Fincher Taking a Ride on Heavy Metal?
Awkward, pimply dorks in Black Sabbath t-shirts unite.
Apparently, there just aren’t enough sword-wielding cartoon women with enormous cans wielding swords and riding around on giant birds anymore because someone is hellbent on making another Heavy Metal movie. It’s also one more project that David Fincher is attached to.
According to Variety, the film will be comprised of up to nine animated segments, each from a different director. So far, directors include Fincher and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator and current Heavy Metal magazine owner/publisher (I seriously had no idea this magazine still existed) Kevin Eastman.
The original 1981 animated film was a juvenile five-part fantasy full of violence, nudity and juggy cartoon babes. A couple of the stories were written by Dan O’Bannon (Dark Star, Alien) and each one revolved around a glowing orb of evil.
Heavy Metal featured a memorable soundtrack from Devo, Sammy Hagar, Nazareth, Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath, Journey, Donald Fagen and Blue Öyster Cult among others. A large chunk of the male cast of SCTV including John Candy, Harold Ramis, Joe Flaherty and Eugene Levy provided some of the voice work.
There is no word yet on who will do the music or the voices for the new version.
Hopefully this won’t distract Fincher for too long from things that don’t suck.
Filed under: News, Upcoming
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I really liked the original Heavy Metal. That vignette that takes place on the island with the WWI planes is one of the scariest moments ever in an animated film.
I haven’t seen it since I still lived with my parents and had not yet known the touch of woman.
(all of you making “last week” jokes in your minds right now can bite me)
I’ll allow that it may hold up better than I thought. Either way, you’ve already blown my pidgeonholing of the average fan of that movie.
Thanks for nothing, Flynn :)
LOL. I will not be pidgeon-holed!
I actually haven’t seen it in a long time, so who knows how it would stand up if I watched it again now. Like you I was living in my parents house (though I had already known the touch of a man - well, boy, since I was young). I’ve always been a big fan of animation, the movie had cool songs that were popular at the time and I watched the movie with said boy.
Another movie I’ll have to add to my Netflix queue so I can check it out again.
Well, I can’t argue with fond memories, damnit.
ya’ll are just making this shit up.
Next you’ll be telling me the “glowing orbs of evil” are 3-D.
No heavy metal film is complete without Alice Cooper.
I’m frightened to see that Fincher appears to be back on the same track he was after Fight Club in 1999, where he was being randomly attached to new projects on a monthly basis. His IMDb page wisely only bothers to list the pre-production hell-ed back Rendevouz with Rama, but this is now the third movie I’ve heard Fincher is attached to at some point in the foreseeable future since Zodiac came out last year.
Not bad for someone who took a five year break between projects.
Anyway, the last time this happened all these projects flamed out and he eventually settled in for Panic Room, which ended up being something of a misfire three years later. Luckily he already has Benjamin Button well into production.
Color me skeptical.
(editor’s note: While Craig serves as the apologist for Clooney, Wes Anderson, and Steven Soderbergh, I serve as the naysayer on the plethora of upcoming projects from Fincher and Tarantino. Someone has to do it.)
Apparently this had been buzzed some back in January based on something Fincher said in an interview, but this is the first ‘official’ sounding word that I’ve seen.
Still, until the project is literally underway, I’ll second Joel’s skepticism.
Heavy Metal magazine was my geek Playboy back in the day, and introduced me to a whole world of great artists and writers, particularly Moebius and Richard Corben, who made an incredible stop-motion version of DEN that they should have used in the movie instead. The roots of ALIEN are also in the magazine.
Sure, the movie animation was rushed, but there are many rewards, especially B-17 and Tarnna, which is just a great kick-ass cartoon short.
And HEAVY METAL was in many ways the first “adult” cartoon that really worked. Bakshi’s stuff was always hit or miss and I never liked his toon art. Plus, HM is easily one ofthe best commisioned soundtracks ever.
I saw it opening midnight, high as a kite. Memories.
As I said to Alison (but in different words), I can’t argue with nostalgia I don’t share. I also wouldn’t argue with the original incarnation of the magazine or the soundtrack to the movie.
