Corporate Timidity, Wimpitude
Warner Bros. and the producers of the currently-filming The Dark Knight Rises have all earned major pussy points for deciding against filming a scene that would have used the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park as a backdrop. Because of this one presumably brief scene TDKR would have been more than just another corporate-money-grab-on-the-back-of-a-comic-book-franchise, but now it’s back to square one.
If director Chris Nolan was more of a man, he would have stood up to his producers and said “no, no…this is important…we have to shoot there.”
A Dark Knight Rises insider has told me that a Zuccotti Park shot was being planned for next week, but
Entertainment Weekly’s Aly Semigran reports as follows: “While Christopher Nolan will begin filming portions of The Dark Knight Rises in New York City over the span of the next two weeks, a Warner Bros., rep tells EW that there are no plans to shoot in Zuccotti Park, the home base for the OWS movement.
“After an open casting call for NYC extras for the project hit the web, rumors swirled that the project could be filming very close to, if not directly in, Zuccotti Park. Last week an anonymous source told the LA Times, ‘Cast members have been told the shoot could include scenes shot at the Occupy Wall Street protests’ and that Nolan could be using ‘the protests as a backdrop or a stand-in for something that already exists in the film,’ but that simply doesn’t seem to be the case.”
It would be a logistical nightmare, most probably. Nice idea, but then you think about bringing a crew the size of TDKR down there, it soon becomes a headache. Not to mention trying to get a group of protesters to act for the camera. You’d have to go through each scene and digitally erase all the “Look Ma, I’m in a Batman film!” signs and whatnot.
Dude, we don’t even know what Nolan wants to shoot, which renders any verdict on where he’d better do it moot, right?
Let’s just ignore the fact there were would have been about 800 logistical and practical issues to having OWS footage in The Dark Knight Rises.
I honestly don’t get your complaint. Are you saying there should be a scene involving an “Occupy Gotham” group?
That would have made the film as timeless as Remo Williams climbing around the Statue of Liberty scaffolding.
Also, I like the whole “I was briefly under the impression that this WASN’T a corporate-money-grab-on-the-back-of-a-comic-book-franchise!”
I dunno, Jeff, don’t you think there would have been something queasy and distracting about a mega-million dollar superhero movie using something many people consider a lot more important and historically significant as just a bit of backdrop or atmosphere? Not to mention kind of exploitative?
I mean, sure, if he was suddenly going to turn the film into MEDIUM COOL or something, fine. But not if it was just for a few shots of background action or whatever.
Clearly baiting here, but “major pussy points” is a gem of a phrase.
You guys all know what I’m saying and you’re deliberately ignoring it. Movie shoots in Manhattan are always a logistical hassle so don’t hand me that one. Everything worth doing is difficult and sometimes very hard, but you do it anyway because you want to leave a legacy. It would have lent a certain aura of coolness and relevance and front-page legitimacy to OWS if Nolan had included Ziccoti Park in the final film. And no, Josh Massey — using a backdrop of people complaining about economic unfairness and expolitation is not something that will “date” anytime soon.
You are being unfair, Jeff. Chris is hardly a pussy. He is making a film that has nothing to do with the demonstration (a demonstration which I heartily support and suspect he does as well from my interactions with Nolan). If their campsites don’t fit his vision for the scene his decision is just the decision of an artist, not an attempt to silence these folks.
I would think “major pussy points” is a good thing.
Praying one of the new shitty sitcoms currently on television have a scene set at OWS. You know, to give them a “certain aura of coolness and relevance.” 2 Broke Girls needs it’s moment in the zeitgeist.
Wells to turpentine: You’re blowing smoke by writing “if their campsites don’t fit his vision for the scene his decision is just the decision of an artist, not an attempt to silence these folks.” The back-off has NOTHING to do with Zuccotti Park fitting or not fitting Chris Nolan’s “vision.” I’ve been told by what I consider to be a fairly reliable source that the Zuccotti plan was real and the intention was real, but Nolan and the producers suddenly turned tail.
