Whit Stillman

Discussion and info on people in film, ranging from directors to actors to cinematographers to writers.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
DarkImbecile
Ask me about my visible cat breasts
Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:24 pm
Location: Albuquerque, NM

Whit Stillman

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:59 am

Whit Stillman (1952 - )

Image

"I'm anti-verite. I think the verite style is a completely false thing. Most things are false to arrive at a truth; verite is falsity without acknowledging its falsity."

Filmography

Features
Metropolitan (1990)
Barcelona (1994)
The Last Days of Disco (1998)
Damsels in Distress (2011)
Love & Friendship (2016)

Television
The Cosmopolitans [pilot] (2014)

Books
The Last Days of Disco With Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards, by Whit Stillman (2000)
Doomed Bourgeois in Love: Essays on the Films of Whit Stillman, edited by Mark C. Henrie (2001)
Love & Friendship: In Which Jane Austen's Lady Susan is Entirely Vindicated, by Whit Stillman (2016)

Web Resources
"Why the World Still Needs Whit Stillman" by John Hendel, The Atlantic (2010)
"Whit Stillman Pays a Visit to Jane Austen", by Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker (2016)
2016 interview with Graham Fuller, Film Comment
Collection of video/audio/other interviews from 2007 to present, WhitStillman.org

Forum Discussion
326, 485, 807 A Whit Stillman Trilogy
Damsels in Distress (Whit Stillman, 2011)
Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016)

User avatar
pianocrash
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:02 am
Location: Over & Out

#2 Post by pianocrash » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:17 am

Fletch F. Fletch wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2005 8:59 am
I've been a big fan of his movies, Metropolitan and Last Days of Disco (Barcelona left me kinda cold) but he's seemed to dropped out of sight since. I've always felt that he and Noah Baumbach were the heir apparents to the Woody Allen/Upper East Side film sub-genre. The only bit of news I could find about Stillman's current projects was an article in Fade In magazine, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2005:
Currently living in Paris, Stillman has been busy adapting Winchester Races, a project with British producer Stephen Evans that would combine two unfinished Jane Austen novels, The Watsons and Sanditon, into a single script. The script would merge two characters: Emma Watson, a young woman who returns to her family after a long absence during which she's been raised by her aunt, and Charlotte Hayward, an attractive country girl who is taken up by a family of comically optimistic real-estate speculators. Should it eventually get made, the film would return Stillman to familiar territory. Both Metropolitan and Barcelona were considered Austen-esque comedies of petty manners.
Anybody heard anything else about this or what Stillman's been up to?
barcelona has always seemed like his strongest film, ldod his weakest, in my mind. He has always seemed more at ease and in control than baumbach, even if his pal wes anderson seemingly cribbed barcelona riffs non-stop in the royal tenenbaums. I just thought whit eventually became sick of the studio system, not making money, and returned to a quiet life somewhere outside of the US. But this is splendid news, even if it doesn't amount to some sort of end result.

User avatar
Zumpano
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:43 am
Location: Seattle, WA
Contact:

#3 Post by Zumpano » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:08 pm

There are a couple good interviews with him archived on the NPR site, including his participation in a roundtable discussion on "snobbery" from 2002.

I always wondered what had happened to him. I never read the "Last Days" novel he wrote. Has anyone? Has he written anything else lately?

His DeNiro, Chris Eigeman, is also someone who I wonder about and is sadly underused these days.

User avatar
backstreetsbackalright
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:49 pm
Location: 313

#4 Post by backstreetsbackalright » Thu Jul 07, 2005 7:49 pm

Zumpano wrote:I always wondered what had happened to him. I never read the "Last Days" novel he wrote. Has anyone? Has he written anything else lately?
I read it. It's pretty cute, and actually has a good deal to offer in addition to the film. Ever the clever one, Stillman has the narrator write the novel as a clarifacation of the events described in the movie, correcting errors and embellishments as though they were based on fact. Worth a look if you enjoyed the movie.
Zumpano wrote:His DeNiro, Chris Eigeman, is also someone who I wonder about and is sadly underused these days.
I missed Malcolm in the Middle in its first run, but I happened to catch a re-run recently featuring Eigeman as the new teacher of Malcolm's gifted class.

User avatar
souvenir
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm

#5 Post by souvenir » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:20 pm

I recently watched the episode of "Homicide" that Stillman directed, which featured Eigeman, and was wondering what had happened to him.

Martha
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: all up in thurr

#6 Post by Martha » Thu Jul 07, 2005 9:36 pm

souvenir wrote:I recently watched the episode of "Homicide" that Stillman directed, which featured Eigeman, and was wondering what had happened to him.
He actually works pretty steadily, though not in the sort of roles Stilman fans probably hope to see him in. He's been in a couple tv series, most recently as Lorelai's (pre-Luke) uptight-yet-scruffy beau on Gilmore Girls, and he's had supporting roles in a couple of biggish movies, I think.

User avatar
backstreetsbackalright
Joined: Fri Dec 17, 2004 6:49 pm
Location: 313

#7 Post by backstreetsbackalright » Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:37 pm

souvenir wrote:I recently watched the episode of "Homicide" that Stillman directed, which featured Eigeman, and was wondering what had happened to him.
How was that, anyway?

rossbrew
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:11 am
Location: Vancouver

#8 Post by rossbrew » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:26 pm

Whit Stillman...is that the guy who yodels when he sings...?

