Roger Simon isn’t saying Hollywood’s “not” out of touch, he’s saying that being out of touch isn’t why these anti-war films are failing.
As someone who’s paid to review these films, I can tell you that Roger is exactly right. They’re failing exactly for the reasons he mentions. If being “in” touch was a requirement for a good film that would be the end of the film business.
Great liberal films I vehemently disagree with politically but cherish as a film lover, such as Apocalypse Now, Platoon, etc… weren’t made by poseurs like Paul Haggis or individuals desperate to to reclaim their former reputation like DePalma and Tom Cruise. They came from a filmmaker’s passion to tell a story and the end result was a piece of art that transcended politics.
Oliver Stone was a veteran in touch with his subject but that doesn’t mean he was (is) in touch with middle America. Same with Coppola. And yet, they still made timeless films.
I don’t think anyone who saw Crash would argue Paul Haggis is in touch with anything on the Planet Earth. But that’s not why his movies stink. They stink because he’s a phony trying to please an industry and stay on the cocktail A-list — when he should be making movies from passion, passion, passion…
As far as the blacklist goes, it took two years, many beers, and a finished film before my two producers and I admitted quietly to each other that we were all conservatives. That’s the reality…
