Bumper ‘Disco’ interviews and reviews

I picked a bad week to go on holiday… I’ve just been catching up with the bumper crop of Whit Stillman interviews and reviews of the Criterion release of The Last Days of Disco DVD. Apologies for the delay in getting this together.

DVD cover
Criterion Collection DVD cover

Set aside some time because there are plenty of long and interesting interviews. I’ve taken a few quotes about current and future plans from the bigger interviews, but there is a lot, lot more worth reading in them, as Stillman looks back on Disco

‘History is Made at Night – An Interview with Filmmaker Whit Stillman’ an interview with David Zahl at the Mockingbird Blog:

Can we expect any more novels from you?

Yes, I think so. At a certain point, it becomes impossible to make films and you have to head in another way.

Is there any hope for Barcelona on Criterion?

There’s a lot of hope. The more noise we can make the better. They’re negotiating with Warners. It’d be great because then we could have the boxed set.

Is there anything you can tell me about upcoming projects? I keep hearing about Jamaican Gospel churches? Do you have any comment?

Well, that’s the one that I hope will happen. But there’s another one that’s in pretty good shape too.

‘Whit Stillman heads back to the dance’ by Stephen Saito at IFC.com:

How have you been since the last time we talked?

I’ve since relocated to the States, as of June. Things have been going very well. There are two new TV projects I’ve just been signed up for, so I have to slightly delay the feature I was hoping to do.

‘Whit Stillman Speaks Eleven Years After His Last Film’ an interview with Nick Pinkerton at Village Voice (full transcript here):

I looked at the imdb, they tell me Little Green Men is in pre-production, is that true?

No, definitely not, not to my knowledge, not with me as director. I’m not involved in that anymore, and haven’t been in a long time. Things continue on the internet long after they’re no longer true. It might be a dark horse candidate, something’s that’s never been mentioned, that I’ve kept under wraps, and that might actually be the thing that goes ahead.

Is it remaining under wraps?

Yeah. Yeah. I think until… I’ve made that mistake, talking about things before they actually happen and… don’t want to get more into that game. The Jamaica film (Note: Dancing Mood) will happen, I’m sure it will, and it’ll be good, but um—well, we’ll attempt to make it very good, but—it’s very hard to detail.

‘Whit Stillman, Filmmaker’ an interview with Hugh Merwin at Gothamist:

I found reference to this adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s novel Little Green Men, and then a movie you’re writing called Dancing Mood. Can you tell me about those?

I don’t think Little Green Men is happening, at least with me. That’s been true for a long time. Things stick around on the internet, though. Dancing Mood is a way serious project I’ve been working on for a long time but there’s all sorts of steps that have to happen so it may get postponed again. But I can’t wait to make that film.

Plus you can watch a video of Stillman in an interview at WNYC (follow the link to download the MP3 too):

Plus there are several straight reviews, some with a few technical details about the Criterion release. (I’ve ignored some of the single-paragraph weekly DVD round-up type reviews.)

2 thoughts on “Bumper ‘Disco’ interviews and reviews

  1. Just watch the Criterion edition of Last Days… awesome. I’ve always wondered what that print of a sailor in the copy room at the girls publishing house is. Does anyone know? Thanks!

  2. Whit Stillman answers that question in the recent “Gothamist” article that is above (also it tells you the artist is Pierre Le-Tan etc.). Here is Whit Stillman’s answer:

    “Yes, it’s a portrait of someone. That’s my uncle Ted Riley. My uncle was heading towards publishing a certain way—putting books together and creating things. The name of the house, Riley Publishing, in both the film and the novel, is a tribute to him.”

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