Cool News
Sometimes, The Good Guys Win!!! RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK shot for shot filmmakers' life to be MOVIE!!!
Hey folks, Harry here with news that just completely warms the heart. You see... Ever since Butt-Numb-A-Thon 4, there's been a film that I've held dear to my heart... the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK shot-for-shot film made by a group of Mississippi youths with their Video Camera and shot from Junior High - through High School. Many of you probably remember the review that I wrote about it back last year. Well, their story has gotten even better.
If you remember, the Alamo Drafthouse hosted the screening that brought the 3 best friends back together since they were kids. It sold out every screening they had. People drove from other states to see it, when I wrote my review - for about a month and a half, I spent nearly every single spare moment of my life helping these 3 field press requests, producer inquiries and possible film deals... while also helping them talk to agents about representation. FINALLY they landed the ideal sort of press piece that could make it all come together, with a zillion page article in the current HOLLYWOOD issue of VANITY FAIR. The article is fantastic. Absolutely great! Today - I was interviewed for THE TODAY SHOW regarding these guys and this film (for broadcast on Friday) and helped THE TODAY SHOW track down the elusive (Olsen Twin Stalking) Eli Roth to contribute to the piece about how this film which began shooting over 20 years ago has changed the lives of Chris Stompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb. 3 childhood friends that dreamed about the movies, shot their own, tried to break into film by going to film schools, art schools and countless auditions - only to each realize there's a point where you have to be practical... stop chasing that dream and get real jobs... WELL, now that creation of love, made with extraordinary skill -- and even moreso - that fantastic story of how they made it, the stories and hijinks about setting each other on fire, diving through windshields, being drug under a pick-up with no engine and no breaks that was pushed upto 30 miles per hour with NO SAFETY GEAR and NO ADULTS supervising... well... the story is a classic in the making.
Well, Scott Rudin (Producer of SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER, ADDAMS FAMILY, SCHOOL OF ROCK, WONDER BOYS and SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT) has purchased the life rights to their story for reportedly mid-Six Figures. I'm So Incredibly Happy For These Guys!!! This ultimately has a chance to be turned into an absolutely classic movie about the "Film Geek Generation" Those of us that grew up beneath the light of Spielberg and Lucas - before the cynicism arose, but that pure gosh gee whiz spirit was alive in all of us, well this story has an amazing potential. If you don't believe me, pick up that VANITY FAIR article in the current issue - or read my original story and review of it... I'm sure many of you remember.
Sorry - while typing this up I got so excited, so jazzed that I spent about an hour searching for Chris Strompolos' phone number so I could give him a ring to congratulate him and tonight at Chris' secret location - Chris, Eric and Jayson were toasting glasses and sharing a meal as friends on the grand adventure of their lives, reunited by a passion. Jayson is continuing to work his way through the hundreds of hours of behind the scenes footage crafting a documentary type of thing. Their story has taken a lot of crazy turns, but the guys didn't know the Variety piece was out yet, till I called and sent them the story. Just hearing the excitement in their voices... GUYS - GALS -- I hope all of you get to smile as big as they were and teem with this sort of excitement some day... it's such a rare treat. As I said in the title... sometimes the good guys win!
P.S. - Scott Rudin's deal is with PARAMOUNT - so that's the studio that this will be made by. To answer the Talkback query about legality.
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WoW!!! Well done everyone, hope you make it :)
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To Harry and the threeg uys - this is what makes this site difference, There is no bullshit. Its simply about THE LOVE OF THE MOVIES. None of the other bullshit. And the fact that I can read, and with passion in the words of the reporter, about the success of three ebst mates- it brings a terar to my eye! Well done to you three! You guys keep the rest of us trying!
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I'd still rather see the damn shot-for-shot remake than a movie about the dudes who made it. Not that I'm not happy for them getting paid and shit, but still.
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Thousands of amazing people who've lived and died; performed great miracles and tried to make the world a better place and they waste celluloid on three guys to did a shot for shot remake. Fantastic, between this and Gibson's Passion I'm one bullet away from a brain brulee.
