Damon Lindelof Promises You His New Show Won’t End Like ‘Lost’ – In part, Lindelof may be a victim of a situation he didn’t create but helped nurture: He became, with “Lost,” a celebrity show runner, a species that was previously very rare in television. A show runner — basically the person, usually a writer, in charge of a program’s creative management and direction — of Darlton’s generation never hoped to be known to the public, except perhaps by way of a post-credits vanity card for a production company. But with the advent of the Internet, fans could not only lionize (or heckle) show runners but interact with them as well, peppering them with questions and even influencing the outcomes of plot lines.
Paul W.S. Anderson on the Art of Movie Mayhem – I think with all action — fight scenes, explosions — you need to show the impact. When there’s a big explosion, it doesn’t really have a visceral impact on the audience if it’s just flinging people through the air. They know that’s just stunts. But if you fly people through the air and they then they hit something, it’s a lot better. And then if they hit something really hard — like, you know, a brick wall — it’s even better. And if they hit a kind of rough edge on that brick wall, then you’re getting to the good stuff. And then if what they hit breaks, then that’s the best.
Giger Flashback – Seeing the news, last Tuesday morning, that H.R. Giger died triggered a flashback. Back in 1995, I was coordinator for a creature effects studio in a nondescript corner of Sun Valley, when the phone rang. A whispering voice, reminiscent of Peter Lorre, asked to speak with my boss, Steve Johnson. “
