Brian Wilson biopic 'Love and Mercy' directed by Bill Pohlad starring Paul Dano

Excellent casting choice imo.

http://cdn.indiewire.com/dims4/INDIEWIRE/5c63b2d/2147483647/thumbnail/680x478/quality/75/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fd1oi7t5trwfj5d.cloudfront.net%2F21%2F3e%2F4f412bf240c18e56375535ff7c2f%2Flove-and-mercy.jpg

http://consequenceofsound.net/2014/07/heres-our-first-look-at-paul-dano-as-brian-wilson-in-biopic/

stop it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_and_Mercy_%28film%29

just stop making biopics in general

I'm skeptical of nearly every one that comes out unless I have reason to not be. For instance, the Hendrix and James Brown pics coming out this year look like complete garbage. This one is intriguing, though.

Horrible feet.

There's no way it'll be as good as the Brian Wilson scene in Walk Hard

I doubt it will even be as good as the John Stamos tv movie

that pic looks good. they should just make the whole movie one 90-minute shot of him sitting there, the sound of the waves and seagulls in the background, brian looking confused. sun goes down, credits roll.

"I'm A Cork In The Ocean: The Brian Wilson Picture" COMING SOON

As long as the Barenaked Ladies song is used in every cut

good feet are a myth, like good karaoke

where is Cusack as Old Brian?

lol would watch tyler's version

"kokomo" would play as the credits roll fyi

ok that's a bridge too far

would've been ok with "Brian is Back" or even "Wrinkles" though

credits roll over the "Weirdos + Mike Love" pics

Who's Brian Wilson?

he's a bearded pitcher for the dodgers

hoping for a 4 minute scene enacting the events that inspired "a gardener was gardening/he watered the lawn/and i went to sleep"

dano looks great IMO

some group was playing a musical song

a 30 minute scene of dano playing with wind chimes

"I try not to look at them...but it's hard..."

just stop making biopics in general

OTMFM. As opposed to "based on a true story" movies (which are arguably of some merit if it's a compelling story), biopics are usually just boilerplate "and then this thing you already know about happened, and then this other thing you already know about happened" chapter books with an optional "and then he/she/they died" epilogue. They may be able to salvage a decent performance from the wreckage, but it's almost always wreckage.

Although I'd pay good money to watch a Brian Wilson biopic starring Brian Wilson playing himself at every age.

there was a super-entertaining TV movie about the beach boys maybe 15-20 years ago

xp the birth scene alone

I remember! The guy playing Dennis was a hunk

xpost

guess i missed that the dennis biopic is kaputt.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/why-dennis-wilsons-biopic-collapsed-20131212

Yeah thats what I was referring to upthread. Stamos produced it.

Xp

it was cool

stamos is cool

let's have another

I remember that made for tv movie - the exposition in the dialogue was hilarious.

Brian: "Hey Dennis, I just heard this new album called Rubber Soul and now I'm going being working on Pet Sounds"

Dennis: "Sounds good. I'm going start cruising the desert for cult leaders".

Brian: "OK, see ya"

really wish this movie was just paul giamatti and john cusack re-creating landy's therapy sessions

googled "eugene landy" to reaffirm whether he looked like giamatti at all and google's top photo for eugene landy IS giamatti

Christoph Waltz would make a good Landy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-K-n5op9nI

yeah i don't get giamatti for this at all

hoping for a 4 minute scene enacting the events that inspired "a gardener was gardening/he watered the lawn/and i went to sleep"

subtle changes between actual lyric and your memory of it basically turns this into a pretty good neil young lyric.

I'd pay good money to watch a Brian Wilson biopic starring Brian Wilson playing himself at every age.

coming soon from richard linklater, with ethan hawke as dr. eugene landy.

though based on the clip croup posted, i now want leonard nimoy to play eugene landy.

Can they start combining biopics with literary adaptations because a Brian Wilson movie would be p cool if it was also Benjamin Button.

i now want leonard nimoy to play eugene landy.

