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Florence Pugh starring adaptation of Edith Wharton novel by Sofia Coppola was axed by Apple

over heroine not being likeable enough

Meanwhile they paid Leonardo DiCaprio $40 million to play the most unlikeable character in his career.

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by Anonymousreply 59January 24, 2024 6:55 AM

I like the nepobaby films more than her dad's work. The little blond is a very good actor. Surprisingly good.

by Anonymousreply 1January 23, 2024 12:56 AM

I love this book. Undine Spragg is such a cunt too. Florence is great casting.

by Anonymousreply 2January 23, 2024 1:00 AM

Florence Pugh reminds me of Elizabeth Taylor. Seriously.

by Anonymousreply 3January 23, 2024 1:01 AM

Nah, Pugh's not cute enough to be Undine.

by Anonymousreply 4January 23, 2024 1:01 AM

The budget was $40 million for all five episodes, the exact amount that they paid Leo for his mediocre performance.

What a shame. I hope someone else picks it up.

by Anonymousreply 5January 23, 2024 1:01 AM

Elizabeth Taylor could not act. The blond is a good actor.

by Anonymousreply 6January 23, 2024 1:04 AM

She wasn’t likable but she was realistic and kind of interesting. I enjoyed the book.

by Anonymousreply 7January 23, 2024 1:05 AM

I don't get her appeal. She's the strangest looking actress to try to push as a leading lady. Short, stout, broad shouldered and not particularly star quality beauty. She must fuck like a maniac.

by Anonymousreply 8January 23, 2024 1:06 AM

Florence Pugh is annoying, and I barely know of her. And I hate her nose ring.

by Anonymousreply 9January 23, 2024 1:14 AM

It would make a better miniseries than a film, because it's so episodic. The final third mostly takes place in France when Undine marries a French marquis.

It's a great novel, but it would be a hard sell onscreen--not necessarily because Undine is "unlikeable" (she may be an anti-hero, but she's no more unlikeable than any number of other selfish protagonists TV and film like Don Draper), but because it's such a depressing story arc.

by Anonymousreply 10January 23, 2024 1:39 AM

[quote]It would make a better miniseries than a film

She was developing it as a miniseries.

by Anonymousreply 11January 23, 2024 1:41 AM

Leonardo DiCaprio is Leonardo DiCaprio. Florence Pugh is NOT on her level and Sofia Coppola is not on Martin Scorsese’s level either. Why would you compare them?

Hollywood has spent almost 10 years at this point making movies with unlikable female leads and it’s starting to get really bad now at the box office.

It’s driven Disney into the ground.

It only makes sense to axe it if she’s unlikable.

by Anonymousreply 12January 23, 2024 1:47 AM

R8 White women see themselves in her mediocrity and find her relatable.

by Anonymousreply 13January 23, 2024 1:50 AM

Undine is supposed to be a tremendous beauty. Pugh, while attractive, is not. (I enjoyed her in Lady Macbeth, the only thing I've seen her in.)

by Anonymousreply 14January 23, 2024 2:01 AM

The only Sofia movie I really liked was Marie Antoinette. I’ve liked a few of her other movies but otherwise idk, I’m not crazy about her work.

by Anonymousreply 15January 23, 2024 2:01 AM

[quote]The budget was $40 million for all five episodes, the exact amount that they paid Leo for his mediocre performance.

Nope. The budget was $200 million.

[quote]The filmmaker said that the limited series would’ve consisted of five episodes with a budget the size of “five Marie Antoinette’s,” citing her own film budget of $40 million.

by Anonymousreply 16January 23, 2024 2:05 AM

[quote] Leonardo DiCaprio is Leonardo DiCaprio. Florence Pugh is NOT on her level and Sofia Coppola is not on Martin Scorsese’s level either. Why would you compare them?

