Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Brent Hershman, the second assistant cameraman on Pleasantville who was killed March 6, 1997, when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed his car into a utility pole while driving home after working a 19-hour day – which had been preceded by four 15-hour days in a row. His death sparked industry-wide demands for shorter workdays and inspired a 2006 documentary by legendary filmmaker Haskell Wexler.
Wexler, the labor activist and Oscar-winning cinematographer of Bound for Glory and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, took up the cause of set safety in the days immediately following Hershman’s death, placing an ad in Variety calling for the “humane treatment of humans,” and setting out to make his documentary film, Who Needs Sleep?
Watch Wexler’s film below.
Hershman’s widow, Deborah Eden, recalls that her husband “was a family man and he wanted to get home,...
Wexler, the labor activist and Oscar-winning cinematographer of Bound for Glory and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, took up the cause of set safety in the days immediately following Hershman’s death, placing an ad in Variety calling for the “humane treatment of humans,” and setting out to make his documentary film, Who Needs Sleep?
Watch Wexler’s film below.
Hershman’s widow, Deborah Eden, recalls that her husband “was a family man and he wanted to get home,...
- 3/8/2022
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Treacherous Uncoupling: Ayer’s Latest May is Fun, Brutally Violent Nonsense
Okay, so, if you can keep in mind that the outcome of its tizzied, conventional plot may not add up as nice and neat as purists may demand, as well as ignore several over-the-tip flourishes concerning hypermasculine braggadocio, you might actually enjoy David Ayer’s latest directorial effort, Sabotage. Fans of his last film, the superior cop drama, End of Watch, may find this follow-up a violently prurient stab at box office glory rather than a bona fide counterpoint, but let’s keep in mind that soft spots were evident there as well (such as the believability of Gyllenhaal and Pena during the vicious unspooling of that plot). Here, we find the Training Day scribe operating in his usual mien of bombastic violence and urban decay, where we get rated R onslaughts that dare to be convey bloody, brutal and repulsive,...
Okay, so, if you can keep in mind that the outcome of its tizzied, conventional plot may not add up as nice and neat as purists may demand, as well as ignore several over-the-tip flourishes concerning hypermasculine braggadocio, you might actually enjoy David Ayer’s latest directorial effort, Sabotage. Fans of his last film, the superior cop drama, End of Watch, may find this follow-up a violently prurient stab at box office glory rather than a bona fide counterpoint, but let’s keep in mind that soft spots were evident there as well (such as the believability of Gyllenhaal and Pena during the vicious unspooling of that plot). Here, we find the Training Day scribe operating in his usual mien of bombastic violence and urban decay, where we get rated R onslaughts that dare to be convey bloody, brutal and repulsive,...
- 3/28/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
From the moment "Sabotage" begins, it's obvious that David Ayer has something nasty in mind, but it's only once you've settled in and spent some time with it that the truly sleazy heart of "Sabotage" becomes clear. This is a movie set in a world where everyone is a giant piece of garbage, and even the ostensible hero of the movie is a horrible person, corrupt and broken and incapable of recognizing justice, much less dispensing it. Ayer took a Skip Woods action script and turned it into something more distasteful, and I mean that with all due affection. This feels like the '80s action films where established icons suddenly showed up in these genuinely dirty movies, graphic simply for the sake of being graphic. "10 To Midnight" and "Tightrope" are two films that immediately jumped to mind when I saw this, or Stallone's "Nighthawks" or "Cobra." In this, Schwarzenegger stars as John Wharton,...
- 3/28/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
SAG and the AMPTP ended their second day of talks at about 10:00 p.m. this evening (Weds.), but will resume tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for a third, previously unannounced day of talks, said a source. No other info was available on the progress of negotiations, but this is obviously a hopeful sign in a situation that's been largely devoid of them until the last 30 days.
Negotiations had resumed Tuesday, accompanied by dueling protests, one from an organization of below-the-liners calling itself Back to Work, organized largely by camera operators Jon Philion and Andrew Rowlands and cinematographers Ed Gutentag and Bruce McCleery, and the other from Membership First. BtW was urging a deal, while Mf was protesting the likelihood that the talks would result in what they consider an unacceptable deal. There were about 100 protesters in all, reports Variety.
The next day, about 50 Mf protesters showed up, Variety indicates.
Negotiations had resumed Tuesday, accompanied by dueling protests, one from an organization of below-the-liners calling itself Back to Work, organized largely by camera operators Jon Philion and Andrew Rowlands and cinematographers Ed Gutentag and Bruce McCleery, and the other from Membership First. BtW was urging a deal, while Mf was protesting the likelihood that the talks would result in what they consider an unacceptable deal. There were about 100 protesters in all, reports Variety.
The next day, about 50 Mf protesters showed up, Variety indicates.
- 2/19/2009
- by jhandel@att.net (Jonathan Handel)
Over 100 crew members and others rallied in front of SAG HQ in La today, urging the union and the studios to make a deal. The rally, organized largely by camera operators Jon Philion and Andrew Rowlands and cinematographers Ed Gutentag and Bruce McCleery under the rubric “Back to Work,” was joined by another gathering consisting of several dozen Membership First supporters, who protested what they anticipate will be an unpalatable deal.
That protest, whose ranks included Scott Wilson and David Clennon, took place even though negotiations have not yet recommenced, let alone a deal negotiated. Back to Work and Mf have indicated they both intend to rally again next Tuesday, Feb. 17th at the AMPTP (studio alliance), when talks are widely expected to start.
In other SAG news, ousted (and re-ousted) National Executive Director Doug Allen is back, not in person, but in the form of an “open letter” supporting SAG President Alan Rosenberg.
That protest, whose ranks included Scott Wilson and David Clennon, took place even though negotiations have not yet recommenced, let alone a deal negotiated. Back to Work and Mf have indicated they both intend to rally again next Tuesday, Feb. 17th at the AMPTP (studio alliance), when talks are widely expected to start.
In other SAG news, ousted (and re-ousted) National Executive Director Doug Allen is back, not in person, but in the form of an “open letter” supporting SAG President Alan Rosenberg.
- 2/10/2009
- by jhandel@att.net (Jonathan Handel)
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