Hey everygeeks, Harry here with a report from Moriarty on the progress, or lack there of, on Brian Helgeland's film, THE SIN EATER... This is exactly the sort of thing that aggravates me. You get a filmmaker like Helgeland, who is talented, and who's instincts and skills were wonderful on PAYBACK, coming off of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. You take this talent, you produce a movie with him, but then... you don't trust his instincts on who he sees playing the roles he wrote and created! God forbid you actually back your talent. Now usually this would just anger me about halfway up my intolerance scale of madness.... But it happens to the be the results of 20th Century Fox, the company that just a week or two ago was addressing the entire Theatrical world and lecturing them on how they were going to abandon the STAR system and make stars. How NAME ACTORS were not necessarily the way to go. How Niche films were needed for specific audiences. This... is a horror film. Prior to the release of these films, who was a star? JAWS, EXORCIST, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, CARRIE, ALIEN, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, THE INVISIBLE MAN, etc etc etc... Horror films have a history of making stars and actors... Trust your director/writer and make the movie!
Hey, Harry...
"Moriarty" here.
Well, I just read that Fox has put THE SIN EATER, Brian Helgeland's new film, in turnaround in a disagreement over casting.
Bad move, guys. This is the exact kind of special niche film you said you were interested in focusing on, Mr. Mechanic, during your keynote address at ShoWest. You said that you were looking to aim certain films at certain audiences. Cast solid character actors in this film and just go ahead and make it. Genre fans don't demand movie stars. They demand good films. This is a great script that I covered more completely in my article during Supernatural Week. If you don't make it, then I hope someone else in town does and then picks a weekend to clobber you with it. After the indignities Helgeland suffered on PAYBACK, can't someone treat this talented writer/director better than this?
Here's hoping someone steps up and does the right thing. Until then...
"Moriarty" out.
P.S. If you wanna read Moriarty's look at THE SIN EATER click HERE!!!!
