Not being huge fans of Coca Cola or CGI-‘d polar bears we’ll admit any drama behind the scenes of Chris Weitz’s 2007 film, “The Golden Compass,” aside from the anti-religion-themes or lack thereof controversy, sort of passed us by.
But in a candid interview with DealMemo which perhaps explains his depressive, almost–quitting quote this week, Weitz says he was basically fucked over by the studio New Line and it was a brutal, ignominious experience. Evidently New Line cut 30 minutes of footage and blunted any of the edge from the original novels (like the anti-religious themes that New Line was afraid would turn off mainstream audiences). Suffice to say it sounds like Weitz will never work with them again.
“It was an utter violation of my status as a director, and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally” he said.
But apparently Weitz didn’t say anything at the time out of respect for all the other creatives who worked on the film (which explains why we probably never heard about it before). “I practically bit through my tongue, but I would be very happy to see ‘New Moon’ surpass ”The Golden Compass.’ Now, that dish is cold, and I’m ready to eat. I was treated badly, it was almost like they never read the books. They seemed frightened of offending the Right. This was a wonderful experience by comparison. I got to work with terrific young actors at the top of their game, and see Taylor Lautner perform so well.”
While it remains to be seen whether any of the ‘New Moon’ cast were acting at the top of the game (at least for this writer; and our review today sure doesn’t indicate otherwise), what is perfectly clear is that “New Moon” will not only surpass any ‘Golden Compass’ box-office records ($372 million worldwide which is not bad, but only $72 million domestically), but it will likely shatter them.
Summit Entertainment announced today that “New Moon” completely trounced midnight opening records by “Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince” ($22.2 million) and “The Dark Knight” (previous record holder with $18.5 million) by taking in a whopping $26.27 million in midnight screenings from 3,514 theaters last night. Predictions for box-office receipts this weekend are ranging in the $90-$100 million range which is outrageously good numbers if they can hit those targets and pretty good indication that no matter how much critics and many adults hate “Twilight,” it is here to stay.
Earlier this week we wondered if fickle tweens would still be interested around the time of “Eclipse” and “Breaking Dawn,” the third and fourth installments of the series and the answer will surely be — much to our chagrin — yes.
Now that he can taste vengeful success on his lips, apparently Weitz is not holding back in several interviews. Talking to the Wrap, he reiterated that New Line abused him and went over the line.
“It was a terrible experience because I was able to shoot what I wanted to — and then the cut of the movie was taken away from me and any reference to religion or religious ideas was removed. And the darkness and threat at the end of the story — anything that made it not a happy, popcorn-type movie — was removed. The voice of the key character was redone, all of this against my will.”
Revenge is sweet payback — if you want to look at it that way, it’s not as if Weitz stole money out of New Line’s pocket or anything — but apparently he has to say, “In your face, New Line,” as a satisfying way to get over the experience and we suppose we get that. Though it is a bit funny that Weitz is going to be congratulated and awarded for delivering from what most accounts is a piece of shit movie. Ah, irony. Meanwhile, who’s got that “Facepunch” poster already?
No offense to Chris but I mean come on. The reason nobody saw that movie was because a) It looked stupid, and b) the animals looked fake. Chalk it up to growing as a director and move on.
Not too sure if the studio's interference with the ending or squeamishness about "the Right" had everything to do with the movie's awfulness. This was hands down the worst screenplay adaptation I've ever read or seen – full of talky exposition, cutting nothing, and completely getting many of the characters downright WRONG, from Lord Asriel to Iorek to the bizarre marginalization of Lyra's daemon. The movie just sucked donkey balls and I'm sorry but that has a lot to do with the director (and screenwriter, coff coff).
No matter how well 'New Moon' does, I'm not sure he should be treating it as some kind of vindication of his directorial talents. The general consensus seems to be that it'll be successful in spite of his efforts.
Face Pnch did seem like a great movie. "Drop the gun or I'll blow your freaking face off! — Both of you drop your guns or I'll blow both of your freaking faces off!!" More classic than any of the actual dialouge uttered in New Moon.
It's nice to hear him come out about what happened while making The Golden Compass. For any fan of the novels that followed news on the production of the movie, it was pretty obvious that the film suffered from some extensive studio interference. Deleted scenes and script reviews have surfaced and it seems much of the material from the book was actually shot and the screenplay was fairly faithful to the source material. New Line, feeling pressure to deliver on a more accessable franchise, ordered a complete re-edit of the movie. They removed much of the book's religious overtones, which defeats the purpose of making a film based on a series of books where one of the main characters seemingly sets out on a quest to overthrow God. Furthermore, they cut off the last half hour of the movie, which was deemed too dark and cliff-hangerish. Realizing they didn't have a climax, they completely reordered sequences to kinda build a climax in post. In the interview, Weitz refers to the fact that originally actor Nonso Anozie recorded the voice of Iorek, the polar bear. New Line pressured him to drop the actor for Ian McKellan, a much bigger name but wrong for the part. I'm not saying Weitz's film would have been a masterpiece, but it would have been closer to the novel and it probably would've felt like it actually went somewhere.
Two words for you guys. SUPER. FARTS.
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/11/19/twilight-meets-youngblood-again-rob-liefeld-describes-badrock-screenplay-by-new-moon-director/#more-25229
I can't believe you paid to see New Moon, circus. Thom Dorke is so not worth my $10.
Well, The Golden Compass is now forgotten and Weitz can officially forget about it because New Moon broke 'The Dark Knight' opening day record. Unbelievable.
New Moon has already passed Twilight's opening weekend numbers.
I know The Playlist does their box office report on Sundays but we could use a fix today.
For the record, I had nothing to do with adding to the box office haul of Twilight 2.
Actually I paid 20 bucks to see it…the wife's ticket too. I only went for her sake. I drag her to 30 movies she doesn't want to see a year, figure I owe her one.
Good man, the wife has to enjoy things too.
It actually pains me so many good bands are associated with this movie. I know it helps the band reach out to a bigger audience, but it really makes me sick they had to do it for this movie.