Post-apocalyptic children's fantasy City of Ember, which 'secret screened' as the closing night presentation of Fantastic Fest, is not my cup of tea, either thematically or otherwise, but if I was 14 again it might hit me dead center. As a much older, oft-befuddled middle-aged man, I could appreciate the production design and the generally handsome look of the film, though I lost interest in the proceedings from time to time. I didn't think it was terribly compelling for anyone outside of the target audience.
Bill Murray plays the major of the titular underground city, and was the surprise guest star of the evening. (No disrespect to director Gil Kenan, who was also present for the intro and post-screening Q&A.) I think it's safe to say that Murray is one of the greatest comic influences of the past 30 years. I wish he had more to do in the movie, but, as Kenan hoped for, he lent gravity and a twinkle in the eye to his small supporting role.
I only thought to take notes on the last two questions in the Q&A: "Will you do another Ghostbusters?" Murray said, "Now that the wounds have healed from Ghostbusters 2 ... That could work." He'd heard the recent news about the screenwriters hired, and thought they might bring fresh ideas.
He feels the first 40 minutes of Ghostbusters is "as funny as it gets," though the special effects "wrangled" the sequel away from what the film could have been and the story got lost.
Murray said he'd done voice work for the videogame adaptation this summer and "that was fun." He found himself singing the theme song while walking down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan after working on the game, and was sure people were saying, "Boy, he's really full of himself. ... Bill, get over it."
Another questioner asked, in light of the increasing respect that Quick Change, which he co-directed, has been receiving in recent years, had he considered sitting in the director's chair again? Murray said yes, and in fact had written a script with his friend Mitch Glazer that he wanted to direct. Based on the 1994 French film Grosse Fatigue (AKA Dead Tired), he thought that he and Glazer had written a "pretty funny script." They approached a studio and were told by an executive there, "That's the best script I've read in five or six years." One week later, there was a change at the studio and he received a phone call: "We don't make that kind of movie anymore." Murray said he's been watching the studio since then and commented: "They're right."
City of Ember opens wide in the US and UK on October 10 and then throughout Europe and the rest of the world in the coming months.
I remember reading City of Ember when I was younger. It was pretty good, and the perfect length for a movie adaption.
I guess I'l have to wait until October to see if I'm disappointed.