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September 25, 2012
Creators of Atlantic Yards film, Battle for Brooklyn, Talk Opening of Barclays Center, Jay-z, Corruption, and More (Pt. 1)
Runnin' Scared
by Jason Lewis
With the opening concert at the Barclays Center slated for Friday, we caught up with Michael Galinksy and Suki Hawley, creators of the critically-acclaimed film, Battle for Brooklyn.
...In a two-part interview, the Voice brings you a series of excerpts from our conversation with Michael and Suki as they gear-up for a free-screening of their movie up-the-street on from the Jay-z Concert on Friday night.
What's your response to Bruce Ratner calling the film all lies in a recent New Yorker Magazine article?
Michael: It's disconcerting that someone who has that much access to power can make a statement like that - that continues the narrative that somehow the movie is untrue. When in fact, everything in it was fact checked. We made so sure that there wasn't anything out place. So to call it all lies, or to declare that Dan Goldstein is lying, is kind of surreal really.
Suki: It's very surreal, but also from a PR perspective, it makes sense. What I find surreal is that New York Magazine just printed that without any kind of rebuttal or any chance for the writer to take a look at the film and decide for himself. Instead he referred to Ratner as a mensch for even considering Dan a formidable opponent.
...Michael on what viewers can expect from the film:
Michael: People haven't seen it, and they hear this thing about it being all lies or whatever. The truth is, it is very much It's a Wonderful Life. It's more of a Frank Capra Film than a Michael Moore film. It's a movie...there's not a lot of facts, there's not a lot of figures. There's very little that could be held up, even possibly, as a lie. That's what's so disconcerting about that kind of statement being taken at face value.
NoLandGrab: Here's our offer to Bruce Ratner — we're happy to give you space on this blog to elucidate for our readers what's not true in the film. What's that? We can't hear you. Yeah, we thought so.
Posted by eric at September 25, 2012 12:36 PM