Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Hoo boy… it wouldn’t be Comic-Con without that moment of pure “I’m fucked”ness and that happened today with the Sony panel. I was lucky enough to get some time with Andrew Garfield, but that meant I had to race to Hall H and pray to the Comic-Con gods I could still make it in.
Luckily the Comic-Con Gods smiled upon me and I got in during the Ghost Rider panel. I missed some Behind the Scenes stuff with Neveldine and Taylor being crazy and flying off of cliffs holding 3D cameras and stuff, I hear, but I did make in in time to see the panel and the footage presentation.
Outside of one really iffy CG shot of screaming Nic Cage head turning into screaming Ghost Rider flaming skull, the flick looked crazy fun. As you’d expect from Neveldine and Taylor everything was over the top and dark. For instance, there’s one shot of the Ghost Rider face to face with a badass biker dude as the bad guy pulls an Uzi and fires straight into his face. The Ghost Rider is screaming, the Uzi clip unloading into his mouth. Clip runs dry and the Rider screams again, spitting out a spray of hot molten lead.
And, unless I’m mistaken, the footage ended with a little kid asking Nic Cage what happens when he needs to pee when he’s ablaze and then we see a back shot of Ghost Rider literally pissing flame. I mean, I know my eyes saw it, but my brain is having trouble processing that actually happened.
Other flashes… Ghost Rider whips a molten chain around a dude and tugs, causing him to erupt into a flurry of ashes, Ghost Rider standing on top of a giant truck-like machine that is his new hell-ride, looking like a demonic version of a Mad Max shot, flames shooting from the wheels and all that jazz.
It’s hard to tell if it’ll all gel together, but when you put something as crazy as Ghost Rider in the hands of maniacs like Neveldine and Taylor it’s a good fit. The footage supported that insanity and I hope the movie is even more batshit than I’m expecting.
The panel was pretty short, but here are a few tidbits from the guys on the panel, including Idris Elba, Neveldine, Taylor and Nic Cage.
-What comic book character would you like to play? Idris – Luke Cage, big time and is actively pursuing it. Nic – Ghost Rider “because it happened and I’ve always sympathized with monsters.” Taylor said Catwoman.
-The giant truck we see Ghost Rider riding all Lord Humungus style is a Stripminer, which has the ability to cut mountains in half… So we can expect to see him cause some shit to go down when he turns it into a Hellminer.
-More Ghost Riders for Neveldine and Taylor? They loved making it, it’s up to box office.
-How is Johnny Blaze different from the first movie? Nic Cage said that the biggest difference is that he’s had a few years to live with his head catching on fire and it’s had a noticeable effect on his mood.
-What crazy camera stunt wouldn’t Neveldine and Taylor do? “What would you suggest?” The audience member who asked the question replied with “Waterfall?” Neveldine: “Going over a waterfall in a barrel? Sign me up!”
And that’s about it for Ghost Rider!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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