It's about fu*king time they handed a statue to that man. He's going to
be 65 in another month and HE'S JUST NOW GETTING LOVE FROM
THE ACADEMY!?

Jesus! Let's not even discuss 'Raging Bull' being beat by 'Ordinary
People' or 'Goodfellas' getting shut out by 'Dances With Wolves'. It
took them WAY TOO LONG to recognize what is by my estimation,
the greatest visual stylist modern cinema has ever seen.

I'm glad 'The Departed' won best picture too. It's nice to know there
are still instances where an honest, albeit brutal depiction of violence
in a movie that pulls almost no punches, can be recognized by a
largely prehistoric voting body and therefore one given to more touchy
feely fair. Scorsese's victory is an affirmation to all that you can't keep
a good man down and in the end, talent is the only true aristocracy.

JC

Guys:

I feel like we've been through this course a number of times, but let me
just overstate the obvious once more. The following isn't meant to function
as anything more than clarification:

1. The movie was designed to polarize. You don't place broad, dark comedy
against heavy drama unless you want to illicit a certain kind of response and
that response can very well be 'What the fu*k were you thinking!?' For me
it was a very deliberate artistic attempt...and one that will work for
some and fail for others. There's an old saying: 'No Hill For a Climber' if
you sit back and wonder what people will think if you take a shot at
something, then you're beat before the opening bell. What's the fu*king point,
if you don't try to extend yourself and your craft. I've been fortunate enough to
get into a position where this is possible.

2. This flick was never going to be NARC. nor was it intended to be. Again,
what's the point of filmmaking if not to stretch and try to define yourself
and your craft, differently, each time out. That's what I want to do. The guys
I admire, like Ang Lee and Steven Soderbergh, mix it up every time they go
out. Sometimes they hit it out of the park, other times they foul it into the
stands. It's their willingness to attempt different things and different genres
that makes them great.

3. 'Smokin' Aces' is exactly the movie I wanted to make. A clash of tones and
styles and variations. A mixing of all kinds of influences and filmic archetypes
to create something new or at the very least, seldom seen. The end of the
movie isn't meant to be a twist and was never intended as such. It's not
important who the hell the old man is, it's what the FBI did to their OWN
PEOPLE that matters in the end. I could give a sh*t about a twist
ending. If you don't have a clue as to who Sparazza is, before the finale, then
I blew it, because my intention was to let you in on it, early on.

That's all I wanted to say. I hope those of you that have dug the film have
really dug it and those of you that have hated it, have done so with all of your
heart. In the end, you can't ask for any more than that.

JC

No matter how remiss I may become as a parent, no matter how negligent, I'll
always be able to throw this one back at my daughter Maile. "DADDY GOT
ALICIA KEYS TO SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!' As I stand there, social outcast and
profound professional failure, swathed in greasy burlap bags that I've fashioned and
stitched into a bizarre street frock by using a box-cutter and dental floss, clutching
that ever-present bottle of bourbon and sweating off a months long bender as I destroy
her high school graduation ceremony.

Ahh, but that's tomorrow. Today, I'm her hero!

JC