It would be hard to find more of a contrast to the slums of Mumbi, India than the wealth and beauty of Telluride, Colorado. But that is part of the ride that Danny Boyle has been on the last year or so. And last night in Hollywood he collected an Academy Award for best director. I’m sure at some part in the evening Boyle had to contemplate how life would have been different if Slumdog Millionaire would have been released directly on DVD as it almost was.
How does a film go from almost being released directly to DVD to making over $100 million and winning eight Academy Awards? Because nobody really knows what’s a hit or a miss.
Today’s quote comes from an interview Boyle did at the Telluride Film Festival in 2008.
“My favorite is Apocalypse Now, absolute 100% favorite film, because the thing that bedevils us all the time is this battle between commerce and art, and it’s between– can you open the Cannes Film Festival or can you get your film seen by a big mainstream audience? And it’s maybe the only film that does that, that rides both those horses, without apologizing to anybody on the way. And it’s not perfect, which I also love about it, because I think perfect would be terrible; it is a bit of a mess at times, but it’s made by a madman with an extraordinarily kind of poetic coherence somehow. And I love that.”
Danny Boyle
Interview with Alex Billington
Firstshowing.net
Screenwriting from Iowa 