Watching Her Gertz My Head
The best show on TV of late is Bravo’s “Project Greenlight,” the three season-old brainchild of Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and producer Chris Moore, in which first-time filmmakers are given the opportunity to make an independent feature, while cameras capture the entire process, warts and all.
As always, this season’s cast of characters is ripe with strong personalities, but only one has emerged as a terrific villain. The film’s casting director, Michelle Gertz, is a pint-sized bitch of super-sized proportions, and the best reality TV nemesis since, well, Jonathan on last season’s “Amazing Race.” Not only does she insist on repeatedly belittling director John Gulager by referring to him as a “contest winner,” but she casts a friend of hers in the lead role despite objections from the film’s director and producers. Even better, she goes behind their back to do so, submitting her casting choices directly to the studio without ever consulting anyone else. Gertz seems to think her opinions are gospel, and while we don’t know squat about making movies, we do know that artistic endeavors involving millions of dollars generally warrant some sort of collaboration. She gets mad at the director for pushing his wife for a role, yet she does exactly the same thing in a passive/aggressive way. But hey, I guess she knows best considering she’s previously cast talented actors like Tara Reid, Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Stephen Baldwin.
Yes, this is great TV. Tune in soon, for when the shooting begins, the casting director disappears.
04.12.05 at 3:30 am
She should cast herself in a snuff film
04.12.05 at 4:15 pm
I can only hope that her performance on PGL3 has a negative effect on her career…I just wish Gulager had gotten the chance to really give her a piece of his mind, I know that I would have.
04.13.05 at 4:37 pm
They took weeks of footage and edited down to the most dramatic hour possible. She didn’t force the Executive Producers to accept her casting choices, she simply ensured her friends name was still on the list and they took it from there.
I think she’s probably doing Chris Moore’s bidding because he doesn’t seem like the type to deal with lack of communication issues very well and he let her get away with it. The shows editors found it to be really dramatic so she was chosen to be villian of the week and setting up her chosen actress as a proxy against the director in the coming weeks. It’s brilliant editing, great television, and hopefully the movie will turn out alright.
Only time, and Navi’s performance, will tell.
04.14.05 at 11:08 pm
I finally saw this episode last night thanks to Sci Fi (who knew?). I give the benefit of the doubt to the people on the show for the most part, but no amount of editing can alter that she said “I got what I wanted” twice in the interview portions. She’s a bitch. When the producers and director don’t like someone, the actor’s name should never be submitted to the studio. Alas — as you note — good TV for us.
04.20.05 at 9:04 pm
rjschwarz – you are a dumbass.