Basically his character in Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

the thumbnail image for that landy-wilson YT vid is perfect; like, I don't even need to watch that clip or read a BW biography to get their whole relationship.

are there any weird/experimental biopics? I did not like the Dylan one or Last Days but at least they both tried to do something unusual instead of putting "historical accuracy" first. I feel like the 'uncanny valley' of seeing a dude act like James Brown just lends itself to fucking around with form/nonlinear narratives or w/e rather than trying to be as accurate as possible. There are probably other more subtle ways to subvert this boring straight-ahead approach than doesn't require getting all freaky and un-mainstream. But the singular quest to make a definitive accurate film depiction of a major public figure seems like the most boring and least useful way to use film to explore a character.
Idk, tldr hollywood sux

you didn't like I'm Not There? There's always Superstar lol

tbh i went into it with super negative preconceptions, i'd be willing to see it again.

what's Superstar, is that a karen carpenter biopic or are you talking about that molly shannon movie?

OH shit! N/m just found it. My gosh it looks freaky

didn't see all of I'm Not There but tbh the parts i did see seemed kind of cringeworthy. everybody raved about cate blanchett but i found her whole section to be hokey as fuck

Re: superstar - they should use dolls for a kiss biopic too. Or mecha!

I'm Not There was awful

my complaints about I'm Not There are that it's basically a retread of the (generally more fun) Velvet Goldmine but other than that I think it's a very fitting approach to our Bob.

yea it was a cool concept, makes lots of sense to get completely different actors for the different bob phases

Greenaway should do a Webern biopic

my friend said the Johnny Cash one was actually really good but have not checked it out yet

also, Ken Russell to thread

The Cash one was pretty standard biopic but Phoenix was solid.

haha yeah Lisztomania is great

I'm one of the few people who liked the pretty square Ray in part because the actresses were strong.

If, in my wildest dreams, a royal trux biopic gets made.. It NEEDS to involve swamp creatures and talking coyotes and shooting ranges and baseball

A hawkwind biopic where the band is constantly heard but not seen.. All just festival travellers and bikers lost in the spacerock

Psych Revival Parking Lot

yessssss!

I'm Not There was awful

There's no way it'll be as good as the Brian Wilson scene in Walk Hard

Dewey Cox: [speaking of his complex song] It's still not finished yet. I'm hearing... more Aboriginal percussionists. And I want an army of digeridoos. Fifty thousand digeridoos!

<puts microphone to goat's stomach>

I like Dano a lot but every time I see him I keep thinking of the scene where Daniel Day-Lewis murders him in There Will Be Blood and then get the giggles

He looks more like Lionel Messi than Brian Wilson in that publicity pic. Missed opportunity to cast Bill Pullman as Landy-era Brian and, in his acting debut, Bill Clinton as 'prop him up behind a keyboard and send him out on tour' era Brian.

He looks more like Lionel Messi than Brian Wilson in that publicity pic.

ahah. otm !
"Football's Up".

Has anyone seen this?

did it actually come out?

OTMFM. As opposed to "based on a true story" movies (which are arguably of some merit if it's a compelling story), biopics are usually just boilerplate "and then this thing you already know about happened, and then this other thing you already know about happened" chapter books with an optional "and then he/she/they died" epilogue. They may be able to salvage a decent performance from the wreckage, but it's almost always wreckage.

the ian curtis film, "control," was the worst example of this. each horribly-staged and unconvincing scene had no reason for being except for people in the audience to say things like "i know this! this is when they debuted at a club!" "this is the scene when they're signed to factory!" the way they staged his death was particularly grotesque in its lack of any purpose except to fetishistically recreate the mise-en-scene of his suicide.

one of the few movies that seemed genuinely offensive to me, as in stomach-turning

did that jimi hendrix biopic even get theatrical distribution btw? it just turned up at the video store this week. i'm assuming by its general non-reception that it's horrible.

I don't know anyone that's ever seen it, but a Hendrix biopic without any Hendrix music seems pretty pointless.

it doesn't have hendrix music? i assume the estate wouldn't license any of it? whoops!

i imagine the brian wilson biopic directed by gus van sant and just being like five 15-minute-long shots of him sitting at his piano in the middle of a pile of sand in his living room, composing fragments of "til i die."

title: "busy doin' nothin'"

I don't know anyone that's ever seen it, but a Hendrix biopic without any Hendrix music seems pretty pointless.

