I think that in most cases, unless it’s a review, a news based article should maintain an unbiased nature in presenting information, so I’m going to attempt to do this, but leave a paragraph at the end for my own excessively nerdy commentary, in case anyone is at all curious.
DJ Caruso, the man behind such films as Disturbia and Eagle Eye, is holding on to the rights to this film with the hopes of turning into a trilogy starring Shia LaBeouf, who he has worked with twice now. The two clearly have a good relationship with one another, but now LaBeouf has decided that a Y film is not in his future. In a recent Wizard article, he stated:
“You take Sam (Witwicky, from Transformers) and you put a monkey on his shoulder,” said LaBeouf . “I don’t know if it’s that big a differential. It seems like he’s the ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation again. I’m not willing to make that movie currently, and may be too old to play the role by the time it does come around.
So what do we essentially have? Well, with LaBeouf out, the chances of this movie happening grow darker. The reason this seemed like a possibility is because Caruso wanted to make a trilogy of films, and having a bankable lead actor such as LaBeouf meant that it was more likely to have studio backing. Caurso would have to find another actor to fill the lead duties and off the top of my head I can’t imagine who else he would want to work with. LaBeouf had a strong following, and fans of his various performances are more likely to go see a high concept film like the Y trilogy. This puts Caruso back at square one since he has nothing to bring to the studio anymore and essentially brings the Y film train to a screeching halt.
And those are the facts. Here is the commentary:
Thank God.
I understand my particular commentary may be different than other writers for this blog so I’ll come right out and say it: I like Y: The Last Man, but I don’t want to see it as a movie. In fact, I don’t want to see any comic based movie that’s not just taking a popular super hero and putting him on the big screen. My fears and woes come from the Watchmen feature film. Let’s be honest, there are things that work because they are a comic or a book and we should really just leave it alone. I understand that there are thousands of unoriginal people out there in Hollywood all looking to capitalize on someone else’s creativity, but I as a person would highly prefer it not to happen. Add this to the fact that I think DJ Caruso is ridiculously untalented and I hate Shia LaBeouf, today is officially a good day for me!
I’ve seen LaBeouf in enough films by now to know for a fact that I do not like him. I think that his so called “acting” should be kept far away from properties I love because he’s already helped to ruin one of them (and I still can’t comprehend how people really liked Transformers). Furthermore, his “understanding” of the character Yorick is appalling. Sam with a monkey on his shoulder? Really? Did you just read the back of one of the graphic novels and make assumptions? Yorick might be “an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation” but he is nothing like the character that LaBeouf plays in the Transformers movies. For starters, Yorick is a very likable character with different levels of personality. As the story progresses, Yorick easily becomes a hero to root for, which is a type of character I’ve never seen LaBeouf play. Y: The Last Man may not be a top 5 comic for me, but I enjoy it enough to know that involvement from LaBeouf would be a death sentence for my enjoyment of the film.
Continued belowAs far as DJ Caruso goes, I saw Disturbia. I really liked it when it was called Rear Window and was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. I didn’t bother seeing Eagle Eye, but from what I’ve read I don’t think I missed much. Even though he still will make attempts to make a Y film in the future, I can rest a little easier knowing he’ll pick a new collaborator.
Finally, in regards to just being happy this movie is getting stalled, I feel I should say a few words. I’ll be honest – I adore Preacher and I’d love to see the characters come to life on the big or silver screen. However, I realize that ultimately, this is a bad idea. The reason comics are so great as a medium is that these characters are themselves. In the comics, no one is portraying Batman, but in films Christian Bale portrays Batman. He isn’t actually Batman, but rather giving an interpretation of him. In the comics, there is no need for this. Granted, new artists draw characters differently and writers will always create new obstacles for heroes or even re-invent heroes (as I discuss apathetically in my last comic round up with Spawn and Black Panther), but they are the characters. Yorick Brown in the book will always be the perfect Yorick Brown because that’s how he was invented to exist. On top of that, there are certain things that will undoubtably be cut from the story line, and if Watchmen is any indication then it will be a huge disappointment. I think that the only really well made comic book movie ever was Sin City because Robert Rodriguez, even if he did change elements of the script, still took the book, used the pages and panels as story boards, and brought the story to life. He took very few liberties with it, and this is something you can be sure that a DJ Caruso will not do. Zack Snyder boasted and boasted about how accurate his film was, and look what we ended up with: all the best parts missing or changed. That’s not accuracy. Putting a character in the background of a scene or one or two scenes doesn’t cut it. With most serialized comic books that are just made for graphic noveldom, the smartest thing to do is adapt it into a television show or mini-series rather than do a film. TV studios will be much more lenient with how much content you can air or what content you will air versus a movie studio, which 9 times out of 10 are simply looking to make bank on a viable property. I love movies, but I love comics more.
And I can’t help but think that I found the best possible banner picture for this article ever. Seriously.
