Starman (1984)

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Wikidata Q1341009, film, IMDb tt0088172, TMDB 9663: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by episode credits Jeff Bridges as actor (Fearless with Timothy Simons); 3 more episodes agree.

What a model would be handed about it, for corpus:ask.

In the store as #201, Starman (1984).

Who talked about it

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Came from

What the speakers say it drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

It Happened One Night: 2 lines the host's read ×2

  1. craft (genre / structure): It Happened One Night ⇒ Starman (the host's read). Carpenter wanted a road movie of two people in a car getting to know each other, in the mold of It Happened One Night.
    “I want to make it happens one night.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

An American Werewolf in London: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (effects lineage): An American Werewolf in London ⇒ Starman (the host's read). The transformation sequence is indebted to American Werewolf's practical, show-it-all body effects.
    “Yes, which is very like American werewolf in London, where the body is stretching out.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:20:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. industry (studio rivalry / shadow): E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ⇒ Starman (the host's read). Columbia chose Starman over Night Skies, which Universal turned into E.T., so Starman carried the stigma of the one that got away and then looked like a ripoff.
    “Uh, so they let go of night skies and let Universal acquire and turnaround.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:24:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Two for the Road: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. craft (genre / structure): Two for the Road ⇒ Starman (the host's read). Carpenter reportedly wanted to make something like Two for the Road.
    “I want to make like 2 for the road.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Led to

What the speakers say drew on it, marked the same way.

Forrest Gump: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. people (performance lineage): Starman ⇒ Forrest Gump (the host's read). Bridges' hat, check shirt, strange speech and not-quite-a-person quality read as a proto-Forrest Gump.
    “there's like a proto-Forrest Gump vibe in this performance in the hat and in the check shirt”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:57:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

John from Cincinnati: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. theme (premise): Starman ⇒ John from Cincinnati (the host's read). A mysterious odd visitor who solves everyone's problems and parrots dialogue; John from Cincinnati owes a lot to Starman.
    “He comes and visits, and he's mysterious, and he's weird, and he solves everybody's problem.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:11:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Midnight Special: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. verdict (same story, better version): Starman ⇒ Midnight Special (the host's read). Midnight Special is called Spielbergian but really Starman-like; its Adam Driver agent does the benevolent-government-agent role better than Starman's.
    “I'm like, God, that's so Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:02:29 · Katey Rich (0.45 sure it was them)

Sean Levy: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (remake plan): Starman ⇒ Sean Levy (the host's read). Levy announced a 2016 remake with Michael Douglas on board.
    “I learned from Wikipedia that in 2016, Sean Levy was planning to direct and produce a remake of Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:13:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Starman: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (sequel / spin-off): Starman ⇒ Starman (the host's read). The 1986 show is set 15 years later, about his son, with a recast Starman.
    “is set 15 years in the future because it's about his son.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:08:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Connected to

David Bowie: 2 lines unmapped ×1 craft ×1

  1. unmapped (title): Starman → David Bowie. They wonder whether they had to talk to David Bowie before calling the film Starman.
    “Do you think they had to talk to David Bowie before they called this movie Star Man?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:25:11 · Katey Rich (0.40 sure it was them)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: 2 lines industry ×2

  1. industry (studio rivalry / shadow): Starman → E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Columbia chose Starman over Night Skies, which Universal turned into E.T., so Starman carried the stigma of the one that got away and then looked like a ripoff.
    “Uh, so they let go of night skies and let Universal acquire and turnaround.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:24:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Fearless: 2 lines people ×2

  1. people (performance): Fearless → Starman. Bridges plays a person one step removed from reality in both films.
    “both about people who are a little outside of reality, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:46:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

It Happened One Night: 2 lines craft ×1 lineage ×1

  1. craft (genre / structure): Starman → It Happened One Night. Carpenter wanted a road movie of two people in a car getting to know each other, in the mold of It Happened One Night.
    “I want to make it happens one night.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

