So, in the grand tradition of putting too much on my plate, I'm adding on a collaborative timeline to my current crop of creative efforts. In this case, the main concept of the timeline is to go through the 20+ years of bad, bad, so very bad films based on video games and try to see if we can turn it around, destroy the long-held pop culture truism that movies based on video games are box office poison, critical punching bags, and career suicide.
Now, for the basic guidelines for contributing. Not hard rules, just stuff to keep in mind.
Thanks to @Nivek for his "Nintendo/Disney Team-Up" thread for giving me the push to go through with this bad boy. Because what could be a more appropriate first topic for us to knock the Dominos of Fate over than...
Yep. This movie. The one that started the curse. And looking on its history... well, it's also a crying shame the movie we didn't get. I'm actually skimming through the Parker/Jennewein script (which can be found here: http://www.smbmovie.com/SMBArchive/preproduction/script.htm) and it's not bad.
And if these dates are right, this movie spent over a year in writing, just going from script to script. Really, the POD for this is easy enough: Harold Ramis accepts the job of directing the film.
It's not a bad situation. Ramis is a talented comedy writer and director and while the fantasy elements are a bit off-field (which is why I'd be fine with bringing in Rob Reiner as a possible replacement for Ramis)
Right now, the big issue I wanna talk with you guys is the casting. Here's who I've got that we can carry over from the OTL film.
Mario - Bob Hoskins
Luigi - John Leguizamo
Daisy - Samantha Mathis (renamed from Hildy in the original script at Nintendo's request)
Big Eddie - Gianni Russo (played Anthony Scapelli in the OTL film and it's a similar role of a human antagonist to Mario)
Woltan the Wizard/King Woltan - Lance Henriksen (Henriksen played King Reznor in the OTL film)
Beedleman - (Beedleman is basically proto-Kamek, Bower's wizard and right-hand man)
Toad - (Mojo Nixon was picked because they wanted a musician as Toad and their first pick was Tom Waits. No, seriously)
Mugger - (Described as Koopa's #1 Trooper)
The Hag/Pauline - Fiona Shaw (She wasn't Pauline in the script, I just figured it'd make a cute nod to Donkey Kong)
Yoshi/Junior - Frank Welker (Welker will probably provide voices for a lot of the non-human cast)
Koopa/Boswer - Dennis Hopper
So, let's see about filling the gaps and maybe shuffling out some bad picks, though I assume the trio of Hoskins/Leguizamo/Mathis are gonna stay on this one and maybe Dennis Hopper as Koopa.
Now, for the basic guidelines for contributing. Not hard rules, just stuff to keep in mind.
- We're mainly gonna be focusing on the live-action films as with a few exceptions, animated films based on video games tend to be pretty good (though Spirits Within is under consideration for retooling)
- Apart from the mainline films, anything is free game as far as butterflies go. As long as nothing contradicts, we'll keep it canon.
- Mainline films will be discussed at length in comparison to anything else. This can be from the story, casting, director and release date. I wanna make sure that we got everything locked as far as salvaging a film goes.
- Not every video game movie is gonna be saved. Sometimes a property just can't carry a feature film and while we might be able to keep them from being outright bombs, every video game movie being a blockbuster smash hit would just sink into wank territory.
- While the main focus is the film industry, as you can imagine, this can have effects on the gaming industry as well.
- Have fun!
Thanks to @Nivek for his "Nintendo/Disney Team-Up" thread for giving me the push to go through with this bad boy. Because what could be a more appropriate first topic for us to knock the Dominos of Fate over than...
Super Mario Bros.
Yep. This movie. The one that started the curse. And looking on its history... well, it's also a crying shame the movie we didn't get. I'm actually skimming through the Parker/Jennewein script (which can be found here: http://www.smbmovie.com/SMBArchive/preproduction/script.htm) and it's not bad.
And if these dates are right, this movie spent over a year in writing, just going from script to script. Really, the POD for this is easy enough: Harold Ramis accepts the job of directing the film.
It's not a bad situation. Ramis is a talented comedy writer and director and while the fantasy elements are a bit off-field (which is why I'd be fine with bringing in Rob Reiner as a possible replacement for Ramis)
Right now, the big issue I wanna talk with you guys is the casting. Here's who I've got that we can carry over from the OTL film.
Mario - Bob Hoskins
Luigi - John Leguizamo
Daisy - Samantha Mathis (renamed from Hildy in the original script at Nintendo's request)
Big Eddie - Gianni Russo (played Anthony Scapelli in the OTL film and it's a similar role of a human antagonist to Mario)
Woltan the Wizard/King Woltan - Lance Henriksen (Henriksen played King Reznor in the OTL film)
Beedleman - (Beedleman is basically proto-Kamek, Bower's wizard and right-hand man)
Toad - (Mojo Nixon was picked because they wanted a musician as Toad and their first pick was Tom Waits. No, seriously)
Mugger - (Described as Koopa's #1 Trooper)
The Hag/Pauline - Fiona Shaw (She wasn't Pauline in the script, I just figured it'd make a cute nod to Donkey Kong)
Yoshi/Junior - Frank Welker (Welker will probably provide voices for a lot of the non-human cast)
Koopa/Boswer - Dennis Hopper
So, let's see about filling the gaps and maybe shuffling out some bad picks, though I assume the trio of Hoskins/Leguizamo/Mathis are gonna stay on this one and maybe Dennis Hopper as Koopa.
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