“Making other people happy is not your goal”
– Sara Gran
Sara Gran has been writing for many years, but it’s her most recent novel Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead that has taken her to a new level. The book, just out in paperback, is set in post-Katrina New Orleans and stars Claire DeWitt, a woman who is arguably the world’s greatest detective. This isn’t quite the major accomplishment that many people might think; most people who know Claire tend to hate her or think she’s crazy. A devotee of Jacques Silette, a French detective who wrote about the nature of mysteries and their investigation, Claire’s story is as much about the nature of mysteries and why we’re captivated by them as it is about this particular crime.
In her previous novels, whether she was writing about being young and screwed up in New York City, a woman who finds a demon controlling her, or a recovering drug addict in fifties New York, Gran doesn’t shy away from dark corners or rough edges. In her books there’s violence and drugs, addiction and tragedy, but also possibility and change. The heroine of her latest novel is a brilliant creation. Like Gran herself, Claire, as a woman who marches to the beat of her own drum and isn’t afraid of walking into dark places, is the perfect epitome of a Suicide Girl. The book is original, hypnotizing and addictive. The second book in the series comes out next year.
”It’s not a movie about pornography but how our individual sensibilities get formed.”
– Brian Grazer
I was very excited to talk to Brian Grazer. Not only has he worked on some of my favorite films such as Night Shift, Armed and Dangerous and Bowfinger, it’s just so rare to get to talk to a person that only produces. I get to talk to actors, writers and directors everyday but a powerful producer on par with Joel Silver and Jerry Bruckheimer, almost never.
It’s to be expected that Grazer would come out to promote the documentary Inside Deep Throat because its been a passion project of his for many years. In fact at one point he had the rights to do a biopic on Linda Lovelace, but that didnt work out.
INTO: Art, tattoo’s, good music, baking & cooking, friendly people, PB&J, cereal, summer time, going on walks, good times, sleeping in but not too late, watching people (in a non creepy way), funny people, vegetarianism, and so on.
NOT INTO: Awkward situations, bad luck, terrible hair days, driving in traffic, mustard, winter, cold showers.
MAKES ME HAPPY: Puppies, good music, friends, family, andy, yoga, getting tattooed.
MAKES ME SAD: Being alone, over thinking when I have too much time on my hands.
HOBBIES: Drawing, cooking, baking.
5 THINGS I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: H20, phone, food, friends/boyfriend, sleep.
VICES: Cigarettes, being a little shy sometimes.
I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Working, and hanging out.
Indie film darling Greta Gerwig already has two movies out this year, one of them being Damsels in Distress, in which she starred. I actually got to meet her for that film when I was interviewing Whit Stillman. While they were paired, Sillman commented on her character in the Arthur remake, as an example of how studio movies give characters silly traits.
In Lola Versus Gerwig stars as Lola, a woman whose fiancé (Joel Kinnaman) cancels their wedding sending her on a spiral of casual sex, dating, drinking and disaster. This is not one of your Kate Hudson wedding movies.
The impressive credentials of Greta Gerwig include a magna cum laude honor from Barnard College. As an actor, she starred in notable indies like Hannah Takes the Stairs and The Duplass Brothers’ Baghead. Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg got her enough notice to land big Hollywood movies like No Strings Attached and Arthur.
Curled up in a hotel chair, Gerwig remembered me, since we’d only met two months prior. We sort of continued the conversation where Damsels in Distress left off. Durning our conversation, Gerwig got us thinking about how awesome it is to be bored, which was a most exciting and unexpected twist.
You would think that when someone has enough money (or a stinkin pile of cash) to make Joe Perry’s Rock Your World Boneyard Brew Hot Sauce they might not be able to pull off a solo album, but all that money has been put to good use. I got sent a promo copy of Joe Perrys latest self titled solo album and boy was I surprised when I popped it in and heard the Aerosmith guitarist’s voice. An even bigger surprise was when I realized that the vocals were just as good as the guitar riffs.
Sometimes when a one of the main creative forces behind a very successful rock band, like an Aerosmith, does a solo album they try their best to make it sound like garage rock. Usually they think that pushing the slider marked ”Make it sound like it was recorded in a room with a tin roof” will do it for them. But Perry has pulled it off and created a gritty, balls out rock and roll album that is obviously very intimate.