― ƋППṍӮɨ∏ğڵșěᶉᶇдM℮ (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Sunday, March 1, 2015 9:22 PM (2 hours ago)

hendrix movie also had a controversial scene where he hits his gf, kathy etchingham (who denied such a thing ever happening).

idg the casting of John Cusack as beaten-down adult Brian AT ALL.

yeah ridiculous

it doesn't have hendrix music? i assume the estate wouldn't license any of it? whoops!

I believe this was exactly the case. I kept waiting for it to turn into The Johnny Handricks Story, ala the Jackie Jormp-Jomp biopic:

http://videos.criticalcommons.org/transcoded/http/ccserver.usc.edu/8080/cc/Members/ironman28/clips/30rockJanisMontageH264.mov/jpeg/30rockjanismontageh264-mov.jpg

There was a Brian Jones movie a while back that did the same thing--they had to stick to songs the Stones did covers of.

Trivia: director is son of Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

i hate biopics on the whole, but i've been saying for years that BW's would make one of the more remarkable ones

I do know someone who saw that Andrex 3000 pic. he said it was awful

The Brian Wilson one could be great if based on Nick Kent's piece on him. It's one of the single best pieces of rock writing I've ever read, and it tells the story so well.

most biopics are pretty bad though some are entertaining. i'm a little intrigued by don cheadle's miles ahead thing since it is focusing on mostly on 70s electric miles and that 5-year recluse period, which doesn't strike me as the obvious traditional-biopic period to focus on w/r/t miles

another one where there's unlikely to be any actual musi

c

If it's 2 hrs of a decrepit miles in a musty brownstone with blackout curtains, reluctantly entertaining visits from Lester Bowie and Cicely Tyson I'm for it.

otm

if you want the above in book form - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miles-Go-The-Lost-Years-ebook/dp/B004L62GBU

LaSalle is a clown but this sounds promising

i'm pretty certain this will be awful, i'd put a little money down on it in fact.

cusack seems like he wandered into the wrong movie

Most of the reviews have been good, but I guess I have to accept Brian Wilson as genius.

what a leap for you

He looks more like Lionel Messi than Brian Wilson in that publicity pic. Missed opportunity to cast Bill Pullman as Landy-era Brian and, in his acting debut, Bill Clinton as 'prop him up behind a keyboard and send him out on tour' era Brian.

― Tommy McTommy (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 July 2014 10:27 (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd go with Jeff Daniels for post-Landy Brian.

https://divergentsuk.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/jeffdaniels.jpg

good call!

well AO Scott likes it

Another bio-pic? Do people even give a shit anymore? The Brian Wilson brand has become quite the bore.

Cusack on the role and doing shit movies to pay for the good ones

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/john-cusack-love-and-mercy-career/

also:

Back in 1988, William Hurt was going to play Wilson opposite Richard Dreyfuss as Landy

Do we finally find out how Brian Wilson became Spider-Man?

bitten by radioactive Phil Spector

So I saw this tonight because there was nothing better to do. It's not a great movie, a little ghoulish at times, but far better than it has a right to be. There were parts that I enjoyed, mainly the studio stuff.

Definitely not awful, let's say.

Basically the same--I liked it a little better. My favourite parts were also the creation of Pet Sounds. Cusack is good...as John Cusack. It never felt like I was watching Brian Wilson. Dano, on the other hand, yes. Giamatti was scary at times.

sounds like a renter

yeah i'm tempted to rent this and get up and make a sandwich if/when i'm bored by the cusack stuff

After portraying Nixon and Wilson, I'd like to see Cusack continue to portray an increasingly ill-fitting string of people from real life. Maybe late-period Orson Welles could be next?

surely that role belongs to DiCaprio

(Orson Welles is the original Sweaty Bigface, after all)

"john cusack IS fanny brice"

The thing I thought the film did really well was the way Brian is presented during those Pet Sounds sessions. They don't turn him into the caricatured tortured genius, ordering everyone around and making unreasonable demands (you get a little of that later); while Pet Sounds is being done, he's like a wide-eyed kid, cheering on everyone and clearly in love with all the new freedom he's afforded and all the incredible musicians he gets to work with. When his brothers return from Japan, and Mike Love starts questioning what Brian's been doing--but again, not in a way that reduces Love to a caricature; he just sees the band differently--that's when the rot starts to settle in.

it would be so easy to make mike love into a villain so if this film is fair to him i think that's to its credit

although i'm sure mike love is busy soliciting screenplays for good vibrations: the mike love story

martinique: mounds of rotting steak - the mike love story

Where My Weirdos At?: The Mike Love Story

man I would so watch a Mike Love biopic

Who is playing Mike Love? Any photos (w/ or w/out weirdoes)?

