James+C’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech= "Seven Packs of Cigarettes, Three of Them Open" =Text of Speech= “Viktor: Do you know why I, Viktor Taransky, two-time Academy Award nominated director... Elaine: Viktor, that was short subjects. Viktor: ...overseeing the most cherished movie project of my entire career, am walking around with - look, look, look - pockets full of these... things? Elaine: Well, I have a feeling you're gonna tell me. Viktor: I'm gonna tell ya why. Because Miss Nicola Anders, supermodel with a SAG card, has it written in her contract that all cherry Mike and Ike's be removed from her candy dish, along with strict instructions that any room she walks into must have seven packs of cigarettes waiting for her, three of them open. That there is a personal Jacuzzi within eighty paces of her dressing room, and that any time she travels, her nanny must fly with her, first class. Elaine: So? What's wrong with that? Viktor: Elaine, she doesn't have children. (S1m0ne)” This quote comes straight out of the movie Simone. The movie talks of a man, portrayed by Al Pacino, who struggles to create a successful movie because he has to deal with a cast full of prima donnas. After getting fed up with having to deal with them, he //creates// an actress on a computer. This actress listens to him and he is free to control her. He doesn’t have to deal with celebrity requests. And he doesn’t have to deal with his actors and actresses wanting to change the script because “it isn’t ok with them.” That’s what I am going to address today with this speech. That Hollywood must return to the days where the director was the person in charge, not the person taking orders. A time when what the director says goes. A time when if an actor or actress was cast, it would be a privilege and an honor, not a joke or “another job.” What was it that caused Hollywood become like this? Was it the lack of good movies being made? Was it money? Or was it the stupidity of America to treat these people like Gods and Goddesses? Why do celebrities act like they own the world? Is it so hard to ask for more realistic actors and actresses like Ian McClellan and Jennifer Lawrence? Nowadays, when actors get on set, they think that they are the ones in charge and what they say goes. They fill up the set with their arrogant demands just to waste money, and make the directors life hell. For example, the Fresh Prince, Will Smith, while on set of “Men in Black 3” asked for a luxury two-story trailer that blocked off the sun from several New Yorkers apartments, and his apartment was only 1 mile away. What about the very talented George Clooney? Does he make these same demands? Yes he does, while on the set of “Gravity” he asked for a hot tub and custom-made beach hut installed next to his trailer in a private landscaped garden and decking area. What about Angelina Jolie, who cares //sooo// much about third-world countries. When she was asked to do a movie, she insisted that they pay for her husband to have flying lessons in return for her acting in it. //Oh yeah because that shows the third world that you care right Ange?// (Oman Forum). The truth is, celebrities are spoiled rotten and need to be put in their place. They need to learn that they don’t run the show, the directors do. They need to feel honored that they got the part, not “//oh yeah I’m getting paid $20,000 for this job//.” When I go off to college, I plan on Majoring in film with a minor in Linguistics, “perche sono molto bravo con le lingue.” After that, I would set my sights on rising as a director so that I may join the “big leagues” like Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Joss Whedon, and many more. Now, as many of you know I am working on a really big project. A project titled “Rise of the Undead.” It’s a story about the hardships that teenagers face during the zombie apocalypse. And just like every other movie in today’s day in age, I too am dealing with defiant actors and actresses. One of the main characters in the story, Anthony, is being played by a good friend of mine, Jesse Conchas. Jesse and I have known each other for a while, he is a nice guy, but when he’s on set he is unfocused, unprepared, or criticizing every aspect to the script. I want the movie to have drama, is that too much to ask? After all the time and work I’ve put into the script and into filming, can I not have drama in the film? So if I want to have a tear rolling down Charlottes cheek when she sees Anthony after the attack [spoiler alert], then I think I have the right to have one without having Jesse say, “dude James, that’s GAY,” and then getting everyone to agree with him. I want to go back to the days when the director was truly the one in charge. Where his script wasn’t called gay by the actors and forcing him to change it. In the America that I want to grow up in, I want directors to have their powers reinstated and for actors and actresses to stop filling up the set with their snobby bullshit. Thank you.

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