“If director Nolan was more of a man”
I’m anxiously awaiting the day when a commentator frames a similarly snarky criticism by saying “If Bigelow was more of a woman…”
Wells, come on… I know you’re trolling for hits, but this is silly.
As nearly everyone has already mentioned: NONE OF US have any idea of the context of the scene. I figured they wanted some B-roll of people protesting… something. Not economic inequity, a theme which I imagine does NOT AT ALL play in the movie itself.
And despite your complaint about Massey — he is absolutely right. Putting “Occupy Wall Street” into DARK KNIGHT makes about as much sense as putting something about the Eurozone crisis into the most recent HARRY POTTER movie. It’s not even that it dates the finished product by using something so very specific — which it does — but you seem to forget that Gotham City… IS FICTIONAL. Do they call their financial district “Wall Street”? I associate that with Manhattan — and yet the first two movies seem to represent GC as some weird twin of Chicago. But at the end of the day, again… not real. As far as we know, Obama is not the President, and Herman Cain is *not* America [smile].
Wells to Mr. F: Agitating have-nots is something that would have presumably fit into the TDKR script, or Nolan and his producers wouldn’t have planned the Zuccotti Park backdrop shoot in the first olace. Maybe what I’ve been told is inaccurate but I heard it from a guy who works on the film and presumably hears genuine info — i.e., this was definitely something they were planning to do. Fictional elements or not, Gotham has always been a reflection of the dank, downish, noirish aspects of real-life Chicago or New York or whatever, and you can;t say people feeling pissed-off about economic inequity isn’t part of our world today so don’t hand me that one.
The mob would probably have been chanting and raving for Batman to turn himself in because to them he killed Dent, and Bane is now destroying the city.
It obviously wasn’t planned from the beginning, because production started way before the protests. Nolan probably saw the footage, wondered aloud if they could incorporate it into the film somehow, and then changed his mind when he was told of the logistical problems. It’s not like the story featured Batman invading the J.P. Morgan HQ and pummeling Jamie Dimon.
Or, maybe, Nolan decided he didn’t want to trivialize the EWS movement by using it as a prop in a comic book movie.
(I guess folks don’t remember the protest scenes in Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Just as well.)
Let’s also not forget that Bruce Wayne is a billionaire playboy, unquestionably in the top 0.1% of Gotham City, let alone 1%.
First: Jeff, you cannot pretend that it would be no more of a logistical nightmare to shoot at OWS than it would be at other parts of the city, especially getting permits on relatively short notice.
Second: I wouldn’t be so 100% certain that they won’t shoot something. “There are no plans” could just as easily mean “we don’t want a shitload of people showing up so let’s try to do this on the DL and not have people showing up expecting to be in a Batman movie.”
Third: Jeff, the fact that with ZERO context, you consider footage of OWS in a Batman movie to be an absolute, inherent good, and it not being there indicative of absolute, inherent cowardice absolutely MIND-BOGGLING. You have no idea how or why the OWS “set” would’ve been used. Just that the idea of using it in ANY way is great, and the idea of not following through on that whim is AWFUL.
I also love, no wait, find incredibly stupid, the fact that, let’s see… you really liked Batman Begins… you really liked its follow-up, The Dark Knight… so naturally, you think (or pretend to think for the sake of… what? Cred? Hits? Does that even work?) that the idea of doing a third and final Batman movie to wrap up the story an absolute paycheck travesty.
You’re either being willfully or accidentally ignorant.
What you’re not being is principled, sorry to say.
Maybe it wasn’t about logistics at all. Perhaps Nolan just realized that putting OWS in the background of a soulless franchise film would be trivializing OWS.
League of Shadows = Tea Party.
El Oh El.
Gabe wins again with the double whammy.
“Jeffrey, ya gotta keep going political. Maybe a mix of political and comic books. The plain old movie posts just ain’t drawing the hits.” – Wells’ Accountant
Wells seems to be getting more and more delusional. Can the Nolan Superman movie incorporate some real life Libya shock-violence?
