Where goes Superman?

This past weekend, Henry Cavill’s new movie, COLD LIGHT OF DAY, bombed at the box office with nasty reviews and few dollars.  This is Cavill’s last movie as a civilian.  Next year, he either ascends superstardom or wallows in Brandon Routhdom as the next Superman in MAN OF STEEL.  Either way, he won’t be poor!:)

It’s also the Toronto Film Festival this week – one of my favorite film festivals from my old home town – and it always brings to mind my favorite topic about the battle between indie versus studio films.  And it is a reminder about a filmmaker’s passion and what kind of luck a film, its director and its actors can have.

It was at the Sundance Film Festival many years ago where AMERICAN PSYCHO blasted off to turn Christian into a star.  Indie films like JUNO became hits at a film festival when a major studio decided, “Hey, let’s buy this little movie and see how well it does!”  This month, I’m looking forward to seeing PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER because I loved the book, and I’d love to see how Emma Watson handles her post-POTTER career, and I think the next great actor is Ezra Miller.

In a similar way, my book, Christian Bale’s biography, is sort of like an indie film.  My publisher is smaller – think Summit Entertainment, not Paramount Pictures – and we had no advertising budget.  But the book has caught on and been doing well, consistently in the Top 100 Best Selling Celeb biographies on Amazon for the past 3 months.  Thank you all for your tremendous support!

The fan mail – yes, I’m getting mail! – has also been interesting as the nature of the readers have changed.  I think initially, hardcore Baleheads were bristling at any perceived criticism of their favorite actor.  But as the reviews have been getting out there, and people have been reading the book, the word of mouth is more like, “Wow, I didn’t know that!  I didn’t realize what it takes to be an actor!”

And this summer has been great proof of the power of fandom.  Witness the 2 Internet campaigns – the first one to get Christian to go to Colorado to visit the shooting victims, the second to visit with the cancer-stricken boy – I mean, really, Baleheads, you have to feel good about the power of the Internet and the continued proof of what’s in Christian’s biography – that fans have always mattered to his career.

I’m hard at work on my next book projects.  It’s too early to talk too much about them, but suffice it to say, you write what you know!:)

Lost treasures – Indie film

Thank you for the awesome reception to the book!

I’ve been doing a lot of press to promote the book, and I’ve been asked a number of times what were the pivotal indie films in Christian’s career.

If you’ve been reading some of the more sensational headlines about the book, learn to read between the lines!  It’s unfortunate how much of an interview gets cut out to leave in the headline crap.

I love independent film.  Those films are the ones made with love and passion, before a director, a writer or an actor has to worry about whether or not their project makes a studio any money.  Indie films typically have more interesting dialogue, more original storylines, and the most daring work of an actor.

So when I think back on Christian’s career, the obvious indie choice is American Psycho.  Without American Psycho, Christian would have been hard pressed to convince Hollywood that he could play American, be buff, and look good in that all important “Bruce Wayne” like tuxedo!

But if you’re a fan of Christian’s work, you’d be remiss to ignore Metroland (reviewed here) and films like All the Little Animals and The Secret Agent – where Christian would lay the groundwork of playing a part like in The Fighter.  Here’s a factoid for you – Christian was actually after the part What’s Eating Gilbert Grape which he lost to…. DiCaprio!  To prepare for that role, he went to schools for the mentally challenged so that he could study mannerisms and speech patterns.  DiCaprio ended up getting the part – and it earned him an Oscar nom!

My very first indie film that really caught my eye was a wonderfully dark David Lynch film called Blue Velvet.   It was the first movie I ever saw where the audience reacted so strongly, that some people walked out of the theater!  Next was one of Colin Firth’s early films – Apartment Zero.  If you love American Psycho, you might want to check out Apartment Zero since it garnered Firth awesome reviews and should have made a star out of Hart Bochner.  But alas – not every actor had Christian’s kind of indie film marketing to leverage the most out of every appearance! I also loved the Canadian indie, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing and a film noir called After Dark My Sweet which starred Jason Patric.  Patric was another great actor who coulda woulda shoulda been a star, but he hates the Hollywood game and was pretty anti-publicity.

I could go on and on about various films that impressed me at a film festival or left me wondering if an actor would make it big after being the toast of Sundance, but I guess the main point about these being “lost treasures” is that not all of these films get released on DVD.  So they disappear unless you’re lucky enough to get press screeners.  When you think about how many wonderful indie films missed getting distribution, it’s a little discouraging and should make you realize the tough odds of getting a successful Hollywood career!  Here’s a Bale-related example – both Metroland and All the Little Animals were distributed in the U.S. by Lions Gate.  They chose to acquire those titles based on the very successful film festival attendance for those films. So fan power got those films a distribution deal.

When Lions Gate was getting ready to produce American Psycho, the entire casting war between Christian and DiCaprio was again determined by fan voting and reaction.  The casting war left a bitter taste in Christian’s mouth.  Does he hold a grudge? Well, let’s say that he made it quite clear that he would not appear in Lions Gate’s American Psycho 2 or Rules of Attraction – both Bret Easton Ellis projects.

We all love the summer blockbusters – they are entertaining, but if you’re a movie buff, I hope you look up smaller films – there are a million gems out there that are worth seeing.  And chances are, they will be your own private treasure!:)

I wanted to send out a big thank you to American and Canadian readers who’ve made Christian Bale: The Inside Story of the Darkest Batman a Top 100 Best selling Amazon Biography for the past 2 weeks in a row!  I’ve done a couple more book events and have been so thrilled to meet movie buffs, Batman fans, Baleheads who are enjoying my book.

Coming up?

• The Patrick Phillips Show (podcast) on Wed, June 20
• The Writers conference – I’m on 2 panels (June 22, 23)
• Comic-Con, San Diego!
• Lots of press to be announced throughout July
• Book signing – Barnes & Noble Manhattan Beach, CA (July 20)