On the flip side, it’s not like Netflix, HBO or even fledgling Apple desperately needs any single piece of content either.Īdmittedly, executives are never the heroes in Hollywood tales. As he notes in the special, it’s not like he needs the money, or lacks options. Of course, there’s always the risk that Chappelle would have bowed out. “But wouldn’t it be prudent to move on to something else?” “Dave, you’re a genius, and we support your right to express yourself,” the conversation might have gone. But a note might have been that Stewart could capitalize a bit more on his comedic gifts and still convey the message, as he did on “The Daily Show.”Īs for Chappelle, while the comic prides his role as a provocateur, it doesn’t sound unreasonable for Netflix – the network paying millions for his specials – to ask whether needed to revisit transgender issues so extensively after causing a stir with his previous material about the transgender community. That’s not bad, necessarily, and reviews complaining about the lack of laughs missed the point, since the show doesn’t really seek to elicit them. In Stewart’s case, that meant turning his Apple series, “The Problem,” into a more conventional newsmagazine that treats issues seriously and significantly downplays the humor. At least, not one you can picture many people paying to see.įinally, there are Chappelle and Stewart, comedy heavyweights who have earned plenty of latitude but still feel motivated to push further. SearchlightĪ helpful studio executive might have told Anderson it was a cute idea – worthy of a series of shorts, perhaps, for a hungry streaming service – but not exactly a movie. Adapting three quirky “stories” from the pages of a fictional magazine, the gimmick represents a sweet tribute in theory that becomes increasingly tedious as it whimsically but uneventfully drags from sequence to sequence.Įlisabeth Moss, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, Fisher Stevens and Griffin Dunne in Wes Anderson's film 'The French Dispatch' (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures). It’s lovely to look at, but also an almost non-narrative movie. Known for his quirky features, Anderson has also been allowed to run unfettered in “The French Dispatch,” a meticulously produced ode to magazines like the New Yorker that, thanks to the director’s reputation, assembled a virtual who’s-who of Hollywood stars, including Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, and Bill Murray – in some cases playing what amount to blink-and-you’ll-miss-them roles. In this case, though, the key editing notes came from outside HBO, which might have spared both the director and the network headaches had someone raised the issue sooner. But the network (like CNN, a unit of WarnerMedia) ran into a bit of a buzzsaw this summer over Spike Lee’s four-part documentary “NYC Epicenters,” when the filmmaker extensively included unfounded conspiracy theories from 9/11 truthers in the final installment.Īfter reporters who saw early screeners flagged the episode, Lee announced that he was returning to the editing room, and those portions wound up excised. It has clearly become a selling point (along with gobs of cash, obviously) for attracting marquee names, such as allowing director Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” to run a “The Ten Commandments”-esque 3 ½ hours.īefore Netflix, of course, there was HBO, which has also cultivated a reputation for nurturing talent. Netflix has benefited from the perception that creative types can come to the service – hungry for content as it is – and produce projects with relatively little interference. Yet watching the Dave Chappelle special that has spurred controversy at Netflix, Jon Stewart’s new show for Apple TV+ and most recently director Wes Anderson’s latest star-studded movie “The French Dispatch” makes a pretty potent case that anyone, no matter how talented, can occasionally use an editor. There’s a popular assumption that gifted artists, left to their own devices, will create their best work, and that the intrusion of network suits or studio bosses only mucks up the process.
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