Re: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Here to clear some things up. I started the Jesse James Revival and am the person Andrew is talking about in that interview. There is a bit of confusion and misinformation in there though.
We were initially only doing one big screening in New York with Andrew Q&Aing. Demand exceeded our expectations. That night sold out so a second night was added (with author Ron Hansen Q&Aing) which we also sold out. I decided to keep riding the momentum and see how far we could take it.
I set up a screening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood with Andrew and Roger Deakins Q&Aing. We had some people involved in the making of the film in the audience that night and it went extremely well. That was a sell out plus we had to turn away a pretty large standby line at the door.
Throughout the process of all of these screenings the question of the director's cut of the film kept coming up and people in the audience were even asking "What about Criterion?"
Andrew had done an interview early in the publicity for the whole thing where he spoke about two alternate cuts of the film
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Later on I did two screenings with Casey Affleck Q&Aing, one in Cambridge at the Brattle Theatre and one in Brooklyn at the Nitehawk Cinema.
All of these things went really well and everybody who participated on both the talent side and the exhibition side felt really good about how it went and everybody enjoyed the process.
In the middle of all of this, a friend put me in touch with somebody who worked at Criterion (not at the producer level). He offered to pass on a brief write-up to somebody at Criterion if he could outlining what we could bring to the table if they'd be willing to talk about doing a release.
He didn't make any promises that he could do that (nor should he have) but said he would if it felt appropriate (being an employee there obviously that's a touchy thing to be passing along a pitch).
I should add that I was doing this on behalf of the film and Andrew. Andrew was not involved in reaching out to Criterion.
I don't really know the guy so that pretty much went into the ether on me. It may or may not have crossed somebody's desk.
But the Criterion plea continually comes up from fans of the movie on Twitter and Facebook and these questions periodically get asked like at the end of this interview about Andrew's new movie (which is fantastic by the way).
It's something I've wanted to have a more concrete conversation with somebody at Criterion about now that they've released Warner Bros titles (which could have been an issue at the time, who knows).
I have no predestined expectations or want to appear presumptuous about them working with us, but since it keeps coming up I really would like to find out a way to speak to somebody who could hear me out so that I could outline more specifically what could make the release special, participants we could potentially bring, etc.
They curate their catalog carefully and I respect that so at the end of the day their decision is their decision.
If anyone knows how I could get a brief audience/phone call/cup of coffee with somebody at Criterion when I'm in New York next I would be grateful for the opportunity to finally have a real talk about possibly working together on a release.
Also, I am not, nor was I, a film student when we started this. I work in television.
To those of you enthusiastic about the film and its possible inclusion in the Criterion Collection I appreciate it and suggest you maybe do the ol' give Mulvaney a shout thing ;)
I hope that clears up some confusion. I just wanted to make it clear that we never actually had a conversation but would love to if at all possible.
If anyone else has a question to clear up feel free to email me at
[email protected] or point anybody in that direction.
One last edit here: I am speaking only on behalf of myself here. Not Andrew Dominik, Casey Affleck, Roger Deakins, Ron Hansen, or any aforementioned people.
Best,
J
