#spalding gray

[jesusworesandals]

[d1rthaus]

Filming Virgil’s Sesquicentennial Celebration of Specialness Parade

[theersatzcowboy]

True Stories (1986)

Director: David Byrne

Cinematographer: Ed Lachman

Production Designer: Barbara Ling

Costume Designer: Elizabeth McBride

Starring: David Byrne, John Goodman, Swoosie Kurtz, and Spalding Gray

[lisamarie-vee]

[danishprince]

the journals of spalding gray

[columbosunday]

spalding gray

[davidhudson]

Spalding Gray, June 5, 1941 – January 11, 2004.

2002 photo by Jack Mitchell.

[whatamigonnawatchtoday]

True Stories

1986. Satirical Musical Comedy

By David Byrne

Starring: David Byrne, John Goodman, Spalding Gray, Annie McEnroe, Swoosie Kurtz, Pops Staples, John Ingle, Tito Larriva, Jo Harvey Allen, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison

Country: United States

Language: English

[camphorfreya]

The Journals of Spalding Gray

[twoheadedfilmfan]

[nonesuchrecords]

“It was thrilling to talk to her,” Marc Maron says of Laurie Anderson, his guest on the latest episode of WTF with Marc Maron. “Laurie Anderson had a profound impact on my life. Just hearing her in my headset while I talked to her was kind of mind-blowing.” They talk, among other things, about life in 1970s New York with fellow artists like Philip Glass, Gordon Matta-Clark, and Spalding Gray; playing straight man to Andy Kaufman; and a new book she helped edit of Lou Reed’s writing on tai chi. You can hear their conversation here.

[citizenscreen]

Spalding Gray was born on June 5, 1941 #botd

[d1rthaus]

True Stories Behind the Scenes / The Obsessions of David Byrne by Spalding Gray

[ms-moonlight-inn]

Movies for Writers, Part 1/?

Shutting Your Brain Off

(I've been sitting on this post forever, deciding whether I should post it or not. Ultimately, I settled on posting it 'cause someone somewhere might find it useful. Or, it'll just sit ignored. 🤷🏻‍♀️😊 Either way, I hope y'all enjoy...)

***

Occasionally, I come across a movie that speaks to me as a writer for various reasons. Sometimes it's the cinematography, sometimes it's the dialogue, sometimes it's the fact that the movie is actually about writing, itself.

Such as the case with this, first movie: Spalding Gray's "Monster in a Box."

***

Here's the IMDB summary:

"Monologuist Spalding Gray talks about the great difficulties he experienced while attempting to write his first novel, a nearly 2,000-page autobiographical tome concerning the death of his mother. Among his many asides, Gray discusses his problems in dealing with the Hollywood film industry, recounts the trips he took around the world in order to avoid dealing with his writer's block and describes his ambivalence about acting as stage manager for a Broadway production of 'Our Town.'"

***

Here the whole dang thing on YouTube:

Monster in the Box

(please let me know if the video comes down, I'll do my best to replace it)

***

Why is this an important watch?

Three main reasons:

Spalding Gray is a brilliant storyteller. Pay attention to the way he phrases things. How & when he decides to drop bits of exposition. This is a monologue, so it's all the power of his words, and his words alone. There is very little production here.

Even with the small amount of production, there is some camera & sound work here. When does he integrate that? How much & why? You can use that in your own writing. When should you add sensory details? When is it best to leave your prose sparse?

Most importantly, the topic of this monologue is writer's block. The dreaded writer's block that we are all faced with at one point or another. There are some valuable lessons to learn here. Spald suffers deeply from his writer's block, so much so that it leads him to several self-discoveries.

***

The first time I watched this was way back in the day as a college student. I'd actually forgotten most of it, but I remember being in awe of his writing talent at the time. Having recently re-watched it (and now that I've been writing more actively) I'm still just as awestruck, but also a lot sad.

Spalding was often plagued by self doubt. That's hit me in all the tender bits on & off lately. This past winter I had a major meltdown over my writing, so watching this was both timely and reassuring for me. I mean, if an individual of Spaulding's caliber can speak openly about his anxieties as a writer, as well as his own battles with writers block, then certainly there is hope for the rest of us. Right? (Goodness, I hope so.)

Ok, I admit it, this might sound like an overly optimistic view of "Monster in a Box," we are talking about the one work that nearly derailed his entire career; however, there's a lesson in how he navigated the disaster.

He set it aside.

He let it breathe.

He turned it into something else!

He let "Monster" be the thing that it needed to be, that it was supposed to be all along. I think that is the biggest lesson I took from my re-watch:

Sometimes your story knows more about itself than you do.

Let that sink it.

Sometimes, it's best to just shut your brain off and write.

✒️✏️💻

I'm currently working on taking Spald's advice.

[lisamarie-vee]

[watchingalotofmovies]

King of the Hill

King of the Hill

A young boy struggles on his own in a run-down hotel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.

The movie doesn't in any way sugarcoat what a terrible time it was. But it doesn't show it in an overly emotional way. I really appreciated that.

Jesse Bradford's performance as Aaron is remarkable. The stories he makes up without hesitating.

It surprisingly features some very, very early appearances by Adrien Brody, Amber Benson, Katherine Heigl and Lauryn Hill (!).