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 | Ain't It Cool News |
The Internet has also spawned a generation of news "anchors" and "reporters" dedicated to bringing news (and often unsubstantiated rumors) to the computer-savvy masses. People like self-styled Cronkite disciple Matt Drudge, who broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal on his "Drudge Report" Website, after Newsweek decided to kill their cover story on the matter, and Harry Knowles, scourge of Hollywood bigwigs and friend to the gaffers and set dressers, have challenged conventional news mediums with their Websites devoted to bring the news, correct or inaccurate, to the info-hungry, now!-now!-now! gossip-mongers.
Knowles, a 26-year-old college dropout, has been running his incendiary Website, "Ain't It Cool News" (http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/), for close to three years. In that time, he has won a modicum of fame (and infamy) as the man feared by studio executives everywhere. Claiming he uses his site for the good of the people, he has not hesitated to blast movies that he deems unworthy of existence.
For instance, the repercussions of his unrelenting "Batman & Robin" smear campaign perpetrated by himself and his "spies," informants who range from the construction foreman on a set to unemployed Hollywood hopefuls who crash test screenings, are partly blamed for the film's poor performance and the departure of Warner Bros. marketing exec Chris Pula.
Knowles also sings the praises of underdog films like "187" and even "Titanic" (remember when it was an underdog?). Director Paul Verhoeven ("Starship Troopers") and producer Dean Devlin ("Independence Day") have flown him to premiere industry events not to curry favor with his site, but because they actually approve of and appreciate what he's doing as the down-to-earth movie watchdog. In fact, many theatre owners and studio heads have started to use his site to gauge public opinion about upcoming films.
Knowles often posts missives directed at studio executives, imploring them not to ruin potentially good projects with bad casting and production choices. He reads hundreds of scripts before most projects get off the ground and shares his opinions with his readers on what would make a great movie.
Knowles has been championing pictures like Pixar's "A Bug's Life," Dreamworks SKG's "Prince of Egypt," TriStar's "Apt Pupil" and "Six String Samurai," which has yet to find a distributor, all in the name of getting better product into theatres and before the eyes of movie-goers who are routinely forced to pay top dollar for substandard fare. Knowles has lambasted movies such as "Speed 2" and "Spawn" for not living up to their potential, blaming money-minded corporate suits for putting box office gross above quality.
Despite all of this power, Knowles still lives with his father in a one-story house without air conditioning in Austin, Texas where he barely scrapes by on proceeds from sales of movie memorabilia. The man who has been in "GQ," "US," and "Vanity Fair" still counts on friends like Glen Oliver (who runs the television section of the Website) to ferry him to movie theatres. Of course, he also hangs out with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez and Richard Linklater and gets hundreds of e-mails each day.
Despite all the attention, "Ain't It Cool News" still looks very simple, compared to sites devoid of content which look flashy. Using photos of himself, movie stars and his family. Those who access the page can choose from movie rumors and news, movie reviews and television rumors and news.
One would think that this would make him arrogant - and perhaps it has. Knowles did not respond to our request for an interview. Oh well.
Knowles belongs to a new generation of both newsmakers and newsgivers, living out the ultimate Internet American Dream by going from a nobody with a tiny website to a powerful thorn in Hollywood's side with upwards of 300,000 hits per day. His normal life as a film geek has been radically altered by his emergence as a bona fide Hollywood player, albeit one who still lives hand to mouth - but what he really wants to do is direct.
04-08-98
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