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With a complete CGI cast. The irony of that would be fantastic and it would fit with his so called "experimental direction" he has talked about going in.
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I took my brother, my sister, and a friend. I paid for the tickets and they said they'd get me back. After the end of the movie they wanted to kill me and it was with regret that they turned over the $7 each to me for a one of the most dull film experiences of their lives.
Sure, it's kinda cool, and for a middle school kid, I'm pretty impressed. Its' pretty weird to see a 14 year old's movie edited morely fluidly than most of my stuff and most student films, but that's the weird part. It's not the kid's edits. It's Spielberg's and whoever he cut it with. Still, interesting, but hardly entertaining. -
Feb 26, 2004 4:24:40 AM CST
How does this work legally? And not to be a killjoy, but why do
by big dumb ape
Harry says Scott Rudin bought the rights to make a movie -- NOT George Lucas or Steven Speilberg. So how does that work in terms of doing a "bio" and then actually showing them onscreen making their version of RAIDERS without stepping on the copyright toes OF Lucas & Spielberg & Paramount and THEIR intellectual property to begin with? That is, either incorporating footage from their original production into this or even updating it and restaging "how" things were done WITHOUT Lucas' or Spielberg's or Paramount's permission? On the flip side, Rudin has done stuff for Paramount, so maybe they ARE the ultimate studio to release this, to clear that hurdle. And perhaps GL and SS have no problem with a "bio" film on the kids versus letting the actual film be released commercially. When I first read Harry's headline, I thought THAT was what happened -- that some deal was brokered with GL & SS (which really didn't make much sense since the INDY box set is just out.) On the one hand, this COULD be a geek funny movie IF handled right -- that is, sort of a new ED WOOD movie that is a tribute to the whacked spirit of what some people will do to make a movie, ANY movie. On the flip side, while I admire the kids determination and salute their youthful exhuberance, in the end they DID spend all that time doing a shot-for-shot remake when (ideally) if they were so interested in film, I still don't get why they DIDN'T use all that creative energy and innocent gung-ho spirit to make their OWN original Indy film. Seems to me, even as a kid, THAT would have been more fun...and more constructive of their time and filmmaking ambitions. I mean, no offense to them, tipping my hat to them over their efforts and all, in the end all they did do was make a xerox copy. So what, if I make a copy of STAR WARS this weekend shot-for-shot using toys or sock puppets or whatever and essentially just copy Lucas' story and his direction, right down to staging the exact same shots, I can get a 6 figure advance and a bio film based on my film loving geekiness? Hey, fine by me -- I could use the dough.
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Why is the news on Rodriguez' Sin City movie not on your site, Knowles?
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Always great to hear about younger film makers busting their ass to do what they love. Me and some friends just picked up Best Picture at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Teen Section. You can check out clips from it at www.CRANEFILMS.com
E-mail me @ Brady@cranefilms.com to let me know what you think.
Cant wait to see what the next generation has to show. -
Feb 26, 2004 4:42:02 AM CST
So will this shot-for-shot remake ever come out on DVD?
by godoffireinhell
That's the real question here.
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Can't you let these guys have their moment in the sun? Shit man, I'm sorry that people crap in your cereal on a daily bases, but get over it. Happy for you 3, good job guys...
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Truly the best film ever made in the world....p.s what happend to Moonwatcher's Star Wars film..?
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This is news? I'm supposed to care about these jerkoffs who didn't bother to make an original film, but instead a boring, low budget remake of a 25 year+ old movie? I don't give a cats ass. Way to reinforce the idea of creativety in tommorow's filmmakers.
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...are the Raiders remake, and the Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special short (http://www.comics2film.com/StoryFrame.php?f_id=1170) But we likely won't see either released. What the bloody hell gives?!
