MIGHTY MOVIE PODCAST - Interviews with Filmmakers » Video

ReelzChannel Video: The Deppage Factor: Other Mad Hatter Perfect Roles

Dan Persons — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:17:51 +0000

Every now and then there’s a casting choice that seems predestined, a true chicken/egg situation. A role it’s impossible to believe wasn’t written with a particular actor in mind. Or a case where it seems cosmic forces must have been at play, birthing the perfect star for a role just waiting to make the jump from the page to the big screen.

We certainly had that reaction when we saw the first Alice in Wonderland poster. In the following video feature, our Mighty Movie Geek takes a look at Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter, along with five other stars and the roles they were born to play. We call it the Deppage Factor.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

What’d you think? Did we miss your favorite casting kismet? Drop us a comment below.

Tim Burton at MoMA

Dan Persons — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:12:29 +0000

So you go into this room at New York’s Museum of Modern Art’s Tim Burton exhibit, and it’s like striking gold: the Jack Skellington figure is there, along with a choice selection of the replacement heads that were used to animate dialogue; there’s the creepy, completely covered baby Penguin wicker stroller from BATMAN RETURNS; you can see a MARS ATTACKS stop-motion figure and some test footage shot before Burton decided to go CG; plus the headless horseman figure and the EDWARD SCISSORHANDS outfit and ED WOOD’s angora sweater. Film geek heaven — and a must-have for MMP’s second video podcast.

I pull out my camcorder and power up, and am instantly intercepted by a MoMA PR person, who politely but firmly informs me that practically nothing in the room, save for Edward and Headless and a vitrine with some figures from THE CORPSE BRIDE, can be filmed.

“Including,” she points out, “the angora sweater.”

Okay, I can dig that, for whatever reasons legal or contextual, stuff may be off-limits (fortunately, no such prohibitions existed for the rest of the exhibit, and, as you’ll see in the video, it’s a big durn exhibit). But specifically throwing the barbed wire up around the angora sweater? Really? Is there some sort of legal constraint, or is this humble strip of fluff so iconic of… something… that dissemination of its presence here could completely blow the intent of the exhibit?

So sorry, all you PLAN 9 maniacs. You want to worship at the alter of the angora, you’re just going to have to make a pilgrimage to New York. Happily, once you’ve performed your obeisances, you’ll then have an opportunity to drink deeply of Tim Burton’s mad genius. There are tons of concept work here, drawn by Burton’s own hand, plus a stunning variety of original and heretofore unseen artwork, sculptures and installations created specifically for the exhibit, and a copy of the hard-to-see HANSEL AND GRETEL adaptation that Burton directed for Disney in 1982.

A lot of the film stuff — including concept designs for ALICE IN WONDERLAND and the aborted Burton version of SUPERMAN RETURNS — was not verboten, so you get a taste of it in this podcast, along with a good sampling of original art, some thoughts from the exhibit’s curators on the director’s life and work, and some footage of Burton’s very Tim Burtonesque appearance at the press presentation. Click on the player above to get a look.

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Burton & Sondheim: Together at Last

(Almost) Live from London: PIRATE RADIO vs. THE BOAT THAT ROCKED

Dan Persons — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:58:48 +0000

So I figured, while I’m in London interviewing some of the people involved with PIRATE RADIO, Richard Curtis’ film about those intrepid souls who in the 60’s brought the UK their daily dose of rock when the BBC was loathe to, why not try a little experiment in whether one dude with a netbook, a pocket camcorder, a copy of QuickTime Pro, and his hotel’s complimentary WiFi service can beat the international news bureaus at their own game? Hence this episode of MMP, our first video episode, wherein some Londoners voice their preference for film’s original, British title, THE BOAT THAT ROCKED, or the title it’ll be carrying in the U.S.

A few technical notes: First, if you’re watching this ep on Sunday the 18th or Monday the 19th, then mission accomplished — I’m actually still in London conducting my interviews. Next, I have to admit that cutting in QuickTime doesn’t allow for the most elegant product (I believe the sage physician Leonard McCoy coined the most fitting analogy: “Threading a needle with a sledgehammer”). Finally, this ep may not play on an iPod. Sorry, I just didn’t have enough time to research the proper formats. I’d appreciate hearing if you were able to see this ep or not. Just use the comments form on the MMP website.

In any case, please enjoy my chiseled good looks, and a set of rather interesting opinions on one of the more pressing issues of the day. (Okay, maybe I have to get my priorities straight.)