Making Venus
Dude, what were they thinking???
That was the pervasive thought that kept bouncing round my head while watching this great little documentary about two Australian producer cousins making their first feature film.
Seriously, what were they thinking???
What makes this doco so very entertaining is that the film they are making is totally shithouse. Not that the makers of The Venus Factor can ever admit it, mind you, preferring to put the blame on the shoulders of Boogie Nights (a similarly themed film on porn released while they were making theirs) and the director. So they hire a new one, make their sex romp comedy a “self-discovery” drama and change the name to Starring Duncan Wiley . Again it sucks, not that they'd admit it. So as the years tick by and they get in debt of a million dollars they cut the film themselves with the mixture of the two films, making it a comedy again called Money Shot .
WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???
For a while I thought the lesson of this film was going to be ‘Never Give Up'. The guys, as arrogant and delusional as they are, are very enthusiastic and passionate – although their plight seems more about salvaging their own egos than the film. Instead the moral here is; ‘Learn WHEN to Give Up', and to these two cousins it was a fucking expensive lesson to learn.
The maker of Making Venus has created a documentary that would be hilarious was it not such a sobering cautionary tale of ego, delusions, and stupidity in the film business. Any aspiring filmmakers: watch and learn. Or just follow the lead of Making Venus and find some very enthusiastic yet clueless producers to follow around and make a film about that.