Let’s talk about movies again today. In February I co-hosted a Princess Diaries-themed Galentine’s party.1 Either adding or subtracting to my friends’ viewing party experience (I cannot say) I was ripe with Princess Diaries (2001) trivia. From Director Garry Marshall’s cameo appearance to backstory gleaned from my years devoted to the YA series the film is based on, I couldn’t shut up about every interesting fact I’d learned about the movie in its twenty-two-year lifespan.
(The Galentines expressed awe at my party trick. I however spent the next forty hours wondering if my savanting was limited to film trivia, or if I should have spent more of my formative years with an economics textbook or in a French immersion program.)
It follows suit that I was unhinged in my dedication to DVD Bonus Features as a kid. Despite uncovering every sleight of hand and cinematographer’s secret, moviemaking was magic to me. I never caught the bug to wield a camcorder or write a screenplay, but I gobbled up every documentary, director’s commentary, or behind the scenes featurette I came across. Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz were household names. I harbored a low stakes fascination with both the industry and the filmmaking process. Sort of like how fathers passively absorb any and all WWII content.
Today, thanks to streaming services, digital film libraries, and complicated licensing deals, the bonus features of yesteryear have all but disappeared outside the occasional podcast (which, ugh) or scene breakdowns on Vanity Fair or the New York Times. Business execs claim audiences are indifferent to the cinema, to films, to history. Basically anything that isn’t easy or instantly consumable. I find this hard to believe. I was molded by early exposure to the filmmaking process via DVD bonus content. Doesn’t it stand to reason that if younger audiences were offered this act of discovery, a few more might care about film preservation?
Maybe some powers-that-be reason that since modern filmmaking is now mostly computer-generated special effects, there’s only so much process to showcase. I understood this sentiment watching hours of behind the scene footage of Titanic (1997) this week.2 More compelling than the actual shipwreck schematics, to me, were the movie’s groundbreaking visual effects. A combination of CGI, camera work, and human ingenuity/ resourcefulness, they just don’t MAKE movies like this anymore. James Cameron is truly out of his gourd and I could watch hours of this man and his insane mind palace at work. Can’t say the same for literally any Marvel movie or Disney live action remake. But Director Jon M. Chu wants to tell me how he persuaded Coldplay to approve a cover of “Yellow” on the Crazy Rich Asians (2018) soundtrack? Consider me sat.
I choose to believe the hunger for in-depth behind the scenes content is there: Greta Gerwig’s technique for achieving the Barbie feet effect was covered by national news! Shay Mitchell and Chrissy Teigen both attempted to recreate! It could be that Barbie Fever has Infected Our Great Nation, or perhaps more than just film bros and girls are interested in the art of filmmaking. TikTok accounts for prop masters and foley artists and production assistants across projects have significant followings.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but it would be cool if the business side could see that film education shouldn’t be evaluated by its ability to generate revenue. When treated as more than convenient, myth-making propaganda (ahem) and documentary fodder,3 educational content that begets an informed and curious audience might be the thing that saves studios.
Divine inspiration hit me square in the face via a Pinterest recipe for Genovian pear popcorn. Pizza with M&Ms and pear cocktails were obvious menu supplements. 10/10, a true culinary tour de force
Okay listen we were all morbidly curious about that submersive, I claim no moral high ground pressing PLAY as soon as Titanic came on Netflix this week
Did anyone else clock that the 100 Years of Warner Bros. documentary was produced by the same team that did the Disney one? Lead by Ub Iwerks’s granddaughter? How could you not love this industry