Leisure Class Reviews/Impressions thread

One of the problems is that the car accident was shot on the last day, and everything else (its aftermath) was already in the can. Since there was no depiction on PG that the car accident was added to the script once production began (which would be silly since the last half of the movie somewhat revolves around the fact that there was a car accident), I assume that the wreck was in the approved draft of the film that greenlighted the production, in other words, HBO approved the draft that had the car wreck in it. So it is perplexing that well into producton, it was decided by HBO that they couldn’t do the car flip or anything similarly perilous (to the characters of the movie) due to budget. Something just doesn’t ring true about it, and it may be that they just changed their minds, due to the Midnight Rider tragedy. WIth proper precautions, experienced stunt drivers and cages, etc., it shouldn’t have been too dangerous, but I suspect that HBO didn’t want to do it/show it because in order to properly depict it, it would be neceesary to show all the important safety steps, would take up a lot of screen time on PG, and would cost money. Perhaps a fear that guerilla-filmmakers would use the show as a “how-to” on their own low-to-no-budget film and someone could get killed in that scenario. I think they were trying to be responsible... almost functioning as a PSA -- “don’t do it, kids, its dangerous”... I think the HBO lawyers might have had some input on the decision.

But I understand Jason’s confusion because it’s a major change in the middle of production and it did have an impact on the story and the resulting film. And he’s told no flip and low impact stunt, and then Effie pulled him aside in the middle of the shooting day and says way too much stuff. She should have stated her position clearly at the beginning, instead of starting with about how she’s able to pull a bunch of stuff together, etc. And Jason was too inexperienced to respond correctly, too. If Effie had started out like that with Sydney Pollack, he would have cut her off and said, “What the hell are you trying to tell me?”

Midnight Rider was such a tragedy, and it’s mind-boggilng how such a stupid mistake was made by a film crew. It’s so so so sad.

err- he was EXPLICITLY told days and days and days before the stunt shoot that it was doable by Effie, while Effie DELIBERATELY did not give the stunt co-ordinator the go-ahead to start modifying the vehicle for the flip. When it became time for Jason to take control of the stunt shoot, Effie had ensured that time had run out for the needed prep work.

It was a VERY, VERY clear act of sabotage by Effie. Had Jason knew the flip was out, he could have spoken with the stunt co-ordinator IN GOOD TIME to arrange something else.

Jason trusted Effie, and that was his biggest mistake. But he agreed to keep her at the beginning of production, because Jason wanted to show his PC credentials. Damon and the Farrelly brothers knew what was coming when Effie disrupted the director interviews.