'Wolverine's' Gavin Hood Denies Rumors and Defends Tom Rothman
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, 20th Century Fox, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
One of the ongoing sentiments surrounding the leak of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was "Serves Fox and Tom Rothman right! Payback's a bitch!" No matter how you feel about Fox and Rothman, the leak wasn't what you should wish on anyone. Wolverine represents a lot of effort by a lot of people who aren't responsible for the sins of the Fox father.One person who's come out swinging in defense of Rothman is the man you might least expect: Wolverine's director, Gavin Hood. The Internet has been rife with rumors of riproaring fights, intervention by Richard Donner, and reshoots. In a video interview with THR's Risky Business, Hood shot back at the rumors:
"I am very fond of Tom [Rothman]. When we're in a room debating, he's a very forceful personality, I'm a fairly forceful personality ... we didn't always agree. We certainly never yelled at each other. Some of these fan sites have really been upsetting in that way. I have never had a stand-up argument with Tom Rothman. Never, ever, and nor has Tom with me, ever, and that is a fact. It's quite upsetting to see how these things sort of spiral. Did we discuss and debate, what stylistically I was going to bring to the movie, and his expectations, and my [expectations]? Of course, of course you do that, and I hope it makes the movie better. Nobody's trying to screw up the movie. I mean, there's this stupid notion out there that Tom Rothman wants to ruin the franchise. What? That's stupid ... This is a huge thing for the studio. Of course he doesn't want to ruin the franchise. Is he going to put a gun to his own head? He has a huge amount riding on this movie, as do I. There were disagreements, but I think they were handled with dignity and sincerity."
This comes as Rothman -- on the other side of the battlefield -- sat down with Entertainment Weekly to explain that the version of Wolverine that leaked was not in any way the final cut of the film. He says, "The version that went out is unfinished. It's about 10 minutes shorter, doesn't have key scenes, it wasn't edited, and none of the effects shots were in any remotely final form. It's a complete misrepresentation of the film and is deeply unfair to the people who have worked on it for years."
Of course, you could blow this all off as studio-sponsored talk (after all, they're obviously in combat mode trying desperately to save this film's box office take) -- but going strictly off the personality he displays in the video, Hood isn't the type of man to back down from a fight. I'm picturing this man on a set having a courteous debate with Rothman, and imagining that it looks like a Rocky brawl to outsiders. It certainly adds a new level to the speculation ... which Hood makes me feel guilty for even remarking on.
Whatever the true, behind-the-scenes story, whatever the final film is like, Hood and Hugh Jackman are both willing to put themselves on the line for it. It's been easy for a lot of directors and stars to put the bomb blame on Fox, but these are two men who won't. They're stepping up as producer and director, and biting the bullet. It's quite admirable -- and it's a reason to see it on May 1, instead of watching that free copy you might have snagged.*
*For those that have watched it, please don't blab about it in the comments for our readers and for your humble author whose eyes remain innocent
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-04-2009 @ 1:56PM
Hughman Bein said...
It will always be bad in the eyes of the bias viewer who wants desperately to see their comic books in reality. I have friends that have viewed the leaked version and they are usually in this camp but I'll reserve my opinion until I see the final cut. These stories are so personal that I'd most likely only be happy when I'm the one in the director's seat. Then again LOTR made me super happy and I didn't lift a finger. If they can get the core principles right that the X-men fight prejudice and human rights abuse then I'll be happy.
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4-03-2009 @ 11:29AM
Wexler said...
Call me crazy, but as unfortunate as this leak is, it could actually benefit the movie's opening. I have now heard from many sources that the leaked version is very unfinished and so if the film is solid otherwise, then all those people who have viewed it early are going to be left wanting to see the finished product as well as spreading some positive word of mouth. Of course, if the movie sucks, then Fox could really lose out. Either way, I'm curious to see what happens. I would, however, encourage those who have seen it and have negative opinions to hold them back until they have seen the movie in its final cut.
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4-03-2009 @ 12:24PM
Mack Swift said...
From the moment I saw the Wolverine movie listing online as 'TestPrint', I knew FOX had let it become leaked, and it was the perfect win-win situation for them.
What do video game companies do for a time before a game is released? They either release a demo of the game with complete or beta code, or they allow a limited or unlimited amount of users into the game to test the multiplier, the network, how the game runs on different PCs and console setups, and so on and so forth.
The music industry, while still maintaining its draconian attitude in many ways, has even learned the value of 'leaking' things onto the internet, removing DRM, and bands releasing full albums for free or for a user-created, open source price.
The entertainment industry is finally coming to grips with the aspect of the internet; that copying and finding copies of songs, movies, TV shows, commercials, books, radio shows, comics, and etc, etc is a reality of the internet. Traditional print, movie trailer, and commercial advertising just wasn't cutting it when it came to getting people excited about something entertaining. There was a consensus that is growing that they need to find a way for so called piracy to work in their favor. Look at the way the news and blogosphere have lit up whenever something major has 'leaked' or been pirated online. And 20th Century Fox has found their advertising by leaking a copy of the movie onto the internet.
Whenever a studio or entity claims that they lose so much money whenever someone downloads something, don't believe them. Just because someone downloads something doesn't mean they were going to pay for it in the first place, and most of these downloads are but a small percentage of viewers anyways. But I always asked, especially when the music industry tried that argument, how can you lose money that's not there in the first place? We've seen what happens with imaginary money with Enron, Worldcomm, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and let's not forget AIG. So, yeah, when an entertainment entity tries that argument; don't believe it.
When the new Wolverine movie was announced; many fans were excited. A whole host of everyone's fanboy favorite mutants were slated to be in the movie alongside the adimantium Canuck. Well, when the trailers came out, and a few pre-screenings were held; fans weren't impressed. Everyone's favorite Deadpool sucked in his role and people were complaining about Sabretooth and even the bits of story that were shown too. In short, there were complaints that the story wasn't up to fanboy par.
So FOX, by releasing a beta of their movie, has a win-win. They garner a wider opinion by a small but larger percentage of fans who have the savvy to download the testprint of the movie, critique on it, make opinions, and so on and so forth. And with the blogosphere and news awash with the MPAA and the FBI investigating this so-called leak; 20th Century Fox gets free advertising.
And if the movie tanks, they'll blame it on the pirates.
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4-03-2009 @ 3:36PM
Ben said...
I agree somewhat with Mack Swift. When it comes right down to it, this isn't really going to hurt Fox. People who wanted to see the movie are still going to see it and the people who were going to pirate it are still going to pirate it.
Also, it has been shown that movies that leak usually don't have an effect on the box office take of a movie. If anything, it usually increases the take because interest is generated in the movie.
Below is an interesting post on how Fox should have handled the leak.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090402/0316244351.shtml
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