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Feb 26, 2004 6:09:48 AM CST
Re: Eternal's "Can't you let these guys have their moment in the
by commando cody
Let them have their moment? Well...maybe. But only maybe. You know, ever since Harry first brought this story to light, I've been torn emotionally. Yes, there was a part of me that rooted for the kids, the underdog. You have 3 teen geeks who love film so much they run off and do their version of RAIDERS shot for shot. But at the same time, Big Dumb Ape above -- who me thinks is not so dumb at all -- PERFECTLY nailed it for me in the second half of his post. He's dead on right. If the Rudin film is approached ala ED WOOD (as he mentioned) and it's done up as a comedic tribute to the wacky world of filmmaking it could make for a funny flick, especially if it shows kids trying to use their teen-limited resources to stage such low budget silliness thinking (ala Ed Wood) that they're making high art. In fact, when you REALLY think about it, the one director in all the world who would be sooooo hilariously perfect to make this movie WOULD be Spielberg himself given all the elements (kids trying to be filmmakers, thus mirroring his own teen past...the whole movie within a movie being a tip of the hat to his own days shooting RAIDERS.) Boy, talk about something that could be a hysterically fun project for Speilberg to shoot. Now THAT could make for one hilarious movie. BUT...and yes, here comes the but...I have to say I agree with others, too, over this whole thing. That is, I salute the kids for what they did, but how is xerox copying a film shot for shot showing WHAT they can do? Like others have questioned, I just never got why these kids didn't dedicate all that juice into making THEIR OWN MOVIE. Since making the Raiders clone have they done anything else? I mean, other than perhaps try to get it shown to make money or go on to film school? Are they turning out to be talented OR did they do some college follow-up film that IS Ed Wood quality bad? I don't know...maybe that would be the fun of such a bio film, assuming the now-aged teens ARE willing to be self-mocked a bit. But I still somewhat agree with the OTHER side of the argument. What the kids did was fun, but it's STILL a copy. Going back to Eternals comment that people are "fucking haters" for putting them down, I disagree. It's just that -- and I say this as someone who went to film school and is now out here in Hollywood himself -- there are so many EQUALLY worthy stories of people of ALL ages who struggled to make a film or to get their ORIGINAL vision in the can. And in some ways, the "artist" in me simply salutes THOSE people a bit more because like the kids they were ALSO driven to make a movie...but they did it uniquely. They didn't just copy something. I know that sounds like a put down, and it's not meant to be overly harsh. But in the end, that IS what these kids made. A geeky copy. And I just wish they hadn't. I just wish they'd made their OWN Indy film to show their youthful eagerness. My gut would just salute them a bit more...and I think others feel the same way. Hell, I certainly think others will feel that way if these kids pick up 600 grand as an option for copying someone else's work, and get rich off that...meanwhile other equally wacky filmmakers who put it all on the line will get nothing, no bio about them, and they'll still be going by the wayside and getting no recognition for having tried to pursue an actual ORIGINAL vision.
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DRUG??? I think the word you wanted is dragged you sorry excuse for a writer. Sweet baby Jesus and the orphans, how can you make a living doing this?
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Feb 26, 2004 8:50:38 AM CST
Didn't everybody criticize Van Sant when he did the same thing?
by chrth
I love how the attention span on this site is roughly ten minutes.
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of teen wolf too. THINK about it. To all nay sayers out there: I don't think it's such a big deal that they made this flick as youngsters, most wannabe filmmakers discover their passion early on, and emulate the flicks they've seen in order to capture what was magic about it. Doesn't usually work as a quality film, but the dream of filmmaking can be more important for young filmmakers than their actual product. Good luck, everyone!
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Somehow I'm thinking it would be better than the original, but only if they remembed to use LIGHTS so half the movie isn't TOTALLY IN THE DARKNESS.
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Yes, let's make a movie encouraging kids to try dangerous stunts with no safety equipment and no supervision as they attempt to shoot a classic film all over again. That's a great idea - maybe some of the people who are predisposed to making shot-for-shot remakes will be eliminated by the dangerous stunts, and we'll end up with less bullshit like the Psycho shot-for-shot remake.
