(Kenny Ortega’s Match.com profile describes him as ‘a real man’s man.’)
It looks like Variety’s selling tickets to Frown Town today, as they report that High School Musical/This is It director Kenny Ortega will no longer be directing the remake of Footloose. It was once set to star Zac Efron until he dropped out and was replaced by fellow fruity eyebrow guy Chace Crawford.
Insiders said Ortega wanted to make a picture with elaborately staged musical numbers at a budget of $30 million or so. Par production chief Adam Goodman wanted an edgier drama with less emphasis on the musical numbers and a budget around $25 million or less.
The disagreement continued until Ortega decided his dance with the studio had ended.
OH MY GOSH DID YOU SEE WHAT THE VARIETY WRITER DID THERE? Anyway, I’m sad they couldn’t come to an agreement, but you try negotiating with a guy who keeps breaking into song.
The people behind the Michael Jackson movie This is It have always maintained that the movie would only have an oh-so-classy limited run of two weeks. And if you believed that, punch yourself in the face for being a dipsh-t. Turns out, before he died they re-recorded videos for “Thriller”, “Man in the Mirror”, and “Earth Song”, and of course you’ll be able to see those. IN 3-D! And possibly… 4-D! That’s a lot of D!
The intention was to use the new videos as transitions into the performed versions of the songs, transitions that are a long way from the original. Choreographer/associate producer Travis Payne promises that the new “Thriller” is nothing like the boy on the date with the girl, while at the same time, “We didn’t touch what we considered the sacred inside of it.”
And while the new version of “Thriller” and the other songs will be screened with This Is It in plain old 3D next week, that’s not how they were intended to be seen, and that might not be the last we see of them either.
Ortega also revealed that there may be a 3D re-release of Michael Jackson’s This Is it later on, including the revamped music videos that were originally to be broadcast during the concerts in 3D. But that’s not nearly as elaborate as how the videos were originally intended to be shown. The plan was to have the audience members don 3D glasses in the middle of the concert, but it was going to be much more than just 3D screens in the corner. As Payne explained it to me, “We had 3D and also frontal elements and overhead elements that actually created a 4D environment that the audience was sitting in.” [CinemaBlend]
That’s right, they were sitting IN A TIME MACHINE! We could watch the extinction of the dinosaurs, the Big Bang, or the Kennedy assassination, BUT F-CK IT, LET’S GO TO A MICHAEL JACKSON CONCERT. Looks like I won’t be needing this anymore! (*lights Intro to Physics book on fire*)
The producers of This is It, the movie hastily slapped together in order to profit off Michael Jackson’s death, have decided to officially dedicate their corpse rape to Michael’s children. Aw, how sweet. It’s just like when my stepdad would bang strippers and say, “I’m doing this because of you.” (See? Because the stripper was my mom.) From slug person Roger Friedman:
When audiences finally see “This Is It” next week, they will also have a lump in the throat moment at the end: a dedication of the movie to Michael’s kids, Prince, Paris, and Blanket. I’m told the decision was made to dedicate the film that way by Jackson’s executors, John Branca and John McClain. They are also the film’s executive producers.
(*sniff*) I always cry at manipulative, shamelessly contrived cash grabs.
Sony is also releasing a companion album to the movie next Tuesday. But it won’t contain any of the live music played during rehearsals in the film. Instead, it’s an album “inspired by the film.” In other words: it will contain the known studio recordings of songs included in the movie like “Human Nature” and “Billie Jean.” Fans who expected a true “live” album from Jackson may be a tad disappointed. The album does include the title song, however. That’s something!
Do you like the songs of Michael Jackson? Own all his albums? Well now you can own those same songs… on a new album! Do it for Blanket!
This is the trailer for This Is It, the posthumously cobbled-together concert rehearsal footage of Michael Jackson, ‘directed’ by High School Musical’s Kenny Ortega. Michael Jackson was a very important person, because, as this trailer reminds us, “His dreams inspired the world.” It’s true. A lot of people don’t realize, the first page of the bible says “And on Day Zero Michael Jackson had a dream about the world, and God spake unto himself, ‘Sh’t, Michael, that’s a good idea!’ Yadda yadda yadda, now we have snuggies and Easy Cheese, and sh’t is pretty awesome.”
Here’s what actually happens in the trailer: Thriller fades in. CUT TO: Michael Jackson’s first appearance, accompanied by celestial opera music.
-”There’s Michael.”
-”The man is here.”
-”We’re all here because of him. And may that continue. With him leading the way.”
Read the rest of this entry »
This is the poster for This is It, the movie made from footage of Michael Jackson’s rehearsals for the concert tour he never did, which will play for two weeks starting October 28th. I admit it’s kind of a cool poster, if you can ignore the whole blatantly-capitalizing-on-the-man’s-death, from-the-director-of-High-School-Musical aspect of it. It also promises Michael Jackson “like you’ve never seen him before.” Now, I know that’s a cliché and thus easy for stupid people to type, but… really? Michael Jackson? Dude’s had three cameras on him practically since birth. You promise MJ “like we’ve never seen him before” and you better have footage of him drinking a 40 on the sh’tter.
Look for tickets wherever Slim Jims are sold.
[via Yahoo]
