Remembering Stan Winston: Cameron, McG, Favreau, Wright, Darabont
The passing of Stan Winston hit everyone off guard yesterday, including the many people who have worked with the legend over the years.
McG has posted a statement on the Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins website, declaring his intention to dedicate the fourth Terminator film to the memory of Stan. Here is an excerpt: “Stan was a good guy who was in it for all the right reasons. He loved what he did. Stan confided in me once, that he created imaginary monsters as a child to keep him company. He said he felt like the only kid in the world who did this. Little did he know his childhood friends would come to be the heroes of millions. You are not alone Stan, the fruit of your imagination will be with us forever.”
Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright blogged: “A real genius. And a sad loss.”
Meanwhile, AICN has done an awesome job of gathering statements from some of the filmmakers who have worked with him over the years. Here are some highlights.
James Cameron: “We’ve lost a great artist, a man who made a contribution to the cinema of the fantastic that will resound for a long long time. I don’t need to list the indelible characters he and his team of artists brought to the screen. Readers of your site know them. We all know Stan’s work, the genius of his designs. But not even the fans necessarily know how great he was as a man. I mean a real man — a man who knows that even though your artistic passion can rule your life, you still make time for your family and your friends. He was a good father, and he raised two great kids. His wife of 37 years, Karen, was with him in the beginning, helping him make plaster molds in their garage for low budget gigs on TV movies, and she was with him at the end.”
Jon Favreau: “He was a giant. I was blessed to have known him. I worked with him on both Zathura and Iron Man. He was experienced and helped guide me while never losing his childlike enthusiasm. He was the king of integrating practical effects with CGI, never losing his relevance in an ever changing industry. I am proud to have worked with him and we were looking forward to future collaborations. I knew that he was struggling, but I had no idea that he would be gone so soon. Hollywood has lost a shining star.”
Frank Darabont: “One of the blessings of being in movies is when you meet icons whose work you deeply admire and they turn out to be fantastic people. They’re the ones you’re honored to encounter along the way, the people who are kind and gracious and inspiring in addition to being superbly talented. They exhibit genuine humanity and touch your heart in various ways, and you foolishly figure they’ll always be around to get to know better as the years go on. But then they are taken far too soon, and you’re left with the deep and lasting regret of not having gotten to know them nearly as well as you’d wanted or expected to. I’ve met and lost a number of extraordinary people who fall into this category, among them Roddy McDowell, John Frankenheimer, Sidney Pollack, Dave Stevens, and John Alvin. Stan Winston now sadly joins my list.”
Read the full letters, including more from Joe Dante, Rick Baker, Monster Squad director Fred Dekker and others on AICN.
Ashton Kutcher’s Scruffy Mystery: Solved!
OK, so Ashton Kutcher’s been growing this crazy beard for months now, and all of a sudden I see today he’s shaved it off. What gives?Janice, Santa Fe, N.M.
Yep, Ashton Kutcher had a beard there for a quite a few weeks all right. He grew it as part of a Jewish tradition, per In Touch. Kutcher isn’t Jewish, and neither is his wife, Demi Moore, but, like their mutual friend Madonna, they like to study Kabbalah, a mystical offshoot of Judaism.
“He is growing [the beard] because of the Jewish and Kabbalah holiday called Lag Ba’Omer,” one “insider” told the magazine.
Um, not quite. Experts tell me that this insider didn’t get it quite right. Here’s the real deal behind Kutcher’s hot fuzz…
Some Jews and Kabbalah followers adjust their habits during a 50-day stretch in the springtime. In honor of one the sadder periods in their history, they forego certain indulgences, such as weddings, music, shaves or haircuts. Indeed, according to photos, Kutcher started growing his beard right around Passover, the start of that 50-day phase.
At the other end is Savuot, which ended yesterday, leaving Ashton clean to scrape that beast off his face. Which he did.
There’s only one day during that stretch when it’s A-OK to whip out the Gillette Mach Five, and that’s a day called Lag Ba’Omer. This year it fell on May 23. Lag Ba’Omer is supposed to be like a little oasis of happy in the middle of the sad. You can even light bonfires, if you’re into it.
In other words, you don’t grow your hair because of Lag Ba’Omer, as In Touch reported. You cut it off, if you want to, on Lag Ba’Omer.
Got that? Good. Now just wait till you see what shenanigans Asthon’s planning for the Fast of Tammuz in July!
Oh, and be my fan on Facebook, ’kay?
American version of Spaced put to rest?
If the rumors are to be believed, then the inevitable has occurred. Fox has passed on the Americanized version of Spaced (nicknamed “McSpaced”) and its fans are breathing a collective sigh of relief.
Producer McG made a huge mistake when he decided to not include the creators of the original, British version in his remake yet he included their as if they were still involved. Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes-Stevenson and Edgar Wright have been very vocal in their displeasure regarding the remake.
Known for its cinematic style and pop culture references, the original Spaced launched the careers of everyone involved. Pegg and Wright have gone on to bigger and better things (such as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) and Stevenson has starred in several British productions afterwards.
It’s never a good sign when one is trying to remake a show and pisses off the original creators. NBC was smart enough to have the creators of The Office rewrite their original pilot and give them creator credits. Why couldn’t Spaced?
[via Aint It Cool]
Schwimmer Lords Over Little Britain
Who knew David Schwimmer was such an Anglophile?
Fresh from his feature directorial debut, the veddy British comedy Run Fat Boy Run, the former Friends star is currently helming the Los Angeles-set segments of the upcoming HBO six-parter Little Britain USA, based on the BBC sketch show of the same name (minus the USA part).
Like the U.K. original, the series will still focus on the adventures of comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams, albeit in a variety of North American settings. Production is currently underway in North Carolina.
Guest stars appearing in Schwimmer’s segments so far have included Rosie O’Donnell and Sting.
Schwimmer, who also directed the occasional episode of Friends, got decent reviews for his effort on Run Fat Boy Run, but the tale of a commitment-phobic schmoe, played by Simon Pegg, who enters a marathon to win his awfully hot girlfriend back wasn’t as well received as the recent Pegg-starring indie sleeper hits Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.