Ghostbusters movie by Paul Feig

[jlee562]

Keep pretending that's all you wrote about it! Very convenient.

Just like it's pretty convenient that you decided to not quote the entirety of what I wrote, and then proceeded to make what amounts to a strawman argument.

And seriously, there are a thousand ways one *could* interpret anything. But there's one established meaning for his discussion that makes sense, that jibes with what we know of Feig's involvement, and then there's the one that makes no sense, where of course he's excited that Sony let him do it his way, and to pull that quote in response simply renders the conversation meaningless.

Or it could be the continued posts which attack Feig for "not respecting" (and similar wordings) the franchise or its fans because he didn't do x, y, or z The posts that attack his "lack of vision" for the movie based on props, or on a leaked plot summary.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Aaaaand we're back. Missed you guys! :lol

 

[Jedioz]

Yawn !!!!!

 

[jlee562]

Eh, I'm not taking the heat for this one.

Westies thinks that everybody agreed that "disinterested" is code for "doesn't want to continue the same universe." Even if that were in some way, shape, or form, true; I honestly had no intent in referencing that.

 

[ghostryder]

 

[KrangPrime]

:lol This made me spit beer on my monitor.

How is this thread still alive?
You guys must thrive on internet conflict, that's all I can figure.

I used to be bothered by people upset at things posted...not so much now after this thread. you never know when someone is twisting something or just over reacting .

 

[Krull]

The way I see it after looking at Feig's director's credits is the guy has found a formula that works well for him in the last four-five years and it seems he's the type to run with it until he's run it into the ground,hard.

And McCarthy is the type of actress/comedian who'll do the same by working with the guy or doing a skit/role/type until it's sucked dry.

A match made right in hell if you ask me.

 

[joberg]

And people are flabbergasted that war, on this planet, is still going on:rolleyes

 

[Solo4114]

I don't really see this movie as the kind of property that will translate to big bucks overseas and break out despite potential failiure in the home market. All the signs seem to be pointing to this being treated by Feig as antother of his TM broad comedy movies over being a blockbuster sci-fi/fantasy/effects movie.That whole SNL schtick doesn't tend to translate especially well outside of the US even in other English speaking markets, so I wouldn't expect the massive Chinese market to drag it out of any domestic doldrums it might suffer.

As you've pointed out, the way the film ends up being marketed could matter. The Pascal emails include references to needing a certain amount of time to budget for effects, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this be fairly F/X driven. If you market it focused on that, on people running from a big ghost T-Rex, on hordes of army dudes possessed by slime, it could be sold as a mostly f/x driven film. It's not quite the "DESTROYING ENTIRE CITIES AS ROBOTS PUNCH EACH OTHER" fest that many of these films are, but it could still do decent business on that basis. Plus, hey, possible bonus points for the American military looking silly in a not-entirely-friendly-to-the-U.S. audience.

All that aside, I do agree with you that comedy is likely pretty difficult to sell overseas, even to other same-language markets. Comedy tends to be fairly esoteric and culturally based. While stuff like slapstick is fairly universal, in-jokes and cultural references are not. Timing and emphasis are also different in different markets.

We'll see if this works on the branding and action as the primary marketing features in overseas markets. Also, it should be noted that what will actually happen doesn't necessarily mean that's what the studio exects expect to happen. They may have gone into this assuming big F/X and the brand will sell the film overseas, without recognizing that the more esoteric aspects of both Feig's comedic style and comedies in general could be a serious hurdle for overseas audiences.

 

[Birdie]

Spot on. Good luck with the pedant

As you've pointed out, the way the film ends up being marketed could matter. The Pascal emails include references to needing a certain amount of time to budget for effects, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this be fairly F/X driven. If you market it focused on that, on people running from a big ghost T-Rex, on hordes of army dudes possessed by slime, it could be sold as a mostly f/x driven film. It's not quite the "DESTROYING ENTIRE CITIES AS ROBOTS PUNCH EACH OTHER" fest that many of these films are, but it could still do decent business on that basis. Plus, hey, possible bonus points for the American military looking silly in a not-entirely-friendly-to-the-U.S. audience.

All that aside, I do agree with you that comedy is likely pretty difficult to sell overseas, even to other same-language markets. Comedy tends to be fairly esoteric and culturally based. While stuff like slapstick is fairly universal, in-jokes and cultural references are not. Timing and emphasis are also different in different markets.