“Or, maybe, Nolan decided he didn’t want to trivialize the EWS movement by using it as a prop in a comic book movie”.
It didn’t bother him trivializing extraordinary Rendition, the Patriot Act, and every other aspect of Post 911 America he managed to shore-horn into the Dark Knight, so I don’t see why it should bother him here.
Tristan, be careful handling that can of worms, you migh- AW FUCK.
Nolan probably didn’t want his camera equipment stolen or pooped on by the #OWS crowd.
So naive, Jeff. And so defensive. Could it be that some advance loc scouts or ny based advance ump types presented him with this idea and for a moment he thought about it and then rejected it? Does it have to be framed as turning tail? You are dry humping a non issue. And Chris deserves better from you.
typo — not ump– upm
Jeff has a point. If even MTV is getting into the OWS act, then Warner has no excuse to avoid it. In a way, could you not argue this as being a metaphor for the Obama administration? A guy who earned his way to the top the hard way who wants to help those who similarly got screwed, but who avoids confronting the problem, and/or disassociates with like-minded individuals who support him? I just wonder if that will be the actual theme of the new Batman movie. Then it’d really be a fuckin Zeitgeist of a flick.
what a shame Nolan isn’t using OWS to illustrate his reactionary views of crowd dynamics and mass politics
what a shame Nolan isn’t using OWS to illustrate his reactionary views of crowd dynamics and mass politics
dammit
Jeff, if you care so much for this OWS thing, why don’t you slip on your yellow sneakers, toss your MacBook in your Sony Classics bag and go down there yourself to protest? I’m sure there must be a wifi hotspot available somewhere within that mob of righteousness.
This is a dumb ass thread.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.comicsalliance.com/media/2011/10/occupybatman-1318387001.jpg
I’m all over helping these admirable knuckleheads making their case heard, supporting them in throwing a wrench into the works of megamolochian capitalism, but the idea of Nolan using them as a backdrop is idiotic. As is Jeff’s ill-considered criticism of Nolan’s decision not to shoot there. What the fuck’s the point? All this shows me is Nolan has the good sense to resist momentary incontinences of conscience that, unfortunately, have nothing to do with good art. His “inner core” is of a guy who knows he’s putting together a fantasy thrill ride, not a trenchant commentary on our times. Good for him.
nothing says “stick it to the 1%” like a big-budget superhero shitfest. just more millions that WB will try and figure out another million ways to keep from paying to writers for actual original material
Man, Wells is right on this one. it would’ve kicked SERIOUS ASS ro shoe Batman passing a doobie with a bunch of dirty hippies. then, he could’ve shown he was a real “bro” by dropping trou to take a dump in the park. What a classic miss this is.
Well, they start shooting the movie tomorrow on 56th and 55th between 5th and 6th tomorrow in case anyone cares. The posted no parking signs are calling it MAGNUS REX.
Plus, if Warner can adapt V for Vendetta-albeit through a Hot Topic-themed filter-I don’t see why incorporating OWS into DKR is a big problem for them.
There could not be a better illustration of how clueless Jeff is than him wanting a $30+ BILLION dollar company to use the OWS protests to make even more money on a superhero movie.
Is this really what you wanted to convey here?
Cinema: No, his point is that a superhero movie should reflect the times by making The Man the real villain.
So stupid.
Is it any wonder JW couldn’t hack it as a screenwriter in the ’80s (or ’70s…’60s, whatever ancient decade it was)?
Can anyone dispute that if Nolan personally really wanted to shoot at OWS, it would indeed happen? He’s a producer as well on TDKR and there’s no one working today with more clout and a bigger bankroll.
Putting aside obvious logistical errors, I think that most sensible people would have a moral issue with it. Thousands of people are gathered protesting the way that super-rich global corporations take advantage of society, and, in response, Warner Brothers decides to shoot crowd scenes down there so they can save on paying extras for a franchise that has already made more than a billion dollars for WB without even factoring in merchandising?
