Coke Adds Life (to the party)

Hal Ashby's Bound for Glory screened at the Aero last night as part of a "Kevin Thomas' favorite movies" series, and a Hollywood Elsewhere correspondent reports that the panel discussion that followed -- a confrontational psychodrama between a bizarrely behaved David Caradine, the somewhat more moderate Ronny Cox and dp Haskell Wexler, and an all-but-invisible Thomas -- turned into a "near-riot."

"Carradine, very probably high on something, made some anti-union statements and got into a shouting match with someone in the audience," he says. "Cox at that point walked out, and that's before things even got good. Carradine threw a mike toward the audience so a lady questioner could speak, and the mike accidentally hit American Cinematheque publicist Margot Gerber on the head. "Then Carradine started insulting Wexler's cinematography, at length. 'You got an Oscar for ruining my movie,' Carradine kept telling him. Wexler finally got into it, agreeing that, yes, Hal Ashby had fired him one day, and that he'd responded about the massive amounts of coke being snorted on the set, which got him unfired. Then Carradine denied doing coke with Ashby but defended directors who like their powder -- including Quentin Tarantino!

Well, he called Tarantino a coke freak and if you listen to the linked mp3 you'll catch enough of the "coke talk" to have a nice chuckle. Apparently there was video shot as well so look for that when the dust settles. Kill Bill or Kill Kwai Chang Caine? That is the question.

UPDATE: And then things got really incestuous as Drug Cartel halts Hollywood Production!