december 5th, 2007 |
Postad i Övrigt
Jag blev glad över att se att Christian Bale möjligen skulle spela John Connor i Terminator 4 (full titel: Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, zzz). Bale är hyfsat pålitlig – er åsikt om Batman Begins kan skiljas från min, men i övrigt tycker jag man kan räkna med hög kvalité när man ser hans filmer. Glad i hågen klickade jag mig in på IMDbs T4-sida för att ta in mer information. Regissörens namn – McG – känner jag inte igen, och klickar mig fram för att ta reda på mer.
Här börjar skräcken. McGs mest framstående tidigare verk som regissör är inget mindre än de två Charlie’s Angels-filmerna. Och ett sliskigt football-drama. Nog för att killen står som producent för tv-serien Chuck, men det betyder ju inte nödvändigtvis någonting alls.
Jag blev på lite dåligt humör, men det visade sig att detta inte var det läskigaste som McG hade att erbjuda. Jag citerar en pressrelease från 30:e oktober:
Fox is teaming with writer Adam Barr and producer McG for ”Spaced,” a comedy project based on the Channel 4 series of the same name from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz masterminds Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. […] Barr (”Will & Grace”) is writing the script, which garnered interest from several networks. He is executive producing with Wonderland’s McG and Peter Johnson and Granada’s Robert Green.
Skräcken spred sig snabbt bland Spaced-fansen. Den andra november hade Edgar Wright detta att säga på sin blogg:
I was going to try and stay silent on the subject of McSpaced, as it’s usually a lot classier to keep your head held high and your trap firmly shut.
Unfortunately, I realised that I was now to be haunted less by the question of us ever doing a third ’series’ and more about the idea of this new ’season’ of Spaced.
I have just been through a good 32 hour period of e-mails from friends and colleagues that all pretty much contained the same sentiment, ”They’re doing an American Spaced. What the f???” (And yes they did, on occasion, use multiple question marks).
I have moved to comment on it further for two reasons. The first, and this is the lousy part, is that I’m thoroughly miserable about being dragged into the whole process.
As I said in my previous blogs, I don’t personally have any format rights to the show, they belong to Granada USA and I’m pretty sure that while Simon and Jess would get paid for the reversioning of their original scripts, they don’t necessarily have the power to call the whole damn thing off. (And I can confirm that Simon at least, would like nothing more than to pull the plug).
[…]
Aside from all the legal aspects to my involvement, any self respecting fan of the show knows that along with Simon, Jess and Nira Park, I put my heart and soul into that series. So the implication in the trades by Wonderland and Granada USA that we may be involved in this new version absolutely pains me.
As I’ve said, I wouldn’t necessarily want to be involved in a new version of SPACED. We’ve gone long enough preserving the memory of the original by not doing a third series, not to mention turning down SHAUN TV versions and sequels. Getting involved with this would be a insult to the fans who’ve supported the show for nearly ten years.
Put simply I wouldn’t want to get involved in a new version of the show for fear of it being our very own PHANTOM MENACE.
That said, my beef with the trade announcement is more a matter of principle. I’m told after the fact that the makers of McSpaced had wanted to get us involved, but were told they couldn’t pay us to be consultants (great!).
Either way, to not even make a courtesy call prior to making that announcement just a little rude. (And let’s not even get started on the fact that Jessica’s name was all but erased from the press releases.)
So forgive me for calling out Peter Johnson and co. at Wonderland (who I’ve never met, obviously) on this one, but if you truly are the huge fans of our work that you profess to be, then would it not have been smart to get in touch before you trumpeted our potential involvement in this?*
[…]
I can’t stress enough that I’m not involved and am not going to profit from this new enterprise.
That’s the lousy part.
The upside of this, is that I’m genuinely touched and taken aback at the fan response to this news of McSpaced. If the huge-fans-of-our-work-at-Wonderland weren’t previously aware that there was a loyal fanbase for SPACED, they surely must be now.
[…]
My favourite responses? The poster who wrote that this was the worst news ”since Johnny Alpha got killed by that big flying monster in 2000AD”. Also much kudos go to the person on CHUD whose simple answer to the U.S. version was this;
”Don’t”
So there you have it, rakt från hästens mun. Personligen tyckte jag ”don’t”-kommentaren var mycket passande och fyndig (förstår du inte så är du inget riktigt fan) och jag kan bara instämma. En del drar upp Office-remaken och talar om hur det faktiskt kan funka, men det är ju snarare undantag än regel. Dessutom har jag inte ens sett amerikanska Office – jag hatar den brittiska djupt och innerligt.
Fixerad vid det svängiga sextiotalet och alla dess moden drömmer den unga Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) om att bli en mode designer. När hon blivit intagen till London College of Fashion packar hon sina grejer och flyttar från sin lugna tillvaro på landet med sin mormor till den livliga storstaden, ovetandes om att den kan vara mycket ibland. Obekväm med hur studenterna i hennes boende festar bestämmer hon sig för att flytta till ett gammalt hus som ägs av Ms. Collins (Diana Rigg) för att hyra ett rum.
