AT THE PANELS
MAKING FUN OF FILMMAKING
Saturday, March 12
Paul Giamatti enters a hotel room, takes out the obligatory Bible and tosses it in the trash can. The scene was cut from critically acclaimed film Sideways, while a shot of the star reading Barely Legal magazine made it in, said Thomas Haden Church. Church garnered an Oscar nomination for his role in the film, but admits the biggest grossing movie of his career is George of the Jungle, in which fart jokes ruled. “Censorship lands where the broadest demographic is not too offended,” he said. He joined comedians Sarah Silverman, Patton Oswalt, Paul Provenza, and The Comedians of Comedy director Michael Blieden to critique where the film industry draws the line in sensitive times and where the famed pastry sex scene in American Pie lands in the mix. Silverman argued with a straight face that the pie scene was done “very classily.” Blieden said the only scene he was asked to cut from his film involved a lot of mayonnaise and hints of masturbation. The reasoning given was the controversy might overshadow the film’s comedians. “I’m still ambivalent about it, but I’m okay with that ambivalence,” he said. Oswalt said creativity can get lost in the mix. “In most films today they tell you when the comedic scene is,” he said. “There’s no ambiguity anymore.” The marketplace hears more complaints than praise about comedy, Provenza said. “Anything you like, let people know,” he said. “Spread it around. Turn people on to it. It’s all about the marketplace.”
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.