I'm sorry, I know I'm repeating myself, but...

[filthgoblin]

There just seems to be no escape from the epic fail that is the movie remake of State of Play. If I could just quietly ignore it and go about my day, then I might feel less seethingly angry than I do right now when I've just been offered FREE FUCKING TICKETS to go see it and say how amazingly wonderful it is. I kid you not.

The sales patter for the movie included in the email I received trying to coerce me to volunteer over two hours of my life I will never get back, read as follows:

Oscar® winner Russell Crowe leads an all-star cast in a blistering thriller about a rising congressman and an investigative journalist embroiled in an case of seemingly unrelated, brutal murders. Crowe plays D.C. reporter Cal McCaffrey, whose street smarts lead him to untangle a mystery of murder and collusion among some of the nation's most promising political and corporate figures in State of Play, from acclaimed director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland).

Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party's contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.

McCaffrey has the dubious fortune of both an old friendship with Collins and a ruthless editor, Cameron (Oscar® winner Helen Mirren), who has assigned him to investigate. As he and partner Della (Rachel McAdams) try to uncover the killer's identity, McCaffrey steps into a cover-up that threatens to shake the nation's power structures. And in a town of spin-doctors and wealthy politicos, he will discover one truth: when billions are at stake, no one's integrity, love or life is ever safe.

Can anyone please tell me if they recognise anything apart from the names as bearing any resemblance to the plot of a show that I love so much? Or am I going completely insane?

Comments

[candesgirl.livejournal.com]

Now love, as much as I want to agree with you, in reading the first two paragraphs it sounds very much like our beloved State of Play, it honestly does, to me. The last one not so much. I know you want to hate it, and that is fine, I honestly want to hate it too, but I have to admit, that it is getting really decent reviews, one paper I read this morning even giving it 3 and a half stars...It made me smile. Will I see it? I dunno, likely not.

[coneyislandbaby]

I agree with everything you say here with the exception of not seeing it - I like Ben Affleck too much not to at least try to see it in the theatre.

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

Then I hope you enjoy it. I can't agree with all that candesgirl said for the reasons I've said below and I shan't repeat myself. But I'm fully aware that these are my views and my views alone.

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

Okay, having calmed down a little and re-read the blurb again, I can see your point about the first paragraph, but it breaks down in the second for me. I know I'm probably nitpicking unnecessarily about a film that I'm never going to see, but they've upped Stephen's standing from a promising Senator/MP to the party's next Presidential/Prime Ministerial candidate. In fact, comparing a Prime Ministerial candidate in a British context doesn't even stack up against being a Presidential candidate as a PM candidate wouldn't have anything like the world standing of a Presidential candidate. Couple that with the fact that they've shifted the focus from the oil and the environment to defense makes it very different for me.

I know I'm probably getting tedious with my vitriol on this subject, and this is likely the last time I'll mention it. If you've seen good reviews that made you smile, then that's great. All the reviews I've seen, however, say that this is just another average thriller and likely to be forgettable, which is so far removed from my feelings on the original and the reaction I've seen from anyone I've introduced it to.

At the end of the day, I know it's just a TV show/movie and not really srs bsns. I don't even know why I'm getting so worked up about it really. The whole thing just tastes bad to me.

I'll shush now.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

Ben Affleck was on both Rachel Maddow and The Daily Show last night, shilling this dung-heap. At least Rachel acknowledged the awesomeness of the original. The thing that totally freaked me out in the Rachel interview was the tidbit that Della is now a BLOGGER and Cal dismisses her because and then it turns out she's a good reporter after all...AND THEY FALL IN LOVE! ARRRRRRRGGHGGHGHGGHGHGH NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I know there are people who saw slash in the remake of 3:10 to Yuma, but to me Russell Crowe is a slash-free zone and I'm sure they want to make DAMN SURE there's no hint of all that incredible tension that existed between Cal and Stephen in the original. I wonder if they're even keeping the Anne/Cal affair.

[coneyislandbaby]

People see slash with Russell Crowe for many reasons. Mine is the absolutely brilliant Australian movie, The Sum Of Us, in which he plays a young gay man living with his father and has a couple of really nice kissing scenes with his co-star John Polson (whose name I may have spelled wrong). There are also other places I see it (Gladiator is the main one) but that one was my first. And I did watch the trailer and I saw the tension in the hug there myself. In fact that was about the point where I went... okay, just maybe... (this could also be related to the fact that for some reason I'm still not sure of I honestly see every single character Ben Affleck has ever played as bi, I'll admit).