Because they are making a product for a streaming service. Apple will almost certainly write down every cent of Killers of the Flower Moon, which will maybe win one Oscar. It gave no benefit to the streaming service. The streaming service only benefits if the film is put in extremely limited release and then streams everywhere in 17 days. They waited months to put Killers of the Flower Moon on Apple. It’s on Apple now and I haven’t watched it because I don’t even care anymore.

A highly promoted limited series stretched out over a month is more valuable than anything Apple could put into wide release in theaters, because Apple does not have a distribution platform and has to partner with a movie studio to do a wide theatrical release. Streaming is a churn business. You subscribe for a month and then get out. Apple failed to understand this. Netflix also failed to understand this which is why the head of film production was fired today. You cannot treat a streaming service like a movie studio. A streaming service is not a gourmet five star Michelin restaurant. A streaming service is Starbucks. You get in, get what you came for, and get the hell out. Starbucks is very good at what they do because they understand this.

Let’s pretend Apple IS Starbucks. It’s October.

Me, walking into Starbucks: Hi, I want to order that fancy new Peppermint Cocoa Latte drink you’ve been advertising everywhere! I can’t believe you got Leonardo DiCaprio to promote e to go to this other coffee shop, Paramount Coffee, a mile down the stree?

Barista: Oh, we WILL be getting it. In three months. But you can only get it there now. Don’t worry, they send us a portion of all their sales of the drink.

Me: How much?

Barista: Less than fifteen percent.

Me: I see. So you said it’ll be here around the holidays? I love getting those warm sweet flavored drinks whenever I’m in the holiday spirit and out Christmas shopping!

Barista: No. It’ll be here around MLK.

…cut to MLK three months later

Barista: Hey, we finally have that drink you wanted back in October! It’s 21.99!

Me: But I only paid $11 when I bought the drink three months ago at Paramount Coffee!

Barista: Well, we give you free refills as long as you physically don’t leave the restaurant while drinking it.

Me: But it takes forever to finish! You only sell the 31 oz. Trenta!

Barista: LEONARDO DICAPRIO! (Throws cup of ice in your face)

by Anonymousreply 17January 23, 2024 2:24 AM

[quote]Let’s pretend Apple IS Starbucks

No, let's not, because that's fucking idiotic

by Anonymousreply 18January 23, 2024 2:28 AM

Let me ask you something, R18.

Have you personally paid $9.99 to Apple to specifically watch Killers of the Flower Moon since it came out on streaming on January 12?

by Anonymousreply 19January 23, 2024 2:35 AM

r19 No, and that doesn't prove anything, you moron.

Apple TV already has a number of acclaimed TV series, and yet - despite you thinking that's the magic bullet - it remains a barely subscribed to service. The idea that this series would somehow change that is as stupid as thinking KotFM would change it.

by Anonymousreply 20January 23, 2024 2:44 AM

Florence Pugh is a short stocky little nothing and I can confirm the reason she is where she is is because she’s like a lunch lady, just passing it out to whoever walks up. I have friends in high places and I’ve been told Flo fucks like a machine and has NO problem with the casting couch.

by Anonymousreply 21January 23, 2024 2:46 AM

Wow R20.

I have used the phrase "talking to people who know nothing about show business is like talking to children" several times over the years on this website. It's a great line from the short-lived jennifer grey sitcom it's like you know.

I may actually retire it after reading your post. I don't think it can ever be topped by its childlike logic. In many ways, it is a thing of beauty. Like one of those stains on a wall that looks like a celebrity's profile. A thing of freakish, horrifying beauty.

by Anonymousreply 22January 23, 2024 2:50 AM

Sure, the guy who said "Let’s pretend Apple IS Starbucks" knows all about show business. If you had a clue about the show part, you'd never have bothered with you toe-curlingly bad attempt to be funny. If you had a clue about the business part, you'd know that Apple doesn't give a shit about the old showbiz model, as it operates as a tech company, even for its media division.

by Anonymousreply 23January 23, 2024 2:56 AM

R23 So let me get this straight

You are telling me that you believe that the goal of a business, in tech or show business or wherever,

is NOT to sell their product?

