Good job!! As an aside, but it's a potent illustration of how long TV execs have been deeply biased against the Christian majority, I was just reading the autobiography of Johnny Cash and he relates how when he had a TV show on ABC for two years, around 1971-73 I believe, he once stated on the show that he was a Christian and he had an ABC producer take him aside and tell him "you cannot so much as mention Christianity on network TV" or words to that effect. So it's fine for network TV to trash Christianity but not to even allow one performer to mention his own faith in a positive light.....
I still wonder how the heck they managed to get "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on TV.
Johnny sure had the last laugh, though. He and June are singing royal command performances in the throne room of the Universe these days. :-)
Oh, and another last laugh: In a few short years, the alphabet networks will be fighting over the privilege of being the network to show "Walk the Line" in prime time.
I ran across similar observations in the great interview with Robert Duvall by Timothy E. Rhys in Moviemaker magazine. Duvall is one conservative whose talent is so overwhelming that the best Hollywood has been able to do to him is to shut him out of Oscar consideration. He is one of the most brilliant men ever to grace the silver screen, as a writer, director and producer as well as an actor. Here's a snip of the interview:
What do you think about how outspoken Hollywood has been with the anti-war rhetoric?
The way Hollywood speaks out is absolutely beyond me. Some people are so ill-informed.
You don’t mind them speaking out, as long as they’re better informed?
I mean, why be so outspoken about it anyway? Does it help Sean Penn’s career to go over to Iraq? Did it help Jane Fonda to go over to Vietnam years ago? I don’t know. But sometimes when these guys speak out… I get embarrassed.
You don’t talk politically very often, do you.
Not so much in public. You know, you’re safe if you’re a liberal in Hollywood. You’re safe if you speak out like that.
So you’d obviously consider yourself more of a conservative.
Somewhat, yeah. We were at was at a New Year’s Eve party and this guy, typical Hollywood, says something and I said ‘Wait a minute. Are you implying that you voted for George Bush?’ And he slouches… I mean, it’s very easy to be liberal in Hollywood, but if you’re not… people are actually afraid. In Hollywood they can be so vicious toward anybody with an opinion that’s a little different from the majority.
That’s really why you couldn’t get The Apostle funded, isn’t it?
I think there’s a connection… I think there’s a connection. Nobody wants to deal with anything"right wing." Never mind fundamentalist.
Yeah, and not even just right wing. They don’t want to show the truth, show something as it really is. They want to make a comment. But frankly, the bottom line is dollars, even more than being political.
With Tango, did you think about the market at all when you were writing? After your experiences with Apostle, did you have any market considerations?
I was just trying to make a movie, you know? ... The Apostle eventually found a good audience. We grossed $34 million, which is pretty good for that kind of film.
You should’ve won the Academy Award for your performance. I’ve always said that.
Some people told me that performance was overdone. I don’t think they understand the South.
You deserved it, no question. Did it bother you that you didn’t win?
If I’d been taking odds in Vegas [Laughs]… But you know, certain guys are the darlings of that town. And it’s almost like a popularity contest. I’ll tell you when I was even more shocked. When I didn’t win the Emmy for Lonesome Dove. So those two times, yeah. I felt I should’ve won. Back when I did The Great Santini, and I didn’t win, it was okay because De Niro was terrific in Raging Bull. I’m gonna give him that one.... He was wonderful. The movie was great. Everybody was great in it. But these other movies, when you can see legitimate defects from an actor’s point of view, ooooh. That’s different…
(To read the entire interview, click here)