I'm not saying the movie couldn't be bad here. Just saying why it might not be impossible for people to consider slash.

Also take heart - movie fandoms are rarely to never long-lived or big (some are big but short-lived, some are long-lived but forever remain Yuletide fodder). The most that can happen is a minor explosion when the movie comes out and a small uptick in interest when the DVD comes out, with a few die-hard fans and occasional dabblers keeping the fandom going for a while on a very minor level. I'd be very shocked if US State of Play became anything resembling a major fandom as it's really not a typical fannish movie at all. Yes there'll be a little interest from the Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe movie fans but I honestly see it as a very minor thing at best. I mean, to use an example from up there, there was a time when there was a huge buzz about Gladiator in slash circles but nowadays? The occasional thing in Russell Crowe and/or Joaquin Phoenix comms at best (and okay, the main reason for me squeeing so madly over Derek Jacobi being in Who but that was me not fandom-at-large). So yeah... seriously don't see this one as doing anything differently.

Which is likely the reasons I'm so reasonably zen about it.

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

I just wish it wasn't happening so close on the Life on Mars debacle. And which I'm feeling pissy everytime I have to see Russell looking hideously puffy and scruffy in that, I'll probably calm down and go back to brooding over the pukesome horror of the Torchwood spoilers.

The last time I found Russell Crowe tolerable (or slashy) was in Proof with Hugo Weaving.

IF it were Affleck as Stephen and somebody else as Cal, I'd probably be a little better with the whole thing. I thought Affleck did an amazing job in Hollywoodland and I could actually see him conveying the self-loathing that goes along with Stephen in the original, although from the promos and the descriptions, I'm not sure if that part of the character has survived the translation.

[coneyislandbaby]

The timing can't be helped, really, and it's not necessary to be pessimistic over every remake... chances are they won't catch on anyway in fandom, though I have already seen US SOP femslash - I think it was seeing Cameron/Della on the femslash newsletter that caught my attention and I realised... oh, yeah. Helen Mirren, not Bill Nighy. And I actually saw an ET segment about why he's looking so puffy and it kind of makes sense, though I am still in shock that he did it deliberately at all... actors and their dedication...

Proof was done around the same time as The Sum Of Us, actually... maybe some slashiness bled over *g* Though I think Russell's done some good work since personally.

I wonder if Russell is so, so different from John Simm that it's just an automatic knee-jerk thing? Like if it was someone else who really looked just about as close to John Simm, it'd still get a "NO!" reaction? Just going by the LOM reactions - Jason O'Mara is certainly not like John Simm in looks at all.

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

I'm not even irritated about it for the slash angle. They just seem to have compressed the story to such an extent that it will lose so much of the nuance that made it so amazing in the original and turn it into just another average thriller with big name stars.

The reason I object to Crowe is because I can't understand why he's taken a role as a journalist. I don't see how he can sympathetically and truthfully portray a role as something he has so publicly professed to detest. I couldn't watch it without hearing his words echoing in my head about how journalists all just make things up in order to get the biggest scoop and none of them give a shit about truth or honesty. Cal isn't the most likeable character, but he was always driven by a search for truth.

[coneyislandbaby]

I'm not really interested in talking about the rest of the movie remake stuff (to each their own, etc - though I'll be replying to some of the Who stuff, etc :)) but this one part is still sticking with me as an irritation... so...

The reason I object to Crowe is because I can't understand why he's taken a role as a journalist. I don't see how he can sympathetically and truthfully portray a role as something he has so publicly professed to detest. I couldn't watch it without hearing his words echoing in my head about how journalists all just make things up in order to get the biggest scoop and none of them give a shit about truth or honesty. Cal isn't the most likeable character, but he was always driven by a search for truth.

Perhaps it's an acting challenge? I mean, if the man honestly and truly agreed with every action taken by every character he's ever played... I would rather worry about his role in the movie Romper Stomper (which is an excellent, if extremely violent movie, Russell plays a violent, racist skinhead), to begin with. And well, a lot of actors play serial killers or murderers, and I think it would be a lot harder to do that believably than to play a journalist.

