Saturday, December 5, 2009

Puccas Extinct, Least for Now


I was never behind the idea of Steven Spielberg's proposed remake of the Jimmy Stewart classic, Harvey, the story of a grown man and the friendship he has with a six-and-a-half foot tall rabbit, called a Pucca. Well, it's now been reported by Variety that Mr. Spielberg has departed from the 20th Century Fox project, the main reason given was that they couldn't lock down an actor to replace Jimmy Stewart. Tom Hanks was offered the role, but declined, and Robert Downey, Jr. had them commence rewrites, but ultimately never signed on, thus Spielberg simply walked away, which I believe was the right decision in the end.

Seriously, did anyone really think they could find an actor to suitably fill Jimmy Stewart's shoes in one of his more iconic performances of all-time? I can bet you that this is why both Tom Hanks and Downey, Jr. were so reluctant to commit to the project. Of course now, the big question is, what's next for Spielberg?

Well, Spielberg is currently deep in post on The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, which was shot utilizing the new 3-D motion capture technology created for James Cameron's Avatar. While I have been vocal about my skepticism for Avatar (and believe me, if it delivers I'll swallow my words and admit I was dumbfounded), I actually think that the motion capture technology will work well for Tintin, which it's being said that the CG was used instead of live action in order to make the film more like its Belgian comic book counterpart. It sounds as if the old-adventure-filled-Spielberg I love is coming back for an encore. Even still, this doesn't hit theaters for another two years, so Spielberg needs something to do in between now and then, right?

Some are wanting him to do Jurassic Park 4, which I think is an awful idea. Personally I'd like to see him give his movie about the theory of wormholes another shot, Interstellar; or his Abraham Lincoln biopic that has been in production for nearly a decade, with Liam Neeson still in the wings to portray Abe whenever Spielberg is ready. Either of those two I would love to see Spielberg tackle, but the one project he has on the backburner that I'd like to see him tackle the most is his adaptation of Michael Crichton's last novel, Pirate Latitudes. Think about it, Spielberg making a movie about historically accurate pirates in the Caribbean embarking upon a grand swashbuckling adventure. It's right up his alley. Of course, no matter which film he does next, as long as Mr. John Williams goes along for the ride, I'm cool.

3 comments:

  1. as a film geek I think you'll be dumbfounded by avatar.

    Yeah, Speilberg needs to step it up. I'd love to see a real film about Lincoln get made. Anything other than that movie "Tad" that was made 1995 as a TV movie about his sons.

    Oh yeah, It's snowing up here but not sticking ;(

    ReplyDelete
  2. It really kind of frustrates me. With the exception of "Catch Me If You Can", he hasn't really made anything this past decade that I think stacks up alongside his. "Catch Me If You Can" had that Spielberg-charm, but I do feel that "Tintin" might hark the return of that good ol' charm I love so much.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh yeah, and on "Avatar" I actually hope that the vibe I'm getting is completely wrong. I genuinely want it to blow me away, I'm just not entirely convinced at this point. There are some movies that when you see the trailers and all the clips leading up to their release, you just know it's going to be special, and "Avatar" is one of those films that has a big question mark beside it for me. But of course I guess that just means that it has a good marketing campaign, since it hasn't given enough away to where I get a good vibe as to what the movie is actually gonna be like.

    ReplyDelete