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Trouble for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE? Studio recuts? Taymor leaving? Lordamercy!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. If you're like me, then you'll have really dug the ACROSS THE UNIVERSE trailer that hit the net a couple months back. I'm a big Beatles fan (who isn't?) and the trailer just made me smile.
What made me turn that smile upsidedown was reading in the trades this morning that Joe Roth apparently recut the film without telling director Julie Taymor. Roth is producer on the film, but has also directed such gems as CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS and AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS... although I actually don't hate AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS... just don't feel much of anything about it.
Why the recuts? Well, the movie was originally due out in September of '06, so I'm sure that plays a part, but I always have to shake my head when I hear about things like this. There are some filmmakers you hire realizing you're getting the whole package, going all the way to the river with 'em. It's like when Terry Gilliam gets butt-fucked... Did you not know you hired Terry Gilliam to make a movie? Let him make his movie!
I don't want to compare Taymor to Gilliam. She hasn't earned it yet, but she's made some really quality films and what Roth did to her was really shitty.
Normally I'd want to support the filmmaker and blame the studio, but sometimes the studio is right. Look at DONNIE DARKO director's cut vs. theatrical cut. But here I'm finding it difficult to see the studio's side of things. The test screening reviews we got were very positive. They were from a while back, so I'm assuming it was Taymor's work in progress that they saw...
Now, Taymor's threatening to take her name off the film. Yikes. Let's hope a decent film somehow pops out of these two fighting parents.
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seriously.
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to the ever prolific Alan Smithee.
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was also directed by taymor. really, go out and rent it
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ROTH SCREENED HIS VERSION. So it's quiet possible that the reviews you got were of the "bastardized" cut.
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Gonna have to find the trailer now, as I have no idea what this film is about :(
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last week. I'm sorry Harry, we were both wrong.
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One, I'm not Harry. heh. So double wrong... and I said the reviews we ran were Taymor's cut. I think sonic was the wrongest wronger in this situation. Keep tabs, though. I'm sure I'll be head of the pack of wrongers before the week's out.
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You gotta eat!
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so say we all
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simply because it sported a bitchin poster. A blue faced Anthony Hopkins. Fortunately the film was good as well and looked fan fucking tastic.
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...that the director's cut of Darko was garbage.
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He's just not that funny. Nah, just fuckin with you, I love that movie. Frida was a mixed bag and I'm not sure about this one, but Titus is god damn perfect.
Now, I'm not really familiar enough with the stuff to say this, but I think somebody could argue that Taymor HAS earned the right to be compared to Gilliam through all those operas and shit she's done over the years. She's probaly done alot more of those than Gilliam has done movies, plus the three movies and some weird short Edgar Alan Poe film with puppets and little people (not available on video).
Go to a bookstore and find the coffee table book about her, and read the introduction. It will blow your fuckin mind. At 16 she graduated high school early and moved to Paris to study mime. At 21 she went to Indonesia where she didn't know the language but became a choreographer, then she went to Japan to be an apprentice to a master puppeteer. In Bali she climbed an active volcano and injured her leg. Then she camped out in the woods and witnessed a moonlight war dance ritual that's only supposed to be witnessed by the gods. I mean the shit just gets crazier and crazier. She lived in a hotel that was never opened for business because Coca-Cola had built it on a sacred cremation ground. She let a Vietnam vet operate on her volcano wound without anesthesia. She saw a bull escape a sacrifice ritual and run through the side of a house. She won six Tony awards.
I am afraid of Julie Taymor, but I will watch any movie she directs, even one that looks this corny. Quint's right, you don't hire Julie Taymor if you don't want a Julie Taymor movie. -
...they gave it away free with the Sunday Times (in the UK).
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There are some which are just bad and need reworking, Donnie Darko's directors cut was bad.. there are some which were shortened for screening purposes like Aliens or those hobbit movies, then there's the tragedies, the others that were robbed of a chance at making a far better film.. like PayBack or Superman 2 (I know it seems like I have a hard on for Donner, but if you saw those two movies as opposed to the originals.. you would too)... then there are others that I'm still unsure of, like the Daredevil directors cut... which in my opinion wasn't too bad, but really no better or worse than the original, or the Exorcist prequel(s) I personally like the schrader one better, but to compare the two films is silly, it's like DUNE for example.. David Lynch's cut needed Cliff Notes, which is probably why the studio edited the crap out of it, but then they added the special effects stuff that wasn't in the book to compete with the likes of star wars movies and keep the audience's interest.. and it all went to hell from there... but even the 'other' cut was extremely shakey there was the 'afterschool special' style prelude the whole voiceover, the whole thing with the thing and the thing.. it was unfilmable in that, the two creative elements wanted different things, David Lynch's take (and the fundamental flaw) was that it should be treated like the book, focusing on political and governmental conflict, about the epic movement of history, and David Lynch ultimately had to make an action film out of it because that's what sells movie tickets.. poor bugger, no wonder Ridley Scott turned it down in favour of Blade Runner... DVD (bluray hddvd etc) are a perfect medium to give these directors a chance to say to the studio, "See?... I told you so" so hopefully (if the studio did indeed screw her over..) Taymor will get her chance to show HER Across the Universe in the future.