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a real story for kids to dream about the possibilities. to the guy/girl who says that we shouldn't show kids on film doing dangerous stuff: you label your socks, don't you? or when you take a phone message you probably write the precise time down to the second. relax. and how can you even compare this to the psycho remake. three teenage kids following a dream vs a professional hollywood vehicle aimed at trying to make a quick buck on the revival in horror flicks. i think the idea of the master manipulator directing this could be a great post modern idea though... you are all tuna dates.
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Feb 26, 2004 11:15:46 AM CST
They already did this...check out American Movie, and then see H
by sith witch
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I was thinking about that big child who did a shot for shot remake of Psycho but...
Listen!
Our shot for shot remake of Columbine (by some German kids, a few years ago) was far more impressive... -
I'm so excited! I loved their story the first time I read it here and cursed the east coast because I was too far away to see their creation.
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All you jackasses who had nothing but upturned noses and holier than thou attitudes about these kids, I got some crow for you to munch on. Congratulations, nerd kings!
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Feb 26, 2004 12:37:56 PM CST
If these guys were REALLY old-school cinema fans they'd be posti
by trav mcgee
I second the emotion: Fucking haters, go screw. Congratulations, young filmmakers! If you get Darabont for the script, don't let George see it.
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Feb 26, 2004 1:15:19 PM CST
I'm working on a shot-for-shot remake of "Blowjob Adventures Of
by rev_skarekroe
I'm now casting if any of you ladies out there would like to try out for a part...
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commandy cody makes an interesting point. spielberg directing this film? hilarious. but on the other hand i`m not sure if at the current state of his life (as an artist) he`d be able to pull of a project like this. aaand maybe it`s the best if he has NOTHING to do with it because he`s probably linked too close to that material. i`m just soooooo happy for these guys!!!!!!!! wooooooow. and i like the aspect that this film would be some kind of a memorial for the inspiration lucas and spielberg "spread". THIS IS FANTASTIC. and you couldn
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Feb 26, 2004 2:08:20 PM CST
Shot for Shot remake of the remake... In it the movie gets bast
by randfilms
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Tsk tsk tsk. If you ask me (and many others) these 3 guys were ultra-creative. Sure, it wasn't their story or cinematography, but A)These guys were in MIDDLE SCHOOL, and B)They had to be creative in how they could do it with what little tools they had at their disposal. I tell you what. You make a film like that, taking years of hard work, and see what you're saying when you read a post like the one you wrote.
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Feb 26, 2004 2:16:38 PM CST
This IS cool news. A little self-congratulatory, yeah, but still
by fatboy_roberts
This is cool news. Me and my girl read the Vanity Fair article, and she's been bugging me to download it or talk to people online and get a copy. I've had to tell her it's not available. Thought it would have been the greatest easter egg ever if it was on the Indy Jones box set, but that didn't happen, either. So now that Rudin is going to make a movie of this thing, chances are the film itself will be on the DVD release. It's a great COMING OF AGE story, especially if you follow the Vanity Fair story. It's less about the remake, and more about how they grew up while shooting it. That's very EASILY a movie. I don't know so much about Harry constantly providing links to himself and how he broke the story--I know he played his part, but I dont' remember the Vanity Fair article going into too much depth about AICN's role. Eli Roth's, yeah. I dunno. Just kinda rubbed me wrong. But it's not like Harry didn't play his part, and it's not like it's not his site, so it's understandable. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this, and you bitter pill bitchmade motherfuckers whining--blah. It's blatant jealousy: "I did this! I made this movie and that movie, I don't have a movie made about me. They shouldn't either!" wah wah wah. Okay, so they didn't make a movie about you. Big deal. No one's forcing you to watch this one. But the story is interesting enough to me to make me want to check this out already.
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Nice to hear about stories like this. Way to go, guys.
