What do the names Zach Snyder, David Fincher, Mark Osborne, and Gore Verbinski all have in common? If you said they’ve all agreed to direct a segment in the upcoming Kevin Eastman movie Heavy Metal, then you get a gold star. The list of big-named directors coming aboard this ship is astounding and I have high hopes that Eastman may actually put together a great new Heavy Metal movie.
Eastman, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, recently added jet fuel to the Heavy Metal fire when he told Film School Rejects that none other than upcoming Avatar director James Cameron has signed on as Co-Executive producer and will also direct a segment of the film.
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Peter Sciretta at /Film speculates that “Cameron’s involvement is also notable because it pretty much guarantees that the film will be 3D.” Heavy Metal in 3D and produced by Cameron would surely be fantastic to watch!
Eastman also said that Jack Black would be involved in the comedy section of the movie (to be directed by Kung-Fu Panda helmer Mark Osborne), though it’s not known what role Black would have. Halloween director Rob Zombie is reportedly in talks to direct a segment of the film as well. Eastman added he has three other directors in the wings waiting to sign on; we can assume that Zombie is one of them, and that all three directors “are equally as jaw-dropping.”
The Original Heavy Metal is still a cult classic.
Recently I was very harsh of Rob Zombie’s upcoming Halloween 2 “requel“, but I think he would excel greatly in this particular type of movie. If he does truly get confirmed to Heavy Metal, then I would actually look forward to watching his segment. I don’t think the man is a no talent hack, but I do think his work up to now has been lackluster at best. It would be cliché, but I could see him doing a five minute animated sequence to one of his songs and it being totally kick ass.
I have yet to read a name attached to this project that would give me pause for concern (Zombie included). Snyder (300) , Fincher (Fight Club), Osborne (Kung Fu Panda), Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Cameron (The Terminator); we’ve gotten great movies from these great directors. If they bring even one iota of their visionary talent that they used in the aforementioned movies to this project, then Heavy Metal will be nothing short of a success.
Kevin Eastman really NEEDS to put a team like this together if he wants this new Heavy Metal to be as successful as the 1981 original, which was directed by Gerald Potterman and produced by Ivan Reitman. Because of the graphic violence, nudity and sexuality, the film received some not-so-favorable reviews. Thos reviews didn’t stop Heavy Metal from rising to Rocky Horror Picture Show-level cult status (it even got its own South Park spoof!). Theaters would show midnight viewings of the adult cartoon and would be packed almost every time. In fact, if you happen to stumble across a showing now, I would recommend getting there early for a seat.
I confess that it has been years since I watched Heavy Metal. I was only six when it came out, but thirteen years later when I was in college, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The seven animated stories set to rock music from the late 70’s had me entranced; the animation was very good for its time, and, really, still holds up today. Bands like Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Sammy Hagar, and Grand Funk Railroad helped to push the action and story along with the kind of heavy guitar-driven rock music that was so popular at the time
In fact, the music is big a part of what makes Heavy Metal awesome, along with the fact that it’s animated. I look forward to seeing what bands are announced to produce new music for this project. I would like to hear something from Wolfmother, Dream Theater or Liquid Tension Experiment.
Have you ever watched the original Heavy Metal and are you interested in seeing the new version? What band(s) would you like to hear and what other directors would you like to see involved?
Heavy Metal is still being developed and currently slated for a 2010 release.
Source: /Film & Film School Rejects
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31 Comments
I just PRAY, PRAY VER HARD, that Ozzy Osbourne is not in any way attached to this film. Everything him and his biatch of a wife touches is done soley for the almighty dollar with no regard for integrity. If this movie is half as original as the first one, it should be a fun, heavy metal ride. I agree that Zombie would probably be great doing a segment to “Thunderkiss ‘65″ or “Black Sunshine.” I just hope they don’t go with nu-metal bands like “Korn,” “Slipknot” or “Mudvayne.” If they do, my fanny won’t be in a seat for it.
NO OZZY!!
Ugh slightly depressing news. As if the current heavy metals were not bad enough.
I not only think this is great news, but I expect a great soundtrack for it too. (Note: Paul is partially wrong. The music is mostly early 80s- and a good chunk of them were made for the film, most notably Sammy Hagar’s title track.
Speaking of which, I’d like a tune from Hagar’s side project band Chickenfoot, if not those connected to Chickenfoot (Joe Satriani, Chad Smith *Red Hot Chili Peppers* and Michael Anthony*Van Halen*.
