So it's true.
Will Farrell is being cast as the lead in a Land of the Lost movie. That's as stupid an idea as Jack Black as a Green Lantern and is pretty much guaranteed to destroy the idea as a viable franchise for yet another decade.
From an article with a quote attributed to Marty Krofft, one of the original producers of the LotL TV show, about the screenplay: "What they did is keep the integrity of the show, but they made it very funny for Will. The adventure is all there. There are going to be 50 Sleestaks!"
Get that? They made it funny for Will.
Well, at least something funny will be attached to Will Ferrell. It's about time.
When the Tim Burton Batman movie was first being announced as starring Michael Keaton it was reported as being a campy comedy along the lines of the 60s television show. This was, I suspected at the time, a feint to get a studio back an up and coming comedic actor with some growing box office appeal. No studio would back Keaton, known primarily to the public as a funny second banana, portraying a serious Bruce Wayne in a dramatic role. I am hoping that the Land of the Lost producers are applying the same sort of tactics with Farrell.
While the promise of 50 Sleestaks slowly rampaging across the big screen has me intrigued I am anticipating that Farrell will apply his usual gift of turning something as potentially fun and exciting as the pocket universe of the Land of the Lost into a huge black hole of Bewitched-level suck.
Tags: Land of the Lost
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Land of the Lost News: My worst fears realized
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I'm actually more scared of losing the weirdness than I am of adding unwanted laughs. I just want pylons, skylons, Enik's surprise temporal situation, and the whole "it's not just back-in-time but this weird, possibly artificially created and maintained, pocket universe", and all the stuff that entranced me as a kid. You know, all the stuff that got snuck in by slumming real science fiction writers. Compared to losing that, comedy-ing it up is trivial to me.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, the worst crime against LOTL has already been perpetrated: the dull, uninspired, "lets leech out all the cool stuff" 90s remake series.
Hey! I thought that Michael Keaton made a good Batman, despite my initial reservations.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Will Farrell is indeed a giant black hole of suckosity, as you describe.
I feel for you; I'm a life-long Fantastic Four fan and, well, that should be enough for you to figure out that I feel like I've been systematically plunger-raped by Tim Story and everyone associated with his two "movies."
ReplyDeleteWhen I think LOTL I get a panic attack -- it instilled me with a sense of dread. I think of Dad, sweaty and paranoid, making deals with the benevolent beige Sleestak while hiding from Skylons, Will and Holly running across the bridge between Alice and the T-Rex, and Chaka with a leg in a splint. Maybe I'm mixing up some of the events. But for a first-grader, that show was the shit.
Keaton did indeed do well as Batman. My point being that if the studios believed he was doing a serious role for what was only remembered as camp, the film would not have gone through with him in it
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much with Jack Norris on this one. I just blogged about this bit of "news" a few days ago.
ReplyDeleteRick Marshall always was sweaty, wasn't he?
By the way, where can you get those Sleestak banks from the earlier post?
ReplyDeleteJack Black as Chaka.
ReplyDeleteJus' sayin'
I feel like I've been systematically plunger-raped by Tim Story and everyone associated with his two "movies."
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see someone comparing a movie they didn't like to rape I lose any interest in anything they ever have to say because they are obviously a dick. I also feel a little ill.
Folded Soup, as long as Jack Black gets eaten by a T-Rex in a horrible way by the second scene I'm all for it.
ReplyDeleteMari, ok. Yeah, "rape" jokes are not that funny. They will be around for a while yet until the net evolves a bit past it. The cliche is over-used but is slowly fading.
ReplyDeleteNo one has mentioned what I think is the real reason this is getting made with Farrell: in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back he played a character named... Federal Wildlife Marshal Willenholly. It's like the proposed Dean Martin biopic starring Tom Hanks; that was inspired by an SNL sketch. AFAIK, it's been completely forgotten (I hope).
ReplyDeleteBTW, have you seen Saul of the Mole Men? It's quite Krofftish.
Saul is very Krofft-ish, but with soft core porn.
ReplyDeleteYes, I recall the Jay and Bob joke, it made me cringe because I saw the future and it was Will.
C'mon. Fifty Sleestaks can surely make even Farrell bearable.
ReplyDeleteNo they can't.
ReplyDeleteSleestak, did you ever see that 90s version? How can anything be a worse insult to LOTL's memory than that?
ReplyDeleteIt's fair to say that I will never be whole again following the brutal beating my Fantastic Four took at the hands of that icky Tim Story 'tard. Worse than the drubbing Batman took at the hands of Joel Schumacher. Worse that that Elektra movie.
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain, but wasn't that series a little tongue in cheek anyway?
At any rate, rub dirt in it and take a lap. If I found a reason to go on after the FF debacle, no doubt you'll do the same.
Jack, we do not speak of the 90s LotL or 90s comics.
ReplyDeleteJeremy: LotL, budget aside, was hard SF.
At least they are doing it wrong the right way!
ReplyDeleteif its gonna suck I mean really make it suck