Gleaming the Cube

Been a while since I've watched The Player, but I adored it back when. A little eulogy for Robert Altman, by Michael Tolkin. I find these stories fascinating.

Of course, Tolkin's first (produced) screenplay was a little gem called "Gleaming the Cube". From the IMDB message boards:

"It means the place where you skate when you let go. Just skating by your self in total zen."

"I think it means stepping up, rising above yourself and doing the impossible. The point is that you should not be able to skate a cube. Cubes have flat sides and 90 degree angles. So when you are totally in the zone, zen like, you can do the impossible and skate anything including a cube. Likewise, this "punk" kid shouldn't be able to step up and push toward his goal of finding out the truth about his brother. Everyone looked at him like he was a waste of time and life, but he rose above it all and, doing the impossible, he solved the case of his brothers murder."

"The phrase used as the title of this movie did not exist in skateboard vocabulary.

"I did, however, read about the origin of the title, in an article by the great skateboard magazine editor Dave Carnie.

"Apparently the son of one of the movie's producers was an avid skateboarder. At some point, the son was joking around, making up ridiculous phrases to describe his skating to friends. At one point he said 'Yeah, I was really gleaming the cube.' It was a nonsense expression, meant as a joke.

"However, the producer overheard the conversation and took the phrase to be a real skateboarding term. Somehow, the phase got worked into the project and made it all the way to release."