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Actually - you're wrong - the Original Original cut of DONNIE DARKO - Richard's first first cut - the one that played Sundance and that i very first saw was the very very best version of DONNIE DARKO. then there was the studio cut - then the Director's cut - which is my least fave and the farthest from the original cut. FYI - had the studio not second guessed Richard, he probably wouldn't have second guessed himself resulting in the 3 versions that now exist.
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seem to get so much flack.
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I keep hearing Scorsese's original, longer cut was much better than the Weinstein-influenced, pretty-good cut that ended up in theaters. Has anybody heard anything *recently* about this getting a re-release on DVD?
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How about some info about its current status? Avi Arad told a Cinequest audience last year that it was still a go. Not a peep heard since though. What's the latest?
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Across The Universe was a film I was looking forward to more than any film this year, just based on the trailer alone, mainly I guess because I hadn't heard a single thing about it until the trailer. Sad.
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I saw Taymor's version of The Magic Flute at the Met a few months ago- it was fantastic, and generally got very positive reviews. Not to mention Titus is a phenomenal movie. Although I have to say, as much as I love the Beatles, the idea of another "hippie against the establishment" movie just seems tiring. It is Taymor, though, and I'm sure it'll at least LOOK amazing.
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about Ms. Taymor remind me of those Old-School, went-there-and did-it kinds of writers, like John Steinbeck, or the wartime correspondents. She sounds like a true adventurer.
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I was wary of this project to begin with. Probably because I remember the travesty that was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Granted, this movie has a couple things going for it: A really good director, actual actors, and what could be really good beatles covers. But I'm still wary. Having characters named Jude, Lucy, Sadie, JoJo, Dr. Roberts, Mr. Kite, Desmond, and Max just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Also I hope to GOD that they don't use the song Maxwell's Silver Hammer. If anybody has seen the movie, they can asuage my fears of this song being used. Please let me know.
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is that they produced an awful amount of rubbish (the aforementioned maxwell, I am the Walrus, anything Ringo sang on). However, this is just a consequence of how prolific they were and there has never been a songwriting team as good as Lennon/McCartney (no Paul- it should not be reversed)at producing perfect pop songs. and McCartney has turned into a complete cunt over the years. Never to be forgiven for mull of kintyre- even before some of his petty, weird behaviour is taken into account. If it was a just world he would have gone before George Harrison. But it's not.
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Joe Roth needs to die. Now. And all over the length of a movie that's 128 minutes per the NYTimes article. FUCK OFF, bastard.
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Sucked. The thing that makes that film what it is, is that it asks more questions than it answers. That's what sets it apart from the rest, and that makes it special. When making films about finding faith, it's incredibly important to not hit your audience on the nose. Where Contact and Signs fails, the original version of Donnie Darko delivers. The director's cut just serves you all the answers on a silver platter. It had two great scenes that wasn't in the original - the scene with Donnie and his father, and the scene where Doctor Thurman tells Donnie he's an agnostic. But that's it.
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Ok, so there are three cuts? How does one view the original cut that was screened at Sundance? Prolly impossible, right? I've only seen the theatrical/studio cut, which I absolutely love. I own the Director's Cut, but haven't had a chance to watch it yet...
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Edgar Allan Poe? Was this a version of Hop Frog? I saw it on television several years ago, if so. All the mean guys in the story were portrayed by big... things. I guess puppets. The only humans were the Hop Frog character and his girlfriend or wife.
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From what I've been told, there is no DC...the footage was never shot because the Weinstein's wouldn't fund those sequences. Supposedly, much of the story on the front-end was dropped in order to boost the profile of Day-Lewis' Bill "The Butcher". The "would have been" scenes fleshed out Priest Vallon (Neeson) and included sequences of DiCaprio's younger Amsterdam in the orphanage. Those scenes only exist in the original screenplay story, unfortunately. Who knows what the film would have been had Scorsese been given the chance to shoot the complete idea that was originally greenlit.
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deserves to stay lost. And anyone who only thinks of the Beatles in terms of anything to do with "hippies" should join them in staying lost...perhaps forever. Dang, I love Traymor's work and raise my hand with those who loved 'Titus.' Too bad as I was looking forward to this.
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funny how similar the names are, yes?
