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Bad things afoot between New Line and DETROIT ROCK CITY'
I've been very happy with New Line recently, especially with the work and the help they've been extending Peter Jackson and LORD OF THE RINGS, but lest we get too buddy buddy with New Line let's take a look at one of those age old problems. This one concerning what rating to release a film at?
We've had reports on DETROIT ROCK CITY in the past... Some wonderful reviews. People dearly loving the film. I've heard that Gene Simmons is ecstatic with the film. In fact according to the ever present word on the street is that this film has received the highest test scores in New Line's history.
Well... Gosh if this really is testing at this orgasmic level. If the movie is really as good as the buzz I've heard... then why is it that against the director, Adam Rifkin's desires... New Line is allegedly trying to cut the film from it's current 'R' status to a PG-13 in a last ditch effort to make the film a little more 'teen friendly'.
Apparently the studio is feeling the film is too edgy for teens. But ultimately it would be editing for the sake of financial reasons... not artistic ones.
When I called around to see what I could find out, I heard that Adam Rifkin is ready to take his name off the film IF the cuts are made. And frankly I don't blame him. AMERICAN PIE just came in at over $18 million this opening weekend beating WILD WILD WEST for the top spot even though it was on nearly a thousand less screens.
It's amazing when we can sit back and watch studios like UNIVERSAL and PARAMOUNT sticking by their creators and their ratings, when that's what I used to think New Line was about.
DETROIT ROCK CITY is about MY GENERATION, not the current under 18 crowd. This is a movie about the KISS in makeup generation. We're the guys that bought the comic/magazine printed with drops of the band's own human blood. We're the ones that collected all four solo face albums. We're the ones that started the mythology that Gene Simmons had sewn a real cow tongue into his mouth in place of his own. We're the ones that were told at school and at home that KISS stood for KNIGHTS IN SATAN'S SERVICE. Now dammit... Leave our movie alone. You market this film to the STAR WARS generation... The original ones. This is one FOR US. And if you had any sense at all, you'd instantly contact Ernie Cline and pick up his FANBOYS script and project as a follow up. Because.... you know what? This isn't a film for the current under 18 crowd. This is a film for the under 24 crowd from 1982. And we'll rock-n-roll all night.... and everyday... Leave this movie as is please.
However, I dearly hope the rumors are wrong and that Adam Rifkin gets his cut and the cut with those high scores.
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Hollywood is crazier than ever... I predict in 10 years Criterion will be putting out restored versions of a lot of movies from the next couple of years, after all this columbine-bullshit fades away. I think I'm going to skip going to the movies and catch this stuff when its restored to the director's vision.
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These fucking kids don't know what Rock is ? Fucking rave queens!!!
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So there's a hassle involving New Line and a film we would like to see untouched, eh? I wonder who we could e-mail to voice our displeasure... Perhpas some executive could conveniently post his address to this site... heh heh.
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Time for Rifkin to start placing his ads in the trades after he contacts Tony Kaye for some helpful advice.
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I'm a huge kiss fan, since I was a baby, I can still remember one of 2 first memories, Star Wars, Or KISS on Sesame St. To quote my personal hero, Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, "These rat bastards must be stopped!!!!!!1"
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Okay, here's the truth. I was asked by my colleagues to take a shot at re-cutting this to a PG-13
simply because after that theater
owners' announcement, things got really funky, and there's a feeling that DETROIT would be hurt if fans were literally barred from seeing it. An adult audience for a teen film is a rare occurrence. To New Line's credit, nobody ordered the filmmakers to do it. I agreed to try an internal experiment out of respect for everyone's concerns. We tried it, it blows, and everything is going ahead as planned with full support. Sometimes we try things as an exercise, unofficially and informally, as a process to get to the right decision. -
I've only been a real KISS fan for the past few months, and I only own one album (Smashes, Thrashes, & Hits), but I think KISS is one of the greatest rock bands of all-time. Also, just from the one trailer, I can tell you that I am definitely going to see this movie. It looks funny, exciting, and just plain cool. I think I could really get into this movie. I am only 19, but I think that they shouldn't cater this movie to the '90s teens because they're only interested in rap, Marilyn Manson, pop music, and stuff like that. There aren't all that many people that I see that just want to rock. I mean, that's why MTV blows because they barely play ANY good rock anymore. Me, I'm into Metallica, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Lenny Kravitz, the Rolling Stones, Queen, and, of course, KISS. I think this should be directed more towards the college-aged guys, and for the hordes of KISS fanatics. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this movie, and I sure hope it retains a rating of 'R'. -NJM
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I suppose a logical person might condemn me to the lunacy pile upon viewing my ridiculous heap of ancient Kiss memorabilia. The band was without peer for generous amounts of fan spunk and marketing nonsense, remember the old album inserts like gigantic stickers, tattoos and interlocking posters? Not to mention the recent McFarlane Toys collection which had my nostalgic pennies soaring like semen from a teenybopper. When I saw the trailer for the film, the lads and I were in hysterics, quite literally reliving our youth within the span of ninety seconds. The Kiss myth has always been about perversion and demonic twaddle, the prehistoric legend of Genes
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...but what i'm thinking is with an R-rated film like detroit rock city, what it doesn't make in cinema earnings from all the under-17s who missed out can be made from sales to cable, video, DVD, etc. cut the essence out of it to begin with and you're left with a shit sandwich no one's EVER gonna taste; leave it with plenty o'adult content and you've got something like hot dog:the movie - a truly heinous movie, true, but one that's got staying power and nostalgia value and is a natural from when you want to get brain-dead with a six-pack and a family-sized bag of doritos. feel free to point out where my logic is flawed; i'd really like to know why the studios are cutting everything down for 'the kids' when i don't think it's all that viable in the long run.
