The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mister Tee
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Post by Mister Tee »

Sabin wrote:Jeffrey Wells reports...

True story: a conversation among three or four guys with film-industry ties happened a couple of days ago in a major southern-region city. Included was a sound mixer who's been around a couple of decades and knows some formidable people. The subject was upcoming movies, and the sound mixer interjected at one point, "Guys, guys, I've seen the Best Picture Oscar winner, okay? And it's Benjamin Button." You've seen the whole thing? he was asked. "I've seen most of it and that's enough," he answered. "Forget it, it's over. It's an eight-hankie movie and it's going to win."
An eight-hanky movie from David Fincher sounds...improbable. (Like, a cutting-edge Bob Zemeckis movie) I know Eric Roth is aboard, but, still...
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Post by Sabin »

Jeffrey Wells reports...

True story: a conversation among three or four guys with film-industry ties happened a couple of days ago in a major southern-region city. Included was a sound mixer who's been around a couple of decades and knows some formidable people. The subject was upcoming movies, and the sound mixer interjected at one point, "Guys, guys, I've seen the Best Picture Oscar winner, okay? And it's Benjamin Button." You've seen the whole thing? he was asked. "I've seen most of it and that's enough," he answered. "Forget it, it's over. It's an eight-hankie movie and it's going to win."
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Post by Zahveed »

That second trailer cemented my belief that this will be the movie of the year, or at least, the There Will Be Blood of 2008.
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Post by Reza »

Pitt's old age makeup looks very cheesy!
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Post by Penelope »

My HD QuickTime hasn't worked in years; where I can see the new trailer that ISN'T in HD?
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Post by Sabin »

So the new trailer for this movie is equally bad ass. I really hope it's as good as it could be. There's a very decent chance it won't be but this much I now for certain: Claudio Miranda is an astonishing photographer with legions of fans (check out his commercial compaigns) and his images look breathtaking in this film. At the very least: Best Visual Effects seems like a decent bet AND this could be the movie that destroys the DV curse.
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Post by Zahveed »

Confirmed: Paramount Feuds with David Fincher Over Benjamin Button
Posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 12:57 pm by: Peter Sciretta
Slashfilm



Last week, I screened 20 minutes of clips of scenes from David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In our first impression article, I expressed my concern and disappointment over the footage shown, partly because I felt some of the short scenes dragged. It was good but not great. I wasn’t alone, FirstShowing and Jeff Wells also posted articles about the disappointing buzz the footage received at the festival.

In my blog posting, I told you about the rumors of Paramount’s vicious fight with Fincher behind the scenes over the running time of the film. We also tried to connect the dots between the departure of Fincher’s planned adaption of Heavy Metal and the rumored fight. Now The Playlist has found an interview with Kevin Eastman, creator of the Ninja Turtles and publisher of Heavy Metal, where he finally confirms the rumors:

“We developed it for Paramount in January… And it was time for them to make a decision [about going forward with the project] and they were at odds with Fincher over another project, ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,’ [because] they wanted him to reduce the running time… and so they said, ‘Until you step up to do what we want you to do with Benjamin, we’re not going to greenlight any other of [your] movies.’ And David said, ‘Fine, fuck you, I’m going to set up [Heavy Metal] somewhere else,’ so we jumped over to Sony and set it up there.”

Yes, Fincher is a bad ass who won’t take crap from anyone - including the studio who has supposedly spent over $150 million on a film aiming for award consideration. I’m guessing this might be both his best and worst quality as a filmmaker.

But what if Paramount is right? I loved Fincher’s Zodiac, but I think the theatrical cut could have benefited by losing 20-30 minutes on the back end. (Hey, there will always be a director’s cut on DVD) It seems to me that Paramount might believe they are in the same situation with Button. It is worth noting that around the time of the Heavy Metal departure, the film was supposedly just under three hours long. An AICN reader saw a screening of that cut and admitted that “By an hour and a half/forty five, the audience was getting restless.”

Anne Thompson’s sources claim the film has since been cut to around two and a half hours, which probably meets with Fincher’s studio obligations. But is that still too long? I contend that the scenes Paramount and Fincher decided to screen at Telluride dragged in parts. I’m hoping the pacing issues will be resolved in the finished movie / in the context of the finished movie, because this film has the potential to be really magical.
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Post by cam »

VanHelsing wrote:Absolutely beautiful trailer!

Blanchett as a ballet dancer? Just WOW!

If everything falls into place and the film is as good as what the trailer makes it out to be, I can see possible nominations for Pitt, Blanchett and Henson. Also, it's time for Fincher to shine at the Oscars.
Totally agree!
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Post by VanHelsing »

Absolutely beautiful trailer!

Blanchett as a ballet dancer? Just WOW!

If everything falls into place and the film is as good as what the trailer makes it out to be, I can see possible nominations for Pitt, Blanchett and Henson. Also, it's time for Fincher to shine at the Oscars.
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Post by Sabin »

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount ... minbutton/

This trailer has an eerie power that knocked me on my ass. I don't think there's a filmmaker quite as concerned with forwarding the visual medium of film as David Fincher. Cameron and Zemekis want to wow you with effects but Fincher wants them to creep up on you.
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Post by Zahveed »

this looks really good

Coming Soon
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