*SIGH* "Dammit Sam, keep a lid on your shit man."
Whoever the piece of shit is that allegedly stole a copy of The Avengers screenplay from Samuel L. Jackson may consider watching his back- America seems to be in an asshole killing mood. Far be it from me to compare the architect of a national tragedy to a script-snatching sneak, but you become responsible for spoiling the story of national icons and fanboys might decide to bring out their inner, tubbier NAVY SEALs.
Regardless, the script to the Joss Whedon-directed superhero team-up that just started filming seems to have been legitimately stolen and has, according to multiple sources at Film Fan Review‘, started a process that will see certain scenes being removed, modified, or otherwise reconsidered. Currently there are only a few pages publicly available, but the entire script was offered for sale to a swath of movie sites (none of which appear to have been dumb enough to buy it), so it’s hard to judge what effect this will ultimately have. I’m not going to repost the available pictures or transcribe the details, but it definitely includes Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, and Black Widow and sounds like it was pulled from the lead up to an action sequence.
Thing is, FFR also reported that there would be some kind of indefinite production halt, but that’s been contradicted by Sindication, which claims that several crew members have confirmed that they’ll be returning to work as normal, with no announcements regarding a stall of any kind. Their studio is definitely still booked today! If these re-writes are going to happen, it may be more likely that they’ll happen in the background. Leak or no, you can’t halt a production of this scale for massive rewrites without huge expense and a serious threat to the quality of the final product. The best they’ll likely be able to do either way is change enough details or locations from later in the shoot to make it less resemble the leaked script.
Whedon, Marvel, and co. have all been pretty straightforward and savvy about dealing with rumors and online frenzies, so no doubt some official word will come soon enough. Perhaps it’s all bullshit, from the screenplay on down, but this is the kind of thing that’s an unfortunate fact of life for a production of this scale. If this is legit though, we might start hearing more about Nolan/WB levels of security during Marvel pre-production, and perhaps more aggressive disinformation campaigns and fake material leaking out in a controlled manner.
We’ll let you know what you hear, but in the meantime… Do you think a time will come when we’ll all be able to find out as much as we’re willing to look for about big films just by default? Is there any chance secrecy and surprise will be maintained in this brave new world? The way the post-credit sequences have leaked out for all of these films, and the way every nit-picky report about minor re-shoots beomces a thing all suggest to me that those days are over. Brazen theft though… that’s a much nastier side of the movie spy culture.
(via Dark Horizons)
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10 comments
It’s really silly that studios are so secretive during filming, then reveal the whole story in a novelization sometimes months before the film is released.
Make no mistake – stealing a script and trying to sell it is flat out wrong. But you answered your own question in the article – to find “as much as you are willing to look for.” If someone wants to spoil an upcoming film by reading a stolen script (or descriptions of same) online, it’s their own fault for seeking it out. For that reason, I don’t see why anyone would rewrite a film due to leaked scripts or story elements. Why – to maintain surprises for the ass-hats who willingly looked for the spoilers in the first place? The whole rewrite thing may be bunk, but if it’s not, then something doesn’t add up.
NEVER understood why script leaks would cause filmmakers to go back and rewrite portions of it. Who cares if the script leaks? The version of the script that you wrote – and are using to film – clearly that’s the story you want to tell. So some jerk-off leaks it online. The response is to go back and make the script less good just so it’s different? Fuck that noise. Tell the story you want to tell and disregard the notion that Fat Mike from Utah now knows how one section of the film will go – it won’t make any difference $-wise.
If only the Prequel scripts had leaked, am I right? Huh? Hello?
But yeah, the only reason that would make a leak a HUGE deal is if it’s absolutely shit and starts a very early toxic WoM.
If the Prequel scripts had leaked, Lucas would have rewrote them with added Jar Jar.
I try not to read spoilers, and I thank the writers at chud for not telling me details. Worst spoiler I ever heard was a woman on AFN (US military station in Europe) who said she just saw Sixth Sense and it was so amazing she had no idea Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. That was before it even played on our base. I think I would have figured it out, but I’ll never be sure.
The fact that this movie is filming forty minutes from my house and I haven’t stalked driven by the set boggles my mind.
The “Stalked” was originally crossed out. Fuck.
Just to punish us.
Or even on other merchandise or items. Tons of movies have been spoiled months beforehand by the backs of toy boxes, or soundtrack listings. I was a disappointed (and nerdy as hell) 14 year old when I picked up the Phantom Menace soundtrack, and saw “QUI-GON’S NOBLE END” right there on the back.
Hollywood needs to stop being a bunch of prissy fucks. Really, what sort of twists and revelations are there going to be in an AVENGERS movie?
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