I just found this, surfing the web this morning -- an independent filmmaker made a trailer for a movie that will never get made: "Grayson." (look uner "movies")
The heyday of superheroes has long since past. Dick Grayson has grown up, retired from the superhero sidekick gig, married Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl) and is living the quiet family life.
Until Batman is killed, and the corrupt government of Gotham City (led by Chief O'Hara) is dragging its feet on the investigation of Batman's death. So our protagonist chooses to get back in the game.
The corruption runs deep, and Superman and Wonder Woman are implicated. Lots of familiar faces -- both heroes and vallians -- cross the screen, including a very well-cast Joker.
howstuffwork.scom has an article on the making of this trailer/film that makes for fun reading. It definitely has the feel of a low-budget ($16k) indy film, and a couple of the actors are a little over-the-top, but it's interesting to think about trailer-as-art-form in its own right and it's a highly entertaining 5-minute film.
One of my favorite things about it is the mood -- a quiet, seething Dick Grayson, ready to explode with the right provocation. In a sense, there are strong shades of Hamlet here -- death of his "father" under strange circumstances sends protagonist into a brooding search for truth and justice against corrupt power and authority.
Batman at its best -- in the original stories, in the graphic novels, in the first movie under Tim Burton's direction -- was never about special effects. It was about pure, raw emotion. It was about how intelligence and wealth can't paper over a seething rage. It's about madness -- in the villains where it's out of control, in the heroes who try to control it, and the very fine line between the two. It was about what drives a vigilante to take matters into his own hands. This movie/trailer captures that essence. It's amazing what you can do in a 5-minute low budget film. The filmmaker also did a "making of" piece -- about 5 times as long as the trailer itself -- which is equally entertaining and worth watching.
11:17:11 AM  ; ;
|
