Yeah, most of the things that he said that I wanted to discuss I've been bringing up in other threads around the forum. But this is easier to find.
I'm going to start by quoting Skilletdude from the director thread, because he basically said what I wanted to say, but didn't have the right words...
Skilletdude wrote:Joe Johnston's Q&A video was very refreshing to me. He quite honestly tells us that he won't shy away from reworking scenes and dialogue when he feels it necessary, that the film will maintain Christian themes but not in an overbearing manner (like the books themselves), that his goal is to make a commercial film (not an overly dark or artsy one), that the special effects techniques will ultimately need to be cost-effective, and that he won't be pidgeon-holed into including any previous actors, design elements or creative choices in the previous films.
All of these answers, I think, are delivered very transparently to the concerned fanbase. I know not all of it will be received with excited approval, but the truth is he doesn't need our approval. I do think Johnston is wise for being so open with the fans so early, purely from a marketing standpoint. Who better to promote a film adaptation than the already dedicated fans? I have no idea if he will successfully preserve the novel's "essence", but this attempt to be forthright with us is deserving of respect.
And my own thoughts.
~I really like Joe's dry sense of humor. "I'm not right 100%, but almost, like 98% of the time." (Paraphrasing) LOL, I got a kick out of that.
~The trilogy thing I glossed over. Didn't think anything of it. Still don't.
~The mention of keeping the "essence of the story" always interprets to me that there will be a number of changes from the book. There will always be some, just how many remains to be seen.
~Will Poulter not returning isn't news. I guess the director has to say it as Doug Gresham saying it isn't viable enough.
But the rest of the cast not returning is news, and while I'm a bit sad about a couple of them, as Skillet said up above, they need the freedom to make their own film and not be bogged down with what previous filmmakers did.
~He picked my question! Yay! and of COURSE it's October Sky, because that movie is awesome.
~His mentioning that he will try to make the film will be commercially successful is ironically one of the most concerning things he said imho. I know it's stupid to think hardly anyone would make a film, let alone a big budget one like this, without trying to make it successful. But somehow it always feels like when one goes in with that goal up front, all of the Hollywood checkboxes "You must contain romance, fighting characters, wimpy heroes, etc etc" are marked off throughout the film and it becomes very cliche very quickly and there's nothing special or unique about that. My two cents. What he said about October Sky, being low-budget, that the studio left them alone, etc, that's why that one was SO GOOD. Do the same thing here!!!
~I'm looking forward to seeing who all they get for a technical team. Obviously they have people already working on the film, they just don't have signed contracts yet so he can't say who they are. I've gotta find out the various artists' websites I have to start stalking now!
~I was surprised by his 25 year old John Cleese being Puddleglum comment. (See more in the Puddleglum thread on that one.)
~I was not real thrilled with the theme about "finding yourself." That was my least favorite thing he said. But maybe it will work out just fine. Maybe it will be Jill (and Eustace and Puddleglum) finding the courage to do the right thing when confronted with the four signs.
Those are my thoughts that I've come up with just sitting here without rereading the transcript.
At this point, I'm expecting a film that will be about as true to the source material as LWW and that I will like about as well. I'm very much looking forward to Puddleglum confronting the LotGK as DG said that's close to verbatim from the book.
ETA:
Impending Doom wrote:Could filming in New Zealand be an indication that Weta will be involved?
I had the exact same thought.
Maybe not an indication but at least a possibility.