Luke Wilson Goes to Sleep Until 3001
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Luke Wilson is set to star in Mike Judge's comedy 3001 for 20th Century Fox, playing a man who goes to sleep only to wake up 1,000 years in the future. Shooting is scheduled to start in mid-April.
Written by Judge and Etan Cohen, 3001 centers on Joe Bowers (Wilson), an average American who is selected for a top-secret hibernation program that finds him waking up and living among a society 10 centuries in the future. He finds that civilization is so dumbed-down that he is the most intelligent person alive.
Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill, most recently directed 1999's Office Space. He is next attached to direct Meat in the Freezer, also for Fox.
um yeah that's already been done, it's called Futurama.
specifically episodes 'The Day the Earth Stood Stupid', and 'The Why of Fry'.. two pivotal episodes explaining fry's role as savior of the universe via his connection to the Nibblonians. amazing stuff.
I don't think the movie is called 3001 anymore... They're filming it here (as a matter of fact, I'm off to try out as an extra in about fifteen minutes) and the crew call has changed the name to "Untitled Mike Judge Film (Previously '3001')"
Mike Judge Talks 3001
Source: Onion AV Club Tuesday, June 29, 2004
The Onion interviewed Mike Judge and he had a little to say about his next big screen feature:
"O: You mentioned that you're working on a movie now. Is that 3001?
MJ: Yeah, although I'm not going to call it that. It's set more like 400 years in the future. There have been so many movies about people being frozen and waking up in the future. This is mine. Apparently, a bunch of Futurama nerds are pissed off, because that's the year in which that show is set. You know, neither of us invented guys getting frozen and waking up in the future. But I didn't mean to set it in 3001 anyway—that was just a placeholder title.
O: What's the movie's current status?
MJ: We started shooting right in the beginning of May, in Austin. The basic premise is that most science fiction shows the future as being more civilized or more intelligent, and that's just not the way we're headed. Like, if someone made a movie in the late '50s about the year 2004, it probably wouldn't have had The Maury Povich Show, and gangs, and whatever. So this starts out as a documentary about how the people who are reproducing the fastest are guys who are too lazy to put on a rubber, and lots of highly educated people are waiting until they're 40 to have a kid, and then having one or none. It's kind of a sleeper movie about how, 400 or 500 years from now, a guy who's your average dumbass today is the smartest person in the world."
Saturday, they said they were about a week from finishing.
Without giving too much away, if done right, this movie could be really damned funny.
***Possible Spoiler (since it's not listed on IMDB yet)***
Andrew Wilson plays "Beef Supreme"
Bad news for "Office Space" fans: Less than a month before its most recent release date, Mike Judge's long-awaited follow-up "Idiocracy" has been postponed indefinitely. Starring Luke Wilson, Justin Long and "Office Space" scene-stealer Stephen Root, the flick tells the story of a common man who awakes a thousand years in the future to discover that he's the most intelligent person alive. Director/writer Judge is currently without a release date for the film, and rumors of a limited theatrical run are rampant. ...
What the fuck is this now? The release was supposed to be a year ago, it was already postponed for now...
well, the word is that it's not very good and Mike Judge is ready to move on... he doesn't even really care if it gets a release.
I don't know how official that is, but I've heard bad things from people who've seen it.
Too bad since I was sure to at least be a spec in that movie.
Limits to 'Idiocracy'
Source: Austin Chronicle
The good news is that Austin fans will finally get to see Mike Judge's futuristic comedy, Idiocracy, on the big screen. The bad news is that people in most other areas of the country likely won't. Idiocracy opens in limited – and very quiet, judging by the lack of a trailer and short notice – release on Sept. 1 in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and Toronto, a spokesperson for 20th Century Fox said. Whether the long-delayed, Austin-shot film will expand to other markets is uncertain. The announcement comes on the heels of a report on the MTV Web site that the film's release was "postponed indefinitely" with rumors of the dreaded limited release. Wrong on the first; correct on the second. Which leads to the obligatory questions: Is it that bad? Will film execs ever figure out Judge's humor? Is the film's star, Luke Wilson, cursed? (His Austin-shot directing debut, The Wendell Baker Story, should be filed under whereabouts unknown.) Lest we forget, Judge's Office Space was a dud at the box office but remains gold on DVD/video. The better news hereabouts is that Judge appears to be preparing for his next live-action feature, Meat in the Freezer. Oh, and you can check out the Idiocracy poster at www.impawards.com/2006/idiocracy.html.
I saw this last night.
It's worth a few laughs if you don't have anything better to see, but it's kind of obvious when you're watching it that it just didn't quite work.
They use a narrator to fill in gaps in a lot of places. I don't know if this is because the scenes explaining the plot were too long and not funny enough to sit through or because it just didn't make sense, but it's obvious that it's kind of covering for something.
It's very stupid, obviously, because that's what it's about, but if you can deal with dumb humor, it's pretty funny in spots.
I can see why Judge didn't really care about getting this out in the theaters and again why he's thinking about just sticking with animation from now on.
