Thursday, March 26, 2009

Open the Goddamn Door


The DVD featurette has Marty Scorsese saying that the butler's door sticking blooper was left in final cut because Jerry entered with a great ad-lib "(Will ya) open the god damn door!?! I'm standing out there 8 minutes..."

Oh !! this movie is better than ever. Delusional Rupert and his lady friend taking train to Jerry's house in The Hamptons without an invitation? Genius!



Kim Chan (Jonno the Butler) died 5 months ago, October 2008. He was in his nineties.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/arts/television/10chan.html

From a 2007 NY Times profile:

Mr. Chan’s career path was an unlikely one. His father, Lem Chan, a philosopher, fled China in 1928, bringing young Kim and his two older sisters first to Rhode Island, then to New York, where the family got into the restaurant and laundry businesses.

One day, the father caught the son lying to cover up an afternoon whiled away at the movies. Presented with an ultimatum, Kim Chan chose to leave his family, only to end up homeless in Central Park before moving on to other laundries. He never fully reconciled with his father, who died in 1952. Both his sisters have also died.

It took nearly four decades in inconsequential television, film and stage productions for Mr. Chan to shake free of the day labor grind.

He spent those years adrift, working at restaurants and laundries. He made movie contacts by day, and hustled cards and slept at night on ironing boards crawling with bedbugs.

His big break came in 1983 in “The King of Comedy.”

2 comments:

Donna Lethal said...

Rupert Pupkin: Well I'm sorry. I made a mistake.
Jerry Langford: So did Hitler.

I'm long overdue for a viewing on this. I may need to borrow yours.

Dave Shaw said...

Hi Keith- Love your blogs, yes, please do link me. I am happy to do the same! By the way, ever notice how, thematically, this movie is almost a Xerox of "Taxi Driver"? I love them both, but I find "KOC" gets under your skin just that little bit more.