Well, I voted for free public wifi, I guess we know who's using it.

by Anonymousreply 24January 23, 2024 3:04 AM

r24 You're just racing through the logical fallacies at this point aren't you? Where did I said it was Apple's goal to not sell their product? What I am saying is that their priority is clearly not on the profitability of Apple TV, but establishing it as a venue for prestige content. It's truly hilarious that you're here posing as an expert on showbiz, and yet apparently can't comprehend the idea that a studio might fund a film knowing it would likely lose money but would do so anyway for the prestige it hopes it would bring. No, that sort of thing absolutely never happens in Hollywood, does it?

And incidentally, what exactly do you think Apple's product is? If you're going to say Apple TV, you're wrong.

by Anonymousreply 25January 23, 2024 3:23 AM

[quote] What I am saying is that their priority is clearly not on the profitability of Apple TV, but establishing it as a venue for prestige content.

So you are saying that a corporation has committed significant capital expenditure and diverted millions of dollars in resources, realigned its core mission and entered a ruthless industry they have no experience in...

...to create a nonprofit art foundation, but one that eschews the protections of a 501(3)(c) and that functions as a for-profit company and is subject to the same tax liabilities as any for profit company?

by Anonymousreply 26January 23, 2024 3:31 AM

These endless "I know more than you do about this subject" back-and-forths on DL are always so tedious.

by Anonymousreply 27January 23, 2024 3:37 AM

r27 then why the fuck are you here? to contribute or complain?

I think I hate you even more than the idiot I'm arguing with.

by Anonymousreply 28January 23, 2024 3:40 AM

It’s a great book crying out to be adapted, though I’m not sure Coppola and Pugh are ideal for it. I’ll bet if Margot Robbie wanted to do it with Greta Gerwig, it would get the okay.

It’s about a social climbing American girl who marries up with each relationship.

by Anonymousreply 29January 23, 2024 3:43 AM

r26 Haven't you embarrassed yourself enough in this thread already without more idiotic posts like this? The idea that companies create products without the expectation that they'll immediately become profitable is a new one to you? Or the idea that they're willing to lose money on one product in the belief it will benefit their overall ecosystem or brand?

Also, millions of dollars is not significant capex for Apple, and it hasn't "realigned its core mission" at all.

by Anonymousreply 30January 23, 2024 3:58 AM

[quote] The idea that companies create products without the expectation that they'll immediately become profitable is a new one to you?

So you are telling me that the Apple Corporation is committed to charity, the recipient of which is one of Hollywood’s wealthiest actors, Leonardo DiCaprio?

And in the same breadth you are telling me that Apple is wise not to give $40 million to Sofia Coppola and Florence Pugh to make an adaptation of a classic Edith Wharton novel, because it would not be art?

It’s because they have vajayjays, isn’t it?

by Anonymousreply 31January 23, 2024 4:12 AM

R21 is Jennifer Lawrence. It’s called projection, babe.

by Anonymousreply 32January 23, 2024 4:18 AM

R21 actually has no friends, hates the world, and especially hates famous women.

R21 has not changed his bedsheets in over a year and has lots of blackheads on his neck due to his filthy pillow.

by Anonymousreply 33January 23, 2024 4:26 AM

r31 You're beyond help with your idiocy. As is proven by the fact you think this miniseries would've cost $40 million. Another blunder from our self-professed showbiz expert. Take a "breadth" before your next post.

by Anonymousreply 34January 23, 2024 5:20 AM

OP, the attempt to create a "women so at a disadvantage" comparison makes no sense. Di Caprio is a guaranteed magnet whether at the B.O. or on Netflix. Pugh is blah, hasn't opened a single movie yet. And nobody has called Coppola the queen of ratings.