Hold on this guy is playing Mike Love??!?! I assume the casting director on this movie was, uh, Mike Love?

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/abel__111109022207.jpg

if they shave a bald spot into him I can kinda see it

Dude's closer to Dennis as-is.

Hope this era is adequately covered:

https://thebuddharats.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/pimp1.jpg

i'd pay good money to see a movie in which paul giamatti plays eugene landy, murry wilson AND mike love.

(but as it is, i liked the actual movie a lot more than most of y'all did. cusack was a little awkward, yeah, but it was basically a really nice little slice-of-life-times-two film that lingered lovingly over the creative process in a way that most biopics don't tend to do.)

come to think of it, giamatti should probably play brian too.

yeah i'm tempted to rent this and get up and make a sandwich if/when i'm bored by the cusack stuff

― he quipped with heat (amateurist),

usually I mop.

it was really weird watching this film a few months after I saw "The Wrecking Crew" as parts of the film literally recreated the stories that the Wrecking Crew themselves told about the Pet Sounds session almost exactly

Cusack recycled his Lloyd Dobler-isms and wasn't persuasive. Dano was fine.

Thought this was about as bad a movie as I've ever seen. Total fan-service and nothing even remotely interesting going on movie-wise. There wasn't nearly enough artistic license taken for my tastes. I prefer biopics that do their own thing and don't just faithfully illustrate the key points of the story without any flair whatsoever. And so much of it was cribbed or mimicked straight from various documentaries that it was kinda gross. The best part was the end credits -- the real Brian appears and sings the title song!

The drama was lukewarm at its most intense. Melinda was the main character. Brian was portrayed as a kind of drooling idiot (WTF!?) The music, which should've been the main character, was strangely relegated to the sidelines. I can't remember if we got even one song played all the way through but I kinda doubt it. The dialogue was abominable. The script and acting were about as good as your average TV sitcom. The narrative was clunky as hell. Also confusing, but that actually is fitting because Brian's is a confusing story in general! I feel kinda bad for anyone who is not already familiar with that story, though.

Just a plain old bad movie. It is ultimately the story of a sick rich guy with really super-obscure rich guy problems. Which in the final analysis is just not all that interesting, really. All you're left with is the fan-service. The fans seem overjoyed so I guess the director made the right choice!! I am just plain not the intended audience!

The best thing it does is to make use of the various isolated vocal and instrumental tracks in the context of the simulated performances. The 60s decor was also groovy, I guess. Paul Dano shouldn't have sung and played piano, that really sunk the whole thing for me. Brian's voice is the key to the entire BB story IMO and way too important to just toss off like that! Dano's performance was okay, it was in tune and in time, but it's just this impossible task... Brian has such a unique sound, his voice in his prime is one of the greatest instruments I know of. He is a truly great artist, not just as a writer/arranger/performer but also as a performer. I just wasn't convinced by the movie.

Listening to 2 hours of random Beach Boys music is a million times better than this thing. And a perfect antidote after sitting through it!!!

Brian was portrayed as a kind of drooling idiot (WTF!?)

Not sure if the WTF is necessary, considering the parlous mental states Brian has endured over the years.

". It is ultimately the story of a sick rich guy with really super-obscure rich guy problems. Which in the final analysis is just not all that interesting, really."

that is actually brian wilson's story though, so if you weren't aware of that going in, I guess that would be dull for you; but I can't believe you didn't know this to begin with.

Not perfect by any means, but if this is as bad a movie as you've ever seen, I'm guessing you only see films off Sight & Sound's Top 100 list.

The dialogue was abominable.

Worse than most biopics. Lots of gee whizzers -- basically anything with the dude playing Mike Love.

I was listening to their early albums up to "All summer long" this morning (a great way to start a sunny day, btw !) and realized it's only 2 years between "I get around" and "Good Vibrations"/the "Smile" sessions.
A pretty amazing leap (even more impressive than the Beatles' evolution from, say, "Beatles for sale" to "Revolver", arguably).

