[edc]

The new movie... Blade Runner meets Field of Dreams... sounds... horrible. Those two movies are great but they have nothing in common. It's like writing the Star Wars meets The Graduate movie.

Remember, Dana Gordon hadn't even read the majority of the script. "Blade Runner" and "Field of Dreams" were just an easy way to sell "Futuristic setting" and "Father/son drama." The point was really to show the chasm between scriptwriting/filmmaking and the "high concept" that is the art of the deal.

 

[edc]

Weiss' temperament is infamous. I imagine you'd have to be like that to date Shannon Doherty.

The tone has leaked out into "Entourage" on a handful of occasions. It would take someone of that personality to hold a grudge against "nice guy Kevin Smith" for nearly a decade because of something pretty trivial.

 

[edc]

There have been a few jabs at Kevin Smith - who was upset that Rob Weiss would constantly harass Shannon Doherty while Doherty was shooting Mallrats - in Entourage.

Hopefully edc remembers the others, but the most famous dig was when the studio wanted to rush out Aquaman 2 (early season 3), they hired Kevin Smith to write the script. (I'm doing a horrible job of 'explaining' it, but it was foul)

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In the Sundance episode, Ari yells at Harvey that "If it wasn't for me, you'd be stuck producing Kevin Smith Movies for the rest of your life!"

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VINCE: Cameron's the only reason I signed on in the first place. Who's directing ["Aquaman 2"]?
ARI: Michael Bay.
ERIC: Jesus Christ.
VINCE: They're just rushing this thing out!
ARI: Vinnie, this is what studios do; the thing is a monster hit. They're just trying to take advantage of it, that's all.
VINCE: I haven't even seen a script.
ARI: They're working on it!
VINCE: Andrew Kevin Walker writing?
ARI: Kevin Smith.
ERIC: Oh boy.
VINCE: F... you, Ari! I want off this movie!
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A quick Google search reveals Smith's "side":

http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=12101

There is a dude who is on staff named Rob Weiss, who made this movie called Amongst Friends many years ago – back in 1993, I believe. And he worked with a friend of mine, John Pierson. And John wrote this book Spike, Mike, Slackers and *****. And in it I do these kind of pre-chapter chapter, where John and I have this conversation that’s kind of relevant to the chapter that follows.

John was one of the producers on Amongst Friends. His chapter about Rob Weiss was called “Amongst Jerks.” John has a very distinctive take on Rob Weiss, having worked with him on that movie. I had worked with Shannon Doherty on Mallrats. Shannon Doherty was dating Rob Weiss through most of the mid-nineties. There were times when – he didn’t come to set; we were shooting in Minnesota – and he was the kind of guy who would call up and be like, “I’m going clubbing.” And she was like, “Well no. You shouldn’t be going out. I’m not there.”

Shannon’s certainly no wilting flower or anything like that. But when it came to Rob she was really passive. She would have to get off the phone because we were doing a take, and he would get mad that she was getting off the phone and he would say, “Well, f... it then. I’m going clubbing and I’m gonna pick up a girl.” And she would get all f...n’ frazzled and start crying and s**t and it would hold up shooting. And I was like, “What a f...in’ horrible thing to do to somebody.” And this dude’s a director; he ought to know better. So in that chapter preceding “Amongst Jerks,” Pierson talks to me about his movie and what-not and what a bad experience he had working with him, so I talked about that in the book.

Now this book came out in 1995. 11 years later he’s still smarting from it? And I didn’t remember everything I said in the book. All I remember from what I said in the book was saying, because Pierson comes down on Amongst Friends pretty hard-core. I remember saying I thought it was watchable… After I watched the Season Two Entourage boxed set and that episode where they took a dig at me, I grabbed the book and thought, “What did I f...in’ say?” And then I read it and it was pretty bad. [laughs] So I guess after ten years, the dude who hasn’t f...in’ done anything in ten years…well, more than that. Twelve years. He finally got a job writing on Entourage and found an opportunity to take a shot. I get it; it doesn’t hurt me. It’s totally fine. But I understand I had it coming.
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