IT'S THE FUTURE, AND KICKBOXING STILL ISN'T A MAJOR SPORT: As (unofficial) ALOTT5MA Unnecessary Remakes Week continues, let's clarify what Cameron Crowe has said about a
Say Anything sequel. Indeed, at TCA last week Crowe did confess:
It’s the only thing that I’ve written that I would consider doing that with. “I’ve thought about it from time to time and talked about it with John Cusack once and just said this is the only story that I kind of think there might be another chapter to that at some point.
But as Crowe's own website points out,
in 2005 he dismissed the possibility:
I used to think for a while that it would be the one movie I’d do a sequel to, because there was more to be said about Lloyd. Then I went to see High Fidelity, and I thought, “You know what, that movie says a lot of the things that I would probably want to say in a sequel to Say Anything…, so congratulations, it exists.
And in the comments to that post, Crowe added: "I have to admit, it's a powerful thing to read the reactions to mentioning that I still think about those characters. I was always so inspired that Francois Truffaut kept returning to Antoine Doinel. If I ever did return to Lloyd, it would probably be a reflection on optimism... what survives, what doesn't, what happens when a great and true love arrives so early in your life... maybe it'll be a short story, or maybe it will have all ended with that ding."
<span>You know what Crowe movie I could see a sequel to? Almost Famous. Tell the story of how Rolling Stone freelancer William Miller infiltrated a San Diego high school for a year, wrote a book about it, and saw it adapted into a movie.</span>
ReplyDeleteI'm down with that idea. And yeah, I like how Crowe has thought High Fidelity is about a good a sequel to Say Anything as we might want, so I'm happy to leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteMemo to Hollywood/Cameron Crowe:
ReplyDeleteLeave the good ones alone. Don't sequel them, don't remake them. Say Anything is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time, and... I don't want to know what happens after the ding. I don't want to see a 40 year old Lloyd Dobler. Leave it alone.
Sue, I'm with you, but I also like knowing that Crowe still thinks about Lloyd and what might have happened to him. I like his thought about a "reflection on optimism." I suspect I'm more likely to trust characters I love to Cameron Crowe than most other filmmakers, and I would love to read any short story he wrote about Lloyd's later life.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those who say wonderful movies should be left alone, I hold up "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset."
I'd like a sequel if only to redeem "Say Anything..." I'd like to know how 40-year-old Llyod and 40-year-old Diane relate to each other. The older I got the more I looked at the movie and thought, "Sure, at age 18/19 that relationship might work, but how's it going to work when she's got her PhD and he's still doing whatever a guy like Lloyd ends up doing?"
ReplyDeleteNot to mention all my reservations NOW about a guy who only has his relationship with you as his ambition...
I like that Cameron thinks that there might be some canonical answer to what happens to Lloyd and Diane ("I'm on PAROLE!!!! Lloyd") but I don't think it really needs to be explored that much.
ReplyDeleteI think Lloyd would fall into his passion (which might be teaching kickboxing to kids - hey, we've got a martial arts school on every other corner here). At 18, I'm not too worried that he doesn't know his direction yet. And knowing the type of job he doesn't want to do will help him narrow down what he does what to do.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm with you on Before Sunset. And I trust Crowe, I really do. But the thing with Say Anything is that I really don't think that Lloyd and Diane are meant to be together forever. (As Watts goes into below.) I think the movie captures a first love/moment in time, and I'm okay with knowing that they probably won't stay together. I just don't want to SEE it. And I'd be much happier to read it as a short story.
ReplyDeleteCount me in the camp of those who always thought Grosse Point Blank was kind of a secret sequel to Say Anything (as in, that's who Lloyd could have become after high school, notwithstanding the different geographic setting). But I'll accept High Fidelity as well.
ReplyDeleteI was 18 when Say Anything came out and it spoke to me. It was one of my favorite movies for a long time.
ReplyDeleteThen I saw it again when I was 32 and thought to myself, "geez, Lloyd is kind of a clingy doormat."
I think Diane would have ditched him long before he turned 40.
That's fair enough. It is interesting to me, however, that Crowe thinks it's a "great and true love" so I'm very interested to see what the sequel would be about - is it marriage angst because they DID end up so different? Is there always a bond because of his being there for her as such a difficult time with her dad, such that the marriage works anyway? Is the movie about how LLoyd the optimist copes with NOT being married to Diane, and never finding true love again?
ReplyDeleteWho knows. But if anyone could pull it off, it's Crowe.
I totally agree. Fifteen year old me thought this was probably the greatest love story ever told. Thirty-seven year old me is pretty sure Diane Court Woah dropped his sorry kickboxing ass the minute she got to Oxford and heard someone speak British.
ReplyDeleteIt does demonstrate how well he does with that pen she gave him.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that movie ended perfectly, which is rare. That was just the right moment to leave them, with all the promise and uncertainty.
ReplyDeleteI married Lloyd Dobler - no joke. When I saw that movie, I just knew that was the guy for me. He had a confidence that was unusual for his age, he respected a woman for being smart, he had good taste in music, and he was a great friend. I didn't know what future Lloyd would be like, but I wanted to be on that plane.