Simpsons Bigwigs Talk

By Ed Perkis: 2007-04-27 12:16:04

Best. Movie. Ever. Can The Simpsons Movie live up to Comic Book Guy’s lofty catchphrase? Well, no, of course it can’t. It won’t be the best movie ever. It won’t be the best movie of the year. It won’t be the best movie of the summer (probably.) BUT, it will most certainly be pretty damn funny. As anticipation (at least in my brain) creeps up toward the July 27th opening date, Entertainment Weekly interviewed Simpson’s creator Matt Groening and executive producer James L. Brooks about the plot, the long delay, angry writers, new characters, expectations, and surprises.

Groening and Brooks have mastered the art of seeming to answer questions while saying very little. When asked about plot points or the basic story line, Groening said “you'll see anatomy that you may not want to see” while Brooks added “worst screwup of Homer's life.” Gee, I never would have guessed that a bonehead move by Homer was involved. One reason for the lack of specifics may be that things are still in flux. Brooks noted, “We saw a trailer the other day, and somebody said 70 percent of the things in it — based on where we were eight weeks ago — are no longer in the movie, because we keep on fooling around.” That’s usually a danger sign on most movies, but since a lot of the Simpson’s humor are little references or one note jokes, I guess quite a few changes could be made without interrupting the basic story flow, whatever that ends up being.

The timing of the movie, probably 10 years after the shows heyday, was also discussed. Their response was that they’ve been pretty damn busy. Groening said, “Well, there were no hiatuses during which we could say, '’Okay, now's the time we should do the movie.’ We've been working on the show year-round for the last, whatever it's been, 18 years?” There must be more to it than that. They could have taken a break or worked on both simultaneously, but at this point, what difference does it make? The movie will either be good or it won’t and it’s relation to the show’s strongest season won’t make much difference. The hardcore fans (like me) will go regardless and the casual fans will show up if it has good word of mouth.

The interview also notes that the writers sometimes got very angry with each other during production but always ordered from the same pizza place and there might be one or two new characters. Apparently, a test audience in Portland wanted more of the focus to be on the main characters and that resulted in some changes. “We learned that the audience is looking forward to seeing their favorite characters, but we still have to surprise them. It's not just seeing your old favorites come out and wave to the audience,” Brooks said. That pretty much hits the nail on the head, same old characters with some new surprises. If the filmmakers can get that mix along with the usual hilarious bits, then they may have something.

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