Feedback from our April Fools' Day pages
Thanks for the many emails sent in by all the CA readers about our April Fools' Day pages. After receiving hundreds of positive messages, I think it's safe to call this year's prank a success.
I want to share some of the feedback I've been reading for the past few days with you, so let's dive right into it...
On the pages as a whole --
"You haven't let me down. You have topped yourselves ten times over with this year's April Fool's joke. It was hilarious! And yet . . . sometimes, I found myself wishing that these films were REAL. Some of them sounded SOOOOOO cool. :)
"Keep up the GREAT work. -- 'B-Dawgg'
"The April 1 film update has got me chomping at the bit. I especially can't wait to see that untitled Ivory/Merchant/Silver production. Do you suppose that Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham-Carter traded Ken Branagh stories on the set of that one?" -- 'Choelck104'
"A most hilarious April Fool's update! I especially liked the Merchant/Ivory action film..." -- 'The Prankster'
"OK, for Gods sake, please tell me the scoop on Titanic 2 and Bounty Hunters was an April Fools joke... -- Tad K. Lynch
"Is everything that was posted on April 1 a joke, or is some of it legitimate. I love April Fools Day as much as the next guy, but its sometimes hard to determine how much scepticism is required. I would really like to believe the Episode 1 trailer scoop was legitimate, for example." 'Wewoodson'
On the eagerly-anticipated "Star Trek Ten: Dominion War" --
"I hate you! Your April Fools page for Star Trek 10: Dominion War seemed so real that I actually believed it. Being a major Trekker, I was so excited about the possibility of a TNG/DS9 crossover movie that I wasn't even thinking right. I posted the exciting info to a Star Trek newsgroup and was soon let down (not very lightly, I may add) by another CA reader. I was so thrilled by the fact that I got through an April Fool's week without being fooled, and I end up getting snagged by your little joke...Good one. -- Thomas J. Evans (a good sport, we might add)
But only one person wrote to tell us that there was no real place called Shermer, Illinois. "While it sounds like it 'could' be real, Shermer, Ill. is a FICTIONAL place created by John Hughes in the 80's and where most if not all of his 'teen' flicks took place," our sharp-eyed reader Justin wrote to us.
And I did successfully resist the Dark Side call to write a fake page using the roman numeral designation. If I hadn't been so noble of heart, my 'Trek X' page would've been written by Douglas Copeland and called for Picard and his crew to de-age to twenty-something and hang out with Wesley Crusher. Aren't you glad I didn't??
On the best-selling "John Grisham's The Space Lawyer" --
"You freaking scared the shit out of me.. I remember its April Fool's Day now.. the only Grisham novel new out is 'The Street Lawyer' and there was an $8 Mill offer. But Grisham is waiting 2 years..then I looked at the other lists.. BUT Titanic 2 may not belong on the list, it could be a possibility, the execs are drooling about it already. -- Justin
"I have to say, your April Fool's Day scoops were a riot! I was laughing so hard at the Space Lawyer, I thought I would pass out... -- Jack Reda
"It seems that John Grisham and Spike Lee had a meeting with studio brass yesterday about the whole 'accent thing'. Grisham and the studio are concerned that the film may be viewed as 'too un-Grisham' by general audiences due to the space setting. So, screenwriter Goldman has come up with a way to give all the characters Southern accents. So now instead of just being an international space station, The Tranquility is partially owned by the state of Alabama. Problem solved. This latest development was confirmed by Chris Tucker on this morning's 'Today' show in which he joked to Katie Couric that he was preparing for his role by 'Watching Minnie Perl in Hee-Haw reruns'." -- Thanks to the loveable Diane for the update and the in-joke!
"It's a joke. Right?" -- Anonymous
About the IMAX James Bond film "Escapade" --
"I adore the character of James Bond. I HATE Celine Dion. She cannot be a Bond girl. It's wrong. And just plain dumb. Pleeeeeeeaaaaaasssseeee tell me it's not serious." -- Sequoia Swennes
On the audacity of suggesting there should be a "Titanic 2"
And just to show you that the interest in the film hasn't subsides, there was a number of emails that got people excited about the notion of a sequel, like from this scooper:
" This isn't a scoop, but a plot idea - have half the ship being raised I know, I know, it's been done before in the flop Raise The Titanic, but attempts really *have* been made to raise sections of the hull, so there would be some factual basis in this idea. Also, in Raise, the FX shot of the raising was poor, even for the day. Imagine how it would look today done as a CGI shot :)" -- 'Tardis'
"Very, very funny. Nice job!! Re: If someone really wanted to do a sequel to Titanic here's my suggestion: a 4-6 hour t.v. miniseries focusing on the British and American boards of inquiry. You have Lightoller, Bride, Ismay, Molly Brown, the 2 lookouts and various crew and the great Marconi, to boot! Considering that the crew's stories and the passenger's stories often conflicted there would be quite a bit of drama about the real causes of the disaster. In addition, much of Cameron's excised footage (the Californian's Marconi Room and more) could be used to illustrate testimony - very Rashamon." -- K. Bacon
"It will be a prequel...the script has been described as 'riveting' :) " -- 'Brutus'
This scooper wrote to me the information they've heard. I'm completely mistaken in what I surmised Titanic 2 would be about when I should have seen it was staring me right in the face all this time...