An American Werewolf in London: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (effects lineage): Starman → An American Werewolf in London. The transformation sequence is indebted to American Werewolf's practical, show-it-all body effects.
    “Yes, which is very like American werewolf in London, where the body is stretching out.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:20:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Annette: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (visual echo): Starman → Annette. The baby in the transformation sequence recalls the unsettling baby in Annette.
    “There were some real baby Annette vibes in that transformation sequence.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:19:49 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Christine: 1 line career ×1

  1. career (career sequence): Starman → Christine. Christine was Carpenter's rebound after his big flop, then Starman followed once it was a hit.
    “Christine is kind of like a rebound movie, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Dean Cundy: 1 line what-if ×1

  1. what-if (what-if): Dean Cundy → Starman. Griffin says Starman would be better had Cundy shot it, because its sentimentality, lights and blues are ready for him.
    “I do think this movie would be better if it was shot by Dean Cundy, just because all movies would be better.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:31:10 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Dune: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (contrast): Starman → Dune. Starman is political and rooted in reality, an interesting analog for where sci-fi was.
    “Yeah. But another interesting analog to like where sci-fi filmmaking is at where like carpenter's very political and is very rooted in reality.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:57:26 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Forrest Gump: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (performance lineage): Starman → Forrest Gump. Bridges' hat, check shirt, strange speech and not-quite-a-person quality read as a proto-Forrest Gump.
    “there's like a proto-Forrest Gump vibe in this performance in the hat and in the check shirt”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:57:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

John Carpenter: 1 line contrast ×1

  1. contrast (contrast): Starman → John Carpenter. Starman is one of the Carpenter movies he did not score; its synthy score is more emotional than his usual.
    “this is one of the Carpenter movies that he did not score.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:17:32 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

John from Cincinnati: 1 line theme ×1

  1. theme (premise): Starman → John from Cincinnati. A mysterious odd visitor who solves everyone's problems and parrots dialogue; John from Cincinnati owes a lot to Starman.
    “He comes and visits, and he's mysterious, and he's weird, and he solves everybody's problem.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:11:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Karen Allen: 1 line verdict ×1

  1. verdict (verdict): Karen Allen → Starman. They have said Karen Allen should have won the Oscar that year for Starman.
    “I think we both said that we think she should have won the Oscar that year and she wasn't even nominated”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:08:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)

Kevin Bacon: 1 line what-if ×1

  1. what-if (almost cast): Kevin Bacon → Starman. After Footloose made him a star Carpenter wanted him for Starman and he nearly did it.
    “So then Carpenter wanted him for this, and he almost did it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:09:54 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)

Mark Rydell: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (tonal turn): Mark Rydell → Starman. Rydell began steering Starman toward a humanist, performance-based movie.
    “I think was when they start to skew it more towards what if we do the more humanist performance-based emotional movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:36:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Michael Douglas: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (developed): Michael Douglas → Starman. Douglas shepherded the project at Columbia though he is not credited as a main producer.
    “This is a Michael Douglas project, even though he's not credited”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:25:19 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)

Midnight Special: 1 line verdict ×1

  1. verdict (same story, better version): Starman → Midnight Special. Midnight Special is called Spielbergian but really Starman-like; its Adam Driver agent does the benevolent-government-agent role better than Starman's.
    “I'm like, God, that's so Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:02:29 · Katey Rich (0.45 sure it was them)

Night Skies: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (competing script): Starman → Night Skies. Columbia ran focus groups on the two friendly-alien scripts at script stage and Starman won hands down.
    “It was Starman hands down.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:24:23 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Raiders of the Lost Ark: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (cast / career): Starman → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Karen Allen came off Raiders into Starman, two years later.
    “this is 2 years after Raiders”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:01:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Sean Levy: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (remake plan): Sean Levy → Starman. Levy announced a 2016 remake with Michael Douglas on board.
    “I learned from Wikipedia that in 2016, Sean Levy was planning to direct and produce a remake of Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:13:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Something Wild: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (tone / structure): Starman → Something Wild. The people met along the road each get a world of their own, as in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild.
    “I, the thing about it happened when Eddie was thinking about some Jonathan Demi. Something wild? Yes.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:19 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)

