Tag: amir bar lev (Page 5 of 5)

Hey, Amir Bar-Lev, director of the upcoming Dead documentary. Whatcha doing?

“Going mad.”

Not there yet?

“Soon.”

How’s the movie?

“Not movie. Movies.”

What?

“The film has evolved and expanded.”

…

Please don’t say–

“It is now the Grateful Dead Cinematic Universe.”

–cinematic…goddammit.

“Five solo films to introduce the characters, and then a team-up trilogy.”

I don’t know.

“Plus spin-off films.”

Wall of Sound get one?

“Yes!”

Bear get one?

“Yes!”

Road crew get one?

“Yes!”

Betty get one?

“We’ll see.”

Right. This may not be a great idea, Amir.

“Or it might be the best idea.”

…

No. It is not the best idea at all.

“Can I talk to you?”

That’s what we’re doing.

“I don’t know how to say this. I have a problem. Little problem. Maybe not a problem at all.

Just spit it out.

“Ah, well, see: I’ve been spending so much time looking at the Grateful Dead, and…they’ve started speaking to me.”

Okay. And?

…

“That was the problem.”

Oh! Okay. I’ve gotten used to that.

“They speak to you too?”

Little bit.

“Can you tell them to stop bothering me?”

I could, but that would make them bother you more.

…

“Garcia’s origin movie is being split into two parts and he’s got a Chinese friend to appeal to the Asian market.”

What’s the Chinese friend’s name?

“Choog Li.”

Clever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEOP6r9m13k

Yesterday brought news of director Amir Bar-Lev’s insanity brought about by the Grateful Dead, but before a semi-defunct, choogly-type band drove him bonkers, he made at least one great documentary. My Kid Could Paint That is about a child prodigy, a very young painter; coincidentally her father was a failed artist. She began producing work far beyond her age; the paintings weren’t all that good, but: hey, a four-year-old painted them!

The young painter’s work sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and attracted the attention of the press, and also a documentarian who asked, “May I watch her paint?”

You’ll be shocked at what happens next.

I saw this a few years back and loved it; it’s three bucks from YouTube or you could be some filthy pirate and steal hummus out of Amir Bar-Lev’s mouth.

I don’t think he’s Israeli.

What would make you think that?

His Wikipedia page.

Those can’t be trusted.

He has an American accent.

Those can be faked. Maybe he’s Mossad.

…

You want him to be Israeli because it’s funnier.

He was going to have an Uzi.

Yeah, no. California kid.

Northern or Southern?

Berkeley.

Wait, okay, yeah. Now his name makes sense. It’s not “the son of Lev” in Hebrew, it’s that hippie thing where a guy named Barrison and a gal named Levinson come up with a new amalgam name when the guru marries them.

Could be.

…

I’m gonna–

You’re gonna pretend he’s Israeli, anyway.

–pretend that he’s…yeah.

Writing is about choices.

And coffee.

Some news about the long-awaited Martin Scorsese-produced documentary about the Dead: its scope has changed and the project is now not a feature, but a four-hour long documentary with a release (tentatively) scheduled for the fall. Showbiz411 broke this news, but as usual TotD has the real scoop.

I sat down with director Amir bar Lev for this EXCLUSIVE interview:

Amir, how are you?

“I’m well. Thank you for asking.”

You have a rather foreign name. Where’s it from?

“Go fuck yourself.”

Ah. Israel.

“Ken.”

Barbie. Anyway, Amir: you told Roger Friedman of Showbiz411 about the Dead documentary becoming a mini-series. Can you talk more about that?

“Of course. We had so much great footage–stuff no one’s ever seen before–that we couldn’t say no to some of it. It was too much for a feature, so it needed to be a four-hour presentation.”

This is very exciting.

“Yes, it is. Deadheads are going to go nuts when they see our six-hour mini-series.”

Um.

“They’ll say, ‘Only eight hours?’ That’s how good it is.”

Amir, I’m a little confused. How long is this sucker?

“Like I said originally, it’s a tight eleven hours.”

…

Have you lost control of the footage?

“There’s so much of it.”

Did you stare at the Grateful Dead too hard and then you went insane?

“Does that happen a lot?”

Almost every time. Don’t feel bad: even Garcia went nuts making a movie about the Dead.

“The mini-series is now infinite: it has been playing forever, and it is playing now, and it will always be playing. We will measure our lives against it in the fullness of the allnow.”

Yeah, okay. Oh, hey: what’s the name of the movie?

“This project is too big to have a name.”

Wow.