Many
years ago, I was driving down Santa Monica Blvd late at night and
ahead of me in Century City was a new building that created a
fabulous National Socialist light sculpture on top of one of the new
buildings that seemed to extend the building into the sky at each
corner.
It
looked fabulous and yet I never saw it again.
Then
I heard it was for the movie Die Hard (1988) which I had never
seen.
So
I downloaded this seminal and important film and I still did not see
what I saw that night.
Oh
the building was there just fine. And there were even clearly lights
on the top of the building for certain important scenes near the end.
But that transcendent and inspiring architectural idea that I had
seen and been so impressed by was not there. It did not exist. It
was an artifact, no doubt, of shooting some of the movie at night and
the atmospheric conditions and not intended by the filmmakers, or the
architects, at all.
Yes,
one more time, I had given Los Angeles and Hollywood, each in their
own way, too much credit. This building was and is intended for
studio executives, lawyers and accountants. No inspirational pillars
of light needed here. No striking architectural innovation.
Nothing controversial at all. Just a well-made building for rich
people and former presidents.
Once
again, Los Angeles is true to its values.
Die
Hard (1988) on IMDB
No comments:
Post a Comment