Shot of the Day 12.168: Killer Joe & Billy The Kid

Shot with iPhone & Camera+, click to enlarge. 

Been a week of screenings, rounding it out with a preview of WIlliam Friedkin's KILLER JOE, a movie I've been hotly anticipating being a Friedkin fan (and of any movie ballsy enough to wear it's NC-17 rating like a deep-fried badge of honor).

I worshiped Friedkin as a kid and into my film school days, read endless books, yet I'd never met him or seen him speak live. Unbeknownst to me, the guy is a regular cut-up on stage, keeping the audience of L.A. FIlm Festival goers in stitches with his many stories of previous films, all the while making M.C. Elvis Mitchell seem winded every time the moderator asked to sit down. "Why, do you need to?" the aging director joked before taking this power stance you see here. If anything, the conversation before the movie, which lasted an hour, was more entertaining than the film, one I did enjoy for all it's Texas-style pomposity. And mark my words...you'll never look at a chicken drumstick the same way again. Love or hate, you can't deny that Friedkin still has full command over his stories, and KILLER JOE is well worth the wait and the rating. Friedkin still loves shaking things up, and you can't help but not love the guy for it.

Joe