Quote: WALL-E Director Andrew Stanton on Not Considering What The Audience Wants
Finding Nemo and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton let another Pixar secret slip while being interviewed by Suite101.
“The day we start thinking about what the audience wants, we’re going to make bad choices. We’ve always holed ourselves up in a building for 4 years and ignored the rest of the world, because nobody are bigger movie geeks than we are, so we know exactly what we are dying to see with our family and kids. We don’t need other people to tell us that. We trust the audience member in ourselves.”
I think this is one of the key reasons why the guys at Pixar are master storytellers. I think someone like M Night Shyamalan might say/believe the same thing but with close-minded egotistical mindset. The guys at Pixar are willing to collaborate internally, with a mindset focused on the best possible film. It’s a shame, because Shyamalan is a talented director, with good ideas, but no perspective. He could learn a lot from Pixar’s creative process.
via: UpcomingPixar
Tony Stark Appears in New Incredible Hulk TV Spot
A new TV spot for The Incredible Hulk features Tony Stark/Robert Downey Jr. Yes, we all knew that he was set to appear in the film, but it’s somewhat surprising to see Stark placed front and center here before we even gleam the movie’s logo, the Hulk or star Edward Norton. With Iron Man approaching $300 million domestically, it’s obvious why Universal and Marvel would emphasize the seamlessness, novelty and quality assurance represented by his cameo/connection.
This is a new approach to marketing and might very well be a way to work with, neutralize or counteract spoilers. Expect to see more interwoven ads in the future as Marvel’s stack of in-house projects take off; and also expect more editorials by the pound from Entertainment Weekly bemoaning superhero films as even the mainstream marketing geeks out and borders esoteric. But for now: “Look dude, Iron Man’s on TV. What’s going on !?!?! Does Stark fight the Hulk? How is it 5 o’clock already?”
via MovieBox
Christina Ricci Revs Up Nerds
We hear a moan comin'and it ain't from a black snake.
When Christina Ricci cruises into theaters as Trixie May 9 in the big-budget, live-action Speed Racer, she'll no doubt acquire a whole new fan base as the globe's geeks descend upon their local multiplexes.
"I try not to think of that stuff," Christina told News at the film's L.A. premiere Sunday. "I just go about my business."
But the 28-year-old, whothanks to smaller films such as Monster, Pumpkin and Prozac Nationalready has quite the cult following, admits it wasn't always just business.
There was a time that she "went to lots of clubs" but still managed to stay out of the gossip rags:
"At that time, there weren't as many paparazzi," she says. "There wasn't as much media attention then, so I was actually able to go through that phase without people paying attention to it."
Fair enough, but this next remark definitely got our attention. When asked about who she thinks looks good in the sand…
"Jessica Biel has a pretty nice body. She's got that perfect volleyball-playing-at-the-beach body. She belongs at the beach, really."
That moan we spoke of earlier just came and went.
BSG podcast recap: Episodes 403-407 Commentary
It took a bit for Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore to get back into his podcasts for this season’s episodes, so it took me some time to catch up myself.
As I’ve done in the past, I’ll just summarize some of what I thought were the more interesting parts of the podcasts. If you’re interested in learning more about Moore’s insights and details about each episode, you really should take the time to listen to the podcasts yourself. Now if only someone could sync up these podcasts with the Hulu videos, that would be awesome.
Here are the highlights …
#403 (He That Believeth in Me)
- RDM considers Razor as episodes 401 and 402, but just about everywhere else I believe this episode is considered the first of the season.
- He had considered having Starbuck appear in Lee’s quarters after he landed back on Galactica, rather than her show up flying beside his Viper. If Starbuck was in Lee’s quarters, they could play off her being a ghost, like Head Six to Baltar, for example.
- He almost had a scene with Anders, in the Viper, with his hand on the trigger about to shoot Seelix, pulling away at the last second.