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having so gracefully dealt with controversy in "Freedomland", one of the most incisive looks at rascism in this country ever to grac... yeah, I couldn't even finish that shit. "Freedomland" is a phenomenal book, Roth-proxied into a flaccid "Flightplan"-meets-"In the Heat of Night" mashup with all the subtle racial commentary of a California Raisins commercial. Taymor is a fucking genius. Her stage productions are on par with Zefferelli, if not grander. I wasn't particularly looking forward to ATU, but now I have a reason not to. THANKS.
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I don't think the Beatles are Rubbish. But when you are as prolific as that there is bound to be some crap. I also don't think of them in terms of hippies, I never mentioned hippies"I am the walrus" was notoriously terrible, but it doesn't detract from the genius- rather it is a blip. "I am the Eggman"....Course you are John, course you are.You can like a band or a filmaker without worshipping everything they did.
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For someone who claims to not be "trolling," you are espousing a pretty ridiculous position. "I Am the Walrus" is far from "notoriously terrible." In fact, it is considered by many to be the greatest example of '60's surrealist rock. And Ringo sang lead on "With A Little Help from my Friends," "Yellow Submarine," and "Octopus's Garden." If you are going to knock the Beatles, at least do a little research and pick on something from "Magical Mystery Tour," although most of that is amazing as well.
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I have some very inside info on the struggle it was to make this film. Taymor may be a brilliant stage director, but struggles with film directing and has given a lot of people a hard time on this production - hell, she was "away" for most of the post and would come back and change so-called finished shots. No picnic, let me tell you. We saw this coming a mile away.
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Ok- I clearly need some clarification. I got called out for disliking some (but not all) of the 60's surrealistic rock you mention. Walrus is considered by many to be a great (if not the greatest) example of that genre, but that genre in itself is also seen by many as not the high point in the 60's. The Eggman comment was trolling- won't do it again, it was a weak attempt at humoutr Further, Octopus' garden, Yellow submarine and others are not the finest example of the Beatles work, (although having said that immeasurably better than the dreck pushed out now). I will try not to make sweeping generalisations again. This is not a hugely controversial opinion, and I personally prefer their attempts at surrealism to most of the anodyne boy/girl band talent show driven karaoke crap that poses as pop (But I would also prefer to listen to some of the 70's progressive stuff that I am also not a fan of.)The Beatles were experimental to a degree, just not all experiments work. I think there is an overreaction to a mild criticism as I did say that the popularity of Beatles is still amazing (and the amount of shitty cover versions is untrue), and I was careful to say how good they were when on form- in fact thinkig about it I have been mostly positive about them. Sorry about the lack of clarity and the genralisations- I note that you also said "most of"- which is all I was really getting at.
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It's been a long day.
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Her life's story sounds like she's some kind of female Werner Herzog. I like that. Her films are proof of strong powerful visions. Joe Roth right now is cutting together behind the scenes footage that features Taymor in alleged arrogant and bitchy star-director poses.
Who knows what artistic problems are behind Taymor's cut. Still I'd rather prefer a straightforward artistic failure by a woman with a vision than some mediocre Joe Roth quasi common denominator BS. -
And Taymor can kill Chuck Norris with her eyes.
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or were we all just going to ignore that elephant in the room?
Fucking studio politics. I echo other sentiments in this thread -- why hire a creative, very artistic director and then truncate the shit out of their work? The mind boggles. I guess they think people just need to see more shit like "Wild Hogs". Assholes. -
Don't hire her if you are in the end going to kick her off the project. Lost Prophet, about "I am the Walrus", Lennon is reported to have written it as a response to all the intellectuals going ga-ga over "A Day in The Life." He found the adoration a bit odd and decided "Let me really mess with them."-----later-----m
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well, maybe the trendy king kong bathtub hallucination in Frida (spoiler). Her stuff reminds me of those plush overdecorated soap gift baskets. it's so overwrought it makes me sick. she does not know how to tell a story or hold a mood even in terms of a dream-like alternate reality. like the Moulin Rouge guy everything is turned up to 11 all the time and it gets tiresome after about 30 seconds let alone 2 frikkin hours. Roth is a douche but I can't take her side even on principle.
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Dude made Towelie look like Nancy Reagan. I just always wondered, if John Lennon wrote and sang "I AM THE WALRUS," how come in "GLASS ONION" he says "The Walrus was Paul?" Was "WALRUS" a reference to "overbearing sellout twat?" Which isn't MY opinion of McCartney, but the Beatles weren't exactly all in love with each other at the time. Two more things: Taken one song at a time, it's possible that three of the top 5 Beatles songs were Harrison tunes (While My Guitar..., Here Comes the Sun, Something.) and wow, anyone catch the Sgt. Pepper movie on STARZ recently? I hadn't seen that shit since I was 5. Mindblowingly horrible. Nothing says "cocaine is a hell of a drug" like the Bee Gees and Peter Frampton sneaking around on a soundstage trying to save a chick chained to a post while Aerosmith--at their drugged out peak--plays COME TOGETHER dressed in military outfits. And don't get me started on Steve Martin and George Burns. The whole movie should have been titled "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?".
