“The Chair” is a reality competition series—-and I know that sounds awful, but keep reading—-where two different first-time directors are given the same movie script and asked to make their own versions of it. [I told you! Plus, it’s got Project Greenlight’s Chris Moore, who’s clearly channelling Danny McBride as he casually drops hilarious truths about the film business.] They can re-write the script, but can’t change the general plot and character names. After that, everything else is left up to them and both directors are given final cut over their films, which for two first-time directors is like the Loch Ness monster: often sought after but never seen.
I’m going to review both of the finished films from the series—-Starz put them On Demand right along with The Chair so we can form our own opinions of which is better—-a little later today, but frankly the series will give you more to talk about anyway…
One of the directors is Shane Dawson who they tell us about 1000 times is a big deal on YouTube, but I’ve never heard of him. [They also tell us about 500 times that his YouTube audience is primarily teenage girls.] Shane has become famous by putting his every move on YouTube, making “button pushing” jokes about gays/blacks/handicapped people, and dressing as a girl more often than not—-one of the biggest psychological mysteries on the show is why Shane, who is obviously gay, keeps up the charade that he has a girlfriend (also like the Loch Ness Monster, often mentioned but rarely seen)—-and the other director is Anna Martemucci.
They keep telling us that Anna’s background is “more NYC than L.A.” which is meant to signal that she’s more art house than Shane, who seems to have a disdain for anything deeper than a bathtub or movies that don’t have a dick joke to minute ratio of 1:1. And even though I really wanted to root for Anna, they also mention that she’s more of a writer who occasionally directs and is being given this opportunity largely because her husband is friends with one of the producers. [Voyeurism and nepotism, two pathways to success in Hollywood.]
It doesn’t help that she spends roughly half her screen time crying or freaking out or freaking out that she’s not more freaked out, and doesn’t get you inside the nuts and bolts of being a first-time director so much as talk extensively about various emotional states she’s in. Plus, they emphasize that she keeps over relying on her husband to make decisions about the film, and leans too heavily on a key circle of people who seem to be co-directors of a sort. I’m not saying she didn’t work hard, but I’m not sure she really puts forth her own vision, win, lose, or draw, and it seems like a wasted opportunity picking these two specific individuals.
Throughout the series it becomes obvious that Shane has awful, a-w-f-u-l tastes and will probably make film nothing but worse than how he found it. [One of the producers of the TV show is Zachary Quinto, who may come off a bit too self-serious but is exactly right in his disdain for Shane’s movie and what it stands for in general.] And Shane’s uber-confidence in his movie reminds you that some of the worst directors are also the most cocky, BUT Anna may not really have the directing gene at all.
“The Chair” is fascinating, and perhaps the most revealing look yet at how movies really get made. The last two episodes revolving around editing, test screenings, marketing, and distribution are particularly insightful. So even if you wind up not that jazzed about either movie, it does offer great inside-baseball for movie buffs, and an interesting psychological profile of just how much a director’s personality shapes their movie…[More on that in the review of the films.] Grade for The Chair: A- …And that’s a lot stronger than either movie is getting….