Friday, April 16, 2010
David Slade: Genius or Crazy Part II – Please Don’t Be Crazy!!!
Back in February, I wrote a post defending David Slade as the director of Eclipse. I even boldly proclaimed it may be the best movie yet out of the saga. We saw the first trailer, and it got mixed reviews. I still defended Slade. We got some strange tweets recently, and I still had faith. But today, it pains me to write this, but I am not so sure anymore. Hell, I am not even sure if we have a complete movie at this point, let alone the best one!
Back in February, I wrote a post defending David Slade as the director of Eclipse. I even boldly proclaimed it may be the best movie yet out of the saga. We saw the first trailer, and it got mixed reviews. I still defended Slade. We got some strange tweets recently, and I still had faith. But today, it pains me to write this, but I am not so sure anymore. Hell, I am not even sure if we have a complete movie at this point, let alone the best one!
When David Slade was first announced as the director of Eclipse, Summit drew lots of criticism from the fandom. This was due to Slade’s dismissal of Twilight in previous comments. He subsequently relented on those comments and apologized. I thought the selection of Slade was innovative and bold on Summit’s part. I thought it would give the saga a little “edge” and sleekness that was missing previously. I knew I was in the minority and yet I still had high hopes!
But my faith in Slade began to shake when Summit announced it was replacing the editor on Eclipse, who incidentally is Slade’s Best Bud, with someone else. Then we had a delayed trailer for the movie, which overall received positive response but not the same excitement as the previous two movie trailers held. My faith was renewed when I saw the 7 minute DVD extra on the making of Eclipse. I was excited. My heart was pumping. I loved the images and the sets and the costumes!
Then, early this week, some mysterious tweets from David Slade surfaced, one claiming someone hacked his twitter, and another claiming a second trailer was coming. But then they disappeared. And Today. GAH. It’s one of those days where you hate being on twitter or the interweb. Lainey broke the news on Wednesday about Eclipse re-shoots happening next month in Vancouver. She claimed that the studio has had strained relations with Slade and he may not even be the one directing the re-shoots!! She claimed that there has been strife over creative differences. The meadow scene and the fight scenes would need to be re-done. Catherine Hardwicke and Chris Weitz were possibly being brought in to take over. Disappointment set in. My stomach began to lurch. My faith in Slade was slipping away entirely.
had been planned for months, like it is with a majority of films.” My question is this; why don’t we hear about them then? Or when we do, it is not with the threat of getting rid of your original director. Summit claims that they are “100% happy with Slade”. But really. What are they going to say? They are publicists. It’s a press release. I didn’t feel any better.
“Reshoots” make it sound like something is wrong but in most cases it’s nothing like that at all. In most cases it’s simply that things are discovered during the post-production process that can’t be easily fixed technically. It could be something as mundane as a crew member accidentally being seen in a shot, a mike visible, a car in the background, or other things visible that shouldn’t be and can’t be removed digitally or by creative editing. In more extreme cases there may be feedback from test screenings which show that certain scenes were too confusing, or revealed too much or too little, or annoyed people, or were too short and should have been longer (for which no additional footage exists). Or possibly they didn’t have the necessary coverage — camera angles. Sometimes there are continuity errors that aren’t discovered until post-production, like someone wearing a different shirt or objects in a room or a shot that weren’t there in one shot but appear in another. Bottom line: reshoots don’t necessarily mean the production is “troubled” or that something is “wrong” with the film. Of course, that is a possibility.”
HitFix.com also reported later that Slade was in London and flying into Vancouver to film not “re-shoots”, but rather “pickups”. Ummmm Ok. That sounds the same to me. But what do I know? I don’t work in film. Was this more PR spin by Summit to clean up their mess and show they are one happy family with Slade? Indeed, I think so. Then Thursday, David tweeted this, “In London overseeing the film score with Mr. Howard Shore and enjoying all of the gossip flying around. Onwards to the Eclipse”. Ah, the optimist in me wants to believe that all is well and that this was just gossip gone wrong. But the realist in me thinks this might be more spin and trying to present a united front to the fans.