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I think he
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I just would like to say that Kathleen Haase, one of the producers of DRC (former gfriend of the director?) is a TOTAL hottie. In hope DRC kicks ass because I just wanna rock and roll all night, and party ev-a-ree day.
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First, Mr. Deluca - thanks for participating here, the effort is appreciated (by me at least) and buys you a lot of slack. Second, I would just like to put in a vote for having at least SOME films targeted at people over 20, really over 20, not the "Welllllll...it's an R, but we know the kids will get in." I know that the Boomers Part 2 are a big audience, but throw us 25-35 year olds a bone every now and then. We may not be as numerous, but we make money and have disposable incomes, you know.
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Mr. Deluca, you've showed a lot of chutzpah by getting involved in these talkbacks (not to mention a lot of P.R. savvy- you even managed to put a positive spin on that LOTR press release about the gag order on casting.) P.R. motivations aside, it's nice to see a straight-shootin' studio exec, especially when you're under the impression that they grow you guys in a vat somewhere. Thanks for listening, and I have faith that your studio will treat LOTR with the gravity and respect that it deserves.
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This movie blows. I've never been so let down in my life. How did this manage to "test through the roof"? Everyone in the theater where I saw it said how bad it was .
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I, personally, like Adam Rifkin films. Well... the only two I can currently think of, that is. I thought The Dark Backward was hilarious and The Chase, while not being earth-shattering, was still an enjoyable little movie. So hopefully, with the statements Mr. DeLuca has just made, Rifkin won't have to take his name off ANOTHER movie (he has not used his real name in the past on films). GO RIFKIN!!
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I've been a KISS fan for only about three minutes now, but I'm gonna find some more MP3 file and rock the house. Didn't Rifkin do that mousehunt flick? I like it. It was funny.
I will not go to the theatre to see this film, sounds like another teenage comedy set in the 70's. Gene probably got the "idea" after watching the ending of Dazed and Confused.
Where can I get a copy of Kenny and Company? It ran on HBO in the late 70's, early '80s and I've never seen it on tape, anyone have any info? -
Have you noticed that the director's cut of a film is always better? The Doom Generation, a film not all too dissimilar from Detroit Rock City, had 11 minutes cut without the director's permission so it could go from an NC-17 to an R rating. I saw the R version of this movie first and thought it was ok. Then I located a copy of the NC-17 version with the extra 11 minutes. it was a completely different and better movie and unfortunately, most of the people who have seen this movie saw the lighter, inferior, MPAA approved version. My point is that the same thing is probably gonna happen to Detroit Rock City. The studio's gonna release the Pg-13 version of the film, which is gonna suck, and we, including that big fat red head, are gonna have to wait til the movie comes out on video to see the real film.
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...does anyone know if Kiss Meets the Phantom will be coming out on DVD or VHS soon?
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"KISS Meets the Phantom" came out on VHS and LD years ago. The tape shouldn't be too hard to find, if only in the 'previously viewed' (so much nicer sounding than "used," eh?) sections.
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What in DRC is bad for kids ?
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As a loyal KISS fan, I have been psyched about DRC since I first heard about it several months ago. Finally, a film about REAL music! Not this stupid hip-hop/hardcore/rap shit that people listen to nowadays. Now I hear that the studios want to mess up this movie because they want to attract a younger audience. No, it's not true! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!
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