Other folks I can/woul like to see in this soundtrack:
Adam Lambert (yes, the American Idol runner up)
Lady Gaga (serious)
Bif Naked (double serious)
Collide
Ego Likeness
DJ Shadow or DJ Icey
and Rob Zombie, just because he’s directing a segment
Wow I didn’t think I could possibly want to see this movie any less, but if that’s the sound track lol I would actually want to see this movie less.
Also Darren the movie is called Heavy metal why would half of those artists (Using that term loosely) be attached to this film.
@ Andy S
Ozzy’s brain(if it can still be called that [bowl of oatmeal]) is completely fried, I mean the man has done so much drugs and chemicals it’s just like an Etchasketch..if he shakes his head too hard he loses everything that was up there and has to start all over again..
@ Daniel F
“Ugh slightly depressing news. As if the current heavy metals were not bad enough.”
ARe you talking about Hg, Cd, As, Pb, Cr, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Sn and Tl? Those are the heavy metals I am aware of..
Those are exactly what I’m referring to greenknight. Those are terrible.
LOL Greenknight that might the funniest thing I’ve read in a awhile. Did you look all those up or did you for some reason have them memorized?
@Daniel F – What movie or movies are you actually looking forward to? There has to be something that catches your eye.
I’d have to agree the nu-wave metal would suck for this movie. The music need to be hard and melodic. Maybe DragonForce could do a track?
This year I’m not looking forward to much to be honest. At least not any more the movies I was looking forward to have all pretty much gone by now. I was looking forward to Wolverine (which was disappointing), Star Trek (Which was good), Terminator (which was good, but disappointing) The Hangover (I haven’t yet seen it), Watchmen (Which was good) and a few other films that I were not that interested in.
I can list a few if you would like.
Sherlock Holmes is probably the biggest one. I’m amped for it.
Year One might be interesting.
Public Enemies looks good despite having people I don’t like.
The New Ice Age might be good.
Funny People sounds promising
The Time Traveler’s Wife I havn’t seen much on it except for it’s IMDB’s page, but sounds decent.
Paper Heart mostly because I’ve liked just about everything with Micheal cera.
The Goods Jeremy Piven is a fantastic actor and is the main reason I watch Entourage.
Shanghai Cusack is fairly dependable and always puts on a good performance.
Pandorum sounds interesting. Ben Foster is an excellent actor and Quiad is hit or miss.
Extract Jason Bateman is dependably funny and while he has a lot of hate Affleck is a fairly decent actor.
2012 sounds exciting and once again Cusack.
Hoodwinked 2 I thought the first was very clever which is a bad sign and a good sign for the second so we will see.
I’ll be fair though this year is a fairly unexciting year and I haven’t been keeping up with much.
Ah yes, 14 times in the theater, a personal record, I remember it well (mostly)!
And the wait for it to come out on video. That stunk!
At the time (and even now) I didn’t know any of the writers of the stories that made up the original movie. For that reason I’m not convinced that having a bunch of well known directors will automatically make this new movie great. What made Heavy Metal great was the ORIGINAL idea of the Loc-Nar telling (bragging) the stories of its far reaching influence and how this frightened little girl could destroy it!
I know we all know how the movie went, but my point is Hollywood is mostly devoid of original ideas and without such vision having tried and true directors may only prove Hollywood can’t think outside it’s own box.
As for the sound track: The greatest sound track ever! Good luck matching it! ‘Nuff said.
I will wait cautiously and optimistically for more news and for the move. Who knows, maybe the Loc-Nar will once again be worshiped as god, on some worlds.
I liked the first….hated the second…I’ll be game for a new one.
Now that I thought about it some more Paul I realized you were probably thinking beyond just this year for excitement. Outside of comic films I don’t really know much about what’s gonna be out in two or three years. Though I can say most comic films excite me and while it was disappointing I enjoyed T4 if they don’t go with the story we have been hearing about I would be excited for T5. If the Mass Effect game ever gets made I am beyond excited for that. Also a list of actors I tend to follow and stay excited about.
John Cusack
Christian Bale
Russel Crowe
Will Smith
Paul Rudd
Casey Affleck
Ryan Reynolds (Sometimes I like him, but he’s a bit obsessed with romantic comedies)
Jeremy Piven
Seth Rogan
Ben Foster
Edward Norton
Denzel (Most of the time)
Jason Bateman
Micheal Cera
Nathan Fillion (Hit or miss with movies but hes always good)
And then there are my two man crushs who don’t do good movies that often, but they are good actors and I have a man crush on them I can’t help it.
