The Lone Ranger, Oz, Frankenweenie impress the press
By Greg Reifsteck
Live 2012 San Diego Comic-Con coverage at twitter @moviemaniaceotm & Facebook.com/ EOTMMovieManiac
(c) 2012 Greg Reifsteck
Disney pulled out all of the stops at Comic-Con this year. After putting out the lack-luster bomb John Carter from Mars last year, they finally had a line up to truly be proud of this year. As the saying goes, if you’ve got it flaunt it.
(c) 2012 Greg Reifsteck
The public were treated to some footage of The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp and Armen Hammer. The footage was impressive and really shows that Gore Verbinski is spending every penny off the over-budgeted $250 million western gamble.
Speaking of enormous budgets, fans were also treated to the teaser trailer of Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great and Powerful. Here is a link to the trailer they showed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyywumlnhdw
Soon after, I, your wild Movie Maniac high-tailed it over to an exclusive press conference not open to the public. I will have audio from that conference on tonight’s E Buzz! Show with Carla B. at 7 p.m. PST.
Also in attendance was Tim Burton plugging his black & white stop motion animation extravaganza. I will have audio of Burton as well on tonight’s show.
(c) 2012 Greg Reifsteck
For a tease, here are some highlight quotes from that press conference from Raimi as well as some images from the lovely cast:
Sam Raimi: You’re right. It’s absolutely different than anything that I’ve ever done before. I had never made a family picture. I guess you call the Spider-Mans family pictures, but basically those are action love stories. And this was just a completely different, otherworldly experience for me. I never tried it before and I didn’t know if I could do it. But I so loved the screenplay, I was so moved by so many different points. I really enjoyed the goal of telling an uplifting story. And what’s uplifting about it, is that the character learns to be a better person.
How much has James Franco changed as an actor since you first worked with him?
Sam Raimi: For me, James was much less collaborative when I first started working with him [on Spider-Man]. He was a real serious actor. I think he still had his James Dean hat on. He was doing it his way. So I worked with him with certain limitations because we couldn’t communicate as deeply as we eventually did on this picture. And I don’t know if that’s just a result of James’ growth as an individual or whether a director just has a much deeper relationship with their leading man or leading ladies than they do with the best friend character that he played. But now that James is a filmmaker, he understands all the things that go into a shot.
Will there be any flying monkeys in this movie? If so, will they get a backstory?
Sam Raimi: In the teaser they showed today, the Wicked Witch has an army of flying baboons. And we saw a glimpse of them today. It’s the first animation that’s completed on it. There’s also a flying monkey story, different than the baboons. A nice flying monke,y so don’t worry.
Who is Bruce Campbell playing in this movie? And will the great Ted Raimi be appearing as well?
Sam Raimi: Yes, my younger brother Ted plays a tiny part, otherwise my mother would have my head. And Bruce Campbell, unfortunately is in the movie. He plays a bit part, because he was busy working. I think he was shooting his TV show, so he took a day off and came down and just did a tiny little, few-line role for us. But it’s a tiny little cameo. It’s really funny to watch in the picture. He did a great job.
