I had a long conversation at Fantastic Fest with Evan of Badass Digest about our growing mutual interest in Lee Daniels, director of Precious, The Paperboy and The Butler. Our shared opinion boiled down to the fact that Daniels is a rare man, the sort of director who straddles fringe and mainstream, and who makes weirdly personal exploitation films that still manage to attract a top-flight cast.
I mean, have you seen The Paperboy? It is amazing. Many directors deliberately try to channel a weird, subversive spirit, but Daniels can’t seem to do anything else. I don’t think the guy could make a straightforward movie if you put a gun to his head. His stuff may not be good, but my growing interest in his stuff isn’t ironic — it is genuinely rooted in a fascination that a person exists who thinks that his movie The Paperboy is the way to tell that particular story.
What does that have to do with anything? Well, now Daniels is saying he wants to castAlex Pettyfer — an actor I think is best suited to playing sculptures carved out of wood — as one half of a gay interracial action duo. What a perfect concept. But beware: according to Daniels, even giving away that concept spoils the movie. Hey, don’t look at me; he did it first.
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