Rob Thomas Reveals Behind-The-Scenes Doc In The Works, Says He Considered Making ‘Veronica Mars’ As “Cool Noir”

After Warner Bros.
promised to back a “Veronica Mars”
movie if fans raised $2 million within a month and the Kickstarter campaign proved more than successful (it currently sits at $3.6 million raised),
there is no official word on whether the studio will help fund the film (they have agreed to distribute and market the effort) or if the Kickstarter campaign will make enough for it to be a fully
self-sufficient production. Regardless, they have already raised well beyond the $2
million they sought, and the production team plans to use the additional money
to make an even better product. 

Creator Rob Thomas told
Hitfix: “Warner Bros. has not promised us any
amount of money. There is a chance where, if we needed something, and there
wasn’t enough money in the budget, like one more actor deal, they’ve talked
like they’re a partner, and (said) ‘We’ll make sure we’ll make a terrific
movie.’ I just don’t think they would have let us make a cheap movie. I stop and think that if we had just made $2 million, after we paid for t-shirts and processing, it would have been a $1.4 million movie. That would’ve been really hard, and a really scaled-down movie. I don’t think we’re going to be in that position. Warner Bros., they’re certainly handling all the other big ticket expensive items, like distribution and promotion. So they’re pulling their share.”

As for the Kickstarter money, Thomas says in the interview, “We’ll
certainly spend that money. We’ll find cool stuff to do if we go over it.”

But right now, Thomas is just watching in awe as the money comes pouring in, and it’s something that’s being captured for posterity. “…I thought even with that total, a good first week would would be a million and a half or 2 million. I was certainly hoping for more than our Kickstarter goal, and optimistic about it. But it still blew my mind, watching that total go up and up yesterday. There was nothing like it. I was on an endorphin high. My attention span was not longer than 4 seconds. Every tweet that was coming at me, every email, every phone call, watching that total go up, it’s the most mesmerized I’ve ever been by a computer screen,” he explained. “And there was a documentary film crew, making a film about the making of this movie and the campaign, in my face for 8 hours yesterday. So on top of that, I was also hyper-self-aware. It was one of the freakier days of my life.”

However, the question still remains on what a big screen “Veronica Mars” — scheduled to shoot this summer — will look like, and Thomas admits he’s tossed around ideas of going darker and delivering a “cool noir thriller” not unlike Steven Soderbergh‘s “Side Effects.” But it seems he won’t be straying too far outside of what fans expect. “At the end of the day, you know what? This is a crowd-funded movie. I should give the people what they want,” Thomas told the LA Times. “I think the fans want to see their favorite characters….They want to see Veronica do what she does.”

With almost 55,000 backers, and more than 20 days left, there is still a long way to go. As more money pours in, it seems it will only help Thomas in giving him a broader canvas with which to complete the film, and one can already sense he’s filled with a number of ideas that will hopefully result in the return and finale fans have long wanted. [Hitfix]