I love how when he says Wild Wild West about half the audience gets the joke before he spells it out, because they saw the movie and knew it had a giant fucking spider in it.
A steam punk western with motorcycles or robotic horses would be cool. Hollywood would never do it because they're creatively and financially bankrupt.
That was probably the best part of the movie. I was laughing my ass off at the theater thinking: there is an astronomical chance that this wasn’t connected to that Kevin Smith’s spider joke.
Kevin said it amazes him how for all those years, he was influenced by pop culture...and now pop culture is being influenced by him. He also said he wished he could've seen Jon Peters' face when the giant spider shows up in the third act of the movie. "See? I told you it would've fuckin' worked!"
This really helped me realize how terrible movies can be made with such great teams of professional writers, actors and set designers. It’s because quite often a team of 400 people have to cater to the delusions of one or two producers that have absolutely no clue what a good movie looks like. Hollywood is so messed up
He's probably just told the story to people a bunch of times. Maybe this was his first time with a big audience, but he probably had it pretty polished from telling family and friends.
He tells the same stories a lot. People naturally refine and perfect stories like a set in a comedy routine or something overtime. He’s still a great storyteller regardless.
@@BareBandSubscription also, he is a director. and he is famous one. And regardless of whatever you say of his recent movies, he is one of the rare ones who has "made it" in Hollywood-has a podcast, is a producer, a comic book writer etc. etc. So, what i meant to say is - he has lifted projects from just being story ideas - to the level of execution into a succesful movie/comic book series- which means, he has presented stories to producers and financers in the best way possible, to get the financing of the movie. SO, of course he is a great story teller! Anyone can come up with ideas, not many ideas come to fruition, coz they get axed by financers, coz they didnt present it the way the producer could understand, which could give them the $$. You have to SELL a story, a project, an idea - to get it into motion. Kevin smith may have told this story many times to his friends, at parties, and also to other producers. But I know for a fact - that any movie director who is working today in show business, and has a long career - be it spielberg, Nolan, Tarantino , del Toro, or anyone - they definitely know how to tell stories, whether be it with a camera held, or just speaking to someone. And they tell it in a great way-maybe funny, maybe sad, maybe grandiose. But they are great storytellers-coz these succesful auteurs know how to do, what is called in the corporate world - a presentation. maybe on a MSslideshow, or maybe with pictures by hand. Here you can see kevin selling the story in a way only he could, and we the audience are loving it.
CharliePUNKROCK Baker no other people love to hear him talk. That's why the pay him to go to colleges and do Q and A' s. Oh and all the podcasts he does that people listen to.
the giant spider actually got recycled into Wild Wild West which came out the following year and was produced by the same guy Kevin is talking about here
So what I'm getting from this is: Kevin Smith is funny as hell, John Peters is a maniac, Tim Burton refuses to step outside of his Inner Circle (surprised he didn't insist on casting Johnny Depp as Superman), and we all are better off for this movie having not happened.
SHONUFF - Gaming and Guy Stuff That actually makes a lot of sense. I still don't feel like he has any business making grand, executive decrees without getting more experience in the industry.
If you watch the Death of Superman Lives documentary, you might see it in a different perspective. Jon Peters is still a nut-job, but Tim Burton's ideas about the character and the look were actually really interesting. Superman Lives would have been a big, crazy, action-packed sci-fi version of Superman, with a visionary director and a fascinating actor. I don't know about you, but I'd take that any day over the safe-as-bubblewrap Superman movies we have gotten since.
I about fell out of my chair laughing when I saw that. I went into that movie completely cold and it was like watching The punchline to a 25-year-old brick joke.
one of the funniest parts of this story to me is that Jon Peters kept bringing up animals and asking if Kevin knew about them, but Peters himself didnt know some pretty basic facts about the animals he was bringing up. polar bears are found in the arctic, so writing them into a scene taking place in Antarctica wouldnt make any sense, and spiders are not the "fiercest killers in the insect kingdom", as spiders are not even insects.
