Tuesday, November 21, 2006

In Memoriam

Robert Altman
1925 - 2006

Even though I've never been the biggest Altman nerd, I've respected a lot of his work (most recently I've really enjoyed the Criterion set of Tanner '88) but I've always had this really weird connection to him as a person. Even, almost, before I knew who he was, he came to me in a dream. It was the night before Elias and I rolled camera for the first day of our first film (Missy) and I was literally throwing up in nervous anticipation for it. I mean, we were just out of High School for god-sakes and had spent the last 6 months and every spare penny we had into that goddamn spaceship set. But he came to me in this dream (not an image of him so much, just his name) and just sort of walked me through a calming conversation about filmmaking and the inevitability of my career. I awoke the next day feeling a little bit better, but I was wondering who the hell Robert Altman was. The name sounded familiar but I'd never seen any of his work. I made it a point to check things out after that and I discovered an amazing and tremendous filmmaker.

That's a true story.

You can read my musings about Short Cuts and Prairie Home Companion here.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Happy to read the Altman salute. I think my favorite film of his was "Short Cuts" but "The Player" is right up there. "A Wedding" and "Nashville" were more political and I like them for their rawness. Above all, I liked him because he didn't give a shit about critics or Hollywood weasels. He was unique and an artist: What we all should strive for.