I'm so sick of the idiot arguments that try to convince us women are victims in Hollywood.

by Anonymousreply 35January 23, 2024 5:58 AM

R35 are you the person up thread who thought that this miniseries was going to cost 40 million dollars each episode (200 million)?

You do realize that an episode of the final season of Game of Thrones cost $15 million each episode?

You are aware that a budget of 200 million could only be achieved by something like the 9 episode order of She-Hulk which features dozens of scenes of complex motion capture and visual effects shots in each episode?

You know that the Custom of the Country is largely set in parlors of Gilded Age New York?

You do know that Scorsese’s own adaptation of an Edith Wharton novel, The Age of Innocence, cost $34 million in 1993, inflation adjusted $72 million, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis’s salaries at their peak?

You do know that Scorsese’s more ambitious period piece, Gangs of New York, cost $97 million in 2002 with DiCaprio, Day-Lewis and Cameron Diaz’s salaries, inflation adjusted 164 million?

And here you thought Sofia Coppola had asked for $200 million to make The Custom of the Country for Florence Pugh?

Are you allowed to operate a vehicle or heavy machinery?

by Anonymousreply 36January 23, 2024 11:31 AM

And r35

Eat a dick

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by Anonymousreply 37January 23, 2024 11:33 AM

Fun fact:

No movie studio would agree to make Don’t Look Up or Killers of the Flower Moon because they would not meet Leonardo DiCaprio’s salary demands, because he is no longer considered bankable!

by Anonymousreply 38January 23, 2024 11:37 AM

[quote] It’s about a social climbing American girl who marries up with each relationship.

Couldn’t they have just released “What a Way to Go?” (And yes, I know the analogy is a stretch).

by Anonymousreply 39January 23, 2024 12:46 PM

^^rereleased

by Anonymousreply 40January 23, 2024 12:47 PM

SJWs would scream," Cancel" for any film that depicted a woman having to rely on men for upward movement, especially in these days of total female empowerment.

by Anonymousreply 41January 23, 2024 1:13 PM

R36 No, I wasn't the one up thread. You're barking up the wrong tree as usual. Play dead.

by Anonymousreply 42January 23, 2024 7:20 PM

R42 Sure. You expect me to believe there are two idiots who believe a five episode miniseries of The Custom of the Country would cost $200 million. Na uh.

by Anonymousreply 43January 23, 2024 7:27 PM

Undine isn't unlikable, but Florence Pugh is!

by Anonymousreply 44January 23, 2024 7:30 PM

r21, r32 & r33 = Olivia Wilde

by Anonymousreply 45January 23, 2024 7:32 PM

R43 There is a way to check if I wrote that and if your parents weren't siblings you'd know how to do it.

by Anonymousreply 46January 23, 2024 7:35 PM

[quote] Leonardo DiCaprio is Leonardo DiCaprio. Florence Pugh is NOT on her level

Does Leo's third act involve a sex change?

by Anonymousreply 47January 23, 2024 7:37 PM

R46 whether you wrote it or not is frankly irrelevant since by your other post it's clear that you believed it.

by Anonymousreply 48January 23, 2024 7:39 PM

R35 Women aren’t the victims of Hollywood.

Most comic book / super hero / action and fantasy franchises have intentionally pushed female leads.

It’s a big disaster because a lot of women don’t watch that shit, which is why female oriented movies like “Barbie” smashed the box office.

But no, women have been shoved down throats for a couple of years now. And yes shoved - killing off and belittling or scaling back famous male characters to make room for the new female leads is shoving it down one’s throat.

Going to an Indiana Jones movie or Terminator movie or Star Wars movie to find out it’s actually a movie to set up a new female lead - is shoving it down the throat.

by Anonymousreply 49January 23, 2024 7:54 PM

r36 Let's look at what Coppola herself said, shall we?