Yeah, I don't watch a lot of stuff, mostly old movies. I haven't seen a TV show in literally 15 years or something! I don't know, something about this just rubbed me all wrong. Everyone else seems to love it, if you're on the fence just go see it and don't let me persuade you otherwise. I might be too personally invested in the subject.

Tom D, you're right, my WTF is wayyyyy unnecessary. Obviously the dude has serious problems and he is very childlike and stuff. But I felt like they went overboard. A person who can make music that is both simple and complex whilst be perfectly conceived and produced just can't be THAT dumb. But then again he did sell the publishing to his entire oeuvre when prompted by Murray and all that. They glossed over that in the movie -- why? The fact that he signed that paper would've adds a lot of weight and murky complexity to the story.

This movie confirmed my bias of 'Hang on To Your Ego' over 'I Know There's an Answer'.
SO HAHA fuck YOU, people whom voted the wrong way round in the BB Poll!

nahhh just playin

not!

more valuable insights later

I really didn't know too much about the beach boys going into this movie despite having heard a big chunk of their output up through adult/child several times. It was a solid movie and Paul Dano was wonderful. John Cusack was good but his dark hair was real off-putting.

I think a lot of the critics in this thread are understandably put-off that the on screen personalities didn't match their real life counterparts. I wouldn't know. Maybe that's why my review is going to be less critical.

The movie didn't portray Brian as a drooling idiot like someone said upthread. It did make him seem childlike and also awkward when it came to the John Cusack parts. Maybe they should of toned down the awkwardness a bit, but then again at that particular point in time it doesn't seem so far-fetched for him to act like that.

The movie makd me really dislike Mike Love. Melinda was under developed but the movie wasn't about her. Obviously I wish there was more to the dialogue but it wasn't abominable. It was cut short.

Overall I liked this move a lot. Such a good point in time to focus on and good music to have playing. The movie mostly left me wondering what Brian Wilson was like from Wild Honey to Adult/Child. Awkward Brian reminded me of me at times (when I've been awkwardly stiff) so that was a nice ego boost.

Cusack looked nothing like Wilson. Excellent call upthread on Bill Pullman, would've been great, but the movie should've just been Dano in the 60's. Also...VDP got sidelined and written out of the "Good Vibrations" sessions, which is unforgivable IMO.

Really enjoyed this movie today though it's hard for me to have any critical distance where Pet Sounds is involved. I walked around earlier listening to it in preparation, stifling sobs as usual. I guess that should make me more protective of it, but it doesn't, I just wanna see the music and the narrative reflected everywhere I look. Could've been Dane Cook and Andrew Dice Clay playing Brian Wilson, I wouldn't have cared.

Van Dyke Parks was hot.

It's released today in France. I'll surely go watch it although the Cusack part seems dodgy...
But I'm in a full BB mood so it will certainly be good.

by the way, loved some of the previous posts, especially :

bitten by radioactive Phil Spector

― Οὖτις, vendredi 5 juin 2015 22:00 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Beachman origins !

this movie was soooo good!!!!

i thought it was pretty decent. Cusack looked, sounded & acted nothing like BW, which would have been admissible in an "I'm Not There/ more preoccupied with the essence" kinda way if they weren't at such obvious pains to make Dano's scenes so visually & historically authentic; there was definitely an awkward opposition at play with all that. Giamatti had some pretty creepy scenes, but idk i never really did lose sight of the fact that I was watching... Paul Giamatti. he was still pretty effective i guess, but Steve Carell, for instance, did a much more focused (& chilling) transformative turn as an all-round sadistic monster in Foxcatcher.

favourite aspect of the film, like a lot of folks, was the portrayal of each song undertaking its own idiosyncratic & meticulous evolution: starting off as a flash of genius in Brian's head, being developed studiously, and then finally being realised with expert patience & discipline in the studio. that part seemed very organic in the sense that the songs weren't just Eureka! moments in themselves, but were in need of being nurtured to life; there was a kind of tension & pressure underlying the process of capturing an idea before it escaped and as a result you genuinely got the feeling that these songs could only have come about in a particular time and place. i mean, the sense that the musicians were engaged in something almost surreally groundbreaking was palpable, and that is definitely to the film's credit. Brian's genius was also convincingly portrayed.

i'd tell people to check it out.

