Sunday, October 27, 2019

Auteur Watch - Joe James

A seemingly ordinary name for a quite extraordinary individual.  I have to like him now because he has an uncredited role in Barton Fink... but otherwise, I can't say I've seen him in anything.  I don't remember him as the shooter in Malcolm X, or as the Bellboy in A Kiss Before Dying... man!  Lots of "uncredited"s on his resumé!  And apparently, lots of voice work.  I mean, he's a good looking guy; why not get his ass in front of the damn camera?  Well, after 15 odd years or so kicking around this cockamamie business, and his big chance finally came.  His lifelong ambition of playing Arthur Ashe was finally fulfilled with Arthur! A Celebration of Life.  But who to get to direct this ambitious project?  Ang Lee?  Paul Haggis?  Bennett Miller?  Well, unfortunately, they were all busy, but you know what?  Joe himself has kicked around long enough.  Why not the pressure of two full-time jobs on this one?  Well, seems like a good enough idea at first... until it isn't.  I mean, remember that one season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where Larry David thought it would be a good idea to have Cheryl play a part?
Okay, so the critics didn't celebrate as much.  But whatever.  Back to work doing uncredited roles in various things, everything from American Gangster to an episode of "30 Rock."  And so, another 15 years goes right by, whoosh, the snap of a finger... boy!  We must be having fun because time is a'flyin'!  Dayamn.  Fifteen years of shoveling coal in the acting mines and... time to direct something else.  For Mr. James, that something else is a video short called "May December" and... ooh!  An 11 million number!  Where does the time go?  Of course, the IMDb will only use even numbers now for titles, God knows why.  Maybe it's a superstition thing, who knows.

(10:54pm) - Ooh!  Just finished.  Well, the odds seem to end at about 2404811, or a short called You Got the Crazy.  A fitting title to decide that from now on, it's only even numbers for IMDb titles.

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