D'oh! Writer Spills 'Simpsons' Movie Secret

[CatWoman]

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Ay caramba! "The Simpsons" and all the kooky residents of Springfield are coming to the big screen.

The show's veteran writer and producer Mike Reiss let slip to DVDFanatic.com that a "Simpsons" movie is indeed in the works, fulfilling a long-awaited dream for fans of the yellow-skinned family.

Reiss doesn't give any clues plotwise for the animated feature, but shares how the project, which had been a nebulous fantasy since the second season of the FOX network show, finally got underway.

http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/story/0,1259,---20432,00.html

[Terwilliger]

1. So, I'm thinking to myself....

how many HUNDREDS of voice cameos will they have in this movie?? ;-)

[Richardo]

2. This is not good.

And I LOVE the Simpsons.

But a large part of their appeal comes from them working within the somewhat fuzzy scrictures of television.

A movie where Bart and Homer can drop "F" bombs and the like is not going to improve anything.

Think "Cat in the Hat". x(

[tridim]

8. Disagree

Groening is way to smart to phuck it up. He's not George Lucas.

[DrWeird]

3. Will this be the fabled live action Simpsons movie?

Will the thousands of heated debates on who should play Homer in the movie finally be settled?

Who's it going to be? John Goodman or Gary Oldman?

[Richardo]

5. OMG! I wasn't even THINKING about a live action movie! Doubleplusbad!

Blech! :puke:

If made, it will mark the "jumping of the shark" for the Simpsons.

[meegbear]

6. DeNiro

The actor he is, he'll gain 50lbs, shave his head and paint himself yellow.

[tridim]

7. Hehe! That's a LOL post right there

:D

[mark0rama]

9. DeNiro woudn't paint himself yellow.

That would be cheating. He'd eat carrots until he turns yellow!

[Kamika]

4. Well I sure hope they're making some effort here

Hope they doing something special and not just a long episode.. Simpsons sucks atm, and has sucked for the last 4-5 years..

A long episode when Simpsons was at its prime would be ok but not a long

"The Simpsons family is going to Japan/Brazil/wacko adventure in NY etc etc etc"

[mac56]

10. I must disagree.

"The Simpsons" has an occasional bad episode, but overall it's much higher and consistent quality than other comparable shows ("South Park" comes to mind). Remarkable, considering it's on Fox, and is a Fox production. I also find I'm less critical of the reruns shown in syndication than I am of the first-run episodes on Sunday nights.

Just my $.02 -

[Kamika]

11. Well I disagree

Southpark is still funny..

Simpsons now is just often very stupid.. it has lost all the humor it got famous for.

futurama had the kind of humor Simpsons got famous for.

There has been episodes where I would just sit and think..

"This isn't funny"

Simpsons used to be about almost nothing, one show would be about Bart not making 3rd grade, and it would be hysterical, or when they got a foreign exhcange student from Albania.

Now they travel to Brazil and it's just stupid

[mac56]

13. To each their own.

:hi:

[CatWoman]

14. I agree with you Mac

I think the Simpsons is damn funny.

I never did get South Park. I guess I fail to find the humor in a dancing, talking turd.

[PragMantisT]

12. Always wondered about a feature film

All the others have done it (South Park, Beavis and Butthead).
It can't be any worse than the constant rehashing of old TV shows (Charlies Angels, Flintstones, STARSKY AND HUTCH!!!!! WTF!!!)
If you're gonna recycle for profit, at least start with a good original.
Oh god, just don't go live action.

[AlFrankenFan]

15. Hopefully it'll be good

Cause it takes a lot to get me out to the movie theaters these days.

[CanuckAmok]

16. Potentially, there could be TWO films...

The leads now have a 'pay or play' option for no less than two feature films, built into their contracts. In a nutshell, that means that they will be paid for voicing two films, whether or not the films actually go into production.

In a production like "The Simpsons", the biggest costs, by far, are the talent fees and other 'above the line' costs, as opposed to production costs. So it would be insane not to make the films, as most of their budgets will have to be paid out in either case.

I read last year that the only thing holding up production of the film(s) is the fact that Matt Groening has complete creative control of the project in his contract, and he hasn't yet seen a script he finds worthy of a feature film treatment. That's frustrating, but ultimately rewarding, for die-hard fans like myself.


FTR, I think the Simpsons are currently on an upswing, writing-wise. I think they hit rock-bottom a couple of years ago with dreck like that stupid American Folktales episode (Johnny Appleseed, et al), but they've bounced back. And, even in their darkest moments, I'd still take the worst Simpsons episode over the best of any other sitcom in a heartbeat!

[solinvictus]

17. Early vs. Recent Simpsons

I don't know about everyone else, but I enjoyed the show more during the first 3-4 seasons when the family was decidedly blue collar and had to face the occasional real problem. I agree with Kamika that the writers have run away with making the Simpsons, a presumably blue collar family, into an absurdist, globe trotting weekly travelogue. In the early days, Homer lamented his inability to afford cable TV and there were several episodes driven by financial woes. Then, it seemed that Homer suddenly never had to work and money was no object anymore. I understand it's humor, but it lost the shred of realism that made it appealing.