Salon | Media Circus: And the loser is...


- - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K Does the Economist kick other weekly newsmagazines' butts? Weigh in, in the Media area of Table Talk - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y A bad week for the First Amendment By Eric Alterman Can a reporter write a book about a subject he covers? (03/05/98) Under the Covers By James Poniewozik Money magazines, reflecting our schizoid attitudes toward loot, wobble between safe 'n' sober advice and get-rich-quick fantasies (03/04/98) Memoirs of a shy pornographer By Molly Weatherfield A pornographer is taken aback when a reader takes her fantasies seriously (03/03/98) How to succeed in everything by dropping out of Harvard By Shoshana Berger Matt Damon is the latest in the long line of Crimson quitters to make it big (03/02/98) All along the ivory tower By Michael Batty A recent Dylan Symposium at Stanford proved that as rock fans, academics can babble with the most brain-dead Aerosmith heads (02/27/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE MEDIA CIRCUS ARCHIVES		- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - page 2 of 2 For the first several years of their existence, the only winners who ever showed up at the Razzies were the cult bodybuilders the Barbarian Brothers. But then Bill Cosby asked for (and got) his Razzie shortly after the fact for "Leonard, Part VI," and people in Hollywood began using these anti-Oscars to make a point -- which is generally: "It wasn't my fault." When screenwriter Steven DeSouza won a Razzie for worst screenplay a few years ago for "Hudson Hawk," for instance, he had his assistant call up to claim the award, explaining that his boss wanted to present it to the film's producer-star, Bruce Willis, whom DeSouza felt really deserved the worst screenplay credit. Because the Razzies Web site lists the entire 18-year archive of Razzies honorees, some winners have been calling to claim their awards years after the fact. The songwriter and composer for the Pia Zadora opus "The Lonely Lady," Jeffrey Pennig, recently sent Wilson a check for $25 to become a Razzie member and asked for his award. (Actual gold spray-painted Raspberries are in short supply, however, so Wilson usually sends out certificates instead.) Of this year's nominees, so far Wilson has heard from the assistant to the director of the Steven Seagal film "Fire Down Below," who said that director Felix Enrique Alcala might attend. The film is nominated for worst picture, by the way, but not worst director. "Even we understand that when you're dealing with Steven Seagal, you really can't blame the director," Wilson explained. According to pre-Razzie polls, "Batman and Robin" is the front-runner for worst picture. (The problem with my own favorite nominee, the Kevin Costner mega-flop "The Postman," is that almost no one -- including diehard Razzie members -- has seen it.) Wilson is personally rooting for "Anaconda," in which, as he explains, "Jon Voight forces some people on a barge in the Amazon to take him to see the world's largest snake." "In terms of really stinking, yeah, 'Batman and Robin' is probably worse," Wilson says, explaining his philosophy. "But in terms of directing attention to something that actually has amusement value, I'd love to see 'Anaconda' win. Plus, it was only 90 minutes, which these days is a virtue." Wilson was born in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles with his family as a teenager. An early Hollywood encounter involved the teenage Kurt Russell following Wilson's youngest brother home from school and yelling at him from his convertible. Russell was apparently angry because another Wilson brother had made fun of the star of "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" in a school newsletter. Russell was eventually nominated for a Razzie, naturally (although he didn't win), for "Tango and Cash." At UCLA, where he graduated in 1977 with a degree in film, Wilson worked part time as a movie theater usher, which is where he became a bad movie connoisseur. "The worst picture we ever had was 'Killing of a Chinese Bookie,'" he recalled of his days at the landmark Westwood Village Theater. "It was so bad even (director) John Cassavetes' friends walked out. Our standard for refunds was half-an-hour into a film, but we extended it for 'Bookie' to the second time a character sang 'I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby' a cappella, in a tuxedo, with mime face. We figured anyone who'd sit through that twice didn't deserve a refund." Working as a movie usher also introduced Wilson to his wife, Barbara, then a fellow usher. The couple live with their 2-year-old son, Parker, in a house filled with bad movie memorabilia. Fatherhood has opened up Wilson to a whole new world of Razzie possibilities. "I've already got my Razzie knives out for 'Barney,' the movie, next year," he says. "The preview of it was on a video that Parker made me buy." SALON \| March 6, 1998 Catherine Seipp's Hollywoodland column appears every other Friday.