Craig Brewer and Rian Johnson Had Fun Twitter Weekends

Will Leitch
·Editor

We are glad we are not famous: If we were famous, we would constantly be getting in trouble on Twitter. We'd annoy people with our constant Cardinals tweeting -- WORLD SERIES WOOO -- and our references to Mattoon, Ill., and our Woody Allen slash fiction; inevitably we'd end up doing something stupid to end up in US Magazine or something. Fortunately, nobody cares about us. Film directors, though, people care about them. And two of the more entertaining ones on Twitter provided much entertainment this weekend.

The first is Craig Brewer, director of "Footloose," who provided a first-hand, slightly crazed glimpse into the mind of someone whose career rests on the box office ticker passing across his desk every 30 seconds. Over at @mybrewtube, Brewer kept constant tabs on not only the box office numbers for "Footloose," but also what everyone was saying about it. There were some amusing ones. A sampling:

We're not sure that's the most mentally healthy for a director to spend his film's opening weekend, but it was enjoyable to watch.

Another director having some Twitter fun this weekend? "Brick" and "The Brothers Bloom" director Rian Johnson -- whose highly anticipated "Looper" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis and Emily Blunt comes out next September -- had a grand time at @rcjohnso writing an extended short story about a mock feud with "Juno" and "Up In The Air" director Jason Reitman. Johnson had joked last week that he was going to pick a pretend fight with a filmmaker who was more talented than him and didn't Tweet that often, so he could "win." The result was a short story that's actually pretty brilliant [Slashfilm helpfully put the story in the right order for us.) Here's a highlight:

Just before sunrise I found Jason in a half shattered bathtub in a park outside of town. He was eating pork rinds and had obviously been crying and had carved what looked like a Golden Globe out of soap. He was in a dark place. I wasn't much to look at either, going on four days without sleep or unfried food. I started to regret this whole feud thing and I said so. I think I might have made a Vietnam analogy, which in retrospect I'm not proud of. That's when things got intense. Jason got this icy gaze, and I thought I was in for another Clooney story but instead he said this:

"I didn't come to Mexico to make a friend, Johnson. I came to end a feud. For keeps."

For what's it worth: We don't think Jason Reitman is a more talented director than Rian Johnson. And Johnson, clearly, is a better writer.

Director Rian Johnson Tries, Fails to Bury the Hatchet with Jason Reitman in Epic Twitter Tale [/film]