I watched this documentary yesterday : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SriaRRcA6w
so sad the moment when the whole thing collapsed and he broke down during the creation of Smile.
It's also interesting because it's kinda common now to consider that Smile was mainly completed when he shelved it. but in the documentary he says he needed like another year to finish it !

it's also quite embarrassing all the live and interview segments from the 90s because although he seems to feel better than in the 70s, he's clearly off (reminds me when I went to the Smile tour and most of the times he was busy doin nothing on stage... like a sick old person brought on stage without a clue of what he's doing here...).
Like the moment when VDP tries to communicate with him about the creation of some of the tracks.

and by the way : this is AMAZING :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gWb6SfgBZc

and so is this (it's great to hear the arrangements and instruments that are otherwise covered by the voices) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_a-C6CsvNo

The music, which should've been the main character, was strangely relegated to the sidelines. I can't remember if we got even one song played all the way through but I kinda doubt it.

This is always the problem with music biopics though. Not seen Love & Mercy yet, but I felt exactly the same about Walk The Line. Didn't feel as though I'd gotten to know anything about the music of Johnny Cash and that really, a better film would have been made if they'd just made up a fiction loosely-based around Cash's life.

so I have finally seen this.
I enjoyed it although, somehow, I eventually prefer the 80s part to the 60s one.
the 60s part is good and all but, like someone said upthread, it has the issue that most biopics have : a succession of famous/historical moments and scenes that feels a bit shallow (like why did they re-shoot the video for "sloop john B" ??).
Whereas the 80s part was more of a real movie.
that said, maybe it's because I know the 60s stories very well whereas I had next to no idea about what happened to him in the 80s.
also, I had initial doubts about Cusack playing BW but was eventually impressed by his performance because he succeeded in talking and behaving exactly like the "old" BW I've seen in various footage and interviews.
another problem with the 60s part is also that I didn't like Dano's face at all and so I couldn't sympathize with his BW !

Dano has the most hateable face in modern movies

Redeeming qualities: the sound design (holy shit), cusack only barely modifying his usual schtick yet still making it work (somehow), genuine plot/characterization in the 80s sequences

Failures: pretty much everything else.

Genuinely prefer the 90s stamos tv movie tbh, at least it was totally ott and funny. Seemed like a bunch of the dano scenes in this were more "serious" higher budget remakes of scenes from the stamos movie. And not in a good way. Giamatti was super hammy 1 dimensional villain but eh he served his purpose. Banks was good.

Dialogue in the 60s scenes was also just so clumsy, all unnatural exposition and/or direct quotes from interviews/clips. So stiff and dumb.

I liked this more than i expected to, Dano v good and Cusack's more fraught, disturbed moments impressed. Elizabeth Banks underrated. Didn't expect M Love to be given equal villain status with Landy.

It did have the feel of an "authorized" film, as I think it's mostly about a guy with a bad dad and doctor rather than a Beach Boys movie. A couple of the music cues were cringey, like the last one.

Haven't checked above for any snark about Wes Anderson's cinematographer's work here.

Banks was my supp. actress vote.

most tolerable Dano perf ever

Cusack recycled his Lloyd Dobler-isms

hmmm no, aside from being the same actor. More fragile, and not just from being 48 instead of 22ish.

I know ppl are upset he didn't look anything like BW, but neither did Will Smith look like Ali (in a significantly worse film)

this is ok. suffered the same problem lots of biopics do "hey I'm writing this song do you have lyrics? maybe something about the VIBRATIONS?" and then they write the song. I got used to Cusak; he didn't mimic Wilson but I thought he brought an interesting perspective on Wilson, even if he did seem a little TOO together at times. biggest drawback to me was that the ending was very abrupt; would have liked to see slightly more about how they got Landry out.

deleted scenes inevitably include reenactment of infamous Murry 'let's fight for success' tape.

also Spector dissing Brian on the sidewalk

Tell it to Johnny Rivers.

I loved this. Dano is such an effortless actor. Paul Giamatti was great as Landy too. Wasn't mad on Cusack, but you can't win em all. Great to have a biopic that actually concentrated on the music for more than 30 seconds, and also one that told the whole story but from only two specific moments in time (mid 60s and early 80s). Best music biopic I've ever seen (which isn't saying much, but still).

