Bad News All Around
Yeggh. Where to begin?
RODRIGUEZ LEAVES "MARS"
I pick... here.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=4795
That's Comingsoon.net passing on the buzz from IGN that Paramount and Robert Rodriguez are unable to work out their pickle over his resignation from the DGA and, thus, that he is no longer the director of "A Princess of Mars."
Phooey.
This issue has been, from the beginning, a butting of hard-heads pure and simple. Rodriguez is mad that the DGA wouldn't let him call Frank Miller the co-director of "Sin City," so he won't re-sign even though Paramount only works with Guild directors. Of the three involved parties, no one would budge; and now they've all lost: Paramount has lost the chance to have Rodriguez's talent guiding their hoped-for tentpole-franchise, Rodriguez has lost the chance to direct one of the most unique film properties now on the market, the DGA has lost Rodriguez membership dues. Depressing as it may be, I still have the hardest time sympathizing with Rodriguez in this: The DGA didn't "ban" him from membership, he voluntarily refuses to re-sign because he's miffed that they wouldn't give him a waver on the "Sin City" matter. He wasn't being penalized by the Guild, at least is my understanding, to any extent, so unless there's a level to this thats not being reported he basically took HIMSELF out of the project. Pity.
The film will probably still get MADE, of course, though it's a sure bet that Rodriguez will take all or most of his self-done pre-production work with him. Memo to Paramount: The ball is in you're court, now. You've got a big advantage in that the fanbase of this project has been waiting so long they WANT to like it and be optimistic. Therefore, it falls on you to KEEP USING the same good judgement that got Rodriguez hired in the first place. Don't hand this off to a Paul W.S. Anderson-style "safe" director, find someone else who really GETS this stuff. (Kind of a shame that Steven Sommers is already engaged on the similar "Flash Gordon," eh?)
The last peice of this that remains unresolved is the producer-level involvement of Aint-It-Cool guru Harry Knowles, who was on-hand as the film's "voice of the fandom" source-material expert AND as a pal of Rodriguez. Is he staying on? As of yet, we don't know.
THE SHADOW FALLS
Perhaps, in light of Mr. Rodriguez recent adventure coming to it's sad end, it's time to once again reflect on the sad tale of the LAST major director of geek cinema classics to get mad enough at the DGA to up and quit permanently. What was that name again?
Just when the Geek Community thinks it doesn't have any respect for George Lucas LEFT to lose, something like THIS comes along...
http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=4330
That's JoBlo with a look at an image that originally appeared as part of a larger article on AICN. If you don't wish to click, let me save you the trouble: It's the "Jedi Ghosts" scene from the end of "Return of The Jedi" (Luke sees Yoda, Obi-Wan and a human-again Anakin as spirits) only actor Sebastian Shaw (Anakin) has been replaced by the ever-more Tiger Beat-ish visage of Hayden Christensen, the "new" Anakin of the prequels.
Apparently, this is the real deal. And, if not, the concept at least has been on the list of likely-changes to be made by Lucas to the Original Trilogy special editions soon to hit DVD.
I could write ten pages easily on what a travesty this is, on how Lucas continues to destroy his own work in a fit of raw ego in his vain quest to re-write history. He'll do anything he can to perpetuate the lie (which he now seems to truly believe himself) that the perverse parody he has made Star Wars into was always "the way it was going to be."
Better men than me have said it, but it bears repeating: If you consider yourself any kind of lover of film and film history, here is one of those rare opportunities to prove it: DON'T BUY THESE DVDS. Seriously. Just don't do it. Rent `em. Borrow `em. Wait for HBO. I know, we ALL want to see Star Wars on DVD... but this isn't "Star Wars," it's an ever-more-warped, dilluted shadow of "Star Wars."
There's a great old episode of "The Cosby Show" that, for some reason, this reminded me of. In the ep, Cliff is trying to re-create a Carribean restaurant he and his wife dined at long ago as an anniversary gift. To do this, he has hired the very chef that cooked the original food and asked him to ply his trade again. The catch: The chef informs Cliff he doesn't "do" that anymore, he's "moved ahead" to new dishes more along the lines of what he always wanted to prepare. The joke is that the "daring" new elements the chef is so obsessed with are terrible ideas, like adding Rasberry tofu to Carribean soup. Sound familiar?
FIRST he "replaced" the original films with sanitized, bastardized "Special Editions." THEN he sullied the legacy of his own work to further unimaginable depths with the truly abysmal Prequels. NOW, as Episode III nears, he moves lower once again: Retooling the originals (or whats LEFT of them) to "fit" with the Prequels.
Folks, at what point is enough enough? "Return of The Jedi" is the least of the original trilogy, yes, but even then it's still a classic of scifi/fantasy filmmaking. To force that film to become "subserviant" to peices of sub-poor cinematic trash like the Prequels is to commit an OBSCENITY.
I ain't buying these DVDs. Who's with me?
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