[quote]“Marie Antoinette,” her most expensive movie, had a budget of forty million dollars, still modest by Hollywood standards; for “Custom,” she was planning for, as she put it, “five ‘Marie Antoinettes.’ ”

After all, if she was doing this on a reasonable budget, why would she be talking about thinking Apple had "endless resources"? Why would the trades like Variety be remarking on how "Coppola’s series was not going to come cheap" when $40m would be an unremarkable amount for a period piece?

It's almost as if her extraordinary budget demands might have had more to do with Apple's decision to cancel it, rather than the fact she has a vagina.

by Anonymousreply 50January 23, 2024 8:37 PM

Because she is saying she was delivering "five Marie Antonionettes" - five episodes. She is not literally saying the series has the budget of five Marie Antoinettes. She is saying for the same budget as Marie Antoinette, which cost $40 million dollars, she would be delivering five episodes - five "Marie Antonette" quality episodes of the series. Five film-quality episodes for the same price as one film.

Sofia Coppola has worked for twenty years with relatively lean budgets and often very small casts. She did not, suddenly, turn into her father. Who even at his most megalomaniacal would not ask any producer for $200 million to adapt an Edith Wharton novel.

$40 million for five episodes is still relatively pricey for a miniseries. White Lotus, which was greenlit as a miniseries, cost $18 million for six episodes. But it is not a psychotic $200 million, which, as mentioned above, She-Hulk cost ($225 actually) but they at least got nine episodes out of. Netflix's biggest series, Stranger Things, had an immense $30 million per episode budget ($270 million) for Season 4. But Stranger Things is Stranger Things.

Sofia Coppola mentioned the price tag because she knows that proposed budget of $40 million - for five episodes total - constituted exactly Leonardo DiCaprio's salary for Killers of the Flower Moon. She is saying she would have given them "five films" - five high quality period piece episodes - for the same amount Apple gave Leonardo DiCaprio simply to show up to work. It was a dog whistle for people in show business who know that people like Leonardo DiCaprio are diverting the resources of companies like Apple into their pockets and delivering products which could never recoup their costs if they were financed by traditional studios. It was also to call Apple's bluff about their "endless resources". Apple does not have endless resources. Apple has finite resources. They just raised the prices on their very weak streaming service by three dollars. And it was a middle finger to Leonardo DiCaprio, who, as you may have noticed, was snubbed for an Oscar nomination today.

To paraphrase Ned Beatty's speech from Network:

"What do you think Apple Films executives talk about in their meetings -- Luchino Visconti? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do."

by Anonymousreply 51January 23, 2024 9:13 PM

...and to bring it back to calling out DiCaprio, she said she was denied the budget because the protagonist was deemed by Apple executives as "unlikeable." Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Killers of the Flower Moon is extremely unlikeable, but they gave him whatever he asked for. She is pointing out the double standard of Apple executives kowtowing to a bigger fish, like nerds in high school who agree to do the popular kid's homework.

by Anonymousreply 52January 23, 2024 9:24 PM

r51 What utter bullshit you just made up. By the way, you keep spouting on about $40 million - Coppola never said anything about $40m. You understand how quotation marks work, right?

When talking about the budget for Custom, she said "five Marie Antoinettes". I know you don't like that fact because it contradicts all your little fantasies, but at the end of the day that's exactly what happened.

But hey, given mainstream outlets are reporting it as $200 million, I'm sure Coppola herself will now issue a statement saying it was never that much, right? After all, as you said yourself, her demanding that much would really damage her image, so obviously she'd want to correct that pretty swiftly. So we just need to wait for that to happen, right?

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by Anonymousreply 53January 23, 2024 9:25 PM

r52 Oh so she's a time-traveller as well now is she? Given the fact she made her comments about the budget in the fall of 2021 and all.

by Anonymousreply 54January 23, 2024 9:28 PM

R53/R54

This is a serious question.

Are you retarded. Are you honestly retarded. Because I would feel bad if you were literally like, retarded and unable to care for yourself, given what I'm about to say.

