Rewatching Luke Cage while I can on Netflix. They're going to do what they do. It's theirs. I just hope they don't sit on it for years to allow for an easier reboot, or re-air it with a different mix, or the N-Word muted. I'd love to do commentary tracks, or the original credits
The original credits, before we did our more conventional bumpers, was LUKE CAGE in a yellow American International Pictures/"Tarantino" font. The jogging sequence from 106 was the original opening, with Luke jogging to Bill Withers "Harlem".
The other things that got lost in the 101 cut was the full song for Raphael Saddiq's "Angel". I still miss the flute solo. I was going forsomeMichael Mann shit with the intercut of the violence in the club with the musical performance, but I just didn't have the juice to keep it
102 is probably my favorite episode of TV I ever wrote. The original song that we used for Luke walking through the city asking questions as he looked for Chico (even though Adrian and Ali wrote a dope replacement) was Quincy Jones's "Summer In The City"
The best scene I've ever written in my life, hands down, was in "Code Of The Streets" on the roof with Mahershala, @Theorossi , Warner Miller, Alfre Woodard, and Rob Morgan. I remember watching it and I forgot I wrote it. They took it to another level.
I had so many favorite scenes. Writing for Mike, Simone, Alfre, Theo, Mahershala, Reg E Cathey, Rosario, Ron Cephus Jones, Frank Whaley, Mustafa Shakir, Thomas Q, Gabrielle, Karen Pittman, Jeremiah Craft, Sean Ringgold, Curtiss Cook, Latanya and so many others was such a joy...
Other songs that didn't make it? For 210 "The Main Ingredient" we used the remix for Wu-Tang's "7th Chamber" (I was actually at Firehouse house studio with Rza back in 1992 when he remixed it), but I really wanted "Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' To Fuck With."
Regardless of whether or not I'm asked back, I really hope they keep Mike as Luke and Simone as Misty, and everybody else as everybody else. It's kinda like Bond. There might be another Bond, but I got to write for Sean Connery, Lois Maxwell and Ursula Andress.
Paul McGuigan had such an interesting way of shooting, one I'll emulate when I direct. The Barbershop scenes in 101 and 102 were all shot as long takes with multiple angles, over and over again like a play, with no cuts. Even from another angle, they went top to bottom.
The scene with Mike and Simone in the aftermath of Pop's getting shot up in episode 102 was all one take. Mike wanted to hold Pop's hat, but I insisted on the Swear Jar...which was lucky, because we had to cut another scene and was able to grab a pickup with him holding it later.
Another note to Showrunners...when you're onset, grab your props. Do you know what it feels like pay thousands of dollars for a coffee can prop you invented?
Also, when you get the urge to write? Do it. I was supposed to go out one Saturday night and ended up writing the draft of what became the Bible for Luke Cage, which ended up flipping the order. Luke Cage was supposed to be shot after Iron Fist Season 1 not before.
SouthLAnd also has Luke Cage links. That's when I met Dorian Missick, who was Regina King's partner. One of my favorite memories was a party at @Cudlitz house with me, Cud, Dorian, Simone, Regina, Samira Wiley, and Sean Hatosy in the kitchen. I should have gotten autographs..
Got Lucy Liu to direct the amazing 201 and almost got Regina King to do one as well. (Got outvoted on that one, but I'll protect the guilty). After "One Night In Miami" however, Regina is now at that Pilot offer only/ attached as EP level. They'd be lucky to get a meeting.
SouthLAnd table reads with Regina King, Cudlitz, Sean Hatosy, Ben McKenzie, C Thomas Howell, and Lucy Liu is where I really learned to write dialogue. Each actor had a different approach to a script and the notes and changes on the spot is how you learn to make a script sing...
...and then the same thing applied to the Luke Cage watching Mike, Simone, Alfre. Mahershala and Theo mix it up...dialogue is like jazz...so much of it is rhythm.
After I get some more of this writing done, I'll do a live rewatch of a few episodes....or maybe there's a way for me to do youtube commentary rewatches, which would be fun. I could get into the triumphs...and blunders...hopefully without getting sued...
Or what's better. A Sopranos style podcast with cast crew writers and directors revisit? Or a taped rewatch where we talk about about scenes? That'd be fun to do that via Zoom or something else.
People who have done this...Should I record my voice just talking while watching an episode? Or maybe I record a zoom of me watching and reacting in real time.
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I'm really digging Bel Air. I know HBOMax is probably kicking themselves about not doing the show. The comparison contrast is fascinating in way that enhances appreciation of both shows.
I think Geoffery and Uncle Phil had some links to the "bad man dem" back in Philly. How else is he going to afford that 15 million dollar house and have the "back channel" connections to negotiate Will's transition. What would be interesting is if Will's dad was caught up in that
I know they're making the characters earn it, but I'm hoping Will and Carlton end up having a better relationship. A subtle complexity built between then on the original, and I hope it's replicated in the new show.
It happens this weekend. If you watch the patterns, Trump hates Camp David. He always goes to Maralago or Bedminster. They isolate him at CD and either the 25th happens or Impeachment happens. Don’t underestimate how shook the power structure is right now.
The Senate is the holiest of Holy’s. They were lucky that the invasion was just the hillbillies. Imagine what a trained strike team could have done, or the hostage situation that could have ensued, particularly since they were “looking for” Pence and Pelosi...
That’s why behind the scenes there will be more of a bipartisan effort do something. Because the whole game is at risk. The fact that his Twitter is quiet and aides are backing away shows that the chess game is in play.
To not be sad for a minute...to fully appreciate the genius of Cobra Kai, watch "The Karate Kid" and then watch the series. The characterization is genius. The show is going to blow up on Netflix.
The thing you have to appreciate is something I learned at Marvel: every villian is the hero of their own narrative. The irony is that William Zabka is now Pat Morita: a super in a run down building. And Daniel LaRusso is the villian. It's a class flip.
And the fact that they use "Iron Eagle", the original Guru of color helps hapless white boy reach his full potential as a launching point for Zabka is so double meta. It also proves a fact that, given enough time, there's something classic in everything.
As good as School Daze is, the directing leap that Spike Lee makes from School Daze to Do the Right Thing to Mo Betta Blues to Jungle Fever to Malcolm X in less than 5 years is astounding. Back to back. Every single year. You just gotta keep at it.
Most important screenwriting lesson my uncle and John Singleton taught me is to watch movies constantly. To rewatch and rewatch. Film es otra lengua como espanol. The only way to become fluent is to constantly practice.
The advantage the younger generation has is that all these films are at your fingertips on Netflix. You don't have to build the massive DVD and Bluray collection (although you need them later for the commentaries).
Watchmen is amazing. I have no idea where it's going...and that's a great thing. Sometimes as Fanpeople we adhere so close to the mythology, we want things to match what we're familiar with. Damon took a much tougher road....
He wanted an audience to experience the same mindfuck we felt thirtysomething years ago when Watchmen dropped as a comic...it's a true adaptation because this show has adapted the previous mythology and evolved...
If the comic was ragtime, and Zach Snyder's adaptation was swing, Lindelof's "Watchmen" is BeBop. It's taken the chords of a standard and flipped them inside out, the way Charlie Parker turned "Cherokee" into "Koko."