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Dean Devlin Talks About the Failure of His ‘Godzilla’ 1998 Script
One of the more interesting conversations I had while covering the red carpet at the Saturn Awards in Los Angeles last night was with Dean Devlin (there to receive the Dr. Donald A. Reed Award for career achievement), the writer/producer who collaborated with director Roland Emmerich on three ’90s films that enjoyed varying degrees of success: 1994’s Stargate, a modest international hit; the 1996 mega-blockbuster Independence Day; and the critically-reviled/commercially under-performing (though still profitable) Godzilla in 1998.
Given that Legendary Pictures is now re-booting the Godzilla franchise with Monsters director Gareth Edwards at the helm, I was curious what Devlin’s thoughts were on the new venture. See his pretty interesting response inside….
“I’m happy,” he told me. “First of all, one of the people at Legendary involved with it is Bill Fay, who was one of the producers with me on the last version. You know, to get another shot at getting that one right, I understand why they want to do it, and I really hope…the best [for them]. I hope they get it right.”
Many fans of the giant-monster franchise would likely agree with Devlin, given the bad taste that was left in the collective mouth of the moviegoing public following what most view as he and Emmerich’s failed attempt at bringing the reptilian behemoth to cinematic life (hardcore fans still often refer to the film as “GINO”, i.e. “Godzilla In Name Only”).
“Listen, I think there’s a lot of wonderful stuff in that movie, I really do,” he said in the film’s defense. “[But] I think the problem with that movie was the script I wrote. I think Roland did an amazing job directing it, I think the actors are great, I think when people look back now on the Blu-ray and see the visual effects, it’s a lot better than what people said at the time. The problem was the script! I made some big errors in that script. I wish I hadn’t, I wish I had a chance to fix it. But in another way, it’s allowed me to be a better writer since, because I made the mistakes on one, and I realized I’m never gonna make those mistakes again!”
Sure, at 13 years removed from the project it’s a little easier to speak to its failures, but nevertheless, Devlin’s willingness to take the blame for the film’s shortcomings (which isn’t totally fair, but okay) was kind of refreshing.
Sympathizing with him a bit, I noted that it must be a whole lot harder when your career failures are broadcast on such an enormous public stage. To that, Devlin could only offer the following (unintentionally – I think – evoking the film’s infamous tagline): “If you’re gonna fail, fail big!“
A gnarly infection threatens to claw its way out of a moving camper in the first trailer for Shudder’s claustrophobic Hellcat.
The feature debut of writer/editor/director Brock Bodell, who previously edited the Fantasia title Ultrasound, makes its debut on Shudder on August 14.
In Hellcat, “Lena wakes up in a moving camper trailer with a horrifying wound. She’s warned by the driver that they have one hour to get to a doctor, or she’ll succumb to an unimaginably awful fate. As the pain sets in and reality begins to fray, who should really be afraid?”
Dakota Gorman (Natural Disasters) leads the cast that also includes Todd Terry (“Breaking Bad”), Liz Atwater (The Other People), Jordan Mullins (The Bikeriders), and James Austin Johnson (“Saturday Night Live”) in a voice role. Bodell also produces alongside Andrew Duensing and Nate Eggert.
Hellcat made its world premiere last summer at Fantasia. I wrote in my review, “Hellcat is a bit of a Trojan horror that defies easy classification, by design. Bodell’s sneaky debut feature is occasionally too sparse in its worldbuilding in its bid to preserve the mystery, but not enough to detract from the thrilling road thriller that transforms into a completely left-field type of horror we don’t get nearly enough of. The stripped-down tribute to a classic horror staple catches you off guard in more ways than one, marking Bodell as one to watch.”
In other words, there’s a lot more than meets the eye to Hellcat‘s simple infection setup, delivering plenty of surprises along its bumpy road of horrors.
Check out the trailer and poster below and add Hellcat to your watchlists asap.
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