On a side note... I'm going to have to rent it because I'm in at least one second of footage and I'm actually recognizable (not just a little dot in the crowd).
Quote from: RegularKarate on September 02, 2006, 01:29:37 PM
I'm going to have to rent it because I'm in at least one second of footage and I'm actually recognizable (not just a little dot in the crowd).
You're in the film and you're not even going to buy it?
Quote from: Ravi on September 03, 2006, 12:52:11 AM
You're in the film and you're not even going to buy it?
Maybe I'll buy it... depends on the price... that's if Fox ever actually releases it on DVD.
What scene RK?
I was actually really excited to see this, because some moron on FilmJerk said it was the best script he'd ever read. Maybe he contradicted that later, I didn't read beyond his first sentence. Anyhow, the film is very clever at first....pretty brilliant, actually. It sets up its thesis and goes from there, but it's obvious that this was a tv episode that was stretched far too thin. I mean, if you're going to make a movie about the world being stupid, it would be funnier to really understand the stupidity, not partake in it and just replicate the stupidity of today.
Moments when I thought the film would be really smart turned out to be completely forgotten. For instance, (mild spoiler for anyone who cares) there's a joke about FuddRuckers being changed, over time, to FuddBuckers and eventually Butt Fuckers. I thought it was, however immature, very funny because I thought that perhaps this future society didn't realize the humor in this progressive bastardization of the restaurant's name, in the way that language changes over time. Instead, it's just a joke about Butt Fuckers and that's it, no concept or wit involved.
Additionally, there's a point when the narrator explains that the language everyone spoke was a mixture of hillbilly, valley girl, etc. I thought this might be a clever exhibition of funny dialogue, etc, perhaps along the lines of Blade Runner's polyglot amalgam. Instead, as RK suggests, it seems like a narrative gap that uses a joke that's not relevant to the film at all, because they don't actually speak like hillbillies, just slow and stupid. It was disappointing.
I felt like there was so much potential, given the great thesis at the beginning and so many interesting ways it could go. Instead, it just resembles stupid stuff instead of satirizing it.
Quote from: Gamblour le flambeur on September 03, 2006, 12:32:55 PM
What scene RK?
SPOILERS? (kinda)
I was present for the movie theater, the courtroom, and the stadium scenes, but the stadium is where you could actually see me. It's a really really fast cutaway to a crowd shot of a few of us yelling.
I might be in more, but that's the only point where I went "hey, that's me".
This one needed some rewrites and/or another pass in the editing room.
A movie like this needs a normal hero to contrast the craziness around him, but Luke Wilson is average to the point of being bland and uninteresting. Maya Rudolph isn't that interesting either. And there are certain logistical things I wondered about. If these people are so stupid, how do they have electricity? How does stuff get built? Are all the futuristic gadgets a remnant from a smarter time? Who is responsible for all the product placements? Is there a secret elite keeping people stupid for their own purposes? Is the whole world like this?
Some of the satire was pretty funny, such as the lampooning of certain mega-chains and the cheapening of politics. It went further than I thought a major Hollywood movie would, but its not coupled with an interesting story or characters.
You'll probably agree with the satire and you might even laugh here and there, but you won't necessarily enjoy the movie or care about what happens.
BTW, there were only two other people in the theater with me.
It was funny but it didnt go all the way with its cool premise. When the climax is someone videotaping plants growing, there's a problem. That was funny but the gatorade/water dilemma should have been just one of the problems Luke Wilson had to face. A great try, worthy of a viewing (blasted or not), but it almost feels like it should have been an animated film.
Title: Idiocracy
Released: 9th January 2007
SRP: $27.98
Further Details:
Fox Home Entertainment has announced the Mike Judge sci-fi comedy Idiocracy which stars Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. The disc will be available to own from the 9th January, and should retail at around $27.98. The film itself will be presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. The only extra material will be deleted scenes (Babies/Trashy Guy & Girl in Truck, Girlfriend #1, Girlfriend #2, Museum of Fart, and Joe in Whitehouse Looks Out) and forced (yes forced) trailers for Little Miss Sunshine, Borat, and The Marine. We've attached the official artwork below: http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/idiocracy.html
the dvd cover sucks.... is this worth it? i really wanted to see this, but is it any good?
Quote from: kal on November 11, 2006, 10:46:32 AM
i really wanted to see this, but is it any good?
it looks like a rental.
DAX SHEPARD PONDERS FOX'S IDIOCRACY
Dax Shepard knew CHUD when I walked in for our one on one for his new film, Let's Go to Prison, opening this weekend. "You're from CHUD," he said. "CHUD's been intermittently mean and nice to me – they can't decide if they like me or hate me."
The fact of the matter, and I told this to him, is that we tend to like Dax Shepard here at CHUD, but we can't always agree with his film choices. He seems to make the kind of movies where all you can say is, "Well, Dax Shepard was good in it."
