For some reason Matchflick won't let me log on to address comments, so I'll have to burn a column this week dealing with last weeks column about Eric Roth ripping himself off his FORREST GUMP script with his BENJAMIN BUTTON script after a couple of crap scripts like THE POSTMAN, much like Melissa Mathison ripped her E.T. script off when she wrote the screenplay for THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD after hitting bottom with THE ESCAPE ARTIST .
TIM opined: The Postman wasn't that bad I thought. I like Costner and the story was different.
Which is all well and good, but the story is based on a couple of David Brin novellas. The movie reduces them to overly sentimental jingoism. After seeing the director's cut of PAY BACK, I'm guessing that wasn't Brian Helgeland impulse, but Roth's. Just a guess though, 'cause Helgeland is kind of a wishy washy dink himself.
AMANDA chimed in with: I'm not defending the script or the film, but INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD was based on a novel, not Mathison's own ideas...
I also highly doubt that BENJAMIN BUTTON is going to be as good as it's hyped up to be... I get to see it this weekend with my cousin. I think I'd rather see THE UNBORN.
Which is true. The novel was written in 1980, two years before E.T. was made, so did Mathison rip off E.T. with her Cupboard script or rip off the Cupboard novel with her E.T. script?
The New York Times says neither and called them just 'thematic echoes', but as we know The New York Times are a bunch of douche bags, so consider:
THE INDIAN IN THE CUPBOARD features nine-year-old Omri who is awakened by the first appearance of Little Bear, who speaks another language.
In E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL a ten-year-old Elliott is awakened by the first appearance of E.T., who speaks another language.
Little Bear is threatened by the family's pet rat.
E.T. is threatened by the family's pet dog.
Both Little Bear and ET fool grown-ups by pretending they are toys, and Little Bear can't go home until Omri finds the key while ET can't go home because he was caught by a guy with a lot keys on his belt!
Of course, there are huge differences too. In ET the mom read Peter Pan to her child while the mom in Cupboard is reading Stuart Little. The kid in Cupboard's school project is on Indians while ET's Elliot is doing a report on amphibians, and the star wars toy Elliot plays with is Boba Fett while Cupboard's Omri is playing with a Darth Vader.
And of course, the biggest difference is Omri gives Little Bear some nice, crunchy granola while Elliot feeds E.T. Reese's Pieces.
Maybe it's like George Harrison inadvertently ripping off "He's So Fine" with his "My Sweet Lord", and innocent mistake Your Honor (To be fair, John Lennon also ripped off Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" when he wrote "Come Together", but hey, a fella's gotta eat).
The bottom line is, I hope Amanda went to see THE UNBORN instead of BUTTON.
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 | Tim
Jan 29, 2009 5:33 PM
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Lance Norris gives us his opinions on the state of film, vents about Hollywood, and generally lets his thoughts fly.
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