Had a great day of films. Went to see kathryn bigelow’s “the hurt locker” this afternoon. She shot on super 16, and it added a griddy, rough and tumble, 70’s cinema quality to the film. Very well acted, the characters have some great moments. She did it with only 11 million, still a lit of money, but nice to see good films getting made for under 30 these days.

Finished the night with Truffaut’s “the 400 blows.” One of his first films, critical and commercial acclaim, and a best director award from Cannes. Just a great film to watch, his style and choices inspired many of the current greats. To think that just the year before he was banned from Cannes. I guess this industry has been fickle from the beginning.

Spielberg actually cast truffaut in “close encounters of the third kind,” because he wanted to portray the theme of seeing the world through the eyes of a child. He saw that theoughline in all of truffaut’s work. What a great choice.

My dear friend rsw said to me just now: ” you know what, you should carry a gun,” just out of the blue….”you know, you’d actually be a great assassin.” Just a random comment while folding his clothes, me with a glass of wine in my hands on the couch.

I said: “I’d love to be an assassin.” He said, “I know, you’d be great, I’m going to make a picture where you play an assassin, cause it would be believable. I’m actually scared right now.”

Great conversation. Who should I assassinate first?!

I went to the Iranian protests here in LA monday night with my friend sepi. It was a very powerful night. There were so many people in the streets to support a free Iran.

There was a candle-lit vigil for Neda, the 27 year old girl who was gunned down by a sniper in the streets of Teheran. It was a very moving experience. These were peaceful protests in Teheran until she was shot. This footage: Neda on YouTube, shows just how non-problematic Neda was with her father before the tragedy.

Iran is a prime example of a country where politics can’t be separated from religion. Ahmadinejad is a dangerous leader to say the least. “Put simply, Iranian governance is democratic in appearance, theocratic in character and dictatorial in intent….The system’s complexities is in large part an effective if paradoxical way of disarming criticism of Iranian ‘democracy’ while making it supremely difficult for reformers to break into the system and sway it their way.” -Pierre Tristam

Often I feel the world is so mixed up, I wonder if we’ll ever find our footing, wonder if we’ll ever find peace. In my heart I want to believe we can, but in my head I just don’t see how. Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity.

So my friend Terry tells me about this secret Malibu Oasis last week. Pools of water, cliff jumping, the whole nine yards. This sounds like bs to me, because I’ve lived in LA for 7 years now, and have never heard of this place.

I went last weekend for the first time, and it was amazing. It’s about a mile hike, and you have to go with someone who’s been there before to get to the right place. I’ve since been three times, I’m officially addicted.

It reminds me of the place I used to go as a kid, Sabino Canyon in Tucson, AZ. I love having a few places in the world that are secret or meaningful to yourself, places that you know will always be there.

A few weeks ago I finished my dad’s 6th rewrite of his prequel to Treasure Island.

I’m now working through Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel. I must say, it’s awesome to see John Silver’s transformation into a pirate, and then pick up right into the great old classic.

Obviously biased, but the pops wrote a very vivid and alluring piece. Couldn’t put it down.

The novel he published before is called Anne Bonny: tale of a lady pirate. A producer here in Hwood has optioned it to try to make a film. We shall see!

Watching Paul Newman films today. Starting with pocket money, then the sting….someone took my cool hand luke!

It’s crazy that after his first film he took out a one pg apology in the trade papers.

We lost one of the greats….

It was exciting as hell to see this rambunctiously wild film.  When I first read the script I was thinking how the hell can a 2-D set and island life mesh with the rest of the film?  But it does, and yet again, RSW made something pretty damn special.  

It’s always hard to watch your own work, but this was pretty damn cool. There were definitely some moments that fell a little short, but it is what it is.  Gotta work on that comedic timing — one thing you either got or not.  Work in progress.