DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 39

Ooop, sequel alert.
Actually, no. This is a prequel.

The Phantom Menace has a lot to answer for!
Quite. Anyway, as I said, this is a prequel to 1994 gross-out comedyDumb & Dumber (the first hit from The Farrelly Brothers, who went on tomake There’s Something About Mary, etc.)

Another Jim Carrey yuckathon then?
Sadly, no. Mr Carrey continues to shun sequels to his movies – perhapsstill smarting after the execrable Ace Venture 2: When Nature Calls.Still, at least that ensures The Return Of The Grinch will remain apipedream.

But the Farrelly Brothers are back, yes?
Er, no.

Jeff Daniels?
Nope.

Oh. So what’s going on?
Dumb & Dumberer is set in the 80’s, where our idiot heroes Harry andLloyd are geeky High School teens who meet for the first time. Awww.Much cheap-laugh hilarity ensues. It’s Dumb & Dumber with a dash ofAnimal House!

Oh joy. So what’s the prognosis?
A test screening apparently went very badly, resulting in “fakelaughter” at all the misfiring “jokes”. The movie has no real starsinvolved – beyond a jobbing Christopher Walken – so box-office death iscertainly on the cards.

Shame. Any positives to end on?
The young actor who plays Lloyd apparently does a fabulous Jim Carreyimpression and merits some praise.

Oh go on – end on a negative.
The young actor who plays Harry is apparently out-acted by hishairstyle.

Pitof, director of the upcoming Catwoman (15 Apr 03)

French director Pitof is set to make the long-awaited Catwoman movie,currently in pre-production. The visually-stylish director responsiblefor the look of The City Of Lost Children, amongst others, was recentlyinterviewed about the project for ‘Allocine.com’ which has Halle Berryattached in the lead role.

The below interview is a rough translation of the French interview,which has been amended and paraphrased in the interest of readability:

• Q: How did a French visualist become attached with Catwoman?
  A: I do not know! (laughter). After the incredible experiment of Alien:Resurrection [on which he worked on the visual effects], I wanted todirect myself towards the Hollywood studios. [An] opportunity arose viamy American agent which meant meeting with many producers… It is inthis manner that I was connected on Catwoman.
• Q: At which stage of production is Catwoman?
  A: For the moment, the project is still under development. We have astar who is interested [Halle Berry]. Dates start to advance. But Icannot really say any more: the script is not finished yet, and all isstill a little fuzzy. One hopes to be able to start filming in theAutumn of 2003, for an release in Summer 2004.

  

• Q: Do you consider contacting your former colleagues of Duboi forcertain effects in the film?
  A: We are currently evaluating how to work with French and foreignpartners on the level of the visual-effects. It is clearly the subjectof the day [Pitof left for the ‘Warner Brothers’ studio from Los Angelesat the end of our telephone conversation).
• Q: With Vidocq, it appears that you had already approached the topic ofthe superhero… is this film considered a calling card to ‘WarnerBrothers’ that you were man for the job?
  A: Absolutely. Vidocq can completely be seen like a superhero “with theFrenchwoman”. At the same time, I do not think that it is the componentsuperhero of the film which convinced the studio: it is rather theuniverse and the a little particular treatment of the image and thedesign which attracted ‘Warner’.
• Q: Tell us about the character, little known to the general publicoutside of Batman. How do you hope to approach it?
  A: Catwoman is a superheroine with her own bases, but with the attitudesof a cat: a night-vision, cat reflexes, a different instinct, as well asmany other capacities which make her superhuman. I knowing that she doesnot have either the capacities of Superman and that she is subjected tothe traditional physical laws.

  It is at the same time a superheroine which goes beyond the comics. Sheis a sexual symbol, of felinity, of femininity. Moreover, unlike theother superheroes, for which there are indeed Superman or Batman, theconcept is that many Catwomen existed through time and that any womancan become Catwoman.

