Funny sort of doco - basically just De Palma talking to camera about his career, interspersed with photos, clips from his films and home movies. But since his career has been so long and varied and De Palma is a strong raconteur (I'd actually never heard him speak before, I think!) it passes the time well.
I particularly enjoyed hearing about his upbringing - upper middle class (dad was a surgeon), squabbling family life but Brian seemed to have plenty of cash (another spoilt boomer director!), lots of education, he only got the film bug at college. Loved seeing clips of a young De Niro, Jennifer Salt and Jill Clayburgh.
De Palma was given a lot of advantages in life (his sex, his background) but was/is a self starter - he had the moxie to make his own feature back in the 60s, and made a living out of doing promotional documentaries. He also has resilience to bounce back from things like being booted off Getting to Know Your Rabbit.
He's got one of those careers where failures are followed by successes then failures. The success of Sisters led to the failure of Phantom of the Paradise led to the success of Obsession (Cliff Robertson was a pain in the neck which was sad to hear) and Carrie, led to the failure of Home Movies, led to the success of Dressed to Kill (the script was hot property and sold for $1 million), led to the failure of Blow Out, led to the success (ish) of Scarface, led to the failure of Body Double and Wise Guys led to the success of The Untouchables led to the failure of Casualties of War and Bonfire of the Vanities, led to the success of Carlito's Way (which he says "I can't do better than that"), Raising Cain and Mission Impossible (clashes in approach from David Koepp and Robert Towne), the mixed success of Snake Eyes and the failure of Mission to Mars, then the more "indie" path he's tread since then.
De Palma comes across as affable and confident, hungering for success as much as anyone in Hollywood, remarkably unaware and un-analytical of what all these scenes in his films where women die violently might mean for him or how derivative he is, and simplistic in his political takes ("it's a sewer"). He's appreciative of great composers and actors and collaborators.
Lots of interesting bits:
- Sean Penn punched out Michael J Fox in Casualties of War to help Fox's performance - thanks Sean
- he still stands by Bonfire of the Vanities
- he's bitter Sidney Lumet pinched Prince of the City off him
- he was offered Flashdance
- he followed his father around when younger to see who his dad was cheating on his mother with
- he hit up Spielberg and Scorsese for money to finish Home Movies
Very much worthwhile.
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