The Men Who Would Be King (Excerpts About The 2004 Film)
May 27, 2021 5:39:22 GMT -5
Poe's Coats Host Toast, A comet crashing into Earth, and 4 more like this
Post by gothicarchiesfan on May 27, 2021 5:39:22 GMT -5
The Men Who Would Be King is a 2011 book about the rise and subsequent fall of the Dreamworks Company and while it's more focused on the business side of things rather than the individual films, it does include a few very interesting references to the difficult production of the 2004 Lemony Snicket film.
"By the time of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, a film that Parkes and MacDonald were producing for DreamWorks and Paramount, which was due out in December of 2004, the bloom was off the rose between Spielberg and his onetime favorites."
"The film had originated at Paramount, where it was initially being produced by Scott Rudin and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. When they dropped out over budget issues, Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing asked Parkes and MacDonald, who she knew were fans of the project, to come onboard as producers, which they did, bringing in DreamWorks as a partner."
"Lemony Snicket was another movie where Spielberg was called in to mediate between Parkes and an unhappy director after an unhappy production, in this case Brad Silberling. When Parkes insisted that his own cut of the film be tested against Silberling's, Silberling called on the Big Guy. Though, according to a source, Spielberg didn't come to Silberling's rescue as he'd hoped. "I think Brad wanted Steven to step up and say, 'Leave Brad alone.' And I don't think he did." Even so, Silberling apparently used the occasion to tell him bluntly that Parkes was hurting his studio more than helping it."
“The whole making of the movie, which starred Jim Carrey as the sinister and eccentric Count Olaf, had in every way lived up to the unfortunateness of its title. Executives at Paramount were nervous about its cost ($170 million) and fretted that it was too dark, and Carrey, a notorious prima donna, was at his worst, griping about having to wait around in heavy prosthetics and makeup; insisting on multiple takes (one person who worked on the film joked that five thousand feet of film was used to capture a scene of Carrey walking out the door); and prone to capricious mood swings. After insisting that he had to fly to London to try on wigs for his role, and after this had been arranged and a private jet was waiting for him on the runway, Carrey suddenly announced that he didn't want to go after all. Unlike his costar Meryl Streep, who was staying at a hotel in Downey, California, where Lemony Snicket was being shot, driving around in a rented Prius, and rhapsodizing about what great chicken dinners she was having at night, Carrey was staying at his home in Malibu and being helicoptered to the set every day.”
"By the time of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, a film that Parkes and MacDonald were producing for DreamWorks and Paramount, which was due out in December of 2004, the bloom was off the rose between Spielberg and his onetime favorites."
"The film had originated at Paramount, where it was initially being produced by Scott Rudin and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. When they dropped out over budget issues, Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing asked Parkes and MacDonald, who she knew were fans of the project, to come onboard as producers, which they did, bringing in DreamWorks as a partner."
"Lemony Snicket was another movie where Spielberg was called in to mediate between Parkes and an unhappy director after an unhappy production, in this case Brad Silberling. When Parkes insisted that his own cut of the film be tested against Silberling's, Silberling called on the Big Guy. Though, according to a source, Spielberg didn't come to Silberling's rescue as he'd hoped. "I think Brad wanted Steven to step up and say, 'Leave Brad alone.' And I don't think he did." Even so, Silberling apparently used the occasion to tell him bluntly that Parkes was hurting his studio more than helping it."
“The whole making of the movie, which starred Jim Carrey as the sinister and eccentric Count Olaf, had in every way lived up to the unfortunateness of its title. Executives at Paramount were nervous about its cost ($170 million) and fretted that it was too dark, and Carrey, a notorious prima donna, was at his worst, griping about having to wait around in heavy prosthetics and makeup; insisting on multiple takes (one person who worked on the film joked that five thousand feet of film was used to capture a scene of Carrey walking out the door); and prone to capricious mood swings. After insisting that he had to fly to London to try on wigs for his role, and after this had been arranged and a private jet was waiting for him on the runway, Carrey suddenly announced that he didn't want to go after all. Unlike his costar Meryl Streep, who was staying at a hotel in Downey, California, where Lemony Snicket was being shot, driving around in a rented Prius, and rhapsodizing about what great chicken dinners she was having at night, Carrey was staying at his home in Malibu and being helicoptered to the set every day.”