The question is, though, what do you think about them making a 3rd one (I totally forgot about Heavy Metal 2000 until just last night) and the idea that Fincher is “spearheading” it?
If they simply pick some of the best stories and properly animate them, this should be incredible. It’s such a simple concept really. Done the right way, this would be awesome.
Animation is still being underserved here in America outside of Pixar. Just hearing the poop jokes in Horton Hears A Who makes my gorge burst. Don’t these studio folk have any shame , sense or sensibility?
Don’t these studio folk have any shame, sense or sensibility?
Nope. Bathroom humor sells. Case in point: Austin Powers.
Training the fart-joke kids of today to become the jizz-joke teens of tomorrow. Not that it takes much training. Maybe “catering” is a better way to phrase it. Pandering.
Obviously, joel is right. Fincher seems to be falling into precisely the same trap he did between ‘99 and ‘02. Then he took five whole years before Zodiac came out.
The good news is, no matter what he does next, we’ve got The Curious Case of Benjamin Button coming out in December.
Take it easy, David. No need to commit to a new project before every full moon.
Lookit Chrisitan looking on the bright side and junk!
You speak the truth about the dismal state of American animation outside of Pixar, at least as far as adults are concerned and if they do it right, it has potential to be interesting.
And I’ve said about all I have to say about Horton. A.O. Scott in a backhandedly semi-positive review said everything I needed to hear about it.
We take our Seuss seriously around here if you haven’t noticed.
I’m trying to be upbeat in the face of my sad personal life and Jeff Well’s unhinged behavior over at HE, which has taken new lows. Perhaps I need a blog intervention…
Oh man, I almost got sucked back in to H-E just yesterday…a couple of other blogs had linked to something he’d posted and I actually took a peek.
So far I’ve resisted the urge to comment. Roughly 2 weeks clean.
I hate to pull you back in, but this thread is the one making me doubt my commitment to HE’s Sparkle Motion:
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2008/03/letter_to_a_fri.php
Ok, I was actually with him to a point because he was actually defending his Obama-love (which I do not take issue with) but then there’s this:
“On top of which I cannot stand the idea of having to listen to that braying voice and look at those awful bags under her eyes for the next four to eight years. I weep at that prospect. I deflate. But she could be the most physically and vocally appealing politician in history and she’d still be repulsive.”
Hillary aside, his recent, aggressive, anti-middle-aged-female stance makes me sick to my stomach. Not to mention the fact I’m interested in his diseased opinions on movies, not politics.
Plus the whole Heath Ledger thing…you know, attributing TMZ as a source and just generally being a stubborn, insensitive ass.
Plus the recent depressing abysmal Sundance coverage.
Plus the ongoing Spielberg/Jackson ridiculousness.
Plus Bob Clark.
Plus Vinessa Shaw.
I think I could go on, but I’ve made my point.
Yes, he’s awful. He found a way to make money (take absurd, argumentative positions, then back them up by any means necessary) and it has taken over his soul (whatever there was to begin with).
Everyone please ignore him.
He has become the DZ of movie bloggers.
Ouch.
Ha ha. I haven’t tried to correct Mr. Zelter in a month and it’s a weight off my mind. Some people are literally incorrigible.
At this point, I’ll be happy with whatever Fincher signs up for. I may be the only one, but I thoroughly enjoyed Panic Room. Possibly excluding Alien³, which I haven’t seen, it’s the worst of his films — but that only speaks to the quality of his other work. Fincher went all out with the style and effects in Panic Room and I love it. The CG house is a logical (and very cool) precursor to the CG streets and skylines of Zodiac. Plus, it’s a very suspenseful, “Poe” (does she have a new album out?) story.
I’m too young for Heavy Metal; never heard of it. Based on IMDB, Rendezvous with Rama sounds a bit too much like Sunshine, but I have faith in Fincher. If nothing else, it’ll look good and we’ll have grave looks and sincere speeches from Morgan Freeman. I’d like to see Fincher take a shot at adapting Chuck Palahniuk’s Haunted.
I’m with you on Panic Room WJ. It’s Fincher’s slightest film and it’s not perfect, but I’ve always found it entertaining.