comment on the film but also on its fame, as an objective parameter. Maybe there was a possibility for a face-off between the two films and a second poll about his 'lesser known' movies and a question such as "which one would you most be interested to see?"
That's all, but I'm not sure I like the way when you suggest something to a feel poll user and the answer is "feel free to make any of these suggestions", which in subtext, means "no, I don't want to".
rocky-o
i apologize for the intonation and misunderstanding of my comment...it's all good...
15yearsIMDber aka ElMo
At least Demme had the tribute he deserved