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this is one of those very few instances where I disagree with you. usually reading your reviews is like reading a transcript of my internal monologue (if I had talent). but in the case of Taymor's stuff and dare I say it A.I. I think someone must have slipped you a mickey before you watched them. She is a production designer not a director.
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you got one thing right. Taymor IS the overpriced, self important coffee table book of movie directors. she tries real hard but in the end it's just empty posturing.
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Was sung by John. That line from Glass Onion was a bit John threw in there to confuse people.
The walrus idea is actually from Lewis Carroll's The Walrus and the Carpenter.
And what is wrong with Mull of Kintyre? I like that song. -
If Taymor's cut isn't released, I won't go see the Roth cut in the theaters. I am a giant Julie Taymor fan. If Joe Roth wanted to direct the movie, he should have directed it himself. The man should be forced to watch "The Battle of Brazil" for 24 hours straight.
Speaking of Taymor, who has the rights for Fool's Fire? I would love to see that again. -
kitsch and gratuitous at many points
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In Arizona there was a screening I went too at the Harkins Cine Capri. It still needed some editing but I did notice that a few scenes from the trailer wasn't in the movie I saw. Like when they are running through the forest and sepcial effects scene of the guy in the flying comtraction.
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the bland, glorified Lifetime movies that most "artistic" directors are doing nowadays. Taymor understands pure cinema. Movies are supposed to be CINEMATIC, not filmed stageplays. I'll take a flawed but worthy movie like Frida over yet another "Secret lives of suburbanites" soap opera any day of the week.
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two wrongs don't make a right.
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You live, you learn, then forget it all and start pissing yourself wearing a silly grin..
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Well fellas, my respect for Taymor is based on Titus. She had the advantage of a real good guy writing the script. But the way she did that movie was brilliant. I am not a guy that has an easy time with Shakespeare, but the way she told the story visually made it entertaining and easy to follow. I like how the different factions are identifiable by the style of their costumes, it helps me keep track. And she is able to use the original dialogue but communicate her ideas about violence with the visuals. I agree with the person who said it was pure cinema.
At the same time she got really good performances, so it's not just about the sets and costumes and the visual language that we go see movies for. There is also actors. That's the best I've seen Alan Cumming, for example.
But admittedly Frida was not so hot. The scenes depicting the paintings were great, that's something Taymor understands. But she couldn't overcome a flawed script that tries to awkwardly force everything about the characters' politics and feelings into dialogue.
Mr. Brownstone said she's not a director, she's a production designer. I disagree. It's like I said above, she's a mime, a choreographer, a puppeteer. That's the perspective she comes from. Alot of directors these days used to do commercials or music videos, she used to do operas and puppet shows. I think it's legit and it brings something to her movies that you don't see in anybody else's. Including the Revenge of the Nerds 2 guy.
I would like to propose a compromise here. Let this guy release his cut of this movie, but then he has to give Taymor a couple million to do reshoots for her own cut of either Christmas With the Cranks or Revenge of the Nerds 2. Then she can take her name off her movie and he can take his name off his movie. That way everyone is happy. -
or it could just end like that Exorcist prequel if that happened.
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As much as we all love rumors and gossip around here, Nikki Finke had a piece in LA Weekly today which finally made me want to comment on this. The article is full of insider info which may or
may not be true. But she has no business trashing a movie she hasn't seen. I saw the preview at the Grove a couple of weeks ago and I think the movie is
the best thing I've seen in a long time. If it came out at the end of last year, like it was supposed to, I'm sure it would have gotten oscar mnominations for costume and production design. If nothing else, in a year with stuff like "Ghost Rider" and "Wild hogs", it's certainly an antidote to the predictable trash Hollywood is trotting out. It might be a tad
long - I didn't care, there were so many mind-blowing images coming at you one after the other that it more than kept me interested. My friends liked it just as much as I did. Hollywood doesn't make many out-and-out musicals anymore, and it's much better than "Moulin Rouge", especially as it features all Beatles music (In my opinon, much beter than listning to Baz Luhrman's party mix tape). Nikki Finke thinks the New York Times goofed in comparing Taymor to
Orson Welles. Maybe so, but how about Terry Gilliam? Let's hope the suits don't get freaked by originality and do what they did to 'Brazil'. I have never really had anything against Joe Roth before (ecxept that he turned Ogre into a nerd at the end of "ROTN 2: Nerds In Paradise"), and I am never totally sure whose side to be on in stuff like this without seeing the movie. However, this time, I SAW THE MOVIE AND IT'S REALLY GOOD. If this comes out cut up, it will really suck. I'm going to have to see it anyway now. I'll probably piss people off complaining about what they took out. At lease the DVD should be good.
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