One choice we agreed with was appearing in Mike Judge's Idiocracy, a comedy about a not that bright guy who wakes up a thousand years in the future to discover that America has been so dumbed down that he's the smartest man alive. Mike Judge earned a massive cult following from Office Space (to say nothing of Beavis and Butthead), a movie that had been mostly dumped by the studio. This year Fox did the same thing with Idiocracy, completely shitting on the film, releasing it into a tiny handful of theaters. I had to find out what Dax thought about it all, and what Mike Judge's reaction was – after all, Office Space, a movie that got a better (though still shitty) release, almost made him quit directing.
Nobody could go see Idiocracy because Fox totally shit on that movie. What happened?
Shepard: I don't know. There are all kinds of conspiracy theories surrounding it now, but there are a couple of issues. One is that it tested poorly, and they base all their P&A funds on how well it tests. But what they didn't step back and think about is that the people who go see a free test screening on a Saturday night are the people being made fun of in the movie, so of course it didn't test well. And then I think there are also issues with all the corporate attacks and Rupert [Murdoch] being a very immersed guy in the corporate world, globally. That has to do something to do with it.
Because they did more than dump it – they sabotaged it. They intentionally listed it wrong on Moviefone, in my opinion.
They didn't let Mike Judge finish the picture from what I understand.
Shepard: We finished shooting and they did a reshoot.
I mean post.
Shepard: Yeah, they did not fund the special effects the way it should have been. I know [Robert] Rodriguez donated some shots; he and Mike Judge are friends.
Can you really test comedies, especially non-mainstream ones?
Shepard: That's the thing. But I get it – Fox is not in the business of making boutique comedies that appeal to you and I. Searchlight can do that, but big Fox doesn't do that. They don't know how to market that kind of movie.
The only perplexing thing about the Mike Judge movie is, why did they make it? The ballsy thing, in my opinion, was making the movie. The movie was the script – they knew what it was going to be. I don't understand them making it in the first place. It doesn't shock me that they didn't know how to market it, but I'm shocked they made it.
How is Mike Judge taking the whole thing? I know that after the problems he had with Office Space he said he would never make another movie.
Shepard: I think he had a similar knee-jerk reaction to the whole thing, and he's certainly done working with studios. But I don't think it's put him off directing. He still wants to direct, but he wants to do it on a much smaller scale. This was an infinitely bigger movie than Office Space was – it was a 30 million dollar movie, it was set in the future, there were huge sets. I don't think he loved that aspect of it.
When you realize the amount of shit they release every year + The amount of movies that test horribly or that dont even test at all. They skip reviews and criticts and everything. And so many of them tank.
At least this was from a guy that is admired by a lot of people. and Office Space became a cult hit. And this wasnt a fucking stupid remake. Studios are retarded.
just noticed in the credits, co-written by Etan Cohen, which i thought was probably Ethan Coen with a misplaced h perhaps to distance himself from the movie, but i think this other guy actually exists.
Quote from: modage on January 10, 2007, 07:27:47 PM
just noticed in the credits, co-written by Etan Cohen, which i thought was probably Ethan Coen with a misplaced h perhaps to distance himself from the movie, but i think this other guy actually exists.
It's a real other person. He works on King of the Hill with Mike Judge. He also works on American Dad. It is most definitely not an alter ego of Ethan Coen.
This movie is great, and will be definitely enjoy similar cult status to "Office Space". It's not as eminently quotable as Office Space, since most of the gags in Idiocracy are of a very intricate, background visual nature (you can freeze frame almost every frame of this movie and have a blast just reading all the silly ads and whatnot on the walls of the buildings). It's really no wonder it was barely seen in theaters and that the powers that be want to bury it: I mean, in the future Fuddruckers has been rechristened Buttfuckers, and Starbucks is depicting as having abandoned coffee to sell hand jobs using various degrees of foamy milk as a lubricant. The whole thing is a big F-YOU to large corporations. It's pretty nasty and acerbic and borders on bleak and depressing, even thought there are many laugh-out-loud moments. I think what's made a lot of people nervous is that the future depicted here does not seem so far off.
Quote from: adolfwolfli on January 17, 2007, 12:59:37 PM
I think what's made a lot of people nervous is that the future depicted here does not seem so far off.
yeah, i'm sure that's it. mike judge's prescient vision of the future was too much for people to handle.
I took a gamble and rented this. I was prepared to be dissapointed but throughly enjoyed it. The effects, despite being unambitious were extremely well done and more often than not - integral to the comedy (e.g. the pile up of crashed cars at the foot of the destructed highway). Most importantly they felt like they were part of a Mike Judge film, not just transplanted. Really rich in detail for such a low budget. So much so that not seeing it on the big screen is a big loss.
The future gags were evenly spread and paced throughout the film which is really impressive for something as high concept as this (I was expecting it to tail off quit severely).
I knew it must be pretty good when Bob Maplethorpe appeared.
I watched this tonight and thought it was pretty damn funny. Then again, I was painting while watching it, so maybe it helped that I wasn't paying attention to it 100%. But the approximately 84 to 92% that I did watch was thoroughly enjoyable.
despite being a tad long, i thought it was really funny too. this line in particular had me on the floor:
"What do you paint?"
"I don't know... people and fruit and shit."