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Art Is Theft
“Art is theft…” — Pablo Picasso I love the film ALL ABOUT EVE — can you tell?
Home » FILMMAKING BLOG » Inspirations
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The Reason I Make Movies
I absolutely love this @christinarose12 @grking Mom thought @schermannsong was fabulous! twitter.com/robist/status/… — Stu Robinson (@robist) May 13, 2013 To see my film getting out there and being watched and enjoyed by perfect strangers…there’s nothing better.
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My Favorite Altman Films
Robert Altman is one of my all-time favorite filmmakers. I love how he was so prolific. He made me fall in love ensemble casts and multiple storylines as well as the camera zoom shot and not to be afraid of it. “The only advice I can give is to never take advice from anybody.” – Robert Altman Here are the ones that top my list. THE LONG GOODBYE (1973) CALIFORNIA SPLIT (1974) NASHVILLE (1975) A Conversation with Robert Altman (Part [...]
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4 Monologues I Love
The art of the monologue — hard to write — damn hard (and impressive) for actors to pull off. I have a few tough ones in HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN SONG that I’m proud of how Mark DiConzo and Christina Rose perform them. These 4 stick out in my mind as ones I’ll never forget growing up as a kid. Hand picked from when I first saw them in the 80s/90s. Alec Baldwin “I am God” in [...]
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WATCH: great interview with actor Robert Forster & the importance of patience
Here’s Robert Forster & the importance of patience when a filmmaker says they want to work with you.
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Carnahan Rules
Joe Carnahan’s THE GREY was my top film of last year. Recently there’s been a great interview series with him that is fascinating and inspiring. I met him at the NAPA VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL and he was gracious and genuine. He took the time to hang out for a few minutes to share his stories from the trenches. His career path is nothing short of inspirational.
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My Top 5 Movie Musicals
ON THE TOWN (1949) (dirs. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly) This is my go-to musical when I need a pick me up. There’s something magical about the New York City that those sailors experience…an innocence and yet I still recognize it when I walk through the subways today. And nothing beats the “Miss Turnstiles Ballet” sequence…simply breathtaking. SINGIN IN THE RAIN (1952) (dirs. Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly) A pure classic. When Gene Kelly pitches GOTTA DANCE to the studios and we [...]
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WATCH: Interview with the collaborators of SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK was in my Top 5 films I saw in 2012. It’s such a treat to see the major collaborators talk in-depth about the film. Seeing them talk about the glory of collaboration gets me itchin’ to get back on the film set!
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WATCH: Interview with filmmaker Joe Carnahan and Liam Neeson
It’s no secret I love THE GREY. It topped the list of my favorite films I saw in 2012. Here’s the duo that collaborated on it and made it happen.
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My Top 17 Films of 2012
My Yearly Top Films List is a tad different — it includes films from any year that I just happened to catch for the first time during 2012. Here was my list from 2011. I’ve been so busy this year that I didn’t get to see nearly as many as I’d wished (see the very bottom of this blog for the complete list of films I watched in 2012). So here we go… 17. Les Miserables (2012) – made the [...]
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Early Linklater Interview
Filmmaker Richard Linklater is a quiet indie hero of mine. His 2 BEFORE films (Before Sunrise; Before Sunset) are masterpieces (so looking forward to the 3rd one). DAZED AND CONFUSED is a true classic as well. I really admire his career weaving between his more personal films with studio ones….sometime even being able to blur the lines. Recent quote: “This is the best time ever to be a filmmaker, because you really can make a movie the way a novelist [...]
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WATCH: Stanley Kubrick – The Works
(excellent montage courtesy of Joel Walden) Growing up as a kid I never really understood Kubrick films…it was only until I hit my 30s did his movies begin to resonate with me. Now I look at his films and am in awe of how much he was a such a master of the craft. Stuff About Stanley Kubrick
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The Films That Influenced ‘Schermann Song’
These are the cinematic influences for HOW DO YOU WRITE A JOE SCHERMANN SONG WEST SIDE STORY (1961) (dirs. Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise) NASHVILLE (1975) ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) (dir. Bob Fosse) MO’ BETTER BLUES (1990) (dir. Spike Lee) CHICAGO (2002) (dir. Rob Marshal) ONCE (2006) (dir. John Carney) EDITING TECHNIQUES: SISTERS (1973) (dir. Brian De Palma) I love using the split-screen technique to visually tell stories. This is an American film but all I could find was a French-dubbed [...]
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3 Scenes That Affected My Life (part two)
READ: 3 Scenes That Affected My Life (part one) In continuing the series of calling out a few scenes I’ve seen in my lifetime that truly stand out, here are 3 more that come to mind. These are not simply scenes I remember — they truly had a profound impact on me and on how I view the art of filmmaking. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (dir. Steven Spielberg) – The entire theater clapped when Indy fired his gun – [...]
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The Obscure Oddball 80s Film Fest
A few months ago filmmaker/writer Nathan Cole (@Clumsy_Monster) and I were tweeting back and forth a bit about some fond memories of growing up as a kid during the 80s and all the oddball films we loved — particularly the ones we didn’t think the “general population” (i.e. non movie geeks) would remember….the more obscure the better. We definitely had a film geek out moment for sure. So much so we started to joke around about programming a faux film [...]
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A Conversation with Filmmaker Zak Forsman
Zak Forsman and I have been good friends for just a few years now. He’s been a true supporter of my films and when I found out about his Kickstarter campaign I donated right away and asked if he would like to talk about the project in more detail to share his vision and plans. Rather than email a laundry list of questions for him to answer, I preferred to start an email discussion so that the talk would flow [...]
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The “Making of” Specials That Changed My Life
I’ve mentioned before (here and here) that as a kid I was enraptured by the making of movies — sometimes even more than the films themselves. And I’ve managed to find most of the tv specials that were a direct cause of why I fell in love with the craft of filmmaking. These are why I wanted to be a director. Thomas the Train? Dora the Explorer? HA…kid’s stuff. These are what my brother and I watched over and over [...]