The LSD parts were really tastefully executed and managed to avoid any HE FUCKED HIS LIFE UP WITH CRAAAXY DRUGZ stuff.

I'm listening to the Brian Wilson solo album now for the first time in about 13 years cos of this film.

the sound design in this is phenomenal - the scene where brian's in the studio with his dad in the control room and the music in brian's head slowly turns discordant was heartbreaking

i loved this! Dano was excellent. the look on his face when he emerges from under the piano after getting it to sound just so at one point was a thing of beauty.

anyone see the Miles biopic? it seems to have died on its arse over here, barely in the cinemas.

the Miles 'biopic' is about 90% fictional

aren't they all! it was weird seeing Don Cheadle saying as much in all the interviews though.

yeah it's unabashedly made-up though. i liked Cheadle in it, and it was interesting that they made a story up around Davis's fallow period, but it's an action movie with Miles Davis as the main character, ultimately. Don't expect a serious bio.

watched this on amazon prime last night

as a film it's decent

i did feel it was more for fans so it was difficult to completely remove my fanboy urge to love it

sound design like people have mentioned is amazing

cusack is a strange choice; he kind of made it work but still retains a bit of his cusackisms

dano was pretty great

rly brought back memories of making music with friends

This was waaaaay better than I expected it was gonna be. Recommended!

I just watched it finally last night and was blown away. Gorgeous

may rewatch again today

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it but if memory serves, I could’ve done with more Dano and less Cusack. The former I believed as Wilson, the latter I did not.

i found Cusack very believable but I get why ppl don’t really go for it
it’s a harder role to sell because there’s no definitive hairstyle or wardrobe like Dano has with younger Brian; Cusack has less trappings to hang his performance on
There’s no physical transformation, it’s all in the movements & mannerisms which are also quite small & minimal

I thought he handled the character really well & was very convincing .

I watched it last night. Best parts were obviously the scenes in the recording studio

Also: some director needs to create a worthy starring vehicle for Elizabeth Banks, she’s great in this and a criminally underutilized actress overall

elizabeth banks was in every movie that came out roughly from 2005-2015

this movie was pretty bad. the dano parts were OK, the cusack parts were awful

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I actually worked with someone who lived in L.A. for a long time, and during a long conversation that had nothing to do with Brian Wilson, she mentioned a psychotherapist friend of hers named Eugene Landy. I immediately stopped her and was like, "Wait, wait...Eugene Landy? As in the guy who treated Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys?" Same guy, and it was obvious they were good friends, but I gently reminded her that his treatment of him was "controversial." She agreed, but she did defend him, mentioning how he literally got him out of bed, etc. Then a month goes by, and by sheer coincidence, we both run into Paul Giamatti, whom she recognized but she had no idea he played Landy in the film. (That would've been a hell of an icebreaker, but I didn't want to get into that again and kept quiet about it.)

obv a long time ago, since he died in 2006

Nah, this was summer 2016. (Easy to remember because the election happened when I was finishing up on that job.) She wasn't talking about him in the present tense.

ahhh right, gotcha :)

Giamatti plays such an excellent bastard.

anyone ever read this??

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Vu7%2Bh6KsL._SX317_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

This was on the other night, it is absolutely fucking atrocious, wtf with all those good reviews upthread?

I loved the part where Paul Dano transformed into Balthazar Getty and killed that guy in the truck

Whist talking about The Beach Boys I mentioned The Cowsills documentary Family Band and somebody thought I was talking about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWtbhd4bFMw

Found a half hour video about why this is the best movie ever. Seems more time efficient to just watch the actual movie.

No idea where to put this but Brian’s wife Melinda passed away. Only 77.

Although she was critical for pulling Brian away from Dr. Landy, she was also responsible for the massive breakdown with Brian and Carl (they didn't resolve their differnces until Carl was dying from cancer).

She also also created major tension between Brian and Andy Paley, Don Was, Sean O'Hagan, basically anyone who wanted to work with Brian on new material in the 90s.

All that said, Melinda was a major factor in getting Darrian/The Wondermints to work with Van Dyke and Brian to finish and agree on a proper sequence for "Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE."

Hope he's getting the support he needs now to deal with his grief. I always got the impression that Brian was still pretty fragile - IIRC he still has very harrowing incidents when he's under a lot of stress.

yeah...