Starman: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (sequel / spin-off): Starman → Starman. The 1986 show is set 15 years later, about his son, with a recast Starman.
    “is set 15 years in the future because it's about his son.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:08:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

The Martian: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (soundtrack): The Martian → Starman. The Martian uses Bowie's Starman and disco in its soundtrack.
    “Isn't it in a Martian, though?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:26:03 · Katey Rich (0.35 sure it was them)

The Terminator: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (tonal mismatch): Starman → The Terminator. Like Terminator's sex scene, Starman's love scene feels like it is from a different movie.
    “That's a movie where it's like, when the sex scene kicks off, you're like, am I watching the same movie?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:26:26 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)

Tom Cruise: 1 line what-if ×1

  1. what-if (almost cast): Tom Cruise → Starman. Carpenter talked to Cruise, who instead did Legend.
    “But then Tom Cruise ended up doing legend.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:11:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Two for the Road: 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (genre / structure): Starman → Two for the Road. Carpenter reportedly wanted to make something like Two for the Road.
    “I want to make like 2 for the road.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career sequence): Starman → Christine. Christine was Carpenter's rebound after his big flop, then Starman followed once it was a hit.
    “Christine is kind of like a rebound movie, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

contrast (2)

  1. contrast (contrast): Starman → Dune. Starman is political and rooted in reality, an interesting analog for where sci-fi was.
    “Yeah. But another interesting analog to like where sci-fi filmmaking is at where like carpenter's very political and is very rooted in reality.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 2:57:26 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. contrast (contrast): Starman → John Carpenter. Starman is one of the Carpenter movies he did not score; its synthy score is more emotional than his usual.
    “this is one of the Carpenter movies that he did not score.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:17:32 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

craft (6)

  1. craft (visual echo): Starman → Annette. The baby in the transformation sequence recalls the unsettling baby in Annette.
    “There were some real baby Annette vibes in that transformation sequence.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:19:49 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. craft (genre / structure): Starman → Two for the Road. Carpenter reportedly wanted to make something like Two for the Road.
    “I want to make like 2 for the road.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:06 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. craft (genre / structure): Starman → It Happened One Night. Carpenter wanted a road movie of two people in a car getting to know each other, in the mold of It Happened One Night.
    “I want to make it happens one night.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. craft (tone / structure): Starman → Something Wild. The people met along the road each get a world of their own, as in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild.
    “I, the thing about it happened when Eddie was thinking about some Jonathan Demi. Something wild? Yes.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:22:19 · David Sims (0.35 sure it was them)
  5. craft (craft): David Bowie → Starman. A host half-expected Bowie's song 'Starman' to play over the film's credits, though it is not that kind of movie.
    “Part of me was waiting for it, like, the Starman song to be in the credits.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:25:44 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. craft (soundtrack): The Martian → Starman. The Martian uses Bowie's Starman and disco in its soundtrack.
    “Isn't it in a Martian, though?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:26:03 · Katey Rich (0.35 sure it was them)

industry (2)

  1. industry (marketing comparison): Starman → E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The poster's blues and lights invite the E.T. comparison and the film strains to say it is about grown-up love.
    “But, um, you know, also the the blues, the lights, the ET comparison is right there.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:02:30 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. industry (studio rivalry / shadow): Starman → E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Columbia chose Starman over Night Skies, which Universal turned into E.T., so Starman carried the stigma of the one that got away and then looked like a ripoff.
    “Uh, so they let go of night skies and let Universal acquire and turnaround.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:24:25 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

lineage (4)

