Supposedly he's independent wealthy so has no need to work on films unless he really wants to.
I decided this coming weekend I will watch all of his films. I wonder if I'll like "Last Days of Disco" as much as when I first saw it...
― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 3 July 2003 04:20 (twenty years ago) link
I heard he was making a reggae movie (!) next.
― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 3 July 2003 05:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 3 July 2003 05:10 (twenty years ago) link
A writer/director whose light, urbane sensibility launched him to the forefront of the American independent filmmaking movement of the '90s, Whit Stillman was born in New York City in 1952. The son of a member of John F. Kennedy's Presidential administration and an impoverished debutante, he was raised in the upstate New York area of Cornwall, and later attended Harvard University, where he wrote humor pieces for the college daily. Upon graduating in 1973, Stillman relocated to Manhattan and began working as a journalist. While in Spain in 1980 for his wedding, he met a group of film producers and attempted to convince them that he could sell their movies to Spanish-language cable television stations in the U.S. The producers ultimately agreed, and Stillman spent the next several years as an international sales agent for Spanish filmmakers including Fernando Trueba and Fernando Colomo. He also occasionally appeared in motion pictures, including Trueba's 1982 work Sal Gorda and Colomo's 1984 effort La Linea del Cielo. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1984, Stillman began working at an illustration agency. Over the course of the next four years, he spent much of his free time agonizing over the screenplay of Metropolitan, his debut film as a director. To finance the film, Stillman sold his Manhattan apartment for 50,000 dollars, securing the other 175,000 dollars necessary to complete the project from friends and relatives.
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 3 July 2003 05:48 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 3 July 2003 05:59 (twenty years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 3 July 2003 07:49 (twenty years ago) link
(i admit no guilt w/r/t movies.)
― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 3 July 2003 07:52 (twenty years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 3 July 2003 07:58 (twenty years ago) link
― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 3 July 2003 14:07 (twenty years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Thursday, 3 July 2003 14:11 (twenty years ago) link
― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 3 July 2003 14:41 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 3 July 2003 14:44 (twenty years ago) link
― colette (a2lette), Thursday, 3 July 2003 14:54 (twenty years ago) link
― s1utsky (slutsky), Thursday, 3 July 2003 14:56 (twenty years ago) link
Jane Clark: Why should we believe you over Rick? We know you're a hypocrite. We know your "Polly Perkins" story was a fabrication--- Nick Smith: A composite. Jane Clark: ---that you're completely impossible and out of control, with some sort of drug problem and a fixation on what you consider Rick Von Sloneker's wickedness. You're a snob, a sexist, totally obnoxious and tiresome. And lately you've gotten just weird. Why should we believe anything you say? Nick Smith: I'm not "tiresome."
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 4 July 2003 06:14 (twenty years ago) link
― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 4 July 2003 07:06 (twenty years ago) link
Fred: They're calling us pigs. That's meant to hurt!
Montserrat: I think you are too sensitive. Fred: Oh great, now we're too sensitive. Fred: I think it's well-known that anti-Americanism has its roots in sexual impotence, at least in Europe.
Fred: Maybe you can clarify something for me. Since I've been, you know, waiting for the fleet to show up, I've read a lot, and - Ted: Really? Fred: And one of the things that keeps popping up is this about "subtext." Plays, novels, songs - they all have a "subtext," which I take to mean a hidden message or import of some kind. So subtext we know. But what do you call the message or meaning that's right there on the surface, completely open and obvious? They never talk about that. What do you call what's above the subtext? Ted: The text. Fred: OK, that's right, but they never talk about that.
Seeing Barcelona again is suddenly urgent and in a very real sense, key.
― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 4 July 2003 07:17 (twenty years ago) link
― NA (Nick A.), Sunday, 15 February 2004 17:36 (twenty years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:46 (eighteen years ago) link
This probably means I should see all the films again, and kind of want to, but I recall them kind of depressing me while watching, and they seem too long because of that, which makes me always reject the idea. It's a conundrum. Maybe if he just made 25 minute shorts? A specialty-channel tv show? Dear Whit, that would be good.
― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:53 (eighteen years ago) link
I feel kind of guilty for how much I enjoy Stillman movies, too, but I think Metropolitan is genuinely good.
― horsehoe (horseshoe), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:11 (eighteen years ago) link
And Chris Eigmann [sic] is awesome in anything: "I thought the surealists were just a bunch of social climbers."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― horsehoe (horseshoe), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:14 (eighteen years ago) link
Will wait for life to settle down and try again in a different mood, since everyone I love loves Whit Stillman.
― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:41 (eighteen years ago) link
I've heard about a million different projects he's supposed to be working on, all of them v. diff-sounding--a Thomas Jefferson thing, a Cultural Revoltion one and, most recently, something set in Jamaica.
― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 16:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I mean this, from Variety in 2003:
Five years after his last movie, "The Last Days of Disco," American writer-director Whit Stillman is developing a Jane Austen project with Brit producer Stephen Evans. Paris-based Stillman, who first found fame with his Austen-esque comedies of preppy manners "Metropolitan" and "Barcelona," is adapting two unfinished Austen novels, "The Watsons" and "Sanditon," into a single script, titled "Winchester Races."
His script merges the character of Emma Watson, a girl returning to her family after a long absence being brought up by her aunt, and that of Charlotte Hayward from "Sanditon," an attractive country girl taken up by a family of comically optimistic real-estate speculators.
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― horsehoe (horseshoe), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link
Chris Eigeman is indeed awesome. I love his Whitman characters' rants about things, esp. in Barcelona on anti-Americanism and shaving.
He reminds me of TOMBOT.
― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:25 (eighteen years ago) link
― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:27 (eighteen years ago) link
― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― youn, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 01:21 (eighteen years ago) link
WS: And these internet things like “whatever happened to Whit Stillman?” (laughs) I wonder the same thing myself.
ha ha.
― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 09:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 09:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 11:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 11:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 12:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 12:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 15:09 (eighteen years ago) link
I wrote a pilot for Chris Eigeman, feature player in Whit Stillman's Metropolitan, Barcelona, and Last Days of Disco. The network loved the script but wouldn't let Chris star in it. (And that is the TV business, folks.)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link
https://www.criterion.com/films/28691-barcelona
― "Damn the Taquitos" (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 15 January 2016 22:53 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MaSK3POHI0
get hype motherfuckers
― adam, Wednesday, 23 March 2016 19:30 (eight years ago) link
beckinsale 4ever
― scott seward, Wednesday, 23 March 2016 19:56 (eight years ago) link
The Last Days of Disco prequel we always wanted.
― Now I Know How Joan of Arcadia Felt (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 23 March 2016 19:58 (eight years ago) link
I don't see Chris Eigemann in there anywhere. I don't know about this.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 23 March 2016 20:04 (eight years ago) link
stephen fry :(
― conrad, Wednesday, 23 March 2016 20:22 (eight years ago) link
Stilton doing an Austen riff in period-appropriate drag feels a bit too on the nose to me, as his films were already covert Austen adaptations.
This does remind me, though, that I still need to see Damsels in Distress.
― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Thursday, 24 March 2016 02:22 (eight years ago) link
*Stillman
― rhymes with "blondie blast" (cryptosicko), Thursday, 24 March 2016 02:23 (eight years ago) link
stillman's really scraping the bottom of the austen barrel here.
beckinsale 4ever― scott seward, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 2:56 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― scott seward, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 2:56 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
someone on ILX once expressed a postulate that as the movies she was in got more and more lowbrow, kate beckinsale got hotter and hotter. wonder how this film reflects that.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 24 March 2016 02:48 (eight years ago) link
someone should re-score that trailer to li'l jon
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 24 March 2016 02:49 (eight years ago) link
Love & Friendship was really wonderful!
― sexy dander (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 23 May 2016 00:09 (eight years ago) link
A Thread for Whit Stillman's "Love & Friendship"
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 23 May 2016 00:11 (eight years ago) link
I finally saw DAMSELS IN DISTRESS.
Naturally it is quite good, maybe it's even very good compared to other films? - but I couldn't really it was that good compared to other WS films, which is a high standard.
