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Bukowski author7/14/2023 ![]() ![]() “I found out that Hollywood is more crooked, dumber, crueler, stupider than all the books I’ve read about it.”īukowski was an author lucky enough to be famous in his own time – which meant he could hang out with famous people like Sean Penn and receive free tickets to see U2 from Bono himself. He even wrote a book called Hollywood, about his experience working on Barfly. Not that Bukowski would be rolling in his grave at all this he knows Tinseltown all too well. ![]() Now Josh Peck (the tubby one from Drake & Josh!) is playing the author in James Franco’s upcoming biopic, Bukowski. Two decades later, Matt Dillon, another erstwhile marquee heartthrob, had a crack at playing Chinaski. No matter how much the actor hunched and grunted as Chinaski, he could never quite pull off those heavy-set features and drunken mannerisms Rourke was too smooth, his gestures too exaggerated. In the 1987 film Barfly, Mickey Rourke played Bukowski’s literary alter ego Henry Chinaski, which in retrospect is quite strange, because at that time Rourke still had his good looks and charming Hollywood smile. IN FILM HE’S BEEN PLAYED BY MATT DILLON, MICKEY ROURKE & OTHERS – BUT TO HIM HOLLYWOOD IS DUMB AND CRUEL I don’t like their heads, I don’t like their faces, I don’t like their feet, I don’t like their conversations, I don’t like their hairdos, I don’t like their automobiles.” Two miles is great, two thousand miles is beautiful. “Even though I write about the human race, the further away from them the better I feel. In comparison, Bukowski was more outgoing he was candid in interviews, but he did in so many words admit to being a misanthrope. ![]() Salinger was a famous recluse, while both Cormac McCarthy and Thomas Pynchon shun interviews and flee the spotlight – the latter’s very existence is only confirmed by a handful of photos. There’s an enduring cliché about writers being anti-social. So to celebrate the author’s birthday, here are a few things you might not know about Charles Bukowski. But of course, all these things I mention you’ve probably heard a thousand times before you know about his penchant for booze. It offends, it enlightens, it entertains. His writing in novels like Post Office and Women is plain and crisp – no cryptic metaphors, no bullshit. Hailed as ‘a laureate of American lowlife’, Bukowski wrote about the things he knew well: downtrodden characters, the daily drudgery of shitty jobs, failed relationships, and booze – especially booze. I'm the best form of entertainment I have.This Sunday marks what would have been Charles Bukowski’s 95th birthday. Sorry for all the millions, but I've never been lonely. I hid in bars, because I didn't want to hide in factories. I've never been bothered with the need to rush out into the night. Stupid people mingling with stupid people. You know the typical crowd, "Wow, it's Friday night, what are you going to do? Just sit there?" Well, yeah. I'll quote Ibsen, "The strongest men are the most alone." I've never thought, "Well, some beautiful blonde will come in here and give me a fuck-job, rub my balls, and I'll feel good." No, that won't help. It's being at a party, or at a stadium full of people cheering for something, that I might feel loneliness. In other words, loneliness is something I've never been bothered with because I've always had this terrible itch for solitude. I've felt awful - awful beyond all - but I never felt that one other person could enter that room and cure what was bothering me.or that any number of people could enter that room. I've been in a room - I've felt suicidal. ![]()
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