Friday, October 30, 2009

MOONWALK: THE ADAPTATION

by Steven Boone

It all comes down to what you believe, because none of us knew the man.

I believe Michael Jackson was a good guy. I believe he never harmed anyone's child. I believe he was one of those rare people who tried to apply his otherworldly talent to healing some of the basic, eternal problems of humanity. I believe he was a great man of strong constitution and boundless vision. I believe that the incessant lies told about him were his indirect murderer.

MOONWALK is the autobiography he wrote in 1988.

I believe David Lynch is the filmmaker who should make the inevitable MOONWALK movie. Lynch's capacity for empathy; his ability to describe alienation, suffering and loneliness in spiritual, visual terms; his American ear; his understanding of corporate show business as a place where dreams are nourished with candied arsenic... make Lynch the best equipped among marquee-value auteurs to say something vital about Michael's life and death.

Here are some notes and sketches for the Lynch adaptation:

10 comments:

Ryland Walker Knight said...

This is fantastic. Like, so awesome. We need more of this kind of assemblage-collage. Inspired convergences, my man. Way to show us something: something rich, flush, tangential and confounding; something exciting; something new. Forget Lynch. You done did something. Who cares what came first, or when, just like Lynch said. It's ageless, a conflux of inflections. Of course I love it. You showed me another way to see these things, these people, these images.

I want to see this blow up huge, loud. I want this on the PFA screen some Tuesday "Alternative Visions" night.

What a final credit! I'm beaming over here with my lids half-mast!

Matt Zoller Seitz said...

Amazing work, man. Just amazing.

odienator said...

This is amazing work, and a compelling argument for something about which we both agree: Lynch is perfect for an MJ movie. I doubt Hollywood or the Jackson estate would allow it, even though Jackson's extremely weird Dangerous teaser trailer was directed by Lynch.

This should precede This is It, as a reminder to folks that sometimes there's a personal toll taken on the celebrities they so admire. This is It took in over $100 million at the box office, which doesn't surprise me because of the way Sony threatened to send it to the Disney vaults after 2 weeks. I weighed going to see it, opting after much thought to leave it alone. I've much nostalgia for what used to be, but little use for what could have been.

Thanks for giving the man back his humanity.

Steven Boone said...

But did y'all like it? Enough of this muted, ambiguous praise.

Nah, thanks, fellas. :) Glad that my brothers got it, as I was not sure if this thing even "played" the way I was feeling it. Sweet.

There's a whole other dimension to Mike's life that isn't represented here-- his artistry and perfectionism. A reliable source tells me This Is It goes a long way toward showing that aspect. It's all there in the book, too.

SnailsOne said...

Standing O's all around the house even the grumpy old men in the balcony who hate everything else loved it...I loved the closing credits too...Heh...you are good at what you do, dude...

Steven Boone said...

Aw, thanks, Snails.

Snails is the "reliable source" I mentioned. She says This Is It messed with her emotions something terrible.

redfallnight said...

This was amazing! I was always disappointed that as big of a Lynch fan as Michael was, they didn't really collaborate on much more than that teaser/trailer for "Dangerous".

Although, this is definitely an idea I'd like to see Lynch do, I think you just did a "damn fine" job on this trailer. I really loved it.

I found your video embedded on another site... I hope you don't mind that I included it in my little MJ-fan blog on Wordpress (MJ365)

Steven Boone said...

Thank you, redfallnight. Glad you enjoyed it. Woa, your site is a treasure trove.

watch movies said...

Great post. I have seen after so long any post that do shares something about Jackson's work. He was a great man and a very good dancer too. I haven't seen the movie yet but still I love him.

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