Jensen Ackles
David Boreanaz
Oh and most films made by Kevin Smith, Chris Nolan, Ridley Scott, James Mangold, Judd Apatatow
So there are plenty of films I like and want to see. However Heavy Metal is all about boobs and music. That’s all the cartoons were about. The movie more than likely will have less boobs and worse music so I don’t see and if it’s based around the same story I don’t see how it will do well since the story of the cartoons was terrible. We were just able to ignore it because of loads of Cartoon boobs and loud head banging music.
hm…wonder if they could do something nice with a tune from Porcupine Tree
well I have a few nits to pick with this piece of news…..
one it’s all very well to have great directors attached, but what exactly are they directing? It matters naught if the stories suck, y’know? Are they doing a remake of the original segments from the movie or are they selecting other stories from the magazine (it did have a rather long run)? Are they incorporating and getting the rights from the artists? which animation studios have signed on? That also affects the quality of the storytelling, if the artwork sucks, then it really don’t matter much. As for the soundtrack, I think it would be nice to revamp it some, but I would pick artists that were around at the time, say foghat, nazareth, aerosmith, van halen and the like (maybe Joan Jett?). I would most definately suggest that the Hagar, DEVO and BOC cuts stay, maybe even the opening Riggs song.
@piratedan – There hasn’t been an announcement that I’m aware of regarding the animators yet. Nor have they discussed the story. My thought is the story will be nothing like the first or second but rather a completely new story in the same outer space world with different characters. I’m not sure if you would even classify it as a sequel or a remake. I don’t get the feeling that a remake is what Eastman is going for but we shall see.
I remember watching the original when i was still a preteen… I thought it was amazing for many preteen reasons…..
@PY thank you sir. I guess it’s just too early to tell about this. Although there’s a part of me that hopes that they’ll have the good sense to stay with stories from the magazine itself, if not a retelling of the original lineup. Else the name of the movie loses it’s meaning altogether.
@Daniel F
“However Heavy Metal is all about boobs and music. That’s all the cartoons were about.”
So what’s your point?
Vic
You know my point Vic I’m that annoying guy on this site that expects good story and plot.
@DanielF – I knew there something about you that annoyed me
J/K My mom used to say “Want in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first” sadly that applies to Hollywood lately.
Really Paul? My family used a different word other than spit and i think it applies more to hollywood.
LOL, my mom reads this site so I have to be careful what i say but you, sir, are entirely correct.
This had better be hand drawn animation. The article mentioned something about 3D, which probably means that it will be CG, but we haven’t gotten a quality 2D animated movie in forever.
@Daniel F
Dude lighten up. That was a JOKE (hence the smiley).
Vic
That’s because 3d is much more enjoyable to watch.
@ Paul
I’m a bit of a science geek but there are more heavy metals.Up until a few years ago I knew the entire Periodic Table with molecular weights and electron configuration including all known lanthanoids and actinoids(The Simpson’s geek in me coming out there
) and then three kids come along and 7 years of sleep deprivation and voila..it’s all mostly gone.. 
facts are facts
Besides Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!
Greenknight that seems confusing to me. Facts are meaningless, but then you say you can use them to prove things. Doesn’t that mean facts are meaningful? In my mind that makes facts one of the most important things in the world especially give the large number of people who don’t know facts about .. well anything.
@ Daniel F
It was a quote from Homer Simpson…
“Besides Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!”
Lighten up..Cripers..were you potty trained at gunpoint?
I don’t even Cameron can ever come close to the magic of “Heavy Metal”,,, (the second film is dead to me)
^
When this cartoon came out I was prob 13, I remember it was Rated R at the time. I didn’t understand why til years later when I watched it on Laserdisc. It was very hard to find before the VHS era. Even the awesome soundtrack wasn’t easy to come by on Cd for years.
Something about all the ASCAP royalties.
A truly one of a kind film,,,
The subject matter was lifted right from the pages of the magazine itself, and the music fit like a glove.
^
Its a bummer these days that all the top directors and studio heads feel the need to 3D all the new animation films more or less. I’ll wait for the dvd as I don’t and will not support 3D films in the theatre.
^
I’m not amped about Rob Zombie doing any musical tracks as the guy has the voice of a corpse. His music stinks and I can barely stand some of his films.
But hey, maybe he’ll just direct a small thoroughly gross little segment and then we can move on, Hopefully,,,
I’ll take Ozzy any day over a zombie.
Greenknight I’m not sure why you needed to tell me to lighten up. I wasn’t at all agitated in my post. I just didn’t get what you were saying. Apparently if you haven’t seen that specific episode of the simpsons you need to lighten up. I haven’t watched the simpsons in years it got really unfunny and over political after awhile. Besides when Futurama came out I thought it was much better.
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