The Spirit comic-con panel bomb?

[Bubastis]

Close if necesary. This board needed a new thread, and this story caught my interest. Sorry it's so late.
Comic-Con: The spirit panel bombs
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Comic-Con-The-Spirit-Panel-Bombs-9657.html

During Sony’s Comic Con panel for Pineapple Express, Seth Rogen jokingly wondered if his next project, a comedy based on the classic comic The Green Hornet might be in trouble, since though he’d seen people dressed as characters as obscure as the third guy from the left in Final Fantasy, there was no one walking around in a Green Hornet costume. Luckily for Rogen, his film has something else going for it besides whatever tiny fanbase the original property might have: it has him. No such luck for Frank Miller, who’s adaptation of The Spirit was met with resounding indifference and sometimes outright disgust during its panel debut at Comic Con.

To call The Spirit panel the biggest disaster of 2008’s convention is something of an understatement. This thing went off like a stale pop rock. Miller was cranky and unlikable. The producer they wedged between him and Sam Jackson was controlling, overbearing, and utterly annoying. Jackson was given nothing to talk about except the size of his guns, as if we’re all so stupid that the simple fact of him holding a firearm is enough to make anything he’s in automatically good.

The panel droned on and on and on, while Miller and the annoying producer next to him talked about what a cinematic genius he is, even though he’s only ever directed half a movie. A little humility might have been in order. Instead, we were treated to pre-emptive proclamation’s of Miller’s brilliance, and those who weren’t half-asleep within the first five minutes were eventually treated to never before see clips from the film… which were disastrous.

The first clip shown was footage of Eva Mendes under water, dodging bullets shot by Sam Jackson as the dastardly Octopus. Miller introduced the clip by explaining how they shot it. They wanted to show Mendes underwater, but without actually shooting underwater… because water smears makeup or some such. Apparently he’s never heard of water proof lip gloss. So instead of shooting underwater, they stuck Mendes in front of a green screen and told her to act like The Flash. I’m not kidding. They actually told her to act like The Flash. And once the footage was shown, not so surprisingly, that’s exactly what it looked like. Eva Mendes hanging in front of fake water flailing around as if she’s doing an impression of The Flash. Wow, this Miller guy is a genius.

The second clip shown was a dialogue scene, in which the Gabriel Macht as Spirit talks to a group of people in some sort of office. If you’ve seen old episodes of the George Reeves version of Superman, then you’v seen the sort of bizarre tone used in this footage. I guess it worked back then in sort of a campy, awkward way, but seen now in an actual movie it just comes off as bad writing and bad directing. I wonder if Miller told Gabriel Macht to talk like Superman?

By the time The Spirit panel was over, I was ready to consider abandoning Comic Con and heading back to Dallas. If this was the kind of watered down ******** the convention was going to deliver, why bother? Apparently I wasn’t the only one, since for the rest of the weekend any time someone uttered the words “Spirit panel”, there was an instant expression of dread and a sickened or depressed shaking of heads from everyone around the speaker. Everything about The Spirit smells like disaster, and Frank Miller came off like such a miserable jerk in the panel that it’s hard not to end up rooting for its failure. The Spirit’s panel stands alone as the most awful, unbearable thing I sat through at Comic Con. I’d have been better off in the lobby eating an 8 dollar hot dog.

Any truth to this?

 

[rogue trooper]

http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=308344

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

Well, the 'other' thread is about the fact that a panel took place.

This is a good start for collecting all of the horrible reviews from critics that Miller's presentation recieved.

 

[TheVileOne]

It was so bad that I think even El Mayimbe hated it. And he's like a studio stooge.

 

[theMan-Bat]

[If you’ve seen old episodes of the George Reeves version of Superman, then you’v seen the sort of bizarre tone used in this footage.

I LOVE the George Reeves version of Superman. So to each his own I guess.

 

[rogue trooper]

....also, speaking of Superman and Comic Con, in the first presentation for Richard Donner's Superman at the Con in '77(I believe), the panel got booed off. Goes to show you.

 

[theMan-Bat]

Miller was cranky and unlikable. Frank Miller came off like such a miserable jerk

That is just not true. I watched The Spirit panel on youtube. I'm sure everyone at comic-con didn't find the panel entertaining and didn't really care about the film and thought the clips were bizarre, but Miller was being polite, not cranky.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

That is just not true. I watched The Spirit panel on youtube. I'm sure everyone at comic-con didn't find the panel entertaining and didn't really care about the film and thought the clips were bizarre, but Miller was being polite, not cranky.

I just think that most people who aren't familiar with Miller's monotone speaking and that great blank stare of his - it may come across as him being miserable. I rather like the nutty look on his face when he talks.

However, I realize that he isn't the most 'personality-gifted' guy on the planet. I've met him a few times, and he always looks and sounds constipated.



Oh, and as far as the "wooden acting" thing goes... I like George Reeves, too, but it sounds more like this fella was criticizing the dialogue, itself, and the delivery... not the overall story.

It seems like a big budget Ed Wood movie. And I love Ed Wood, but not for the right reasons.


The "scary" part would be that the last time a critic criticized the dialogue and acting in a big budget film as being "wooden" was Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.

This time, though, Samuel L Jackson is in the Jar Jar Binks role, rather than Mace Windu.

 

[TheVileOne]

I think it was more important to get a big name as the villain, since the "hero" is being played by a virtual unknown.

 

[IDrawDeadPeople]

Agreed. And, I'm sure parts of the performance will be funny.

I just hope that in the scenes where he's described as "going off", that he doesn't do too much "Octopi on a mudda****in plane".

 

[BirdsDoThus]

I sat through the Spirit panel at the last New York con, and I understand some of the statements. At least half of the panel involved the producer, Eva Mendez, and someone else I can't remember going back and forth about how great Frank was. I mean, that panel was shorter, and they only showed us the trailer we had already seen... so it was received better, but I can understand the annoyances. It did drone on a bit, lots of people zoning off an what not. Also, Eva and Frank kept making googly eyes at each other the whole time. Then we had to sit through a few questions of people asking if they could give her a hug. Not the best panel at all, but was drastically better then what SD sounded like.

 

[That-Guy]

I'm interested to see this "underwater" scene that the reviewer refers to. If that's the truth and they just told Mendes to "act like the Flash" in front of a green screen, that's pretty piss-poor and it will most likely play horribly on film. For one thing, even if she can perfectly fake like she's swimming, that's still not going to change the face that her hair should be moving like its underwater. But as the trailer for this film has already showed, I guess they're not going for any semblence of realism.