" I had dinner tonight with my brother-in-law and his wife, who claims that a script is being written for a sequel to Titanic. You may wonder how, since the ship sank. The answer was sitting near James Cameron at the Oscar ceremonies. The film opens with Bill Paxton recovering more artifacts from the Titanic: a box that contains an Edison phonograph cylinder and (apparently) the perfectly preserved head of Arnold Schwartzenegger. When the cylinder is played, a voice asks that the head be delivered to Sarah Conner in Los Angeles. Yes, the 'head' is that of another Terminator! Once Sarah receives the head, she figures out how to power it up, and it explains that Skynet, fearing the possibility of defeat if its efforts to eliminate John Conner were unsuccessful, decided to set up a base of operations further in the past, where changes in the future time stream would not effect it. The base had to have its own supply of electricity, and had to be someplace that would be destroyed with no trace to avoid the creation of a time paradox. Skynet decided upon the ship Titanic. The head also explains that it contains a time transferal device that can send one person back to the Titanic, and that John Connor cannot go because he has to be available to lead the human resistance in the future. In short order, Sarah finds herself on board the Titanic with the head. She steals some clothes and the head directs her to a room below deck where a whole Terminator is waiting. The rest of the movie plays out like Back to the Future II, with Sarah and the Terminator meeting Jack, Rose, and everyone else from the first movie, while not letting anyone know who they are and why they are there. Eventually, Sarah rigs the Terminator's internal power supply to overload and explode, generating an EMP that will destroy the Skynet base. To do this requires removing the Terminator's head, which she places into a steel box with a recording. The explosion rips a hole in the side of the ship, which begins to sink. In the final scene, she is drifting on a piece of debris when she finds Jack, who by now knows of her being from the future. The flotsam is too small to keep two people out of the water. He tries to be chivalrous, but she silences him by saying 'This isn't my time, it's yours. Besides, if you die now, who will I name my son after, Grandpa?' With that, she sacrifices herself." -- Sam Denton
And another reader wanted to let me know their thoughts on why a sequel to Titanic would be a bad idea. I agree with them; why make a sequel to the picture really when all has been said?
"This isn't a scoop but more of a request. Obviously all the scoops you have about a possible Titanic sequel weren't an April Fools joke. Since we are both lovers of great films, I would like to ask you to set up a protest against making this film on your website. Over time, if there is a big response to this protest, which there will be, someone at Fox or Paramount is going to get the clue that there isn't an audience for this film. Hopefully you share my view when I say that this film would taint the reputation of one of the biggest films in Hollywood. The original had complete closure and there is no honorable reason to make a sequel to it." -- Clint Davis
"So you're telling me George Clooney as Boba Fett is a good thing??" --
I just got to love the ones who follow up on these fake pages. Some of these are from people we know were kidding around...others, well, I just don't know about. Trying to keep the hope alive, I suppose!
F'instance, get a look at this anonymous person who tells us he's working inside ILM and there really is a movie with Boba Fett in the planning stages:
"In regards to the speculation of a Warner Bros. purchase of the rights to Boba Fett. As a peon intern at ILM, one of my duties is to run back and forth to the off site prop archive which houses, amoung many other things, several Boba Fett items. Word is a studio (Warner Bros?) had a conceptual artist up over the weekend to take some reference photos and drawings. I didnt see this myself so I cant confirm it, but come this monday it was pretty obvious to me that there had been alot of activity in the warehouse. No one related to the Star Wars prequel films was there over the weekend (thats what they have us for), so it adds crediblity that another Star Wars project is being cooked up.
Another anonymous 'scoop' that came in on the first went like this:
"Unofficial lyrics to the X-Files (until now) theme song are being offered to show producer Chris Carter by Roswell writer Bill Moffitt. No decisions have been made yet but it is hoped that the new song will be sung by Mariah Carey and will be ready in time for the movie's release. No news if it will be incorporated into the popular TV series." (I'm hoping that *was* an April Fools joke, right?)
