Welcome everybody to one more special episode of “One on Many”, looks like we are doing specials all the way round. Today the guest we have is a highly respected member of the Last Resort Film Studios family. He has a staggering number of 16 nominations and an awesome number of 7 wins at the Golden Reel, second only to John Malone. Please welcome James Morgan.
Just before you start, Jack, I want to come clean with everyone listening. I’m not mad at anyone and I just want to get things off my chest, here.
1) Your this season film “High Society” just released but it failed at the box office. What do you think is the reason for it’s failure?
Well, for starters it’s always hard to sell an original script with heavy effects. Michael B. Jordan has proven now for the third time that he can’t seem to carry a movie, even if I still think that he’s a perfectly capable leading man. The reviews weren’t really good and that’s more than important with original screenplays. In short, I think this is what happened.
2) There has been some questions regarding this film casting, let’s put them aside for a minute and can you just explain me the process you went through for casting this movie and why did you think this set of actors were suited for this role?
For the lead role, I wanted a young actor that could perform well dramatically and would be able to deal with the action scenes. He also needed to be sort of good looking too and this is when I decided to go with Michael B. Jordan. A choice that I would regret later, after seeing the disappointing return at the box office.
For the lead couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were considered at first, but then they filed for divorce. I wanted to go to the top of Hollywood to find actors who would be easy to sell as member of the High Society. I wasn’t able to think of anyone until I saw a Nescafe ad and this is when I decided to cast Danny DeVito, no wait George Clooney. A decision I would also regret later. This is the part of the casting that got criticized. I will defend myself to death to people saying I just cast big names to have big names in my movies. When I cast, I always ask myself, would they do this movie and I answered yes with Jolie and Clooney. I didn’t think her divorce with Brad would influence any of that and I’m really sad that it was judged on that.
The rest of the casting, well I always knew I wanted to work with Frank Langella, right from the start and to be honest, I can’t really remember why I casted the others, except Jesse Eisenberg, who won the role, thanks to his role as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network and Jessica Pare for her role in Mad Men.
3) Regarding that questions you have given a vague answer on the official website of Mo Bucks Writer Association(https://mobuckwriters.wordpress.com/2018/06/21/in-defense-of-high-society/). Can you expand on it?
Well, I practically answered it with the last question, but I can surely talk about it again. I always knew High Society would be a high-risk project. I really counted on Jordan to carry the film and he obviously couldn’t. People have been critical of my usage of stars and if you didn’t like their roles, it’s entirely your right. When I wrote the movie, I couldn’t think of anyone else for the roles. My casting is usually set in stones when I write. I think I cast the project with the best of my abilities and find it cheap that people criticize me for “throwing a bunch of big names”, when I’m certainly not the only one to have all-star casts attached to my projects.
4) We also saw that you referenced some other films in that vague answer would you also like to expand on it?
Well, for starters, I may not have participated at all of the Halo franchise, I left that to Mo, who knows the world of Halo way better than I do, but let’s compare it to another successful franchise here at LRF, Mass Effect. If we start with the second film of the franchise, as we didn’t have any control over the casting of the first and concentrate on the female roles. On one hand, we have two Oscar winners and successful movie stars who can lead movies of their own and on the other, two actresses whose best work are on television. One of these movies, I don’t need to tell you which one gets praised for its all-star cast. There’s absolutely no need to have huge stars in movies like these, they’re hidden behind tons of makeup or just in motion capture. That’s the kind of casting I would criticize.
If you shift your focus to awards contenders, every time a cast filled with stars pop up, it’s always praised, no matter the story, but I cast three big names and get accused of throwing big names in my movie, just for the sake of it.
I hope you see my point. I thought a lot about my casting and to be accused of just throwing them there for award attention or just for profit, when the story wasn’t the greatest, makes me sad, especially when I’m not the first one to do it and the others got praised for their “all-star” cast, when I didn’t have an Oscar winner in the sixth highest-billed role or what not. You see, I don’t normally care about the reviews, but the one by Jeff Stockton of Deseret News hit me right in the face when I wasn’t looking and I didn’t like it.
Also, I’m sorry to say it to you, Jack, but The Banded Ants is also filled with stars and you never got criticized for it.
5) Hahaha Banded Ants, I somehow coerced Studio Head Phil Dolan to write that big checks. What’s next for you?
Well, I wrote just finished a script and it’s a modern-day crime drama. I had a hard time coming up with an ending, but I’m happy with the way I ended the story. For now, I’m going to start working on a drama about a man who has trouble staying connected to the reality and goes delusional. I’m working with one of the most underrated, in my opinion, actor of his generation on this and I’m eager to start writing. There’s also an opening for me to write a prequel to my prequel, so you may see more of the Raven, but that’s not for tomorrow, that’s for sure. Nothing is set in stone for now.
6) Which have been your favorite works in the past from the LRF and which one’s are you looking forward to in the future? From the association and outside the association.
I don’t really like going back in the past, you know, so let’s just concentrate on the future, because that’s where we’re headed. If you really want to know about the past, you better read the Prestige Magazine, as I have a column in our Season Top 5. With Season 4, my choice for Best Picture was Missoula and remember that I was nominated in that category too, so that’s saying something. With the Season 3, I didn’t sign my name after my appreciation in the Magazine, but I really liked The Prisoner, just like everyone.
In the future, the Association has some great things coming, you may not like them, but we sure do. We’re trying to keep things as diverse as possible and we hope you find something you like in what we write. I’m especially curious to see how you react to our adaptations of French Canadian stuff. We have more coming up and we’re eager to see if you like them. It won’t be like the trilogy Mo made with Jean-Marc Vallée, rest assured. I always know what we’re all going to write, so I’m never really looking forward to a story from the Association. There’s one exception though. Mo did a collaboration with another writer and he doesn’t want us to read it. He doesn’t know I did, but I’m eager to know what the other writers think about it.
As with everyone else, I’m always excited for the original stories you have in store, I really dig those. I hope you have some good ones, as it could be really fun to read. It’s not that I don’t like adaptation, it’s just that I like to use my imagination when I write and I love to see what kind of ideas you have.
7) We see that you mention that you think “High Society” is not on par with your other films what do you think happened?
I guess I just happened to spend too much time on the world-building and not focus enough on the characters. Looking back, that’s one flaw I see. There’s no one better to judge my work than myself and I can’t seem to see this film on the same level as Into Thin Air, a success I was trying to replicate here. With that being said, the poster was nice and the direction was flawless and I hope it gets recognised at some point. You guys also seemed to like Bill Skarsgard too, so that’s good right ?! I promise I’ll be right back on top next season.
I wish good luck to you for your future works. It’s time to wrap it up. Ladies and gentlemen a hand of applause for the man of the hour James Morgan.
Thank you too, Jack, for allowing to speak on your podcast. Best of luck to you too and I want to end things by saying something that I think is really important for every writer out there : You want to write something, do it. Don’t listen to what the others are saying about you, write it and if you like it, then you’re a winner in my eyes. Thank you very much to all of you who’ve listened.
Jack's Corner 