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Feb 26, 2004 2:48:34 PM CST
BREAKING NEWS! Hulk Hogan to Play Belloq in the Shot-For-Shot Re
by nubthesquirrel
"We're merely passing through history. This, ths IS history Brother!"
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Hey, he did a shot for shot remake of a far superior movie, so his life should be great material for a feature length movie, right?
This is the worst idea. -
I agree with both sides to this story, but I'm affraid I lean to the why are they getting so much press side of things. The thing is that there are millions of kids that are geeky film lovers, I think any of us that come to this site are...but in all honesty I've seen work, by other kids, that displays an equal amount of love for film and such but with much more creativity behind it...I thought it was interesting someone who mention speilberg making the film about these guys as a connection to his past. Cause speilberg as we all know made films as a kid, but he made original work, original stories, original direction, editing, script writing, etc...and I think that kind of creativity should be honored and rewarded. If we honor this kind of copy cat business, the next generation of film makers will be more obsessed with remakes then the current one, and thats a scary thought. I too commend their work, effort, love for film. But if I was to choose between giving a prize to a 13 year old, I would give it to one of the thousands of kids that followed their own dreams, instead of copying someone elses.
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Feb 26, 2004 3:21:31 PM CST
My friends and I are working on a shot for shot remake of THE PH
by reedster9898
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Feb 26, 2004 3:22:21 PM CST
Dawson's Creek: The Move without Katie Holmes SPIELBERGIAN!
by darksider
A shot by shot remake of a Spielburg film. Y A W N. Safe Hollywood bullshit with Nazi bashing. And this gets recognized? "How did you get into the business?" "I did a shot by shot remake of a SPIELBERG picture!" Yeah, okay.
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Feb 26, 2004 4:06:11 PM CST
"only to each realize there's a point where you have to be pract
by atticus finch
Maybe Harry should heed his own words, both he and Moriarty.
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Point taken... But original vision or not. I'm 99.9 percent sure that these kids started out this project, not with, "Dude if Spielberg and Lucas see this, and they like it, we could get mad loot." in mind, but rather, "Dude I love that fucking Raiders Movie, let's make ours." And instead of just playing around with the idea of it, or acting out the scenes in their rooms and then just laughing about it. They went out, and painstakingly did a shot by shot comparison. That's love baby. I think the fact that they're getting something from this, means that others recognize the love. As a filmmaker myself. I know the gripes of working on an original project, and then these guys come out of nowhere and do something that has already been done before. My concept, as great as it might be, not as welcomed as the idea of 3 guys, an Ark, and some video tape. But I can't feel resentment to these guys. That's just not cool. I'm proud of them, cause whether or not they did a project based on something that's been done before. They did it. They took the time and effort to do it. And that, at the very least is commendable. And if the film is at all good, then more power to them. And if this is the absolute zenith of their careers, then so be it. They did one cool 'geeky' thing. Most of us can't say that. Does it make them filmmakers? In my eyes, no. Does it make them fans of the ideas that they based the project on? Yes.
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... to whomever "fixed" this site. I've actually been able to read and post without logging on in the wee hours of the morning. More bandwith = happy users.
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But now it's "cool." How gay.
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Feb 26, 2004 7:10:43 PM CST
I GOT IT, a shot for shot remake of Psycho, muahahaha, i'll be r
by archduke_chocula
....the fuck are you looking at?
anyways all jokes aside, good for them -
Aw come on, why are you bashing these guys for doing something non-original?? I was a drama-geek in high school, and we were all doing the umpteenth rehash of Broadway musicals and plays. NOBODY did original plays, it was all high school versions -- and it was done for fun and the love of it. To me, this is the same thing -- yet on a much grander scale. I too have struggled in the film biz for over a decade -- yet I don't begrudge these guys this unexpected success. If you read the Vanity Fair article, this was a quixotic middle school homage to an impossibly difficult film to do for nothing. Yet they did it. They believed in it. They were basically playing an older version of Cowboys & Indians, or Army Men, or whatever you and your boyhood buds played out in backyards. And they didn't ship this off to agents or famous directors. It was for them, their friends -- and the success that's hit them has been a surprise. So let's all stop with the sour grapes and be happy that some film fans got a lucky break. I LOVED the Vanity Fair story, and the chutzpah these guys had. It reminds me of my own now-jaded teenage dreams, when I thought anything was possible and no one was gonna stop me. And reading that article brought that feeling back to this middle-aged dude's heart. Congrats, guys. And Bravo, Harry, for nudging them into the spotlight. Can't wait to see the film...
