From The Mind of Merc - Remakes

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about film directors.

In a way this follows on from last month's post but also flips it on its head as, instead of the issue being those with questionable judgment exerting their influence over the life and works of others, this time I was contemplating those with unlimited (for which one might read excessive) self-image exerting their influence of the work and achievements of others. To put it bluntly, I was considering remakes - specifically when a renowned director takes it upon themselves to demonstrate their consummate skill by remaking a classic and often much loved piece.

To me, this has never made sense for 2 reasons:

1) If it is a classic and/or much loved, why does it need to be remade? Clearly the original filmmaker got it right first time. If the new director loves it so much maybe they could organise its re-release to share this love with others rather than implying they think they can do better.

2) Surely a better 'test' of the director's film-making skill would be to take a film that was an acknowledged flop and turn that into a much loved classic. By remaking a bad film into something that is good that has to be undeniable proof that they are as good as they clearly believe themselves to be.
Possible candidates include: John Carter, Waterworld, Mars Needs Moms

It could theoretically be the proposed case that remakes are made because Hollywood is 'out of ideas'. Although I personally believe to that it is more accurate that Hollywood doesn't want to take a risk on new ideas. In which case it is falling foul of my previous observations (and post) of those in a position of power/judgement - in this instance, film producers - possibly obstructing the creation of something wonderful through their own potentially misguided/misplaced judgement. 

Overall, I firmly believe classics should be allowed to be just that and instead new ideas (or flops) should be given the chance to become that. After all, the following classics were big risks for their makers:
- Snow White: The first ever feature length cartoon - a major risk for Disney but the start of his empire
- Iron Man: A risky first movie which then launched a franchise
- Avatar: A CGI-heavy film could have been viewed as too risky
- Batman: Tim Burton took a camp 60s TV series and turned it into a gritty, compelling classic
- Die Hard: The star of this action flick was not the muscle-bound hero that might have been expected
- Titanic: A film with a run time of over 3 hours wins the most Oscars ever
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Making a film (which spawned a franchise) out of a fairground ride? Sounds a bit risky
- Get Out: Giving a comedian the chance to direct a horror film? That worked 

From The Mind of Merc - Rejected Film Cuts

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about film producers and their (sometimes regrettable) influence over movies.

Following on from last month's post about drama schools, another area where I feel questionable senses of judgment have a potentially negative impact is film producers.

The moneymen have the regrettable power to affect the work produced by new and established directors regardless of the skill/vision/knowledge/common sense of said directors and this has often had disastrous results. The phenomena is seemingly so common that a whole pseudonym has been created (Alan Smithee) to give the affected directors a get-out clause so they can wash their hands of 'their' film once the producers have finished messing with it. 

These following films ended up dramatically different to how they were originally intended (in many cases, the success of the director's cuts proves just how wrong the producers were):
- Hancock: Intended as a dark look at superheroes dealing with various serious topics, this ended up as a 'fun action comedy'
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine: This again was intended to be darker before the producers interfered. Aside from sewing shut Deadpool's mouth at the end of the movie, in this instance, their interference included painting the sets lighter colours when the director wasn't around(!)
- Superman II: The original director was fired when he was 75% through completing the movie and he was replaced with a director more familiar with comedic films, which dramatically affected the tone of the film.
- Kingdom of Heaven: The producers cut 45 minutes from Ridley Scott's final version in the hope it would encourage more people to come see it at the cinema. The actual effect was Scott's skill was questioned... until he released his director's cut which revealed the true culprits.
- Brazil: The producers of this Terry Gilliam classic re-edited the movie behind the director's back with a happier ending, a different tone and a rock and roll score. Even though Gilliam pre-empted this and managed to screen his version the producers still cut 10 minutes from the overall run time.
- All The Pretty Horses: This was intended to be a faithful adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy novel but producer, Harvey Weinstein, edited it down to 2 hours losing character development and its original score and then failed to release it.
- Once Upon A Time in America: The producers cut the film down from its proper 4 hours to 2, rearranged the scenes into chronological order(!) and deleted some that explained character decisions. Fortunately, the directors cut survived.
- Alien 3: Director David Fincher was hired after many others were fired by producers who believed the newbie would be easier to control (and more submissive to their excessive demands). When that failed they locked the director out of the editing bay.
- Bladerunner: The producers changed the ending of this film to a more happy one. Again, fortunately, the director's cut survived. 
- Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer: The Head of Fox decided to make Galactus into a cloud (says it all)
- Spiderman 3: The studio forced the director to include Venom in the film
- Suicide Squad: A last minute decision was made to change the tone of the film
- Golden Compass: The studio attempted to 'water down' the potential religious commentary contained in the original work and as as result also 'watered down' the success of the film by alienating fans of the books
- Justice League: The producers replaced the director, added a load of jokes and cut the film to a strict 2 hour runtime, creating a movie that was 'unwatchable'
- Fantastic Four: The studio went over the director's head to get the reshoots they wanted regardless of whether they matched with the gritty vision he had. The disastrous reviews prove the (lack of) success of that

These films came close to suffering the same fate:
- Lady & The Tramp: Disney tried to ban the spaghetti eating scene from being included. Luckily the animators ignored him.
- The Lion King: Disney executives removed the song 'Can You Feel The Love Tonight' before Elton John objected
- Toy Story: This was originally ordered to be more 'adult-oriented'. When this proved disastrous, the much loved movie was created
- Gangs of New York: Producer Weinstein pestered director Martin Scorsese to work faster, change the gang names, Daniel Day-Lewis's costume and cut the film to 2 hours. Fortunately Scorsese won and the film earned 10 Oscar nominations
- Reservoir Dogs: Director Tarantino had to fight Weinstein to keep the ear-cutting scene in the movie
- Wizard of Oz: The song 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' was nearly cut from the film to decrease runtime
- The Godfather: Director Francis Ford Coppola had to fight for his casting choices of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino

Just think how many more classic and much loved films could have been created if the producers have only submitted their money not their opinion. And also, how much money might they have made?