Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by TA (A) on August 08, 2002 at 22:44:32

In Reply to: Re: A Beautiful Mind posted by Romy on August 08, 2002 at 17:57:00:

I know where you guys are comming from. On the DVD Ron Howard discusses how he made many changes based on screen tests and other audience-focused considerations. It seemed that the test audience often pulled in a different direction than I would have. The director seemed very much focused on pleasing a mass audience. Telling were his comments that you can't make a big-budget film like this without needing to consider the ticket-buying end of the story.

I remember the dean of my college once saying that he stopped quoting Shakespeare in his speeches and referenced Archie Bunker instead because more people "got" that.

There's a Simpsons episode where Homer becomes "smart" and goes to see a Hollywood romantic comedy movie. He says during the movie, "Well, obviously the girl's not going to pick the snob," and the audience yells at him for spoiling the movie. "I really thought she was going to end up with the snob," says Doctor Hibbard!

Nevertheless, given what someone like Russell Crowe can pull in, I don't think that you're going to see his quality acting in anything less than a Hollywood film that's made to pull in blockbuster audiences. Crowe was one of the highlights of the film for me.