A caped crusader. A city wiped clean of criminals. A madman with a doomsday device who terrorizes the populace until average citizen heroes step forward to help save the day. Batman? Nope! On the heels of The Dark Knight Rises, Movieline takes a look back at 1999’s Mystery Men, new to Blu-ray, in the latest installment of Inessential Essentials.
The film: Mystery Men (1999)
Why It’s an Inessential Essential: Based on characters by comics creator Bob Burden, Mystery Men is an anomalously charming and amiably goofy superhero film. The film is very much a product of the creative chaos that ensued after Hollywood executives realized comic book properties like Batman could make a mint at the box office. But with many more duds than hits on their hands, execs were apparently clueless about what they should adapt and how to do it. It’s not only strange that a movie with characters as alienating-ly campy as the ones in Mystery Men ever got made — it’s even freakier to note that the film is actually pretty funny. So while mass audiences didn’t know what to make of the film when it was initially released, the film can now be enjoyed as a more than welcome antidote to the recent trend of self-serious but mostly drab superhero films.
Mystery Men was co-produced by Dark Horse Comics publisher and creator Michael Richardson, the man responsible for turning such comic book properties as Tank Girl (1995) and The Mask (1994) into half-baked films. It was directed by Kinka Usher, making a big leap from being the assistant camera operator on such films as the 1987 Kato Kaelin vehicle Beach Fever (Usher would not go on to direct any other movies after Mystery Men, not even short films). Usher clearly directed…
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Happy Friday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Steven Soderbergh walks from U.N.C.L.E.… Angelina Jolie linked to the latest movie Ridley Scott will never make… I, Frankenstein casts its leading lady… The $775 million opening week… and more.
· The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. announced Thursday that it will reopen its investigation into the 1981 drowning death of Natalie Wood. “Recently Sheriff’s homicide investigators were contacted by persons who stated they had additional information about the Natalie Wood Wagner drowning,” the office claimed in a statement. “Due to the additional information, Sheriff’s homicide bureau has decided to take another look at the case.” Wood’s husband Robert Wagner, meanwhile, welcomes another look but hopes “that it comes from a credible source or sources other than those simply trying to profit from the 30-year anniversary of her tragic death.” Or the 50th anniversary of West Side Story. Ahem. [LAT, THR]
· All that speculative yakking and saber-rattling about Steven Soderbergh’s big-screen The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has yielded this typically rewarding Hollywood payoff: Soderbergh is off the project, reportedly unhappy with the mid-level budget proposed by Warner Bros. Alas. I hear Brett Ratner’s free? [The Playlist]
· Angelina Jolie is attached to play the title role in Gertrude Bell, a planned biopic about the Englishwoman who was instrumental in the reshaping of the Middle East in the early 20th century. Ridley Scott would produce and may direct. Ha. Haaahahahaha. Sigh. [THR]
· Aussie writer/director Stuart Beattie has selected compatriot Yvonne Strahovski as the female lead in I, Frankenstein; she’ll star…
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Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: Shawn Levy wants Frankenstein… Rob Corddry could be a Warm body… R.I.P.D. gets a supermodel to play Jeff Bridges… and more ahead.
· The long, strange trip that has become The Wolverine keeps getting longer. Deadline reports that Fox is unlikely to start filming the X-Men prequel sequel with Hugh Jackman and new director James Mangold this fall, because of continued concern for the Japan-based shoot as well as Jackman’s commitment to Les Miserables. No official date has been set just yet, but Wolverine 2 might not start production until the spring 2012. Stay tuned… [Deadline]
· Speaking of seemingly-never-happening projects: Shawn Levy might put Fantastic Voyage on the back burner to direct Frankenstein for Fox. Per Deadline, “the studio is eager to get out in front of the seven other Frankenstein films that are percolating all over town.” Seven! Seven’s the key number here. [Deadline]
· Funny funnyman Rob Corddry is in final negotiations to join Nicholas Hoult and Theresa Palmer in the zombie love story Warm Bodies. 50/50’s Jonathan Levine will direct. [Variety]
· Another day, another indie movie for Alexander Skarsgard to circle. The hunky True Blood star is attached to Disconnect, about how the Internet can… ruins lives. Skarsgard will play a former Marine who — while facing financial strife — strikes up an affair thanks…
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Because Adam Sandler needed another swimming pool, he’s agreed to voice Count Dracula in Hotel Transylvania. Sandler will be joined by Kevin James (Frankenstein), Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon (a couple of werewolves), David Spade (Quasimodo) and Cee-Lo Green (Murray the Mummy) in the animated 3-D comedy from Sony. [THR/Heat Vision]
Hollywood may already have two Frankenstein projects in development (one with Summit and the other through Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Productions) but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a third. Fox has just hired Chronicle scribe Max Landis (John’s son) to write a screenplay based on Mary Shelley’s classic novel. The studio is reportedly considering Paul Greengrass and David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) to direct. [Variety]
