The Smiley Smile Message Board

... from a position of some ignorance, actually:

"I play Brian’s second wife, Melinda, who he is still married to, and who essentially saved his life," explains Elizabeth.

"Brian suffers from a sort of paranoid schizophrenia, and always has, but for years no one knew quite what to do to help him,’ she says. Wilson also tumbled into long periods of drug abuse and addiction, and Eugene Landy used radical means to attempt to ‘cure’ him, including illegally prescribed psychotropic drugs, which led to the loss of his medical licence and a restraining order from the musician. ‘Melinda met Brian, fell in love with him and knew she had to save him from this doctor," says Elizabeth.

Not denying that Melinda has provided Brian with a safe and comfortable environment, or that she got some excellent doctors on Brian's case... but I think the people who saved Brian were those who, back in 1991, got in touch with the family and said, essentially, "this man is killing Brian and we want to help save him before it's too late". One of those fine, fine fine people is sadly no longer with us, and another posts here now and then.

Of course, Banks, having played Melinda in the Love & Mercy biopic, doubtless knows little more about le cas Wilson than she's gleaned from the script... which if so, is more than a little worrying.

Extracted from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2507798/Elizabeth-Banks-The-Hunger-Games-Catching-Fire-star-career-burning-brightly.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2507798/Elizabeth-Banks-The-Hunger-Games-Catching-Fire-star-career-burning-brightly.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490)

Need I say more?  :smokin

The Wail is, I agree, a piss poor excuse for a daily newspaper, but that said, I doubt they invented that dialog.

Nah… the inventions are yet to come…

I'm not expecting the film to be completely factual. It will be interesting when it comes out who it will make angry. Sometimes it takes lies to expose the truth, or motivate people to do so.

"Wail" eh. That's a new one to add to the list of less than complimentary names  ;)

There's not really much in the article about the movie, there's more about her role in "Hunger Games". And it's an interview, it's not like it's a gossip piece. When the movie comes out, then the real arguments can begin. It will be fun, I"m sure. Even the best biopics deviate from reality in the name of dramatic spice and time constraints.

The people involved in this movie are so freakin talented that ill be genuinely surprised if this movie is a total piece of sh*t.

I'll be happy if it remotely revolves around the music. I want to see a young Brian Wilson in the studio leading the wrecking crew through a session of 'California Girls' and I want to hear that song played on the stacks of speakers in the movie theatre...what a scene that would be. 

If this movie is solely about his mental breakdown (as it has been said it's mostly about), I'm gonna be pretty bummed.

These guys know how to structure a good movie. The audience will not care about the "fall" of the story's hero unless we relish in the hero's "rise." I think the thrust of the movie will be on the breakdown and his recovery, but we'll see what made the man The Man, or else, why should we as an audience care about his redemption?

Part of me doesn't want to read the discussions here when the movie comes out because (if it's any good) I'd like to enjoy the movie without analyzing it. I enjoyed Walk the Line and Ray without knowing much of anything about the men those movies portrayed. I'm sure there were inaccuracies in those movies, but they entertained me. On the other hand, of course I'd want the Brian movie to be accurate.

2nded & 3rded.

I am preparing myself for major disappointment. Hopefully that was I'll be surprised.

I'm assuming that the original tracks will be used (given the producers), so that's a major plus. Hopefully the script will offer, if not a balanced view, then one that's not too biased.

And has been rightly stated elsewhere, Joe Q. Public and family could care less about the accuracy (or lack thereof): that said, Brian's story is engrossing and uplifting enough without resorting to embroidery and recasting history. Could it be worse than Summer Dreams or An American Family ? Not without trying really, really hard. Will the likes of us find something to bitch about ? Of course, even if it's only the (wrong) type of cable used in the 1963 Western scenes. Will there be lawsuits, or at least some loud grumblings from other BRI members ?  Very likely. Does it matter ? Outside of the confines of this forum, not a jot.  :)

It sounds like a movie centering around the Landy years. I would rather see a film about a kid going from Ten Little Indians to Surfs Up in 5 short years.

Fourthed and Fifteth and Sixteth ad infinitum.

No really, I trust it will be very good. To be honest, I don't expect some history textbook account of the years 1961-2013, and I'm not hoping for that either. My guess: it will include a 'glory' section to begin with, condensed in time, with scenes that illustrate Brian at the apex: California Girls in the studio, Pet Sounds, Brian as arranger/conductor/inventor/singer/player/composer-on-the-spot... calling the shots. Then, 'SMiLE' will be done in detail, the unraveling of it all is a pivotal point in the whole life and career of Our Man. Then I expect a jump in time, to 1975 (Landy's first appearance), the incomplete healing, and then the sad relapses from, say, 1978 to the nadir in 1981 or thereabouts.

I don't know what to make of the Landy years. It's a pretty long stretch, when Landy went from life-saver to dark shadow, hovering over and controlling Brian's every move. No doubt that decade will get strong emphasis, but it needs be condensed in time, strictly so.

I hope that Brian's condition near the end of the Landy period will get attention (him being overfed with way too many prescription drugs, some of these hopelessly outdated (I don't know where I got this from, am certain that I read or heard it somewhere)). I wouldn't mind if his rather difficult, stiff ways of moving and talking are shown openly. Because he recovered so much, so visibly from all of that.

I guess from then it's fast forward to his return to the stage, the resurrection and completion of SMiLE in 2004, and present times.

I don't know how Marilyn and Melinda will get their place in all of this. Will Murry's abuse get a prominent place? In theory, it should, because it was a real determinant for the rest of Brian's life, one can't deny that.

There is so much to tell here, it is a Shakespearian tale of happiness, betrayal, greed, hybris, love, the absence of love, mental disorder, the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional family, etc. etc. etc.


(This is guesswork, folks - don't take it too seriously.)

Melinda is listed first in the cast list in IMDb.  Marilyn is listed below Brian's parents, Melinda's mother, Phil Spector , Van Dyke and "Gloria" (presumably Brian's long serving housekeeper. I think that gives some indication as to how they'll fit into the movie, and which years it'll concentrate on.

Cheers for this, AGD - didn't even know that it's already in IMDB.

Since when has Bill Pohlad been considered a talented director (for all the people saying how talented the people involved are)? He directed only one movie prior to this one, and it was years ago. Yes, he has been a producer, but that is very, very different. As far as the movie overall, that could be a big make or break, especially in terms of it being at least entertaining.  Hopefully he'll do well.

Elizabeth Banks is listed first because of her popularity (based on searches) on IMDB...likewise for the rest of the cast. That's how IMDB ranks the actors in their cast lists for unreleased movies.