The New Bev's Got the Wright Stuff
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After immensely enjoying guest programmer Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse film fest earlier this year, I ventured out again last night for a bit of The Wright Stuff, the first of director Edgar Wright's favorites presentation (which will be running through most of December) at the famed New Beverly Theater in Los Angeles.
I call myself a Brian De Palma fan, but I must confess that I had never seen The Phantom of the Paradise before last night. It was funky fun, and definitely served to whet my appetite for more such films (see: Rocky Horror Picture Show, Gory Gory Hallelujah, and the upcoming The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, and Repo! The Genetic Opera).
It was wonderful to see the celebrated singer/songwriter Paul Williams, last night's special guest, in attendance, as well as genre icons Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth having fun with the three pic slate (Williams' Bugsy Malone [1976] and Phantom of the Paradise [1974] were already on the bill; his other movie, Ishtar [1987] — a legendary bomb starring Dustin Hofman and Warren Beatty as jingle-writers, was a not very well-kept secret). Tarantino recalled having sat behind Ishtar director Elaine May during one of the first screenings of that film, and remarked with bemused humor on how she laughed throughout the whole movie.
Wright was on hand for the entire evening, sitting front and center during the screenings, and handily MC'ing between. Williams, looking dapper in a suit and tie, took questions from the keen crowd and joked around with Wright, who was in fine fettle with his trademark tomfoolery and f-bomb droppage (when Williams mentioned that he lost the Academy Award to "the guy who did the Great Gatsby" that year, Wright wisecracked, "Well, fuck that guy!").
Williams quipped that one of his best memories from working on Bugsy Malone (a gangster movie featuring an all-child cast) was getting to "keep some of the wardrobe", and he aptly described Phantom of the Paradise as "a cartoon, but with real people." He also talked a bit about the fan-fest, PhantomPalooza, which goes on every year in Winnipeg, plus revealed that thanks to De Palma's recent devotion, it looks as though a stage production of Phantom could soon be in the works.
The Wright Stuff festival closes on December 16 & 17 with two of Wright's very favorites, the Coen Brother's Raising Arizona and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2. All shows start at 7:30PM and cost a paltry $7 for both features.
Dec 5th and 6th - Flash Gordon & Danger Diabolik
Guests: Timothy Dalton, Joe Dante
Dec 7th and 8th - The Last Boy Scout & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Guest: Shane Black
Dec 10th and 11th - American Werewolf in London & Tremors
Guests: John Landis
Dec 12th - Top Secret & Bananas
Guest: David Zucker
Dec 14th and 15th - Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls & Head
Guest: Mickey Dolenz
Dec 16th and 17th - Raising Arizona & Evil Dead 2
Guests: Unannounced
The New Beverly is located at 7165 W. Beverly Blvd. in Los Angeles. For more information, click to the New Beverly website or Wright's MySpace page.