Monday, January 23, 2006

Director of Hoodwinked Sticks Foot in Mouth

Obviously tired of all the negative backlash on what seems to be every animation forum in existence, Cory Edwards, the director of Hoodwinked comes out with a post on Animation Nation the other day. While trying to clear the air and explain his side of things, he clearly put his foot in his mouth and only made himself look worse.

First things first. Cory blames the look of the film on the film’s budget and his crew’s inexperience. Budgets can be very limiting. But, that hasn’t stopped other productions that simply look wonderful and were produced for under $15 million. What is the sad part of his post, Cory is quick to pass the buck and blame his crew for the visuals. After claiming in his message that this film was created by artists, not executives, he makes that comment in true executive fashion.

Cory should have just kept his mouth shut. He did exactly what any director should not do. He insults his crew by saying that the quality was not just a function of budget, but by the people carrying out the work. Sure, budget plays a role. But, you as a director should be more responsible than to sell out your crew. You want the praise for getting the money, making it happen, writing the story, directing the movie, yet want to pass the buck when it comes to the criticisms.

Alienating your crew is not a good way to begin your directing career. Shame.

2 comments:

Dana Muise said...

All young directors have flops, that’s expected. (take Peter Jackson’s “Meet the Feebles”) and they’ll always get criticized no matter how good their work is. But to respond to anonymous criticism on a public internet forum is pathetic. I don’t know what’s worse, Hoodwinked or the fact that he believes what any 12 year old kid says about him on the internet! It’s possible that posting is not authentic. (I hope)

p.s. I enjoy your blog!

dave said...

unfair to compare tripe like Hoodwinked to Meet The Feebles, which was much more original, far more entertaining, and a riskier undertaking. same goes for other earlier Peter Jackson films like Bad Taste and Dead Alive, which clearly had really really low budgets, but were far superior films. those early works have also had a massive following long before he became a household name with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They were original, bold, irreverent, and are some of my favorite movies.
Hoodwinked was a ripoff fest.