Griffin Dunn

Made films the shows talk about.

Counted as producer. The films the hosts said they produced, which the two lists below run through too: Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979); Baby It's You (1983); After Hours (1985); Running on Empty (1988). Count them as director (6 films), actor (4 films) instead.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, 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.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988): 3 lines

career (personal projection) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: The Last Temptation of Christ ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese quoted in an oral history). Scorsese worked Kafka's Before the Law into the club doorman scene to reflect his frustration over Last Temptation.
“inspired by Franz Kafka's before the law. And Scorsese said the short story reflected his frustration toward the production of the Last Temptation of Christ.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:23:31 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (cause) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: The Last Temptation of Christ ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: a Scorsese quote on After Hours being a reaction to the Last Temptation ordeal). After Paramount collapsed Last Temptation, Scorsese wanted a cheap, personal film; After Hours is his reaction to the Hollywood ordeal.
“it's a reaction against my year and a half into Hollywood trying to get last temptation to Christ made.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:50:49 · unknown host (quoting Scorsese) (0.35 sure it was them)
unmapped (sliding door) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: The Last Temptation of Christ ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Paramount cancelling Last Temptation sent Scorsese to a small fast job; one of movie history's sliding doors.
“it is one of the massive sliding doors in movie history because him not making it leads to him making this movie”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:17:03 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Baby It's You (1983): 1 line, within their own work

lineage (production lineage) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: Baby It's You ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Without Baby It's You (Dunn/Robinson, Arquette, Ballhaus) there is no After Hours, since it brought Ballhaus to Scorsese.
“without that movie, we don't have after hours either because they bring Michael Bauhaus to Scorsese.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:16:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Ernst Lubitsch: 1 line

unmapped (comic technique) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: Ernst Lubitsch ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). The film's elegant timing and characterization is Scorsese flexing Lubitsch, his filmmaking hero.
“this is the movie where Marty gets to flex a little Lubich stuff, who was obviously a big filmmaking hero of his”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:39:55 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

Fritz Lang: 1 line

lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: Fritz Lang ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's own account of his influences on the film). Lang's nighttime nightmare noirs (M, Manhunt, Woman in the Window) were influences.
“And then some Fritz Lange movies. like M, Manhunt, Woman in the Window, you know, nighttime noiry, nightmare movies, stuff like that.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:51:36 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

Isle of the Dead (1945): 1 line

lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: Isle of the Dead ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's own account of his influences on the film). Scorsese cited Isle of the Dead, a one-night Greek island story, as an influence.
“Isle of the Dead, a Val Luton movie that takes place like over one night on a Greek island.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:51:19 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

Joe Frank: 1 line

unmapped (alleged plagiarism) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: Joe Frank ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Joe Frank himself, as reported in a 2000 Salon profile). Joe Frank's 1982 monologue 'Lies' was allegedly lifted for After Hours' opening act; 'Lies' was the script's first title.
“the opening act is basically ripping off a 1982 monologue he had called lies, which is the 1st title of this script.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:37:27 · unknown host (reading JJ Bersch's research) (0.40 sure it was them)

North by Northwest (1959): 1 line

lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: North by Northwest ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's own account of his influences on the film). The world-against-him framed-man structure of North by Northwest was an influence.
“That's sort of like the world is against him. He's been framed.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:51:28 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

Rear Window (1954): 1 line

lineage (stealth homage) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: Rear Window ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). The neighborhood shooting seen through a window is a Hitchcock rear-window moment never mentioned again; Hitchcock and Fritz Lang noir are influences.
“there's Hitchcock and Fritz Lange Noir movies are a huge influence on this movie, and that's like such a perfect rear window moment”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:58:09 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

The King of Comedy (1982): 1 line

industry (studio retreat) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: The King of Comedy ⇒ After Hours (the maker said so: Scorsese's quote, via Biskind). King of Comedy bombing and Fox pulling it set up Scorsese's retreat to small-scale After Hours; he said 70s directors had lost to studios.
“And that was when I really understood that the 70s were over for me”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:18:28 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)

The Wizard of Oz (1939): 1 line

lineage (homage) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: The Wizard of Oz ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Dark-side-of-the-yellow-brick-road version; Dorothy walks into black and white instead of color, with 'surrender Dorothy' graffiti and Marcy's Seconal tie to Judy Garland.
“it is like very much a Wizard of Oz kind of homage, and it's like if Dorothy instead walked into the black and white darkness”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:11:14 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Goodfellas (1990): 2 lines

unmapped (stylistic seed) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ Goodfellas (the host's read). Sean says the fast cutting, whip-pans and close-ups in After Hours are the seeds of Goodfellas' look, via cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.
“just seeing all the seeds of Goodfellas and all these little edits and camera shots.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:04:02 · Sean Fennessey (0.70 sure it was them)
career (career hinge) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ Goodfellas (the host's read). Bill says Goodfellas does not happen if After Hours does not happen first; the cancelled Last Temptation is the sliding door.
“I don't know if Goodfellas happens.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:17:21 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