User avatar
souvenir
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:20 pm

#9 Post by souvenir » Thu Jul 07, 2005 11:31 pm

backstreetsbackalright wrote:
souvenir wrote:I recently watched the episode of "Homicide" that Stillman directed, which featured Eigeman, and was wondering what had happened to him.
How was that, anyway?
It's not a typical episode, but still good. There are frequent cuts to a support group with Eigeman, Rosanna Arquette and an older couple who all had family members murdered in the episode. The support group parts are shown as first person interviews and seem like narration. It's 'talkier' than most episodes.

User avatar
Fletch F. Fletch
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:54 pm
Location: Provo, Utah

#10 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Mon Jul 11, 2005 9:13 am

backstreetsbackalright wrote:I read it. It's pretty cute, and actually has a good deal to offer in addition to the film. Ever the clever one, Stillman has the narrator write the novel as a clarifacation of the events described in the movie, correcting errors and embellishments as though they were based on fact. Worth a look if you enjoyed the movie.
Sounds intriguing. I'll have to pick it up. Has anyone ever read Barcelona and Metropolitan: Tales of Two Cities that collects the screenplays from these two films. According to some of the reader reviews on Amazon they contain cut scenes, etc. Altho, the availability and price of used copies is a bit steep for my tastes.

User avatar
Jean-Luc Garbo
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:55 am
Contact:

#11 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:19 am

ISI Press has a great book of essays on Stillman's movies called Doomed Bourgeouis In Love. All the essays are by literary critics and not film critics, though. They latch onto the whole "Austenian" concept of his films and the whole idea of how he's like Woody Allen. Still, its worth a read and cheap at $15. I miss Stillman a great deal. It's too bad they never got him to direct a few episodes of West Wing or Frasier. He was supposed to do a movie about Francis Marion of South Carolina and American Revolution fame.

User avatar
Fletch F. Fletch
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:54 pm
Location: Provo, Utah

#12 Post by Fletch F. Fletch » Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:56 pm

There's a nice write-up about Metropolitan, here:

http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/archiv ... ml?id1=396

hard to believe the film is 15 years old!

User avatar
Polybius
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:57 pm
Location: Rollin' down Highway 41

#13 Post by Polybius » Wed Aug 24, 2005 11:24 pm

souvenir wrote:It's not a typical episode [...]
There were no typical episodes of that show 8-)

User avatar
Le Feu Follet
Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:14 pm
Location: Reading, UK

#14 Post by Le Feu Follet » Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:49 am

My problem with Whit Stillman is that when I want to refer to him my mouth starts saying 'Slim Whitman', don't know why.

User avatar
Matt
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:58 pm

#15 Post by Matt » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:04 am

Le Feu Follet wrote:My problem with Whit Stillman is that when I want to refer to him my mouth starts saying 'Slim Whitman', don't know why.
Ross already made that joke a year ago.

User avatar
Le Feu Follet
Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:14 pm
Location: Reading, UK

#16 Post by Le Feu Follet » Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:20 am

Ross already made that joke a year ago.
Wasn't intended as a joke, just a problem I have.

Narshty
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 2:27 pm
Location: London, UK

#17 Post by Narshty » Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:58 am

I just saw Barcelona and chuckled a lot. It's a lot less annoying when you only have two characters talking that way for a whole film as opposed to most of an ensemble cast, and the jump in quality (scripting, acting, timing etc.) from Metropolitan is very noticeable and much appreciated. So that's +1 for Whit.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Whit Stillman

#18 Post by domino harvey » Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:59 pm

I searched and couldn't find this posted, but here's the National Review interviewing Whit Stillman

User avatar
kaujot
Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 6:28 pm
Location: Austin
Contact:

Re: Whit Stillman

#19 Post by kaujot » Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:47 pm

That's possibly the sanest piece of writing I've ever seen come out of the National Review. Of course, it is an interview.

User avatar
Jean-Luc Garbo
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 1:55 am
Contact:

Re: Whit Stillman

#20 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:05 pm

I was hoping it was a new interview, but it's from 2000. It's good nonetheless.

User avatar
RagingNoodles
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:17 am
Location: Pharr, TX
Contact:

Re: Whit Stillman

#21 Post by RagingNoodles » Mon May 11, 2009 4:52 am

Hulu has Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco on their website. Unfortunately, it does have commercials at certain points.

User avatar
CRT
Joined: Sat May 23, 2009 2:31 pm
Location: At the Chateau Marmont, At Sofia Coppola's Beck and Call
Contact:

Re: Whit Stillman

#22 Post by CRT » Sat May 23, 2009 3:43 pm

RagingNoodles wrote:Hulu has Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco on their website. Unfortunately, it does have commercials at certain points.
I'll have to inform a friend of mine, he's been wanting to watch it.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Whit Stillman

#23 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:43 am


ianungstad
Joined: Wed Mar 16, 2005 9:20 pm

Re: Whit Stillman

#24 Post by ianungstad » Sun Jul 17, 2011 12:58 am

His new film sounds somewhat interesting. I'll hope for the best. The only Whit Stillman film I've seen is the Criterion of "The Last Days of disco", which was awful. Whit gets a lot of praise, so I assume Metropolitan and Barcelona are better films and Disco was a misfire?

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Whit Stillman

#25 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jul 17, 2011 1:03 am

I like it a lot, but it's the least of the three

Post Reply