6 Thrillers (1986–1998)
Psycho-legal-erotic; grey sweaters; Sharon Stone on why
Some movies I watched this week
Legal Eagles (1986)
The Accused (1988)
Pacific Heights (1990)
Sliver (1993)
Primal Fear (1996)
A Perfect Murder (1998)
Most of them you could categorize as erotic thrillers (a couple courtroom, one rom-com). “They don’t really make movies like this anymore” — I interviewed Sharon Stone a few weeks ago and she lamented . . .
Sharon Stone
Everybody loves erotic thrillers and they don’t make them anymore! Why? It’s such a sweet spot. They’re like $40- or $50-million pictures. They’re not these tentpole $150-million pictures. You can make your money back because everybody wants to go. It’s the kind of movie people want to see because you can get laid.
Whitney Mallett
The other day I thought I watched a contemporary erotic thriller Emily the Criminal with Aubrey Plaza.
I love her. She’s my friend.
But something about it was more mumblecore than noir.
It’s because they want to be too politically correct. They can’t let one of the characters just be fucking nuts.
Yeah, the younger generation does seem to think that bad behavior in a movie or any fiction is endorsing bad behavior. You can’t have a villain who’s just like—
A villain! I always felt when I played a villain, you can’t sugarcoat a villain. And a villain has charisma. That’s what makes them a good villain. That’s how they get away with all their shit. They say just because the devil came to the party, it doesn’t mean you should offer them a seat. Well, they’re a good party guest!
read the whole interview: it’s about her painting and has allegedly inspired some kind of Sharon Stone/Michael Krebber meme — please send if you have it
ALSO:
The extremely beautiful Sarita Choudhury plays rich wife Gwyn’s bestie in A Perfect Murder (Michael Douglas refers to her as “the Castilian femme fatale”). Daryl Hannah plays a performance artist in Legal Eagles (the character’s literally fiery performance work ((the hissy soundtrack is so hot)) was created by actual performance artist Lin Hixson — my editor for the Sharon Stone interview, William Van Meter, told me this is the movie that made him want to move to NY). Melanie Griffith plays the lead in the pro-landlord psycho-thriller Pacific Heights while her real-life mother Tippi Hedren has a cameo as the psychopath’s next mark. Hedren is best known for two things: while starring in Birds, she triggered Hitchcock to blackball her in retaliation for rebuffing his on-set advances; she’s a big cat person.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Read: Remembering a 2023 highlight for Family Style; + my predictions for criticism and publishing in 2024 for Dirt x Triangle House