Alaska: The Satchel Boy from John August on Vimeo.
Thinking about director Kim Manners, I wanted to share a scene of his I really loved from the 2003 pilot for Alaska. Kim loved a gunfight, and I felt lucky to watch him put it together.
As a wrap present, Kim gave me Connie’s crayon drawing, nicely framed. It’s hanging in my office, over my TV.
Director Kim Manners passed away on Sunday. He was a staggeringly prolific television director and producer, whose many credits included Supernatural, The X Files and the original Charlie’s Angels. He also directed the pilot for Alaska, which is how I met him. I liked him instantly. He felt like a cowboy, which made him the perfect guy to shoot a show about the wild frontier.
“Two cameras, no waiting!” he’d holler with delight as he found a spot to grab a simultaneous close-up. After a take, he’d glance over at me. Did I want another take? I could always find something I’d tweak, but Kim was smart enough to understand that TV doesn’t dick around getting everything just so. You make your days so you can make your show.
The series didn’t get picked up, and everyone went their separate ways. Yet of all the directors I’ve sat next to, I probably learned the most from him over those twelve cold days and nights in Vancouver. I regret not having the chance to tell him that.
By the accounts I’ve read, he was doing what he loved quite close to the end. That’s something we should all get. My sympathies go out to his family and the folks at Supernatural.
Other places are suddenly reporting it, so I might as well confirm the news: I’m writing a big-screen version of Preacher,
an adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Sam Mendes is attached to direct. Neal Moritz is producing for Sony Pictures.
To answer your first four questions: there’s no release date, no cast, no locations, no nothing. I’m writing a script which could become a movie if everything lines up correctly. So here’s hoping. It’s a terrific project that I’m excited to be writing.
Over the weekend, while my daughter slept in her stroller, I read the text of an Obama speech on my iPhone. I was struck by how clearly I could hear his voice in my head and predict where he would have put his stresses. Even after eight years of George W. Bush, I couldn’t anticipate his speaking rhythms, except to observe that he finished every sentence with either grim conviction or a wary half-smile, regardless of the content.
Obama’s inauguration speech this morning was deliberately sober, with none of the call-and-response cadence we heard on the campaign trail. It was the right choice both tonally and logistically — given the time delay to reach the back of the massive crowd, any audience chanting would have resulted in chaos.
Looking at the full text of the speech, I’m struck by something else: the punctuation.
To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
Yes, a semicolon.
Best known to most Americans as half of a winking emoticon, this elite and misunderstood conjoiner has a friend in Obama. Yes, he’s using it as more of an oratorial pause than a semantic adhesive. And yes, this sentence likely went through several writers before its debut. But the fact our new President feels confident using it is another small cause for celebration on this very happy day.
