Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
Here’s another one of those stories we’ve gotten the heads-up on from about 400 different readers, indicating there’s an obvious interest in what MGM might be doing with the PINK PANTHER property...
Hey-ho from not-so sunny England,
Today's Guardian newspaper is running a story announcing the signature on the ever contractual dotted line of Steve Martin to continue the sterling work of Peter Sellars and the not-so-sterling work of Roberto Benigni in playing Pink Panther-chasing Inspector Cluseau.
The paper rightly acknowledges the "classic" nature of Sellars 6 installments of the series, and hurriedly glosses over the Life Is Beautiful star's contribution, but fails to point out the obvious - if it's not Sellars, it sure as hell ain't the Pink Panther.
Although I have to say what disturbed me more than the thought of Steve Martin totaly ruining a Good British Franchise (how often do those come along?) is the line in the report that suggests the CARTOON PP will be mixing it on-screen with the live-action performers.
Surely no-one is that stupid? Are they?
For the full report, click here!!
England's poshest scooper,
Top Hat 'n' Tails.
Even after reading the bizarre and hopefully hallucinatory rants of “Clifton Sleigh” at Garth Franklin’s recently redesigned DARK HORIZONS, I still don’t get it. Why do the producers of this material feel the absolutely thin-skulled moronic urge to recast Clouseau? He’s not the franchise. He’s not the fucking Pink Panther. The DIAMOND is what gives the series its title. Yes... most of the films were about Clouseau. That’s because you had the brilliant Peter Sellers there to play the role. After he died, the easiest and, in my opinion, only sane way to continue to make the films is to send the diamond around the world to other museums or galleries or private homes. Whenever the diamond is stolen, create a new series of bumbling cops and lunatic thieves to deal with it. You want to do a Chris Tucker PINK PANTHER movie? Great... but casting him as a French detective is preposterous. Same thing with Steve Martin, who now evidently has the role. Didn’t he learn his lesson with SGT. BILKO? That was a property that was completely based around the comic personality of someone else, the great Phil Silvers. Here, Martin’s going to try to ape the shtick of the amazing Sellers? And the idea of using Herbert Lom as Dreyfuss again just turns continuity to dogshit. For god’s sake, even if Martin didn’t learn the lesson from his own career, can’t he just look at that Roberto Benigni catastrophe and realize that it just... doesn’t... work?
Good luck, MGM. You’ll need it.
"Moriarty" out.