It was possibly a bit too light for its own good. Or are they all pretty much equally light?
The incidental music seemed too intrusive and repetitive. The whole film seemed somewhat cheap. But then METROPOLITAN looks cheap, at least once you've watched the director's commentary, and is one of my favourite films of all.
I think if I had seen it in a cinema full of WS fans (which I didn't), it would have made me laugh along with them.
The above are probably standard views. Here is one slightly newer thought:
Has anyone remarked on how its musical ending pre-empts LA LA LAND?
― the pinefox, Monday, 17 April 2017 23:01 (seven years ago) link
I love Love and Friendship! I've watched it several times, as it feels like the most comforting movie in a long time
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 17 April 2017 23:40 (seven years ago) link
One of the things that amazed me (in a bad way) about DiD was the awful sound mixing/recording in some of the outdoor scenes. You'd think for a studio-distributed film, they could have gotten a few extra thou to fix that.
But I liked the film a lot anyway.
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 18 April 2017 02:23 (seven years ago) link
"Damsels In Distress" was good. Refreshing to see a depressive person imbued with a mean streak (Gerwig). Not always the usual fare in movies.
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 18 April 2017 06:06 (seven years ago) link
Tend to agree with Aerosmith - the sound balance in this film was not the best - whether this was about recording or the mix with the music.
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP I think is superior and very good. DID seems more like a stepping stone back to that level.
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 18 April 2017 08:37 (seven years ago) link
Love & Friendship was superior in every way, yeah. Especially like how it opens with a nod to Kubrick with the scoring.
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Tuesday, 18 April 2017 19:07 (seven years ago) link
DiD made me laugh about five times as hard as L&F, which counts for something in a comedy, I suppose.
― Alba, Tuesday, 18 April 2017 19:25 (seven years ago) link
I enjoyed DiD more than L&F too. I think it would be easy to pick it apart, but I laughed hard and thought Gerwig was utterly charming.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 00:35 (seven years ago) link
I've avoided seeing it precisely because of Gerwig.
― Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Violent J (誤訳侮辱), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 00:46 (seven years ago) link
I don't love her in everything, but I thought it was kind of a perfect part for her.
― o. nate, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 00:55 (seven years ago) link
Gerwig was perfect yeah
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 00:59 (seven years ago) link
The Amazon pilot is getting rebooted into a spy series.
https://www.vulture.com/2019/12/whit-stillman-the-cosmopolitans.html
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 4 December 2019 20:36 (four years ago) link
This is great to hear! I really liked The Cosmopolitans pilot. His commitment to making the series happen puts me in mind of the Sambola!
― Alba, Wednesday, 4 December 2019 22:17 (four years ago) link
And he's still hoping to make his Jamaican film.
― Alba, Wednesday, 4 December 2019 22:27 (four years ago) link
Haven't made it through the whole interview, but having not really known a lot about Stillman himself previously, I'm amazed how autobiographical his early movies were (worked in publishing in the late '70s, moved to Barcelona afterwards etc.).
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 4 December 2019 22:43 (four years ago) link
I'd been fearing just this. pic.twitter.com/dLLH5HVkfC— Whit Stillman (@WhitStillman) June 24, 2020
― ℺ ☽ ⋠ ⏎ (✖), Friday, 26 June 2020 00:47 (three years ago) link
Stillman on Twitter is really leaning into "lifetime white-shoe Republican repulsed at what his party has become"
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, 9 March 2022 21:47 (two years ago) link
Despite the Gerwigmania gripping our nation, not only is Damsels In Distress OOP on both DVD & Blu, it's also not streaming except as a rental from Direct TV (or as a purchased download from the usual suspects).
Somebody should get on that.
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 8 January 2024 18:34 (five months ago) link
and the Cosmopolitans pilot while they're at it.
― bulb after bulb, Monday, 8 January 2024 18:46 (five months ago) link
Oh yeah, that's not officially available<anywhere>
Except there's a epk promo on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Il8Xc8UYPA
― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 8 January 2024 19:05 (five months ago) link