  1. lineage (effects lineage): Starman → An American Werewolf in London. The transformation sequence is indebted to American Werewolf's practical, show-it-all body effects.
    “Yes, which is very like American werewolf in London, where the body is stretching out.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:20:41 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (homage): Starman → It Happened One Night. The hay-bale love scene in an empty train car is called a likely conscious homage to It Happened One Night.
    “So it's a, maybe it's an homage.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:27:07 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (sequel / spin-off): Starman → Starman. The 1986 show is set 15 years later, about his son, with a recast Starman.
    “is set 15 years in the future because it's about his son.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:08:52 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. lineage (remake plan): Sean Levy → Starman. Levy announced a 2016 remake with Michael Douglas on board.
    “I learned from Wikipedia that in 2016, Sean Levy was planning to direct and produce a remake of Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:13:16 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

people (4)

  1. people (performance): Fearless → Starman. Bridges plays a person one step removed from reality in both films.
    “both about people who are a little outside of reality, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 0:46:21 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. people (performance): Fearless → Starman. The first thirty minutes of Fearless feel like Starman.
    “He does feel like Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Fearless with Timothy Simons · 1:14:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  3. people (cast / career): Starman → Raiders of the Lost Ark. Karen Allen came off Raiders into Starman, two years later.
    “this is 2 years after Raiders”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:01:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. people (performance lineage): Starman → Forrest Gump. Bridges' hat, check shirt, strange speech and not-quite-a-person quality read as a proto-Forrest Gump.
    “there's like a proto-Forrest Gump vibe in this performance in the hat and in the check shirt”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:57:23 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

theme (1)

  1. theme (premise): Starman → John from Cincinnati. A mysterious odd visitor who solves everyone's problems and parrots dialogue; John from Cincinnati owes a lot to Starman.
    “He comes and visits, and he's mysterious, and he's weird, and he solves everybody's problem.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:11:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

unmapped (5)

  1. unmapped (competing script): Starman → Night Skies. Columbia ran focus groups on the two friendly-alien scripts at script stage and Starman won hands down.
    “It was Starman hands down.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:24:23 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (developed): Michael Douglas → Starman. Douglas shepherded the project at Columbia though he is not credited as a main producer.
    “This is a Michael Douglas project, even though he's not credited”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:25:19 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (tonal turn): Mark Rydell → Starman. Rydell began steering Starman toward a humanist, performance-based movie.
    “I think was when they start to skew it more towards what if we do the more humanist performance-based emotional movie”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 0:36:08 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (tonal mismatch): Starman → The Terminator. Like Terminator's sex scene, Starman's love scene feels like it is from a different movie.
    “That's a movie where it's like, when the sex scene kicks off, you're like, am I watching the same movie?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:26:26 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (title): Starman → David Bowie. They wonder whether they had to talk to David Bowie before calling the film Starman.
    “Do you think they had to talk to David Bowie before they called this movie Star Man?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:25:11 · Katey Rich (0.40 sure it was them)

verdict (2)

  1. verdict (verdict): Karen Allen → Starman. They have said Karen Allen should have won the Oscar that year for Starman.
    “I think we both said that we think she should have won the Oscar that year and she wasn't even nominated”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Raiders of the Lost Ark with Brian Michael Bendis · 3:08:07 · unknown (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. verdict (same story, better version): Starman → Midnight Special. Midnight Special is called Spielbergian but really Starman-like; its Adam Driver agent does the benevolent-government-agent role better than Starman's.
    “I'm like, God, that's so Starman.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 2:02:29 · Katey Rich (0.45 sure it was them)

what-if (3)

  1. what-if (almost cast): Kevin Bacon → Starman. After Footloose made him a star Carpenter wanted him for Starman and he nearly did it.
    “So then Carpenter wanted him for this, and he almost did it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:09:54 · Griffin Newman (0.45 sure it was them)
  2. what-if (almost cast): Tom Cruise → Starman. Carpenter talked to Cruise, who instead did Legend.
    “But then Tom Cruise ended up doing legend.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:11:50 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. what-if (what-if): Dean Cundy → Starman. Griffin says Starman would be better had Cundy shot it, because its sentimentality, lights and blues are ready for him.
    “I do think this movie would be better if it was shot by Dean Cundy, just because all movies would be better.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Starman with Katey Rich · 1:31:10 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

None.

Who the speakers said made it

As said on the shows, not checked against the real credits.