Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking
"He's a male bimbo. He's a mimbo!"
Following last week's Wolfman fiasco, a friend of mine asked me whether I thought Brett Ratner would ever direct another big-budgeted film again. And when I say big-budgeted, I'm talking action, adventure, big stars -- the type of film with franchise potential. It's no secret the internet pretty much despises this man. For those who might not remember, director Mark Romanek dropped out of The Wolfman recently, and a whole bunch of directors were in talks to replace him. At the top of that list was Brett Ratner -- and once sites like AICN got hold of that news, all hell broke loose. Harry Knowles (in an un-Knowles-like hate-spewed rant) went off on Ratner, how he's a cruddy director and that Universal would be idiots to bring him on. Eventually, Jurassic Park III director Joe Johnston took over the project.
But not before the internet (including sites like ours and many others) went off on the Ratner decision. Word is Universal was pretty taken aback by all the hostility, and, in the end, it may or may not have played into their decision to go in a different direction. After all, do they really want months of Ratner bashing when their film has been awarded with nothing but love up until this point? I wouldn't want that. Who would? And that's what brings me to this question: With all the major movie sites in agreement that Ratner is the worst choice for practically any film, will this hurt the dude's future career behind the camera?
It's a very weird place to be in for a major studio, because, in all honesty, the guy's films bring in lots of money. Mass audiences are attracted to his name. But, going forward, will there be a studio willing to deal with all the Ratner web bashing in order to make it to theaters in the hopes that their marketing department could defeat all the bad word of mouth? Rush Hour 4 aside, do you think Brett Ratner will ever direct a big-budgeted fanboy film again?
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