I don't dispute Giamatti's skill and acting talent, only his ability to occupy the screen without making me want to throw a chair through it. A visceral reaction that has been intensified rather than lessened by every out-of-character interview and television appearance of his that I've seen.

Does he have any concept of how Hollywood works?

He's writing RPF Mary Sue. It sure doesn't sound like he does.

eta:

A visceral reaction that has been intensified rather than lessened by every out-of-character interview and television appearance of his that I've seen.

Oh, do tell...

Oh, nothing interesting or entertaining like the Cruise/Holmes trainwreck. He's just struck me as a whiny, self-absorbed ass in late night talk show appearances and his SNL hosting gig.

In other news, I didn't have nearly as much fun watching D.E.B.S. as I hoped I would. I thought that the film had some serious pacing problems that were due to poor direction.

I confirmed my suspicions last night when I watched part of Herbie: Fully Loaded (also directed by Angela Robinson) last night on cable. I disliked it for exactly the same reasons. The movie had three montages in the first 45 minutes, not counting the opening credits.

In other news, I didn't have nearly as much fun watching D.E.B.S. as I hoped I would.

I had the opposite reaction, only because I had ZERO desire to watch it, but SA talked me into renting it one weekend that she visited me. I mean, it wasn't particularly good, but it was entertaining, which I didn't expect.

Yeah, Disney's attempt at an intervention was in Defamer a while back as well.

I saw the Village long after knowing the end. And honestly, if he'd put the big reveal in the first 15 minutes instead of the last, it'd really be a good movie. Which just makes it that much more frustrating.

Does he have any concept of how Hollywood works?

I'm pretty sure it works like this: if you consistently make hundreds of millions of dollars for a studio, you can do anything you like.

I actually saw D.E.B.S. in the theater at full price and enjoyed the hell out of it, but possibly because I saw it with meara. We have a history of seeing really silly and stupid movies with hot chicks in them together. We saw Honey in the theater and had a blast.

if you consistently make hundreds of millions of dollars for a studio, you can do anything you like.

I can't read the article, so I can't be sure, but isn't it contradicting this?

Not really; he dumped Disney; they still wanted him. The dinner confrontation ended this way:

After way too many courses, Disney executives walked Shyamalan and his agent to the elevator, and Cook asked to speak to the director alone.

"Just make the movie for us," Cook said, hoping to keep Disney's most important director in the fold. "We'll give you $60 million and say, 'Do what you want with it.' We won't touch it. We'll see you at the premiere."

Aha. Thanks.

It'd surprise me if no big bucks director ever got shown the door, but it's not something I have ammo for.