Crack It, Crack It Good
From What We Do In The Shadows, through Hunt For The Wilderpeople and into Thor: Ragnarok, New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi has seen his profile grow impressively in Hollywood.
Now he has reportedly signed on to oversee an animated Flash Gordon feature at Fox / Disney.
His challenge is, according to reports, to figure out how to bring the pulpy 1930s sci-fi adventurer to life on the big screen with a “modern sensibility.” Uh-oh! My Progressive Fascism sense is tingling.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
George Orwell, 1984
The decision on whether he will potentially write and direct is apparently to wait until after he has “cracked” how to do this.
Show Us The Way
Gee, if only they had some cult favourite examples of how to handle the lunacy of these adventures correctly, woven throughout pop culture eh?
I mean, it’s not like there have been numerous examples of this available for decades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIpOluaTQj8
What would be really helpful would be some kind of original version that could act as a touchstone to anchor the whole approach.
Then imagine if somebody had shown how to embrace the hilarity and camp and play on it, while still going large and operatic.
If only there was some kind of historical document, a genesis, still available, to refer to.
Oh shit.
Waititi still has to finish WW2 satire Jojo Rabbit and spin up a live action Akira. He recently bailed on stop motion Bubbles, about Michael Jackson’s pet chimp.
With a slate like that, it’s possible he will work on the concept then hand over to somebody else.
Matthew Vaughn (Kingsman, X-Men First Class) and Julius Avery (Overlord) have previously been attached to live action versions.
