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Interview with Director answering why it's there:
_One crucial question… what is that watermelon doing there?_
Well, we were extremely concerned that Begleman was gonna shut the movie down. Every time we did something we were proud of, he would hate it. He really hated Buckaroo’s red glasses, he said, “a hero doesn’t wear red glasses.” He hated that there was a certain anarchic logic that he couldn’t get onboard with. So the watermelon is there just to see if he had gotten so disgusted with us that he wasn’t watching our dailies anymore. And it proved to be true, because early on in the movie, he would’ve shut it down for that little moment of the watermelon. But, he’d given up in despair.
_Wait, that’s why the watermelon is there? It’s a symbol of artistic defiance?_
The production designer, driving into work, went by one of those roadside fruit stands and bought a bunch of watermelons. He said, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with these things.” During that day, we were blocking out little bits, and wandering around this abandoned factory and there’s this amazing machine sitting there, looking as if it’s ready to crush something. So I said, “Let’s put a watermelon in that.” And then they improvised those lines of dialogue, and it became extraordinary.
We never heard a word about it from the studio, so that was our way of recklessly saying, “They’re not even looking at our dailies anymore, and we’re far enough into the movie that they won’t shut it down, so let’s just do whatever we want.” And that was it, it was license to make the movie we wanted to make. To defy all logic, and just be.
More here:
https://thefront.tv/read/off-hollywood-buckaroo-banzai-wd-richter/
I thought of Brian Cox also but he is definitely NOT 'hard-rocking'.
Yes, weird! If they wanted what was inside the plane...
I just saw it for the first time and it also ended up with the running off.
The additional stuff would have been good, since the guy was a jerk and the woman couldn't make up her mind and stuffed the driver around.
They lose their shine soon after seeing them but they certainly are interesting the first time.
You'd think with 4 seasons it would be better remembered and shown more but I guess without the comedy element it wasn't as appealing to a larger audience and as memorable as MASH was. Also, I don't think there is much of an audience for war-time drama shows like there is for, say, police / detective shows, so the comedy in MASH sure opens up the audience for it.
He certainly developed a unique style of mannerisms and stuff. He did great.
Nope. It's a great rock-disco crossover track and many KISS fans dislike it because it was too influenced by disco at the time.
It was repeated a bit too much in this movie, though!
I guess I didn't really care how he looked, his performance was fine for a mini-series. Did seem quite young for who he portrayed but I know a number of people who look very young for their age.
I agree, it was a terrible disappointment.
It didn't get properly going until the end but even then it got stuck a few times.
I honestly couldn't wait for it to finish.
One of the best disco songs ever made!
What's interesting is that perhaps the Brits were ahead of their time in having these requirements in place during the production of a movie. These days people can get taken to court and given big fines for placing too much demand on employees in any industry.
I understand what you mean, however technically it's a property and also a prequel which means a number of potential actors could portray McClane. It would have been nice to have Willis in a kind of 'Wonder Years' role where he recounts his character's early career which leads into the late 1980s and Die Hard, however he is not involved in acting anymore. AI voice generation may be able to step in, in this regard, however I'm not sure about the ethical and legal aspects of it.
However, the idea of a police series set in the late 1970s United States is very appealing to me, especially if it links into an established property like Die Hard.
And ultimately it will expand this universe further which I'm sure a number of fans would appreciate, and the production would keep a large number of people employed in the industry. I'm honestly tired of all the various cop / crime shows currently out there and need some 'edge' to get me interested. Having it set in the Die Hard universe would do it for me!
And also, it appears that the project may be cancelled?
Interesting question. I think he'd be pretty annoyed that the company sent an android along, and it's been following those orders.
Wonder how Kane would have reacted.
I used to watch Airport '77 as a kid and liked him in Star Trek so hopefully it will be okay!
It's definitely happening! Anyone and everyone can go to the AI chatbox and ask for a detailed movie idea. It literally writes whole screenplays for you, but at least actual human screenwriters are required (for now) to 'clean it up'.
Book publishers are also overwhelmed by the amount of first-time writers submitting whole manuscripts which have clearly been written by AI.
Same here. Felt like one of those many new-ish but bad sci-fi movies which pop up on free streaming services.
Any kind of creature and species, and sub-species, is welcome - it's that kinda universe?
I'm just glad we are getting stuff which further extends the Star Wars universe.
I'd like to see a limited spin-off comedy series about some idiot workers deep in the bowels of the original Death Star who are never supervised and get up to all kinds of hi-jinx, ending with the explosion of the place.
Every job has its own unique sources of humour, as bad as it seems.
Imagine what goes on in a funeral place.
It reminded me of the chicken factory workers video'd kicking live chickens up against the wall of the factory and laughing.
Well said mate, I was watching it last night and I usually can't stand Bay's stuff. I didn't even know he made it until his name popped up in the credits at the start.
But this one is a bit different and much more tolerable.