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Near the end of 1992, Bernd Eichinger and Constantin Film teamed up with Roger Corman and Troma Entertainment to create a feature film based on the popular comic The Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, as so often happens in Hollywood, artistic endeavors don't necessarily align with business interests, and things fall out at the expense of those that are "lower on the totem pole", so to speak.
Doomed! follows the troubled production of the film which, according to some of the people interviewed, was never meant to see the light of day. This intentions, however, were kept from the cast and crew, most of which were counting on the film to advance their careers, and devoted personal time and money to complete it.
The documentary was written, directed, and edited by Marty Langford, and features extensive interviews with director Oley Sassone, editor Glenn Garland, writer Craig J. Nevius, and cast members Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, Michael Bailey Smith, and Joseph Culp, among many others. It is an extremely interesting look into what they describe as "the seedy dark side of Hollywood" that ended up stabbing them in the back.
During the conversations with the cast and crew, it's hard not to feel how passionate they were about the project, and eventually how frustrating it was for them to not see it come to fruition. More interesting is to wonder why did those moving the strings let the project go along all the way into post-production, if the real intention was only to secure the rights and never to release it.
Obviously, we all know that Marvel had bigger goals in mind, but the fact that the three Fantastic Four films that have been released since haven't gotten neither the critical acclaim nor the earnings that most people would expect, makes you wonder about the intentions behind them, and what it really takes to make a great film.
Grade:
DOOMED!
THE UNTOLD STORY OF ROGER CORMAN'S THE FANTASTIC FOUR
(2015, Langford)
A film with the number 4 (Four, Fourth, etc.) in its title
THE UNTOLD STORY OF ROGER CORMAN'S THE FANTASTIC FOUR
(2015, Langford)
A film with the number 4 (Four, Fourth, etc.) in its title
"The heart of this film and the intentions behind this film from the people who made the movie, not the business interests, the people who made the movie, their intentions were pure. They wanted to make a great Fantastic Four movie."
Near the end of 1992, Bernd Eichinger and Constantin Film teamed up with Roger Corman and Troma Entertainment to create a feature film based on the popular comic The Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, as so often happens in Hollywood, artistic endeavors don't necessarily align with business interests, and things fall out at the expense of those that are "lower on the totem pole", so to speak.
Doomed! follows the troubled production of the film which, according to some of the people interviewed, was never meant to see the light of day. This intentions, however, were kept from the cast and crew, most of which were counting on the film to advance their careers, and devoted personal time and money to complete it.
The documentary was written, directed, and edited by Marty Langford, and features extensive interviews with director Oley Sassone, editor Glenn Garland, writer Craig J. Nevius, and cast members Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, Michael Bailey Smith, and Joseph Culp, among many others. It is an extremely interesting look into what they describe as "the seedy dark side of Hollywood" that ended up stabbing them in the back.
During the conversations with the cast and crew, it's hard not to feel how passionate they were about the project, and eventually how frustrating it was for them to not see it come to fruition. More interesting is to wonder why did those moving the strings let the project go along all the way into post-production, if the real intention was only to secure the rights and never to release it.
Obviously, we all know that Marvel had bigger goals in mind, but the fact that the three Fantastic Four films that have been released since haven't gotten neither the critical acclaim nor the earnings that most people would expect, makes you wonder about the intentions behind them, and what it really takes to make a great film.
Grade: