The Hot Button by David Poland

Friday, 29 August 1997

NEWS ON THE BEACH: A passionate reader, Ms. Sheila H of Houston, Texas, wrote in to give me some info on the novel, The Beach, including the fact that it is not, as I miswrote, about war. Sorry about that. Here, in her words, is what it is about. "The Beach is a superb book about a backpacking subculture of drifting Gen-Xers in search of paradise or, at least, a paradise not yet discovered and overrun by tourists. It is set in Thailand, and the central character is given a map to 'paradise' by a mysterious stranger who commits suicide. It could be described as a cross between Lord of the Flies and something out of Joseph Conrad. The main character is a guy obsessed by video games, nicotine and movies about Vietnam, and he bites off a whole lot more than he can chew. Anyway, it's well worth reading whether it gets made into a film (it could be a great one, IMO) or not. And Danny Boyle could be the perfect director for this. It's also a hell of a better fit for Leonardo DiCaprio than American Psycho." Thanks, Sheila.
40 ACRES & A GATE: Funny, I can't tell whether that title is a racist thing or just an appropriate reference. I guess you'll let me know. Anyway, BET founder Robert Johnson is in the process of starting the first black-owned movie studio ever. The studio will make black-themed films for TV and the big screen. As New Line and Fox 2000 have proven, this can be a very lucrative business, and there is a lot of talent just waiting for an opportunity. Johnson's initial capital investment will be $100 million, in stark contrast to the $1 billlion or so invested in DreamWorks so far. But Johnson is looking to start with three low-budget films a year and 10 TV movies, so the investment in that amount of product, before distribution, is probably less than $60 million total. That's less than the budgets on most of the DreamWorks products to date (Paulie and Mouse Hunt were cheaper).
ARMAGEDDON SPIN WATCH: America is doing great at the foreign box office, but I have to wonder why Variety gave Armageddon the headline in Monday's story. As I read the article about Armageddon's record opening in South Korea, I realized it's the same story I read last week. But the story was dominated by Deep Impact's No. 1 position with $9 million in 18 territories and reaching a cumulative international gross of $137 million so far. And Dr. Dolittle was clearly the No. 2 story, opening in Australia (a much bigger market than South Korea) with the second biggest opening there ever (beating ID4) with $3.9 million. And Mulan and Six Days, Seven Nights are kicking butt, too. I'm not suggesting that Armageddon be buried, but it seems to be getting excessive coverage for opening magnificently in one territory.
GODZILLA TOKYO WATCH: Can't accuse Variety of burying Godzilla. El Lizardo set an all-time attendance record in Japan as 500,000 people saw the new and abused version of the Japanese icon. The film had the advantage of also having more screens than any other film in Japanese history, but it beat out the previous record-holder, The Lost World, by about 150,000 audience members. Of course, that's a lot fewer people than who saw the film here in America on its opening weekend, but Japanese box office analysts expect the film to top $100 million in Japan alone. But will that help Sony? Toho holds the distribution rights to Japan as part of the deal for remake rights. Will Sony see any of the money? Probably. If not, $100 million could be the highest licensing fee ever.
MORE ON HALLOWEEN: H20: Saw the movie with a recruited crowd and a bunch of journalists Saturday night. I don't think Miramax meant to do it, but they even got a drunk guy in there who was yelling at the screen at the wrong times. Just like real moviegoing. The film, which stars Jamie Lee Curtis and completely disregards any Halloween sequel since No. 2, has one of the best horror flick third acts ever. Almost no dialogue. Action is king. Then there are the first two acts. Kevin Williamson's name is all over this project, but whatever contributions he made are either negligible or worthless. There's no thrill to Michelle Williams from "Dawson's Creek." (I don't want to wait for our death to be over.) This new kid, Josh Harnett is as beautiful as he is wooden. And it's a treat to see Asam Haan-Byrd all grown up. But the teen angle that was so fun in the original film is just filler here. On the other hand, Janet Leigh is used particularly well, especially if you are a film geek. Director Steve Miner does an OK job, but one really wishes Carpenter had been on board. He's just better. But this is Jamie Lee Curtis' movie and no one else's, and she delivers big time. I think Miramax may have overestimated the film by moving it to August. It isn't the next Scream. Nothing new here. But old, for lack of a better word, is good. Old works.
STAR WARS PREQUEL EXCLUSIVE: This exclusive glimpse at page one of the Star Wars script comes care of Vishal Sharma. Click here and don't worry. No spoilers here.
READER OF THE DAY: From Jamie T: "I enjoyed your roughcut.com article on scenes cut from The Truman Show. When I saw the movie, I felt that there were two scenes missing -- scenes you didn't mention in your article. 1. I read a newspaper review of the movie that mentioned Truman's wife was paid $10,000 each time they had sex. I expected to 'learn' this in the movie when Christof is interviewed, but it wasn't there. Did I miss it? 2. Toward the end of the movie Truman is introduced to a new co-worker. He seems attracted to her, yet the next scene has him 'escaping' from his basement. Was there a relationship between them? Do you know if other scenes were cut which explain my confusion?"

E ME: Well, Jamie, I believe the $10,000 thing came from the actors who had worked that out. There was a sex scene that faded into silky curtains with big, melodramatic music playing, but they cut that. The money thing was backstory. As far as the co-worker, clearly, a lot of the stuff with Natascha McElhone's character was cut, but frankly, I don't remember the moment with a new co-worker you are talking about that well. I think maybe you are talking about the woman that was hired to "replace" Truman's "wife." Do the rest of you have a better idea?