- The scene with Anders’ glowing eye was pitched to RDM as quite more involved. Instead of one Raider, one came right upside down with his face two feet in front of his face with two other raiders coming up on both sides. Choreography was even involved. He imagines we’ll see it in the deleted scenes of the DVD.
- The pristine Viper will play a “pivotal role” in an upcoming episode. Considered a spoiler.
- At the time of this podcast (May 5) they were shooting episode 15 (he says he directed episode 14, first he’s done for the season).
#404 (Six of One)
- RDM uses a Mac. I know geeks like me like to know these things.
- In a few of these podcasts he starts with reading the outline of the episode as a whole. Later he stops doing this, which I’m glad for, since it’s unnecessary.
- He had considered different things happening when Roslin took Starbuck’s gun, like having it not fire or the safety being on. He notes that if the safety was on, Roslin would look pretty stupid.
- He had considered having Head Six casually point out Tory to Baltar, though he wouldn’t make the connection.
- There was a growing reluctance to use Head Baltar. RDM considered later that he should have taken it out of the scene with Tory. He says that he considers it a mistake, looking back, though says it will work within the show’s mythology when the “head characters” are explained later in how they work and why.
- Galactica will start to look more and more banged up as the season goes on.
- Before Bill Adama met with Starbuck, RDM originally was going to have him secretly climbing into the pristine Viper, flying around and firing and screaming, as though reflecting on the decision he has to make.
- Something else that was cut: Tyrol inspecting Kara’s viper, finding hyroglyphics in one of the wheel wells. Dropped it because there was too much to have to explain and translate for viewers, what they meant, etc.
#405 (The Ties That Bind)
- This podcast never turned up on my iTunes subscription. I had to listen to it via the website.
- Keep your eyes on the Adama/Roslin relationship.
- Originally RDM forgot to have Helo on the Demitrius. It took several drafts before he was alerted by the network that he hadn’t been doing much with Helo this season, and he agreed.
- Originally in one scene the Centurions were going to mimic Cavil’s actions with their hands, them looking themselves over and showing how they became self aware. Decided not to go that route because of the work involved with CGI and their time constraints.
- RDM said that Nicki Clyne (Cally) took the notice of her death well, though she said “uh oh” when she got the call, knowing it likely meant her demise.
- RDM didn’t know about the 1701-D on the door until he saw the dailies.
- He admits it was a bit “rickety” regarding the note Cally finds in the door.
- He makes no mention of the constellations seen through the window or during the shot of the Base Stars.
- He originally had dialogue with Adama and Tyrol, discussing that they were still investigating.
#406 (Escape Velocity)
- I didn’t notice this myself, be he mentions that many viewers noted that Tigh has admiral pips on his collar in the early scenes. He says it’s a deep mystery that he encourages everyone to analyze all over the internet, saying it could lead to who the final Cylon is, but then says it could be just a wardrobe mistake (but that’s not as fun). I’m going with wardrobe mishap.
- The book Adama reads with Laura will play into the story more this season, so keep an eye on it.
- The plotline with Caprica Six and Tigh is something to keep an eye on — couldn’t talk about it yet but it creates groundwork for the rest of the series. Based on promos for next week’s episode, that’s where it will really start to play into things.
- There’s a USC jersey in Joe’s Bar — oops.
- Tigh’s rank is back to colonel in another scene later. Dun dun duuuuun!
- Baltar should not have appeared to levitate or appear to have really been lifted. RDM thought it went too far but should still have appeared that possibly Six did it, but not so clearly.
#407 (The Road Less Traveled)
- Tyrol’s shaved head was Aaron Douglas’s idea.
- The death scene with Methias was originally much longer.
- The episode was originally going to end with Gaeta getting shot in the leg, but they instead put that into the next episode.
- Originally Tyrol talked in the final scene with Baltar entering his quarters. Ron thew a fit over the phone when they originally said they wanted to try Tyrol as silent. They shot both ways, but RDM saw both and decided the others were right, that their version was right for the scene.