Considering the fact that Warner Bros. IS the type of giant corporation that the Occupy people would love to see ripped down to size via wealth redistribution, it’s easy to see why they would not do anything to lend support to that cause. 24 Hr Fitness
Jeff has a point. If even MTV is getting into the OWS act, then Warner has no excuse to avoid it. In a way, could you not argue this as being a metaphor for the Obama administration? A guy who had macys coupons and earned his way to the top the hard way who wants to help those who similarly got screwed, but who avoids confronting the problem, and/or disassociates with like-minded individuals who support him? I just wonder if that will be the actual theme of the new Batman movie. Then it’d really be a fuckin Zeitgeist of a flick.
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Everything worth doing is difficult and sometimes very hard, but you do it anyway because you want to leave a legacy. It would have lent a certain aura of coolness and relevance and front-page legitimacy to OWS if Nolan had included Ziccoti Park in the final film. And no, Josh Massey — using a backdrop of people complaining about economic unfairness and expolitation is not something that will “date” anytime soon. Buy condoms online
As is Jeff’s ill-considered criticism of Nolan’s decision not to shoot there. What the fuck’s the point? All this shows me is Nolan has the good sense to resist momentary incontinences of conscience that, unfortunately, have nothing to do with good art. His “inner core” is of a guy who knows he’s putting together a fantasy thrill ride, not a trenchant commentary on our times. Good for him. Wholesale Apparel
First: Jeff, you cannot pretend that it would be no more of a logistical nightmare to shoot at OWS than it would be at other parts of the city, especially getting permits on relatively short notice Second: I wouldn’t be so 100% certain that they won’t shoot something. “There are no plans” could just as easily mean “we don’t want a shitload of people showing up so let’s try to do this on the DL and not have people showing up expecting to be in a Batman movie.” Third: Jeff, the fact that with ZERO context, you consider footage of OWS in a Batman movie to be an absolute, inherent good, and it not being there indicative of absolute, inherent cowardice absolutely MIND-BOGGLING. You have no idea how or why the OWS “set” would’ve been used. Just that the idea of using it in ANY way is great, and the idea of not following through on that whim is AWFUL. I also love, no wait, find incredibly stupid, the fact that, let’s see… you really liked Batman Begins… you really liked its follow-up, The Dark Knight… so naturally, you think (or pretend to think for the sake of… what? Cred? Hits? Does that even work?) that the idea of doing a third and final Batman movie on Film Streaming to wrap up the story an absolute paycheck travesty.
You guys all know what I’m saying and you’re deliberately ignoring it. Movie shoots in Manhattan are always a logistical hassle so don’t hand me that one. Everything worth doing is difficult and sometimes very hard, but you do it anyway because you want to leave a legacy. It would have lent a certain aura of coolness and relevance and front-page legitimacy to OWS if Nolan had included Ziccoti Park in the final film. And no, Josh Massey — using a backdrop of people complaining about economic unfairness and expolitation is not something that will “date” anytime soon. home loans | Shake Weight Reviews
You guys all know what I’m saying and you’re deliberately ignoring it. Movie shoots in Manhattan are always a logistical hassle so don’t hand me that one. Everything worth doing is difficult and sometimes very hard, but you do it anyway because you want to leave a legacy. It would have lent a certain aura of coolness and relevance and front-page legitimacy to OWS if Nolan had included Ziccoti Park in the final film. And no, Josh Massey — using a backdrop of people complaining about economic unfairness and expolitation is not something that will “date” anytime soon. celebgossip | how to deal with depression | weight sets for sale
I dunno, Jeff, don’t you think there would have been something queasy and distracting about a mega-million dollar superhero movie using something many people consider a lot more important and historically significant as just a bit of backdrop or atmosphere? Not to mention kind of exploitative?
I mean, sure, if he was suddenly going to turn the film into numerology calculator or something, fine. But not if it was just for a few shots of background action or whatever.