Althouse: "The baguette scene could not have been simpler, but Carla wanted to make it a big one."

July 29, 2010

"The baguette scene could not have been simpler, but Carla wanted to make it a big one."

French First Lady Carla Bruni, doing a Woody Allen movie.

14 comments:

Unknown said...: Owen Wilson working for Little Jimmy Bond? And an amateuse model-turned-actress?

This is Mia's revenge for Soon-Yi.; 7/29/10, 10:40 AM
Palladian said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/29/10, 10:44 AM
Palladian said...: I hear Michelle Obama's going to be doing a cameo in a David Cronenberg movie next year.; 7/29/10, 10:44 AM
Rialby said...: That's what Soon Yi said.; 7/29/10, 10:46 AM
Chennaul said...: I think Allen-admits to OCD-it might be him that decided to do 35 takes...; 7/29/10, 10:48 AM
KCFleming said...: Time spent not watching Woody Allen movies or reading anything about him is as close as I'll get to heaven.; 7/29/10, 11:10 AM
froggyprager said...: That seems really odd for Allen to have Owen Wilson in a movie. I know Allen likes cute young women in his films but I would think Allen would not think Wilson is a good comic actor. Wonder if he was pressured to include him since Wilson is popular. and casting him may actually get people to pay to see the film.; 7/29/10, 11:11 AM
Paddy O said...: "These pretzels are making me thirsty!"; 7/29/10, 12:08 PM
Joe said...: I majored in Film and have made educational films for a living. There is rarely a single reason some scenes take many takes. I had a scene where we not only did a bunch of takes because the sound man complained about background noise, we moved the location. In the end, I liked the first take the best!

Then there's a scene where we'd shot it, moved on and suddenly the cameraman said he wasn't sure whether we'd really got the previous scene right. The set was still up and we hurried back. The actor had to do something exactly how they'd done it before. She said she remembered, others disagreed. I didn't believe her, but redid the shot anyway. Turns out a) we hadn't picked up the shot and b) the actor was 100% right and the cut was perfect (she was even right about when the comb hit her hair to where her butt was as she was sitting.)

Then there's the scene we had to freaking shoot a dozen or more takes because we'd done a horrible job of casting one of the actors, but it was too late. (It got so bad, the cameraman asked if we could write the character out of the scene. We considered it, but couldn't. And yes, the scene was very painful to edit--the actor was horrible.)

(And don't forget Lucas and Kubrick who had a penchant for reshooting scenes dozens of times--according to the steadicam operator the record was 148--and sometimes coming back to them months later and doing even more takes.); 7/29/10, 12:23 PM
Palladian said...: "(And don't forget Lucas and Kubrick who had a penchant for reshooting scenes dozens of times--according to the steadicam operator the record was 148--and sometimes coming back to them months later and doing even more takes.)"

Horrible to see Lucas and Kubrick mentioned together. Kubrick retook until he had what he wanted and was sure that he would be sufficiently covered in the editing room. From watching Mr Lucas' movies, it seems that he retook scenes until he had absolutely drained any emotional impact, subtlety or relevance from them.

According to Garrett Brown, the inventor of the Stedicam and the operator of the Steadicam for "The Shining", it was this scene that was shot with 148 takes, the apparent world record.; 7/29/10, 1:01 PM
Be said...: This all sounds like a real life remake of "Bullets Over Broadway" or something.; 7/29/10, 4:17 PM
A.W. said...: I am sorry, i don't get the hype of a woody allen film. i mean i guess the man makes a nice bit of dough, but i have never found his movies either funny or insightful. I really don't get why people care.; 7/29/10, 7:23 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Makes me think of Flight of the Conchords.; 7/29/10, 10:36 PM
jamboree said...: He's another one I'd like to see die off except it would mean my mother is that much closer - and I don't want to deal with the tributes. Puke.; 7/30/10, 3:00 AM