I'M HIGH ON FEAR! (repeat fifteen million fucking times)

Has anyone read or seen Kenneth Lonergan's play LOBBY HERO? Because I can't find it anywhere, and Serge wants me to do a selection from that for my class' final scene.

I'm hesitant because I didn't care for the only Lonergan play I'd seen, THIS IS OUR YOUTH (the fact that Chris Klein and Freddie Prinze Jr. were in it probably didn't help). Also, last night when I talked with Serge, he seemed very interested in letting me play Alan in EQUUS, which I had just been told by a friend that I could and should play. Well, it looks like Serge is offering the part of EQUUS to another guy, but much as I wanted to play that, I think that the role will more benefit this guy than it will me. So I can be cool with that, even though I had kinda wanted to explore Alan, if only for one scene.

But I sure hope THIS IS OUR YOUTH is not indicative of Kenneth Lonergan. So, again: LOBBY HERO, motherfuckers, did you read it?!



Also, my father just turned 75. I sang him the birthday dirge, and was frankly amazed by how much he loved it. I just cannot predict that man. I'll be buying him a lasagna from Ledo's, as per his request, and we'll watch a movie. We haven't seen WHAT ABOUT BOB? for several years, and it's one of his favorites. Could be fun!

"GETOUTTATHCALARRALLRARAHH!!!"

I did it thirty-five minutes ago.

So while there's still no word for who is going to be in the upcoming film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic WATCHMEN, we now know of two people who were considered. Ron Perlman as The Comedian and Tom Cruise as Ozymandias.

Apparently Perlman was considered during the last time WATCHMEN almost got made, back when UNITED 93 director Paul Greengrass was set to do it (and by all accounts, it would have been the best fucking possible WATCHMEN movie we'd ever see, ever, but Paramount didn't want to take the risk, so they dropped it). And the utter, utter perfection of Perlman as Edward Blake gives me chills just thinking about it. That he won't be playing it honestly hurts.

Tom Cruise apparently turned it down for the current production by Zack Snyder. Now, I know the knee-jerk reaction is to recoil in fear and horror by the thought of Cruise bespoiling what has the potential of being the greatest "superhero" film ever made, but... he'd actually have been pretty damn good as Adrian. I could have happily accepted that.

Zack Snyder is the guy who directed the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake and 300. After seeing 300, I'm now actually a bit more concerned about what this means for WATCHMEN. Both of those films were fun, ass-kicking, hollow, visceral experiences with little substance to take away with you (unlike the original DAWN). WATCHMEN is epic and dense, rich with symbolism, irony, metaphor, and alla that udder gud lit'rary stuff. Unlike the majority of the cranky fandom, I think it actually could be done as a two hour film. The usual cry is "HBO miniseries! HBO miniseries!" and they're not wrong there... as long as it had the biggest budget of any HBO mini to date.

Snyder is all about style over substance. And that's fine, he's a music video director, after all. But it does not bode well for WATCHMEN. Neither does the fact that he's insistent on adapting the pirate comic sequence, which seems like a total waste of precious running time.