Great post! If I blame anyone in this mess it is Summit. From the beginning of the Twilight Saga project, they have been infamous for cutting corners where they could and doing everything they could to take money from us. They could care less about our emotional attachments to the film, books and actors. I am sure the same thing goes for their directors. I don't blame Slade at all.
Awesome post RL! And very informative with the info from Larry & hitfix! Like you, my butt will be in the theater on opening day no matter what. I'm still hopeful that Slade's crazy can translate into genius. Eclipse was my fave book of the saga so I definitely rooting for him!
Beautiful job bb. I too blame Summit. I mean, what else can you do with a studio that would put out four diff DVD/Blu-Ray sets with diff BTS footage to make people buy it like four times to get it all. Assholes.
I have faith in Slade. I blame Summit for every mess, they are notorious for messing things up.
I have faith Eclipse will be awesome, and yes, probably the best one yet (because I know my fav will be BD *tears*)
I think David threw us a bone on his last tweet, IMO he has his hands tied by you know who.
I am super hyper, giddy and ridiculously excited about Eclipse! Woot woot! <3
Awesome post RL! I am trying to remain optomistic in all this Slade/Eclipse mess. Eclipse was my favorite book so I have high hopes and expectations for this movie. What Larry and Hitfix said calmed me a bit, but I still have my reservations. As you said what are the PR reps gonna say…but I have faith we will have a great finished product..and maybe it's better we are not saturated with promo pieces..more of a surprise come opening night…in which i will have my ass planted firmly in a theater seat- at midnight- NO MATTER WHAT!
Hi
I'm a new reader and I was reading the older posts. Then I realize, that the photos didn't show 
so, in [url=http://www.robstenlovetheblog.com/2010/03/rob-day-10.html#more]this[/url] post, are there pictures of rob? and if there is, is it possible to post them again? ps. i'm sorry about bad english :s
I feel for David I really do, Can you imagine having to deal with a company like Summit? A company who goes after anyone and everyone who uses the Twi name. I just read they shut down the people who made the great Twi lip balms and perfume, they went to all the conventions. Well Summit shut them down. Its all about money for them. I feel DS maybe pushed the envelope with Eclipse, but Summit is so scared of an actual edge in the Saga they got scared (god forbid they piss off the Twi Moms) Hence the firing of the editor. I do NOT blame Slade, I blame the half as* production company named SCUMit! Who don't deserve this Saga one bit. What gets me mad is the impression that DS has no idea how to make a movie.
Who cares. Everyone is still going to see it. It will still make megabucks. BD will get made (1 or 2, either way it still will happen) and also make megabucks. Fans will remain fans til the end just as there will still be Twilight hate til the end.
Storm in teacup.
Blame list: 1. scummit 2. Melissa "the butcher" Rosenberg 3. David Slade AND 4. THE FANS. Yes, I said the fans: Why go see something if it's not what we want? Why keep giving scummit the green light to make more crap if we don't like it?! DON'T GO SEE IT and they'll get the message that we want them to follow the books. My friends and I have decided not to be scummit lemmings anymore…we're boycotting Eclipse. We read the leaked script and we're NOT interested in big action scenes or a nice long story about Victoria and Riley. We're NOT interested in a Jake and Bella love story. Hello scummit? WE WANT THE EDWARD AND BELLA love story! BOYCOTT!
It's very easy to have conficting emotions covering this entire spectrum. How should we feel about Slade? WTF knows, really. We have nothing to judge him by other than his stoner tweets and judgemental remarks. Oh, and the trailer *sigh*. But could it all be Summit? *shrugs* Could be. That's just it, we're almost down to the two month mark and have very little to go on!
Great post, RL! Amazing as always
the only shity thing is, all EU is no filght zone! =S i just hope they will make the shoots in time to cut them in to the movie…
i'v seen every move Slade has dirrected – he's a genius!
Oh my god – those pictures are hilarious !
these pictures are too crazy what was that.