  Now, the concept is to evolve this character in a relatively realisticworld, as with Spider-Man. We will transpose reality somewhat, probablyin an immediate future, but in a North American urban environment withsome traditions. The matter of film is really to treat a superheroinewith the thickness of a character of woman: we do not want to makeCatwoman a bimbo or a retributive sexual bomb… she is a hero of woman,for the women.

  

• Q: The character of Catwoman in modern audiences’ eyes remains MichellePfeiffer in a sexy leather costume from Batman Returns. How will you tryto move away you from this iconic image?
  A: It is always a problem to fight against such an icon. But all will bedifferent: there is no direct bond with Batman, and the project is notin the imagery of Batman – who will also not appear in the film. Theenvironment will not be Gotham City, the history will be different, thecostume will be different… One only keeps the concept of Catwoman. Theidea is to start its history from zero, and to launch, why not, a seriesof several films.
• Q: How you explain the current vogue for adaptations of comic-books? Arethey new heroes for the American public, gooses that lays golden eggsfor the studios or a true artistic will around interesting and deepcharacters?
  A: It is a little a mixture of all. These days, with modern digitaltechnology, we make live – in flesh and bone – superheroes. Until now,the TV series and animated drawings were always somewhat kitsch, andmaintained the superheroes within the framework of TV. Today, we havethe technological means to make these superheroes real in an extremelyrealistic way, and to transpose to the cinema what one could imagine byreading the comics.

  I think that this wave will not stop for the moment, because we didhaven’t arrived yet at what audiences want to see, and of what one canshow with these characters and these universes.

  

• Q: Halle Berry recently signed for the title role. Why her?
  A: Initially because she is an excellent actress. We also neededsomebody very cat-like who creates a real ambiguity with two characters:a cat and a woman. And that this woman, by her face, her attitude andher body, expresses a feeling of felinity. And Halle Berry has reallyall the qualities for that.
• Q: Precisely, let us speak about the public. ‘Warner Brothers’ plans toproduce Catwoman, a new Superman, and at least two new Batman movies.Isn’t there a risk of overdose, or of over-saturation?
  A: I do not believe [that], because the fans of Batman are notinevitably fans of Catwoman, or inevitably that of Superman… Therewill be perhaps over-saturation in the end. But audiences are, for themoment, always ready – as one could see with Daredevil.
• Q: What makes, according to you, a good superhero film and a bad one?
  A: A good superhero film answering our desires. It must be as faithfulas possible to its origins but without being limited by them. That’swhat makes them a very difficult exercise. It is necessary to havedigested the charter of the superhero and to have treated it and withoutextrapolating too much either compared to the comic original…

  A successful example was Spider-Man: Sam Raimi added doses of somethingoriginal with the unexpected choice of Tobey Maguire, while remaining inthe vein of the comic and respecting its codes.

• Q: You are currently developing a Hollywood movie: how do you see theAmerican industry compared to the world of French cinema?
  A: The answer is contained in your question! One speaks about Frenchcinema and American industry. In France, one makes more artistic cinema.

  Here in Los Angeles, the cinema before is an industry and is managed assuch. It is a completely different thing. Moreover I thank Jean-PierreJeunet for having given myself some experience [on Alien: Resurrection]and to have allowed me to include/understand the operation, which is100% industrial.

  The director does not have any capacity in Hollywood: it is an employeejust like another, solicited however in a creative and artistic way. Iam today in the “positive phase” where the studio wants my opinion andto know what I want to make, knowing that the project is still underdevelopment…

  But once all will be stopped, if I am not able to make the things asthey want which they are, I am thanked and I sent back to France… Thesystem is like that, I know it, and it is obviously terrifying. Notterrifying on the level of control, because we have this control fromthe moment when our ideas are those which the studio has a desire forhearing – but terrifying on the return: if the film does not correspondso that they say ‘Goodbye!’

Note that these are US release dates.