Sofia Coppola would not have asked for a $200 million budget for a miniseries starring Florence Pugh. Florence Pugh is not a major film star and would have never been afforded a significant salary for a streaming period piece. There is no way any film adaptation of The Custom of the Country could cost anywhere close to $200 million, unless they were building a scale replica of Washington Square and the Tuileries Gardens in Culver City a la Hello Dolly! (which was a financial disaster.) The Custom of the Country takes place in gilded age New York and Paris. In all likelihood, it would have been filmed overseas in Budapest or Prague and rely heavy on existing interiors from palaces and stately homes. It would require minimal visual effects. It would have been a relatively modestly budgeted period piece, had it been a movie.

In 2023, Nancy Meyers made headline for walking away from a project called Paris Paramount for Netflix in which the streamer refused to budge from their proposed budget of $130 million - a massive amount for a romantic comedy. Nancy Meyers demanded $150 million. She was deemed psychotic. Nancy Meyers nevertheless had assembled a significant cast, including Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Owen Wilson and Michael Fassbender.

If Sofia Coppola had demanded $200 million for a miniseries with the only talent being attached being Florence Pugh, she would be institutionalized. Sofia Coppola, as I have said before, is an extremely rational person who makes small, intimate films. She would not have demanded $200 million for a talky drawing room film. Where would the money go?

In 2022 Keanu Reeves and Todd Field exited Hulu's planned adaptation of Devil in the White City allegedly over budget issues. If Keanu Reeves, who is a superstar, failed to get Disney to finance a period piece for an incredibly rare foray into episodic scripted programming, why would Sofia Coppola act surprised that she would fail to get a budget greenlit for goddamn Florence Pugh? Tribal people in the Amazon know who Keanu Reeves is! I don't know who Florence Pugh is unless she is photographed with her goddamn nose ring in!

In 2011, a still relatively unknown Alex Pettyfer made headlines for demanding $10 million for the lead role in Mortal Instruments. Salary negotiations never leak into the press unless they are absurd. Pettyfer's demands were absurd. Alex Pettyfer's subsequent career and behavior suggest he has mental health issues. Sofia Coppola does not have mental health issues. Frankly, she could use some more mental health issues because Priscilla was a big bore. But she of all people, who grew up with a father known for his significant lack of discipline, who in the 1980s made so many recklessly budgeted films that he brought himself into serious financial difficulties for himself over multiple pictures - One From the Heart, The Cotton Club, and Tucker: A Man and His Dreams - that he was FORCED to make The Godfather Part III, which Sofia made her notoriously badly received acting debut, would be very well aware of the folly of cavalier spending. It went badly. For her. It ruined her reputation and made her a joke in the industry for over a decade. Because she was cast in her father's film which he was forced to make because he had spent recklessly on his 1980s films.

My point is, I don't care what the intern written article you linked to in R53 wrote. Most likely, that intern is as retarded, or even more retarded, than you.

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by Anonymousreply 55January 23, 2024 10:26 PM

God you love hearing yourself type, don't you? You're the only one.

Well we'll wait for that statement Coppola is sure to put out. In the meantime, I think I'll believe what she actually said in the interview, as opposed to some fantasy made up by a DLer about her giving an interview two years ago in which she predicted the future. Especially given your track record of mind-blowingly idiotic comments in this thread.

by Anonymousreply 56January 23, 2024 10:48 PM

.....

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by Anonymousreply 57January 23, 2024 11:12 PM

If Florence changes her name to Florence Poo, ALL THE BITCHES will want to finance and see her fucking films!!!!!!

and the nominee is!

FLORENCE POO!!

"MISS FLO POO!!!

by Anonymousreply 58January 24, 2024 3:24 AM

R48 Frankly I don't know WTF you're talking about but keep at it if it makes you feel superior.

by Anonymousreply 59January 24, 2024 6:55 AM
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