Day Eighty Eight: OMGZZ THE FILM WUZ BETR THAN THE MOVIEE

My only comment on Valentine's Day: Steak is great, and beer is great. Steak fried in beer though? That right there is fucking awesome.

Okay, so remember the other day when I was talking about movie trilogies and the fact that the third one always seems to suck? Well, I'm pretty sure that Lord of the Rings is the exception. This might have something to do with the production process, which is always something that's staggered me. I'll quote from The Editing Room, which I believe illustrates this perfectly:

PETER JACKSON is meeting with various NEW LINE EXECUTIVES.

PETER JACKSON: ..and that’s my proposal. What do you say?

EXECUTIVE #1: Wait, so, you want three hundred million dollars to create nine total hours of film for an adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy?

PETER JACKSON: Nearly twelve hours for the full editions.

EXECUTIVE #2: And you want us to greenlight this based on your previous work of…
(consulting a memo)
A movie about rat monkeys and flesh eating zombies and an unfunny comedy ghost movie starring Michael J. Fox?

PETER JACKSON: Right. And I want all the money up front, because I demand that I be able to make all three films at the same time.

The executives stare at JACKSON as if he just took a shit on their rug and autographed it. Miraculously, he is allowed to adapt the trilogy and ACTUALLY FUCKING PULLS IT OFF.

I mean, it's just unbelievable. An absolute nobody from New Zealand who's directed nothing of significance and has never made a big film in his life is given a shitload of money and almost complete creative control? This almost never happens in Hollywood, and what's more amazing is the fact that it actually worked. The amount of money generated by the franchise is unbelievable.

This is exactly the sort of example you point to when people say that producers do nothing. Producers are the people who approve this sort of deal, and it's their asses that it falls on if the film isn't a success. After all, that money has got to come from somewhere.

Although, four fucking hours for the third film? That might be just a little bit indulgent, given that the last hour is made up entirely of endings.

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Now playing: The Lonely Island / Incredibad