Which always drives me crazy.
...if fate had been a little kinder, a “Spirit” feature film would have debuted in the 1980s that would not only have been revolutionary but -- those of us involved in it were convinced -- a huge hit ...
... if our “Spirit” had lived and had been as successful -- both creatively and commercially -- as I remain convinced it would have been ... would he [John Musker] have been tasked to animate “The Green Hornet?” ... what if the [Diseny Animation] department had been gutted of talent? ...
Ah yes, I remember those halcyon days as if they were only a quarter century ago.
What if Eisner and Katzenberg had bought my reimagining of Gone With the Wind with Mickey, Donald and Goofy as Scarlett, Rhett and Ashley Wilkes? I tremble to think. I could have been somebody instead of the washed up bum you see before you today.
Some of Mr. Leiva's facts and suppositions are a little different from what I remember at the time, but hell. The "What If" game is always fun to play . Pointless, but fun.
Trouble is, there's only the things that happened, not the things that could have happened if cruel fate ... or some dim-bulb Hollywood executive ... hadn't gotten in the way.
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7 comments:
Despite the fact that Miller's Spirit will most likely be a piece of shiot I'm guessing these recollections are awfully 'rose-colored'.
Assuming that somehow Bird was a genius from day one and he was capable of the same level of direction and storytelling 20+ years ago that he is today is pretty silly at best.
AND assuming that the American public would have received a comic adaptation at that time (no matter how good it might or might not have been) especially from Disney is pure fantasy. I doubt if Spiderman had come out 20 years ago if it would've been the hit it turned into.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever read. The previous poster is thinking like a typical clueless film executive or marketing analyst. Did the Christopher Reeve Superman movies suffer because the trends were against them? Spiderman would have been equally successful released at any time. If you build it, they will come. The only thing that changes is it becomes easier to finance films that are perceived to be in the trendy genre. That leads to crap and that's what kills the trend.
I do agree about Miller, though. I find his films unwatchable. Also, Spirit is totally the wrong property for his dark broody style. I'll wait for word of mouth on that one.
Read the article, Anon #1. Disney was never going to make Spirit. Brad and Jerry were, with talent they hoped to lure FROM Disney.
And yes, Brad was pretty goddamn good, even 20 years ago.
Read the article, Anon #1. Disney was never going to make Spirit. Brad and Jerry were, with talent they hoped to lure FROM Disney.
And yes, Brad was pretty goddamn good, even 20 years ago.
But you repeat yourself ...
I think it was worth repeating.
I was around then and the animation tests were FABULOUS!
Years later we petitioned Turner Animation to get Brad & The Spirit as the next project after Cat's Don't Dance. Right then, they were bought by Warner Bros. Sigh. I have no desire to see the FM version. I will just play the Bird/Kurtz version in my head and be happier for it.
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