The death was announced on Brian Wilson’s Instagram page, where the 81-year-old singer-songwriter wrote, “My heart is broken. Melinda, my beloved wife of 28 years, passed away this morning. Our five children and I are just in tears. We are lost. Melinda was more than my wife. She was my savior. She gave me the emotional security I needed to have a career. She encouraged me to make the music that was closest to my heart. She was my anchor. She was everything for us. Please say a prayer for her.” He closed the statement with his trademark sign-off: “Love and Mercy, Brian.”

v sad

Although she was critical for pulling Brian away from Dr. Landy, she was also responsible for the massive breakdown with Brian and Carl (they didn't resolve their differnces until Carl was dying from cancer).

She also also created major tension between Brian and Andy Paley, Don Was, Sean O'Hagan, basically anyone who wanted to work with Brian on new material in the 90s.

All that said, Melinda was a major factor in getting Darrian/The Wondermints to work with Van Dyke and Brian to finish and agree on a proper sequence for "Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE."

I couldn't find a particularly suitable thread
https://www.instagram.com/p/DKxHMogupsf/

Brian has passed away

omg

Oh man

Oh god

A true genius.

A story I heard from a friend, can't recall if it was first-hand or from a doc or other source. It was a recording session, and Brian Wilson came in as a guest. He did his first take of a vocal, and it was really shaky, everyone was looking at each other nervously. He did a second take, and it seemed even worse. Then he did a third take, and it wasn't much better. The producer started to quietly panic. And then Brian Wilson told them to put all three takes together and it was perfect.

This is going to be one of those days where you listen to "It's OK" twenty times in a row

Brian Wilson's cousin is a shit (allegedly)

playing Til I Die on repeat. will miss you Brian

“This person changed the world” sometimes gets thrown around a bit too casually but in the case of Brian Wilson it barely scratches the surface. RIP

It bums me out a little that this is the Brian Wilson RIP thread.

RIP to a real one. Music as pure joy.

sorry, I did check and all the other Brian Wilson threads appeared to be even more ill-fitting

An absolute giant. I probably spent more hours immersed in his work than any other artist. RIP and thank you, Brian.

Questlove on FB:

[Man——so there was a day when we were struggling and starving in Europe back in 94 (ok not “starving” but broke)—- it was becoming apparent that the “this is gonna work like gangbusters!!!!” was not going to work.

I didn’t lose hope like “the Roots are f+%ed!!!!!!!” but it was clear that if we wanted to play reindeer games it was gonna be a 5 times as hard struggle to get there (being as though we just did that “1995” show at Hollywood Bowl—-there was kinda a 3 decade in waiting feeling of “see we DO belong!” feeling I had (don’t get me wrong this is the longstanding “always in my head/woe is me/im a failure” cloud that —-I mean if im honest I prolly started to deal with maybe 8 years ago)

But man…..I avoided Pet Sounds when I was younger cause I mean psssh “it’s The Beach Boys——what are they gonna teach this 10 yr old?! This ain’t better than “Apache” or “Genius Of Love” 🙄) ——my dad however LOVED Beatles & Beach Boys —-which baffled me: I mean this Afro rocking “Power To The People” black fist pumped cat from West Philly…..likes……the Beach Boys? 😂🫠

And now here I am a 23 year old college dropout living in London surviving on 2 Fish & Chips & Ginger Beer meal a day, realizing the album he just made…..wasn’t a hit. I mean we were a cult hit…..but in light of seeing Ready To Die light the world on fire—-I let my emo depression kick in hard——and NO album spoke to me more than Pet Sounds.

Mind you Tical & The Main Ingredient & Word…Life held us down too (no internet, streaming, YouTube back then and if we heard “Scatman” ONE MORE TIME 🫥——

Anywho——I know Orbison is the king of emo, but man if there was a human being who made art out of inexpressible sadness….damn it was Brian Wilson.

I hate he went thru what he went thru to create this album (also: Smile Outakes in my North Star) but man——without him I dunno how so many that came after felt safe to express a feeling of sadness that most humans would be otherwise ridiculed/punished for.

This was the hardest lp to convince Dilla was “on some shit” weird considering his range lol—-when that boxset came tho? He hit me lol (“you right this is on some shit!”) the highest compliment from one god to another.

I created a proper thread here: RIP Brian Wilson