Hey folks, Harry here. I had the honor about a year ago to moderate a panel with Mr Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen and Harlan Ellison... and so I'm familiar with some of Bradbury's stories about his adventures in Hollywood. Before I turn you over to this scooper, I'll tell you just one of them. Bradbury went into a meeting with an executive (I believe he said at Universal) to talk about one of his projects they were developing. The secretary tells Mr Bradbury that he can go in, and as Ray enters the room he notices the exec has his feet up on his desk and is deep in thought reading an issue of (I believe it was NEW YORKER though that maybe wrong) upside down. So Ray walks in the room... Takes a seat. The exec doesn't acknowledge his presence in the room... Ray waits a couple of seconds then says, "Amazing, I've never mastered the art of reading upside down!" To which the exec lowered the magazine and they began their meeting. And these folks are the people running Hollywood and talking with gods like Bradbury.... Sigh.... Here's the report...
I saw Ray Bradbury last night here in Boulder Colorado. He talked for about an Hour and a half..
He spoke at great length about his friendship with Ray Harryhausen and his struggles to become a writer. He also spoke of his adventures in Hollywood and his love of movies. He also made mention of getting screwed by Hollywood on more than one occasion.
Which brings us to the remake of Fahrenheit 451 by Mel Gibson. He is not a happy man when it comes to that project He Said Mel Gibson did a great job with Hamlet. So he has no problem with Mel Gibson himself. But In a nutshell Ray Bradbury has been left completely out of the loop on the project. The script has gone through 9 rewrites and the only one he has seen was sent to him by a bookstore in Georgia. Seems they somehow got a hold of a "appropriated" script and thought he should see it.
He put off reading until he had the courage to look at it. He said he read 30 pages until he came to a line where the Fire chief says, in response to a question, "does a bear shit in the woods?". Needless to say that wasn't in the book and it's not the way he writes.
Hopefully the people that are working on that film will come to their senses and make that film the way it was written.
Over all Ray bradbury is a very passionate man. If you ever get a chance to see him speak go. The most important thing he said was "Whatever you do, Love it with all your Heart"
