Hello, everyone! It’s One Of Us’ weekly article series, “The Weekly Wrap-Up.” Covering everything from film announcements to comic books, “The Weekly Wrap-Up” ensures that the biggest stories of the week are analyzed and discussed by our team of writers. This week we cover the casting of Chris Hemsworth for Paul Fieg’s Ghostbusters, Uwe Boll’s YouTube temper-tantrum, the cast of Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur and a new cartoon series starring The Three Stooges.
Uwe Boll’s Meltdown After Failed Kickstarter
For those that don’t know, Uwe Boll, a man who fancies himself a “director,” recently released several YouTube videos bemoaning the failure of his Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns for Postal 2, a sequel to the critically panned videogame film adaptation, and Rampage 3, the third movie in his mass murder film series. Best known for his awful video game adaptions of Bloodrayne, Far Cry and Alone in the Dark, Boll has been relatively quite as of late. However, with the failure of raising any semblance of interest in his projects, Boll has gone on to blame the general public and Hollywood for his recent troubles.
“So, basically, my message is fuck yourselves. It looks like no one gives a shit about Rampage 3, so maybe I shouldn’t do it then. I have enough money to play golf until I’m dead.”
The German filmmaker went on to describe Rampage 3 as an “important” movie, and continued to blame lack of interest in the film on fantasy and superhero movies.
“I wanted to do Rampage 3 because it is an important movie, but it looks like you are easier giving $600k to make a movie about some retarded wizard in the forest or some Marvel Avengers bullshit dirt. So goodbye, and goodbye Hollywood.”
Though I don’t advise it, you can watch Boll’s immature rants on his YouTube page.
Chris Hemsworth Joins Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters
Thor’s already encountered otherworldly beings, so perhaps ghosts were the next step. Yes, everyone’s favorite Norse God Chris Hemsworth is going to be in the upcoming reboot of Ghostbusters… but not in the role you’d expect. Variety reports that Hemsworth will be a part of the female lead Paul Feig directed reinvigoration of the franchise, but as the new company’s receptionist, a position originated by Annie Potts as the Janine Melnitz character. Hemsworth joins Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones & Kate McKinnon as the busting team.
This sounds like a fantastic idea. With its all female recast, this reboot of Ghostbusters already has subverted expectations. What better way to continue that by giving a role that’s usually associated with a female face in the series and given to one of the most ridiculously masculine actors in Hollywood? It’ll be interesting to see Hemsworth extend his comedy chops, something that’s been vaguely teased in the trailers for the Vacation reboot. Hopefully he won’t attempt to pull the deadpan snark that made Potts’ character so memorable and will bring something new to the table. Still, we’ll have to see how he bounces off the comedic chops of the core group.
Three Stooges Cartoon
Confirmed via The Hollywood Reporter, Adult Swim’s Christy Karacas (Superjail) and animation studio Timehouse have announced that The Three Stooges will return to television as an animated series. Said to be 52-episodes, The Three Stooges will feature the slapstick humor and antics of Curly, Larry and Moe.
Titmouse President Chris Prynoski described his appreciation for the original series of shorts and films, swearing by his farther, a life-long Three Stooges fan, that he would treat the property with respect.
“I grew up watching The Three Stooges with my father. When I signed on to helm this new show, I made a blood oath to my Dad that I would treat the Stooges brand like it was a newborn baby Fabergé egg. With the cartoon making team we have lined up at Titmouse, it’s sure to be the most batty, bananas, insanely giggle-inducing version of the Three Stooges your eyeballs and brainhole have ever experienced. Dad, I won’t let you down!”
I doubt slapstick comedy would have ever been as popular without The Three Stooges. Though tragedy and hardship seemed to constantly follow the actors that comprised vaudeville comedy act for decades, they managed to create a legacy that is respected and honored to this day. A cartoon to series based on the chaotic and humorous lives of the trio is a perfect way to introduce a new generation to The Three Stooges.
The Good Dinosaur Shakes Up Its Cast
Just when you thought the production shake ups for Pixar’s upcoming dinosaur couldn’t get any more plentiful, they do. The official voice cast and character descriptions for The Good Dinosaur were revealed this week, featuring Raymond Ochoa as the Apatosaurus main character Arlo, Jeffrey Wright as his father, Frances McDormand as his mother, Steve Zahn as a pterodactyl and Sam Elliot, AJ Buckley & Anna Paquin as a trio of Tyrannosaurus Rexes. This is a considerable recasting from what was initially announced with McDormand being the only hold over from the previous cast, which included John Lithgow as the father, Lucas Neff as Arlo and Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris & Judy Greer as Arlo’s three siblings. In fact, only one sibling character is included in the new cast with Blackish‘s Marcus Scribner as Arlo’s brother.
As I’ve mentioned before, this is only the latest example of Dinosaur‘s troubled production. Original director Bob Petereson was ousted and replaced with Pete Sohn & the film was extensively retooled for story problems which delayed it to its November 25th release date. This is potentially worrying, especially since many of the cast members removed were pretty powerhouse talents. That’s not to say that new additions to the cast like Sam Elliot or Jeffrey Wright are slouches, but it’s still worrying to see a cast shake up like this occur after all the previous retoolings. Then again, Pixar has been known to scrap ideas late in the game and give their films extensive revamps. Even the original Toy Story went through a similar overhaul before becoming the beloved modern classic it is today. So, we’ll have to wait and see if this is more in line with that artistic example of extensive revamping or if we’ll get another Brave style fiasco out of this.
