DSI 21: Screenwriter Lem Dobbs Interview

Ok, film fans. It's been a long time coming, but here's a 53,000 word masterpiece of an interview with the screenwriter responsible for a number of quality screenplays, most notably Alex Proyas's Dark City and Steven Soderbergh's The Limey.

You can thank me AFTER you read it.

Dark City Redux?

I earlier posted about this film, and rewatched it last week, in the Director's Cut edition. A great film, but I don't know if the additions, and deletion of the opening voiceover really makes the film better. Proyas, in the DVD commentary thinks so. But I think the changes are more akin to the Apocalypse Now-Apocalypse Now Redux cut- longer, but still of the same quality. Oftentimes directors are screwed, but other times it's their vanity and egos at work when they decry studio edits. Blade Runner, while no great film, is actually better in its first cut, with cheesy voiceover that leavens some of the mawkish scenes within by adding a taste of unintended POMo self-deprecation.

Here is Kiefer Sutherland doing his Peter Lorre best:



However, the most famous scene from this film made iconic the image of Jennifer Connelly at the end of a long pier.

Dark City

Ok, since I'm interviewing Lem Dobbs for later on in the Dan Schneider Interviews, and I mentioned The Limey, here's the trailer for his other great film:



Roger Ebert called it 1998's best film. That's tough to swallow, with Terence Malick's The Thin Red Line around, but this film is everything crap like Blade Runner wanted to be.