Easter is the great unifier of us all. The least disguised co-opted pagan holiday.**
Ergo, Easter Sunday seemed like the PERFECT day to bring you more information about Robin Hardy's new movie COWBOYS FOR CHRIST.
After 7 years of hardcore pre-pro and 30 years of planning between Mr. Hardy and Mr. Christopher Lee, their dream project has gone into production in Glasgow, Scotland.
COWBOYS FOR CHRIST is a brilliant reimagining of the fucking genius THE WICKER MAN, giving these two gentleman a second chance at their all-time favorite movie. Think a moment about how many movies (and which) Mr. Lee has made. That should say it all.
Why do they need a second chance? Because what happened to THE WICKER MAN is one of the great cinema holocausts. For every filmmaker who wakes up screaming because they're dreaming again of being on the set of Gilliam's LOST IN LA MANCHA, there is an even nerdier, more savvy dissident in night terrors about the post-production of one of my top ten favorite films.
THE WICKER MAN was royally FUCKED in the ass by media PowersThatBe, and only exists in any form now due to Mr. Lee's tireless campaigning and outspoken outrage at the brutal editing rape and shoddy distribution that marginalized and hid its light for 30 years. Seriously. Actors like this don't exist in our business. Listen to him here, even 30 years later. And he's FUCKING RIGHT. It is the CITIZEN KANE of horror movies with what he was able to use his clout to save...what could have been if those suits in ultimate charge hadn't been tasteless morons who threw away cans of footage?
My god. That man. Did you watch that interview? We bow to you, Mr. Lee. Did you catch which coat he is wearing? :)
Stay strong, gentleman. Be loud. And from one brilliant subversive feminist occasionally-neopagan to two others: Ride with Jesus.
Young Christians Beth and Steve, a gospel singer and her cowboy boyfriend, leave Texas to preach door-to-door in Scotland . When, after initial abuse, they are welcomed with joy and elation to Tressock, the border fiefdom of Sir Lachlan Morrison, they assume their hosts simply want to hear more about Jesus. How innocent and wrong they are.I love how they've done this THE WICKER MAN reimagining. I think they would really love mine, too. We need more people telling the truth about the atrocities Christians have committed in Europe against pagans. For that matter, how about some movies made about the Inquisition or the burning time witch hunts that killed ten million Europeans? Ugh. But my movie has a different focus than "organized" religion versus the old ways. Mine is about the new breed of New Agers who invent their own hodgepodge of religions for Me Generation megalomaniacal ends...
Oh, how much joy it would give me to show these gentleman THE COMMUNE. There are only three people left on earth whose opinions I truly give a rat's ass about for my movie. And two of them are hard at work now in Glasgow, restoring the balance.
Stuart G. Bennett as Dr. Polieos in THE COMMUNE, 2009
Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle in THE WICKER MAN, 1973
Our COMMUNE crew t-shirt: "I sacrificed on Summerisle and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"
Some pithy neopagan humor for you. This dog wears our t-shirt around Somerset, England:
**Easter = Sumerian goddess Ishtar or Eostre the Germanic spring goddess
Eggs bunnies and chocolate = fertility
Eating Ham = honoring the death of Ishtar's son Tammuz, who was conceived by a sunray and killed by a pig. Or it might just be because slaughtering a pig was a common ritual to celebrate Spring equinox (Saturnalia).
Easter sun rise services = honoring the sun god
The rising of Christ after his sacrifice on a moveable feast holiday = SOOOO many thousands of years of pagan rites and mythology that if you don't at least recognize Babylonian Inanna "The Queen of Heaven" and Eygptian Osiris and Isis and think someone named Jesus literally died on a cross I just can't fathom how you...ohhh here, let a random freaked out Christian on the net explain.
3 comments:
So whateryusayin? You don't give a Rat's Ass if I see The Commune? ;)
Teasing, I know what you meant, but the thought did cross my mind.
Hahaha...see I left it open so everyone can think THEY'RE that LAST PERSON.....
No, i care about showing it to some more people, but truly ultimately if you were like, wow, yeah, not my thing, I'm okay with that.
These two guys...it would not be okay with me and I would go on a month-long chocolate bender and then rethink my career choice before I ultimately became okay with it and was like, whatever, I made the movie I wanted to make. Capice?
I'm finding the more I mature as an artist, there are people who I'm happy like the movie and get it, but really only 4 or five who had the power to crush me this time out.
And hopefully on the next movie I'll mature farther and only have one authority figure left I'm proving myself to, and so on....!
Not that I can follow my own advice, but here's some things i've discovered:
Make movies with the audience in mind but for your own heart first.
You'll never please everyone and what can be more frustrating is:
People may like your film but not admit it.
People may hate your film and not admit it.
People may hate your film and say that they love it.
People may love your film, but not support it.
People may love your film but not "Get" it.
People may hate your film but still buy it, sell it and support you for their own selfish reasons.
At the end of the day, the only opinion you should concern yourself with is, um, yeah, your oqwn.
If you want to lean more towards making money than art, do test screenings, gather opinions, and readjust accordingly...but still, you must LOVE IT because nothing that time consuming, exoensive, and hard to pulloff is worth it unless you love it yourself.
So Says Jed
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