Writer : [COLOR=#00e0]Clint Morris[/COLOR]
Producer Jordan Kerner (Charlottes Web, George of the Jungle 2) gave Moviehole a bit of an update on his forthcoming projects today, including the feature film version of The Smurfs.
Its a 3-D/CG Smurfs, said Kerner. You just cant make those guys live itd be a little weird, but a 3D Shrek world of them - thats fantastic.
Kerner says he has been researching the popular 80s cartoon extensively. Having seen all 234 episodes of the show, numerous times, Herb Ratner and I have been working really hard at looking where all the holes were in the episodes - yaknow, like all of a sudden another woman appears, its not just smurfette and what weve done is weve plugged all those holes in a trilogy of three movies, and we reveal things as we go along.
Theyre all so very protective of [The Smurfs], so it took me five years of negotiation to get the rights. And then, they were very uncertain about what story we wanted to tell we werent going to tell them until we had the rights, either. Then we got the rights on everyones faith that they also had an ability to veto, and presented them with the treatment. They just loved it. To be told that they loved it not just liked it and to be told that [creator] Peyo wouldve loved it, is a huge blessing and a great thing to have happen.
The Smurfs trilogy will be the animated Lord of the Rings through the world of these idiots. Because theyre sweet characters but theyre goofs. Its a comic version, but still very heartfelt, version of Lord of the Rings though not literally Lord of the Rings, but an epic story like that.
The fan favourite to voice the character of Gargamel seems to be John Lithgow. Very interesting, smiles Kerner. I love John Lithgow.
Gargamels back-story is going to be fully examined in the film trilogy. Well learn [more] about Gargamel and Smurf Soup and how all that began and what really goes on in that castle. What his backstory really was. Theres an all-powerful wizard
theres all sorts of things that get revealed as we go along.
Kerner also produced the Mighty Ducks film series and said he has had discussions about a fourth film.
A young, very talented and sophisticated television writer/producer wholl rename nameless who was probably twelve when The Mighty Ducks came out, now 25, came to me about a year-and-a-half ago with an approach. He and I talked about it. I had another approach, though, so we worked on something jointly together. We still have more work to do.
He believes there is an opportunity to take some of the characters like Goldberg and Averman and bring them back, and we can revisit that, if we had a fresh story to tell. And thats what were working on.
The plotline for The Mighty Ducks 4 will have a lot to do with todays generation preferring to stay inside and play video games or search the internet rather than get out there and play a sport.
The question thatll be asked is is there something to say about this generation about self-generated material, about enclosure in the media things where kids dont necessarily get outside? Im not saying theres anything against that; Im just saying how do we get kids to do both things? I mean, kids sense of wonder about things that are actually alive have diminished. That could fit its way in. Wed remind viewers what the sense of playing hockey or merely rediscovering a sport - means.
Though hes reluctant to say whether original stars Joshua Jackson or Emilio Estevez would be involved, hes got nothing but praise.
Josh is a good guy theyre all great. When The Mighty Ducks were in the Stanley Cup two weeks ago, Emilio, Josh and myself were all there at the [legendary] 7th game.
In that match, the Ducks, who were this team of rag-tag players with a showboat name, a team nobody thought could get there, lost by a shootout, says Kerner. It was just a storybook. It was phenomenal.
Kerner is also producing a live-action version of Trumpet of the Swan and the mini-series Tale of Two Cities.