...and the ghost of last year's Play Hard page still lives on!
"Hey, I heard that they were still going ahead with the Play Hard film (y'know, Die Hard meets Home Alone?). Word is that they want to shoot in Vancouver with Bruce Willis playing the father of the kid that is stuck inside the school. They are looking to choose an unknown actor to play the role of the kid and are doing auditions next week." -- Vince Yim, renegade scooper
But the one that stood head and shoulders out from the rest was from anonymous. Whoever this person did, they knew their Yahoo!, because they submitted a clipped email that looked exactly like a Variety/Reuters press release on the Yahoo! search engine. Not only did they do a great job at making it look authentic, but the subject matter of the press release was almost believeable. Take a look at this piece of creativity...
------- Begin forwarded message -------
Index | Top Stories | Business | Tech | Politics | World | Entertainment | Sports | Health | Local
Entertainment Headlines
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04-01-98 7:25 AM EST
FEATURE: JAMES CAMERON TO DIRECT "NOAH"
By John Perry
LOS ANGELES (Variety) James Cameron, who won the "Best Director" Oscar for "Titanic," is headed back to the water with "Noah," starring Anthony Hopkins in the title role, with Susan Sarandon (Naamah) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Poseidon, the Overlord). Hopkins' last portrayal from the Bible was Paul of Tarsus in the 1981 CBS miniseries, "Peter and Paul". Cameron's film is based on the early chapters of Genesis, and the biblical novel "Noah" by Ellen Gunderson Traylor, with screenplay by David Peoples ("Bladerunner", "Unforgiven", "12 Monkeys").
Cameron's next directorial project was rumoured to be "Spiderman," but with the worldwide success of "Titanic," 20th Century Fox chairman Peter Chernin announced Tuesday the go-ahead for "Noah"--a nautical adventure of truly biblical proportions. Insiders say Cameron first began to express an interest in bringing "Noah" to the screen while reading Traylor's novel, during a break in filming "The Abyss" (1989) with its challenging underwater scenes.
The three-hour epic begins shooting in July, with a scheduled release in December 1999. As with "Titanic," special effects will be completed by Digital Domain--a visual effects and digital production studio Cameron formed with Academy Award-winning character creator Stan Winston and ex-Industrial Light and Magic VP Scott Ross in 1993.
Cameron says he's unconcerned Hallmark Entertainment will broadcast its own version of "Noah" on television seven months before his film is released. Hallmark's four-hour miniseries "Noah" starring Jon Voight airs on NBC during the May 1999 sweeps. "I'm looking forward to seeing how realistic they [Hallmark] make the ark. Ours will be a full scale replica," Cameron told Entertainment Weekly. "The Bible says the ark was made from 'gopher wood', but no Bible scholar we've talked to can say for sure what it is, so we've decided to use fir."
For "Titanic," Cameron built a 775-ft. replica (10% smaller than the real Titanic, which stretched 883 feet) and a 17 million-gallon tank in which to sink it. But Cameron has no intention of topping the $200 million pricetag spent to bring "Titanic" to the screen. For "Noah," Cameron and most of his same crew will return to a 40-acre complex in Rosarito, Mexico and use the existing frame of the Titanic replica to recreate Noah's Ark.
According to Henry Morris of the Institute for Creation Research "Even if the most conservative estimate of the biblical cubit is used, Noah's Ark would have been about 438 feet long, 73 feet wide, and 44 feet high--about half as long as the Titanic--and equal in volume to 522 standard livestock cars."
The film's technical advisors include Morris and theologian John Whitcomb (who teamed to write "The Genesis Flood"), geophysicist John Baumgardner (a co-author of the 1994 technical paper, "Catastrophic plate tectonics: a global flood model of earth history") and researcher John Woodmorappe, author of "Noah's Ark: A Feasibility Study". According to Woodmorappe's calculations "the median animal on the Ark was about the size of a rat. Only 15% of the animals were sheep-sized or larger. It turns out that simple labor-saving techniques could have enabled eight people to care for 16,000 rat-sized animals assuming the availability of only rustic tools, along with a 10-hour day, 6-day week, with time to spare."
Cameron reflects--"If the public thought 'Titanic' was a disaster film, which recounts how 1500 people lost their lives, then 'Noah' will redefine the word 'disaster'...It's not every day a movie gets to tell the story about the near extinction of the human race."
Reuters/Variety ^REUTERS@
04/01/98
------- End forwarded message -------
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Patrick Sauriol
Creator, Chief Content Writer & Director
Coming Attractions
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