After Hours (1985): 1 line, within their own work

lineage (production lineage) · through Baby It's You (1983), which they produced: Baby It's You ⇒ After Hours (the host's read). Without Baby It's You (Dunn/Robinson, Arquette, Ballhaus) there is no After Hours, since it brought Ballhaus to Scorsese.
“without that movie, we don't have after hours either because they bring Michael Bauhaus to Scorsese.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:16:29 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

Date Night (2010): 1 line

theme (genre mutation) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ Date Night (the host's read). Date Night is After Hours turned into an action movie, piling on too much incident.
“Date night is action movie after hours.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:35:40 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)

Go (1999): 1 line

lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ Go (the host's read). Go is late-90s After Hours with weird cameos.
“they should have paid royalties to Sworses.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:31:36 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)

The Color of Money (1986): 1 line

career (career bridge) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ The Color of Money (the host's read). The camera moves of After Hours carry into Color of Money's pool table, tied to Ballhaus; both lead to Goodfellas.
“that same thing, that camera is flying across the pool table.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:30:24 · Sean Fennessey (0.60 sure it was them)

The Lovebirds (2020): 1 line

lineage (unofficial remake) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ The Lovebirds (the host's read). The Lovebirds tried to be the After Hours of its day but never works.
“on paper, you were like, yeah, sure, it's been too long since someone tried to make after hours.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:35:09 · unknown host (0.35 sure it was them)

The Night Before (2015): 1 line

lineage (unofficial remake) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ The Night Before (the host's read). After Hours is the template for modern one-crazy-night New York comedies, none of which reach it.
“It is one of those movies that kind of is like unofficially remade every 5 years.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:34:18 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)

Uncut Gems (2019): 1 line

lineage (influence) · through After Hours (1985), which they produced: After Hours ⇒ Uncut Gems (the host's read). Uncut Gems owes a heavy debt to After Hours; Go is also described as owing it royalties.
“could a movie owe more of a debt to after hours than the cut gems.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:31:19 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

career (career): Griffin Dunn → An American Werewolf in London. Dunn plays the decaying ghost-friend in Landis's film, in Rick Baker makeup.
“Griffin Dunn is the friend who appears to him in these long conversations, but every time he shows up, his body's decaying further.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:42:30 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)

people (1)

people (people): Griffin Dunn → Practical Magic. Griffin Dunn directed Practical Magic, a darker film than people remember (there is a zombie).
“There's a zombie in that movie.”
Blank Check — Patreon · Paths of Glory with Sarah Marshall (Ad-Free) · 0:16:27 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (4)

unmapped (producing record): Griffin Dunn → Chilly Scenes of Winter. Dunn and Robinson produced Chilly Scenes of Winter and Running on Empty as part of an incredible producing track.
“he and Amy Robinson have an incredible producing track, including chili scenes of winter, and running on empty.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:40:23 · unknown host (0.40 sure it was them)
unmapped (directing credit): Griffin Dunn → Practical Magic. Dunn directed Practical Magic, Addicted to Love, Fierce People, The Accidental Husband.
“I love Addicted to Love, which is an insane movie. and I love practical magic.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:55:41 · David Sims (0.45 sure it was them)
unmapped (family): Griffin Dunn → Joan Didion. Griffin is the nephew of John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion and helps shepherd Didion's legacy.
“his and uncle were, um, John Gregory Dunn and Joan Didier.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:17:37 · Bill Simmons (0.50 sure it was them)
unmapped (friendship): Griffin Dunn → Carrie Fisher. Dunn was best friends from childhood with Carrie Fisher, per the Bright Lights documentary.
“Griffin Dunn, best friend since childhood with Carrie Fisher?”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:25:52 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

what-if (3)

what-if (casting what-if): Griffin Dunn → Tom Hanks. Bill offers 1985 Tom Hanks, fresh off Splash, as a better lead for the comic timing and awkward horniness.
“I think this would have been a really good Tom Hanks movie.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:20:36 · Bill Simmons (0.65 sure it was them)
what-if (casting what-if): Griffin Dunn → Michael Keaton. Keaton's 'I just blew a line' energy might beat Dunn for Paul Hackett; they played brothers in Johnny Dangerously.
“Michael Keaton does have that like, I just blew a line energy.”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:21:36 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
what-if (casting what-if): Griffin Dunn → Cooper Hoffman. Sean's modern pick for Paul Hackett.
“You know who it should be?”
The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 1:23:11 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

fun, about Griffin Dunn: Scorsese made Dunn go celibate for the 8-week shoot so Paul Hackett would look desire-starved.
“So I need you to not have sex for the 8 weeks of the shoot.”
Blank Check with Griffin & David · After Hours with Alison Sivitz · 0:53:40 · unknown host (quoting Dunn) (0.40 sure it was them)