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Feb 26, 2004 10:27:20 PM CST
More respect for these kids and their Super 8mm work: http://www
by declan_swartz
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fucking goddam elitist. Who do i have to blow to get a fucking movie deal?
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Feb 27, 2004 1:19:36 AM CST
I've made films my whole life. I've even copied films, but alway
by theginger twit
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Scott Rudin's a professional ass clown of a producer and one of the most personally torturous people working in Hollywood. He may pay six figures for the rights to this feel-good story but it's common knowledge he treats assistants and interns at his offices like dirt abd belittles people every chance he gets and I take no happiness in the fact that he made the lives of three people happy after sabotaging and backstabbing about a billion other people in the business. I have no personal animus for the guy but a spade's a spade and an asshole's an asshole. And Rudin is the Mother of All Assholes, narcissitic and petty.
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Scott Rudin's a professional ass clown of a producer and one of the most personally torturous people working in Hollywood. He may pay six figures for the rights to this feel-good story but it's common knowledge he treats assistants and interns at his offices like dirt abd belittles people every chance he gets and I take no happiness in the fact that he made the lives of three people happy after sabotaging and backstabbing about a billion other people in the business. I have no personal animus for the guy but a spade's a spade and an asshole's an asshole. And Rudin is the Mother of All Assholes, narcissitic and petty.
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Who gives a shit about these guys? What about the zillions of people who made ORIGINAL movies when they were teenagers. This is an example of our culture eating itself, starting with the asshole and working its way up.
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Feb 27, 2004 12:07:02 PM CST
I cant believe some of these fucking assholes trashing these guy
by manaqua
They made this film in MIDDLE SCHOOL as a bunch of KIDS and had the fortitude and determination to see it through to completion. I think this is one of the coolest stories i've ever heard and i'm dying to see this film. The effort alone is remarkable. So fuck you motherfuckers that are trying to cap on them for not being 'original' or whatever your damn problem is. Pull the fucking crooked stick out of your ass and stop spewing your bile you ignorant bastard haters. Buncha fuckin talk back postin punks. M
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..this is like the third or fourth talkback he's fucking stretched with his repitive, pretentious, who-gives-a-fuck shit. The fucking dickhead..it's hard enough to read your reviews without the fucking talkbacks having to be fucking scrolled right across, just so this shitbag can make some obscure point. You can fucking ban him for all I care. As to the subject: Eh, I could give a shit. If I do a great impersonation of Sir Llawrence Olivier, does that allow me to be hailed as the world's greatest actor? They shoulda wrote their own story.
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...so these guys made a movie about a movie, and now someone's going to make a movie about that. I guess all we need is a "making of" segment on the eventual DVD to set a new circular reference record.
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Feb 27, 2004 6:54:05 PM CST
This sounds cool...but I'd rather just sit and watch their remak
by minderbinder
Oh if only they'd release it somehow...I assume it's not online anywhere? So anyone else think their remake is likely more entertaining than Temple of Doom AND Last Crusade?
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My computer isn't hooked up to a 64" widescreen. Fix this shit!
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You are an assclown. Quit stretching the talkback.
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Congratulations on the success on your film!
I enjoyed seeing it at the Drafthouse last May and had fun hanging out with you all (I drove in with Chris' sister).
The article in Variety simply rocked, and then seeing you guys on the Late, Late show was too cool beyond words.
Way to go, and much success!
Amy
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And my GOD did Harry get fatter?
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