We'll see if this works on the branding and action as the primary marketing features in overseas markets. Also, it should be noted that what will actually happen doesn't necessarily mean that's what the studio exects expect to happen. They may have gone into this assuming big F/X and the brand will sell the film overseas, without recognizing that the more esoteric aspects of both Feig's comedic style and comedies in general could be a serious hurdle for overseas audiences.

 

[Riceball]

And seriously, there are a thousand ways one *could* interpret anything. But there's one established meaning for his discussion that makes sense, that jibes with what we know of Feig's involvement, and then there's the one that makes no sense, where of course he's excited that Sony let him do it his way, and to pull that quote in response simply renders the conversation meaningless.

No matter how you look at it I wouldn't read too much in his "I'm so excited about this project" statement, it's not he's going to say I'm only doing this for the paycheck and I totally hate the idea of doing this movie at all but thank goodness for being allowed to make it my way. It's no different than where at press junkets the cast of TOS would publicly praise Shatner saying what a wonderful man he is, and how much they love working with him, etc. yet in private we hear all the stories about how much they all, with the exception of Nimoy and Deforest, actually hate or detest him. You'll never hear a negative statement about anything or anybody from anybody currently working in Hollywood, not publicly and not officially, not if they want to work again.

 

[Solo4114]

No matter how you look at it I wouldn't read too much in his "I'm so excited about this project" statement, it's not he's going to say I'm only doing this for the paycheck and I totally hate the idea of doing this movie at all but thank goodness for being allowed to make it my way. It's no different than where at press junkets the cast of TOS would publicly praise Shatner saying what a wonderful man he is, and how much they love working with him, etc. yet in private we hear all the stories about how much they all, with the exception of Nimoy and Deforest, actually hate or detest him. You'll never hear a negative statement about anything or anybody from anybody currently working in Hollywood, not publicly and not officially, not if they want to work again.

Exactly. It's only in distant retrospect that people have anything negative to say about a film in most cases. Pierce Brosnan was all positive and upbeat about Die Another Day when it came out, but years after its release, he was disappointed in it and expressed as much. Carter Bays, one of the two creators of How I Met Your Mother was all positive about the way the show ended right after it ended, and it was only this past year -- over a year after the finale aired -- that he admitted it may have been a mistake for them to end it as they did.

Nobody is going to bite the hand that feeds them, certainly not while it's holding the food.


As for Feig, yeah, I'm sure he's excited to do his project his way. Why wouldn't he be? But he's on record as stating that the original notion of a sequel didn't interest him and he couldn't figure out how to do it until he basically realized "Wait. I could make my own movie the way I usually make my movies. I could do that. I know how to do that." Because, duh, of course he does.

 

[Westies14]

No matter how you look at it I wouldn't read too much in his "I'm so excited about this project" statement, it's not he's going to say I'm only doing this for the paycheck and I totally hate the idea of doing this movie at all but thank goodness for being allowed to make it my way. It's no different than where at press junkets the cast of TOS would publicly praise Shatner saying what a wonderful man he is, and how much they love working with him, etc. yet in private we hear all the stories about how much they all, with the exception of Nimoy and Deforest, actually hate or detest him. You'll never hear a negative statement about anything or anybody from anybody currently working in Hollywood, not publicly and not officially, not if they want to work again.

I think the comment was actually in a private email, though to his boss/exec producer/VP at Sony. I'm sure he's actually into what he's doing. Why shouldn't he be? He delivered a list of demands that Sony should never have considered and they gave him a green light. He didn't want to make a new Ghostbusters movie, but he's happy to try out his usual schtick under a different coat of paint.

 

[jlee562]

"...it's not he's going to say I'm only doing this for the paycheck and I totally hate the idea of doing this movie at all but thank goodness for being allowed to make it my way...."

Nothing in Feig's emails comes remotely close to amounting to "I totally hate the idea of doing this movie."

 

[Michael Bergeron]

"...it's not he's going to say I'm only doing this for the paycheck and I totally hate the idea of doing this movie at all but thank goodness for being allowed to make it my way...."

Nothing in Feig's emails comes remotely close to amounting to "I totally hate the idea of doing this movie."

:facepalm

Read that sentence in the context of the post and you see that's not at all what Riceball was saying. He was saying that as an example that Feig would likely say the same thing no matter what he actually thought about the project.

 

[jlee562]

:facepalm

Read that sentence in the context of the post and you see that's not at all what Riceball was saying. He was saying that as an example that Feig would likely say the same thing no matter what he actually thought about the project.

