David Fincher's Heavy Metal Scares off Paramount
Zodiac Director Producing Movie With Kevin Eastman, Blur Studio
Jul 9, 2008
Heavy Metal is apparently too heavy for Paramount Pictures. The film's production team is now shopping the flick to other studios after Paramount said they were no longer interested in distributing the animated movie.
According to Hollywood Insider and Blur Studio head Tim Miller, Paramount's new executive team developed a serious case of cold feet after producer/director David Fincher insisted that he wanted a hard 'R' rating for the animated movie, an update of the 1981 cult classic (which, by the way, also had an 'R' rating).
Se7en, Fight Club Director Produces New Heavy Metal Film
Fincher, who found mainstream success directing edgy, adult live-action films such as Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac, teamed up with current Heavy Metal magazine owner and publisher Kevin Eastman to produce the new flick.
Fincher is trying to get Heavy Metal off the ground while finishing off his current project, the Brad Pitt live-action film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's an adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, about a man who is born old and grows progressively younger.
Like the 1981 original, the new Heavy Metal would feature 8 to 10 interlocking segments, each helmed by a different director. Fincher has signed on to direct one segment, as have Eastman (who also created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Miller. And like the 1981 film, the producers wanted to feature an impressive amount of graphic violence, nudity and sexuality.
In 2000, Lionsgate and Sony distributed another Heavy Metal Movie, subtitled F.A.K.K.2. That flick, which starred the voice of Michael Ironside, BIlly Idol and Eastman's spouse Julie Strain, is best left undiscussed.
Eastman, Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), Joe Haldeman (The Forever War), and Neal Asher (Gridlinked) have written segments for the new film, and Blur Studios is providing the animation.
Despite Paramount's lack of testicular fortitude, Miller is confident that a new Heavy Metal movie will get made.
"David really believes in the project," he told Hollywood Insider. "It's just a matter of time."
Post Script:
Dear Paramount;
You get a pitch for a remake of an 'R' rated animated film from a guy known for making critical and commercially successful movies with 'R' ratings (that would be David Fincher, in case I'm losin' ya). Everybody else associated with this flick are known for making edgy, 'R' rated stuff, including the boobs-n'-blasters magazine it's based on.
And you attempt to talk them out of trying for an 'R' rating for this flick? Have you been eating your idiot sandwiches again?
