MovieChat Forums > The Pink Panther (2006) Discussion > What Was Steve Martin Thinking???

What Was Steve Martin Thinking???

posted 16 years ago by Brian Scott Mednick
14 replies | jump to latest

The very idea of remaking anything that Peter Sellers originated is a bad idea to begin with, but how someone as astute and gifted as Steve Martin could get involved in this totally inept remake is beyond me. Martin seems to have really sold out in the last few years, doing stupid remakes like the Cheaper by the Dozen series and this.

How they could make a second Pink Panther is even more baffling. I did not laugh once during this movie. Steve Martin really should revisit his roots and go back to the kinds of films that established him as a great comic actor. This Pink stinks!

[–] johnnymonsarrat 16 years ago

Hi!

You can tell from the budget -- $80M, almost as much as Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the King ($94M) but with far far fewer stunts and CGI -- that they paid the celebrities enormous salaries.

You are right. Martin is willing to sell out. To be fair, being in crap films doesn't stop him from occasionally making good ones. I read an interview with John Cleese, a friend of Martin's, who said, look the man has an expensive art collection to maintain. Of course he needs money. :)

-Jon

[–] coolaree 16 years ago

ha
very good observation jonmon.
Everyone is a whore really...well not literally.

94M for LOTR 1? Thats impressive!
edit: Wow, all three movies were apparently made for under 100 million each!

They look like much more expensive films is all I'm saying...CGI must be cheap???
..........

[–] justkit 15 years ago

94M for LOTR 1? Thats impressive! Wow, all three movies were apparently made for under 100 million each!

They look like much more expensive films is all I'm saying...CGI must be cheap???

No, not cheap, but everyone involved got paid considerably less than they would have in a standard Hollywood blockbuster. Most of them worked on the trilogy for 5+ years and devoted every waking moment to the project. It was a labour of love for them all, and no one was concerned with counting their money. The quality of the product was all that mattered.

And despite LOTR being a completely different genre, and every dollar of the budget being spent on other things, LOTR still managed to deliver more laughs than the Pink Panther remake!

It says a lot, huh?

[–] clark_gillies 9 years ago

A lot of the Pink Panther budget would have been spent on cast.... Martin would still command a high fee, Beyonce would certainly have not came cheap, and Reno & Kline would have got a good pay day out it.

LoTR's spent VERY little on cast budgets as they used mainly washed up actors from middle of the road films or young unknown actors from Europe who were unheard of in the States..... Billy Boyd has gave a few interviews over the years and seems to be somewhat bitter towards LoTR's as he hardly made a penny from it (Sean Austin has said in interviews that he was only paid about $200k).

[–] hanlonodavid 16 years ago

my god they spent 80 million on this rubbish thats borderline criminal

[–] kimboland-1 16 years ago

Why do you call him astute and gifted? Did you ever see his Bilko? The guy is a worthless, money-grubbing piece of trash. And about as funny as cancer.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sschind 15 years ago

So that makes it 1-1 I watched the original and didn't laugh once.

I don't know why I was under the impression that it was a funny movie. It was not. Casino Royale sucked too.

[–] shadowadept 15 years ago

Amen to Brian's points. First, ANYone redoing the part of Inspector Clouseau is pretty insulting after Sellers made it such an iconic role. It's like p***ing on his grave. Proves that Hollywood can't leave anything alone as long as there's $ involved. I'm sure the rationale is that "oh, there's a new generation of kids who don't know The Pink Panther, so this is a TRIBUTE to the original." Totally untrue, or at least an appalling lack of taste.

And I agree Martin hasn't shown great judgment in movie choices in a long time. But then, he hasn't been funny for a long time, either. Probably not 100% his fault, tho--I'm sure the studio offered him a truckload of money. (And gave him some license so he could try to make a classic funny role and make it unfunny.)

[–] criztu 9 years ago

What Was Steve Martin Thinking???

MONEY

[–] MikeO_64 9 years ago

Of course the easy answer is money. I mean, Steve's been rich for a long time, and in 2006 I'm guessing he was worth at least 50 mil. But...and believe me...I wouldn't know..it's hard to turn down $30 million for anything, including the respect of others.

[–] avortac4 (3752) 3 years ago

"..it's hard to turn down $30 million for anything, including the respect of others."

I bet that's what Judas said to himself with the 30 pieces of silver, the '30 million' of its time.

It's fitting that the figure is '30 million', as it really looks like Steve DID sell his soul for such a tiny price. When you consider how much a soul is worth, 30 million is a low price, no one should do it.

Steve ALREADY knows what it's like to be really rich and buy whatever he wants. Even 30 million to add to that is just a number at that point, it doesn't REALLY add anything to his lifestyle, there's nothing he can do with 80 million he can't do with 50 million, that could change his opportunities or lifestyle in any kind of signifigant way. Maybe he can buy a bit bigger house or more land or whatnot, but when you lose your soul, your dignity, and the world's respect, is it really worth it?

Is it REALLY worth it?

That would be a big sum for someone that lives on fifteen thousand a year, but think about it; it's like you getting a paycheck bonus to your normal paycheck. You are already getting a big paycheck, adding a bit over half of your normal pay shouldn't be Earth-shattering to you. You already live in a big mansion and already did buy everything you ever wanted, WHAT would that money add to your life except a number and a bit more illusion of 'security'?

What a sellout.

[–] avortac4 (3752) 3 years ago

What I am saying is, maybe it's 'hard to turn down' that amount sometimes, for some people, but there are people, for whom it would NOT be hard at all.

For a poor individual, it would be an enormous temptation, but someone as famous as wealthy as Steve Martin, I don't know - SURELY he would've had OTHER opportunities, maybe an unending flow of them, that would've paid almost as handsomely. Even half of that with your dignity intact is worth thinking about.

It's not like you are framing it, that it's either nothing or thirty million. There ARE other options in the middle. He is famous and wealthy, he has the kind of opportunities in his daily life most of us can't even dream of.

[–] avortac4 (3752) 3 years ago

I agree with everything you say in your post.

You said it very well indeed.

You also described my experience perfectly - I am shocked that Steve is this boring in a comedy movie. What happened?

I think Steve Martin could've done a good Closeau, had he done 'his own interpretation' or 'his own version' of the character, but it looks like he's trying to imitate what Peter did, but in a much more boring and predictable way. How could be be SO involved with this, when the result is this bad?

It seems some comedians have a lot of steam, others run out of steam and then they have no choice but to just 'sell out' if they want to make more money, as they have no more funny ideas or humor inside of them. This can happen with 'creative burn-out', as you can't churn out brilliant gems consistently forever. That's why we have many 'one-hit-wonders' that topped the charts in the eighties and nineties, and then we never heard from those groups again.

When you listen to 'Paradisio''s OTHER songs, they're quite horrible compared to 'Bailando'.

It's like everyone has ONE good idea or creative expression in them, and once that's done, expressed or spent, there's no more, they're then working on fumes. Sometimes they are able to milk feveral products out of this one idea (look at Jim Carrey and his tired overacting-schtick), but I NEVER thought Steve Martin would be one of these people.

This movie makes it look like he is. Maybe he simply ran out of ideas, so now he has to cling to the classic cash-cowing because his mansion needs a new wing.

Comedians and other creative people should focus on what they want to create, and then create it, come hell or highwater. If it makes money, fine, if it doesn't, fine. Just keep doing that. Instead, these people sell out very quickly and then focus on MONEY instead, and the result is garbage, just like this movie.

What was he thinking? I bet dollar signs were involved, whatever the thought was..