I'm not trying to argue for the movie or say it'll be good - just that that's a bit, well, of an odd argument to use to object to an actor doing his job... to make us believe him in a role that isn't exactly like his everyday self.

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

I get that. I really do. Playing a character just like yourself would be incredibly dull and not really like acting at all. It might be my shortcomings as a viewer or show up a blind-spot of dislike that I have for Crowe generally, but all I can hear when I watch him is Russell Crowe rather than his character. I don't think that just stops at this role - that's been the same in other things I've seen him in. That kinda contrasts for me with John Simm, who is one of my acting heroes for making me utterly believe that he is the character he is playing for as long as he's playing them. It doesn't even enter my head that it's Simm when I'm watching him. He's Cal, or Jip, or Sexby, or the Master. When I see Crowe in a film, it's just "oh, it's Russell Crowe playing ..."

Doesn't really matter, though. I don't plan to watch it so I can just stay in my own little BBC drama bubble and stop stressing myself out about in unnecessarily. It's not like it's real life, after all :)

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

P.S. Yana/Ten is a slash pairing that I crave so hard! Not even so much in a smutty way. I can't watch Jacobi and Tennant on screen together without letting a little bit of "aw!" out.

[coneyislandbaby]

There really should be much more of it, though I campaign for it with smut simply because there are people who would say Yana was 'too old' or 'not pretty enough' and I wonder if they have, you know, functioning eyes? Or perhaps it's just me finding Derek Jacobi irresistible anyway... :)

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can totally see the smut. That bit where Ten is crouched down at Yana's feet in Utopia, I am utterly convinced EVERY time I watch it that when Yana leans forward he's going to kiss Ten. Every. Single. Time. And every time, I'm disappointed that he doesn't. They should have had more time.

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

I was not aware of that revelation. Urgh. How exactly does Cal falling in love with Della [who in my mind is gay for Helen, whom I think they have cut from the DP] fit with the whole Cal/Anne relationship? That's a major part of the story: the fact that Stephen is a duplicitous whore for having an affair with his assistant, but Cal beats him to the weaselly punch by shagging [and arguably falling for] a mate's [estranged] wife.

I really struggle to invest in the characters of actors where I don't think they have the belief in their character, and having seen the video I previously posted of Crowe whining about how journalists are all worthless scum, I don't think I could believe him as the driven, truth-seeking Cal for a second. That, plus the fact that his physical appearance makes me a little bit sick in my mouth at the moment...

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

Russell looks absolutely disgusting in this movie. He's never been my cup of sake, but I'm willing to admit he can look half-way decent, but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

I am not going to see it under any circumstances, but I'll be interested to hear how much of the Cal/Anne plot survives or how much moral ambiguity is left in Cal's character at all. Not only is Helen gone, but Dan as well, which is just infuriating. I'm trying to figure out if Jason Bateman is Dominic or one of the sleazy political handlers.

Meanwhile, Affleck, at least when talking to Rachel Maddow seems to see it as a "heroic reporter" movie, which is still not exactly what the original was getting at.

[coneyislandbaby]

Jason Bateman is credited as Dominic Foy on IMDB. So one would presume that is who he is playing.

Incidentally, in the movie message board on IMDB (and I am still not sure why I braved it...) someone asked if "the gay redhead" from the original was in it.

Yes they meant Dominic (though I've had it argued that Marc Warren has blonde hair).

I think that was the point I yelled "Philistine!" at the screen. Because it was so wtf?

[karaokegal.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting choice. I wonder if they'll give him some equivalent of that big fluffy coat. Redhead? NO! And Dominic certainly has a big case of ambiguous sexuality, if I'm remembering his endlessly changing stories completely. I'll bet the beating gets even MORE graphic.

Of course Rachel also seemed to be going with the "heroic reporter" angle, which makes me think a lot of Cal's conflicted loyalty is missing from the remake as well.

[xanium.livejournal.com]

Oh god. Whilst reading this I could't help but be reminded of that South Park episode where they show a bunch of trailers for Rob Schneider movies... This summary is exactly the same in terms of buzzwords XD

[filthgoblin.livejournal.com]

I know. It is incredibly buzzwordy, isn't it?