The title perhaps tasteless in light of recent events, but quite frankly, that’s the bottom line.

If you don’t know who Mark Romanek is, you’re not alone. He’s the guy who wrote and directed One Hour Photo, one of Robin Williams’ most serious and creepiest movies to date. He was the talk of the town for creating such a dark and captivating story, and for such a low budget ($12 mil).

Today word exploded that Romanek, who was handed Universal’s remake of The Wolfman on a golden plate with a side order of $100 million, QUIT, just all of a sudden, with less than 3 weeks before filming was supposed to begin. All the regular  sources are quoting Variety, which claims he left over “creative differences”, but good ol’ Nikki Finke seems to know the dirt: Mark Romanek, who until now has only been a player in commercials and music videos, quit The Wolfman because he couldn’t find a way to make the movie for less than $100 million.

One. Hundred. Million. Dollars. American. You hear that? That’s the death rattle from Mark Romanek’s career’s throat.

Okay, now look at this photo of Benicio Del Toro (who is starring and producing) in a Wolfman test shot. He looks pretty fucking wicked, right? THAT’S ALL HIM! No make-up, not even hair-extensions, they just ruffled his hair and he made this exaggerated face and boom, he’s halfway to becoming the Wolfman.

My point is, he won’t be needing that much special make-up most of the time. Which is a major cost savings, right?

If they’re going to base it on the original Universal movie instead of creating an all-new story, I don’t see much of a need for overly-complex CG (for fuck’s sake, I better not see any CG wolves!), so there’s another major savings in cost, right?

PLUS, the movie was going to be shot in the UK, which has mad tax rebates for movies… it actually would’ve cost Universal $85 million instead of $100 million.

Tent-pole movie, $100 million budget, Oscar-winning Benicio Del Toro, Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) writing the script, and Mark Romanek, who has only made one feature-length (but good) movie, quits. Fuck me!
Now Universal is scrambling to find a new director to keep their February 18th shoot start in place. Highly unlikely. If they DO manage to make this happen, I guarantee the final outcome won’t be good. It’s really in everyone’s best interest to take their time to find the right director. Give me a call, Universal, I made a short movie last year that I’m sure qualifies me for the job

Posted on January 29th, 2008 by Enrique
Filed under: Opinion