Erm, no, I understand that point. But we're not talking about comments made in a convention. We're talking about a private email from Feig to Pascal.

 

[KrangPrime]

I think the comment was actually in a private email, though to his boss/exec producer/VP at Sony. I'm sure he's actually into what he's doing. Why shouldn't he be? He delivered a list of demands that Sony should never have considered and they gave him a green light. He didn't want to make a new Ghostbusters movie, but he's happy to try out his usual schtick under a different coat of paint.

and the sad part is, people will eat this crap up JUST because it has the ghostbusters name on it. it worked for turtles, after all. and 60% of the film was unwatchable due to meghan groot fox.

that's why I wonder, how many people who support this movie will be able to say ' I hated it, the haters where right' when it finally comes out. or just move on to the next one

 

[Solo4114]

Erm, no, I understand that point. But we're not talking about comments made in a convention. We're talking about a private email from Feig to Pascal.

I can see where that'd change things slightly, but only slight.

While it's certainly true that, if he weren't interested, he could've said as much (again), once he's on board and the lawyers are drawing up the terms of whatever it is he'll sign to get his money, his box office points, and his producer or exec. producer credit or whathaveyou, he's probably not gonna say "By the way, this is a stupid idea and I'm still not that into it."

I could see where, down the road, a director and studio might have behind-the-scenes fallings out about "creative differences," but in this case, that's unlikely. He's on record -- publicly and privately -- as being excited about this version of the film. Namely, the one that's entirely within his wheelhouse and where the studio has acceded to his vision.

When people here speak of Feig's lack of enthusiasm, they're talking about his lack of enthusiasm for doing a sequel in the old continuity. And that's well documented. Here's a direct quote from Feig himself:

I had been contacted several times about doing a sequel for Ghostbusters and I just kept turning it down because I didn’t know how to do it. The scripts had been written, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. I wasn’t excited about it.

...

So finally, one day I was like, it’s a great franchise and it’s a great idea, if I was going to do it, how would I do it? And then I thought, if I could put four women in the lead roles, that’s exciting to me. That I know how to do, and I know how to make that funny. And there’s so many funny women I’ve been dying to work with. Obviously Melissa and Kristen are in it, but then Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, who are so funny. It just seemed like the way to do it.

...

Then I thought, I’d rather do it as a reboot so I’m not tied to the old movies. The old movies are so good, I didn’t want to mess with them. And I also want to see the beginnings of this group. I want to see people seeing ghosts for the first time, and how they’re going to fight them for the first time, how they develop their technology. So it just got very exciting to me. I just like working with funny women, and that’s all I really like to do with my career.

You can read those quotes -- and actually watch a video of him saying those exact words -- on the following page:

http://www.slashfilm.com/paul-feig-turned-down-ghostbusters-3/

Feig's interest level is all right there to see. He wasn't interested in the sequel and couldn't conceive of how to do what the studio was suggesting. He hit on the idea of doing...basically the only kind of movie he's interested in (casting primarily funny women), and then he got excited about it. He did a reboot because he didn't want to be tied to the continuity of the old stuff, because he wanted to have his characters react to ghosts as a new phenomenon rather than as old hat.


We can debate the wisdom of Sony hiring Feig and agreeing to his desire to do what he wanted to do, but at this point, hopefully this puts to rest the discussions of what he was and wasn't interested in doing.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Erm, no, I understand that point. But we're not talking about comments made in a convention. We're talking about a private email from Feig to Pascal.

I work in film & TV. I would ABSOLUTELY put the same positive spin on anything I said to producers. It's career death not to.

 

[Solo4114]

I work in film & TV. I would ABSOLUTELY put the same positive spin on anything I said to producers. It's career death not to.

I'd figure even a "creative differences" thing would probably mean that, at the very least, the studio execs involved in the deal wouldn't want to work with the director again in the future, either at that studio or another.

As an example, I doubt very much that Edgar Wright will be directing a Marvel film in the future. Even if everyone got along personally, it's now established that, professionally speaking, Wright was the wrong guy to do a Marvel film for whatever reason. I could also see where that'd bleed over into doing other similar "franchise" films for a different franchise (e.g., he may well not be getting any calls about doing a Star Wars movie, if he wasn't able to make it work with Marvel).

You might like a particular contractor as a person, but if you and they disagree on how the crown molding will work and you go your separate ways mid-job, you're not likely to hire them again, and your friends may end up not hiring them either.