Stu Zicherman is on the interview circuit for his new movie A.C.O.D., and in a recent interview Badass Digest took the opportunity to ask about his experience writing the 2005 flop and all-around awful movie Elektra. Because apparently they like rubbing salt into wounds over at Badass Digest.
Said Zicherman:
“Elektra is one of the reasons I got into television. I spent a year writing the movie, and it was supposed to be this gigantic movie, and then they decide they’re not going to make an $80 million movie, they’re going to make a $30 million movie, they bring in a director we didn’t know, you get fired, someone else comes in and rewrites the entire movie, but you still get credit because you wrote the first draft. Then you go to the premiere in Las Vegas, and 30 seconds into the movie you’re like, ‘Oh, [expletive].'”
I’m not sure if I entirely buy his complete lack of culpability for Elektra‘s awfulness, and I have to admit my indie film-loving self twitched a little bit at the “It was supposed to be $80 million but they cut it down to $30!” excuse. Oh, the movie only had $30 million? Poor baby. Attack the Block was a sci-fi movie made on $13 million, and it was awesome because it started with an awesome story. And $13 million is still a ton of money! Studio films, pah. Get off my lawn!
Ahem. Indie-fueled curmudgeonlyness aside, them ditching his story (which may have, indeed, been awesome) and replacing it with a garbled mess while still keeping his name attached sucks, especially given how personal a project it was for him. I’d pat him on the back if he were sitting next to me.
Also probably in need of a retroactive Elektra-related sympathy hug: star Jennifer Garner. Says Zicherman:
“I literally, to this day, am still so embarrassed by that movie. I probably shouldn’t say this, but I know Jennifer Garner is too. She hired us to write the movie, which was pitched as something much more smart and sophisticated … it’s a blemish. “
Yyyyyep. “Blemish.” That about describes it.
(via: blastr)
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