First of all, read Sharon Waxman's New York Times article on the behind-the-scenes wrangling between Joe Roth and Julie Taymor on Across the Universe, and tell me whose side she's very clearly on. To give you a hint, I'll cite this paragraph:
Mr. Roth, a former Disney studio chief who proclaimed his ’60’s-influenced, artist-friendly ethos in 2000 by naming his new company Revolution Studios, is himself a director, of films like “Christmas With the Kranks,” “Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise” and “Freedomland.”
On one hand, that's just brutal honesty. True, Waxman's omitting what might be Roth's best directorial effort, Coupe de Ville, but only the twenty or so ardent defenders of that particular picture are likely to cry foul on her selectivity. And yet I still think Waxman is unfairly slanting her piece in favor of Taymor, who's thus far been a bust as a filmmaker artistically and commercially (maybe Frida broke even with its $56 million domestic haul, but I'd have to be willing to swallow that reported $12 million production budget - and, judging from what I've heard from unbiased sources about that so-so Miramax feature, I ain't). If Waxman's seen the movie, she should probably tip her hand a little and lobby on its behalf; otherwise, it's difficult to claim a dog in this fight.
I am, however, pleased that we've moved beyond the "Joe Roth: Defender of Artistic Integrity" era, since he has kinda been involved with a lot of movies notorious for being undone by studio interference (e.g. Nightbreed, The Exorcist III and, of course, Gigli - by the way, I love that Roth is adamantly against directors having final cut after Gigli, as if he couldn't have seen that one coming after Meet Joe Black).
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