If Superman's Fortress of Solitude is in the Antarctic, then it doesn't make sense for there to be any polar bears there, since their native range is mainly limited to the North Pole. You'd have to rewrite the scene so that Brainiac is razzling penguins or something. But that could still work, because, as everybody knows, penguins are the fiercest killers in the bird kingdom.
I'm not a huge superhero fan or even a huge fan of Kevin Smith really, but this is probably the funniest story I've ever heard. His deadpan delivery is gold.
And this is exactly why the two decade long production process for The Flash movie has been such an incredible nightmare. 7+ directors were either fired, quit, or left to work on other productions because of "creative differences" When one or two sets of writers and directors leave for creative differences its not a big deal, but when over 7 of them in a row leave, it's the studio, not the director.
I'm randomly rewatching this video right now - headphones in - and my husband, unaware of what I'm watching, says, "Did you hear about Kevin Smith? He had a massive heart attack." I had no idea. Very weird coincidence that I happened to watch this today... Praying for as quick as a smooth a recovery as possible.
People like this producer are why the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an absolute MIRACLE. Every time someone says they are tired of superhero movies, I tell them "I get it. But you have to at LEAST respect what Marvel has done."
Jon Peters produced Man Of Steel as well, that's why Kal El fought a Giant World Engine machine, and there was a glimpse of a polar bear while they were in the Arctic. As for the gay robot?
Nesasta Well the studio gave Jon Peters Superman because of his success with Batman & Batman Returns, then Batman Forever. But when Batman & Robin came out it all fell apart, then Wild Wild West, and then Sphere. Then that's when it all went to shit, Warner Bros Animation was closed down, and hundreds of people lost their jobs... Except for Jon Peters who went out and had Superman Returns. Luckily Man Of Steel was his last because I think he is no longer in charge or producing anything in the DC properties
Dr. Dhoom I know, well he has more control over thelicense since they keep making Superman films while he technically owns it so it will never be released from his grasps. I'm just glad he's letting other people take of it
+Nesasta It still kinda works like this... Sometimes. Producers are insane and/or very intrusive. If I remember correctly, one producer messed up X-Men 3 and Rise of the Silver Surfer. Even Fan4stic had TONS of producers fucking shit up besides the director. It's the film making industry, man. It's all fucked up.
He wants to be about positivity at this stage of his life. I can’t be mad. People are way too generous with destructive criticism and negativity in this world, especially on the Internet, where people are able to talk vast amounts of shit under a cloak of anonymity. And frankly, a lot of that is what led to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock in front of the entire world. Complimenting something or someone rarely has negative effects. But dissing someone or something that someone holds dear can literally lead to loss of life. Just saying. Sorry to go into a sermon.
There was a bit of an update to this one. Apparently John Peters had a script done for a movie adaption of Neil Gaimans Sandman that had, you guessed it, a giant fucking mechanical spider. Gaimann thought it was the worst script he had ever read and very agressively moved to get it canned lol
They were his enforcers. He can't be everywhere at once, his totalitarian supocracy needs everyday police, and plus as one of Darkseids generals in the bad future he probably has to leave Earth periodically to fight for his Masters wider empire, and you can't have the Resistance getting up to kryptonite shenanigans while you're gone now can you?
as hilarious as this story is....its also very depressing to know that a person like john peters produced a lot of big movies back in the day....I want to be a producer god damnit ...apparently any asshole can do it
CazzSDMF You are right, on the surface. But after having watched Death of Superman Lives, I actually kinda see his side of it. The guy is obviously out of touch with the world as it is, but his points were in the right place: *He wanted a Superman that was unlike how we had seen him before, so as to separate him from the previous film adaptations (thing Adam West to Keaton Batman) *He wanted to get away from the unarguably hokey flight scenes of Superman gliding against a green screen, so we needed something that looked more powerful. Granted, these are taken literally in this story, but I see the need for a variation. *And the Giant Spider would look cool. Superman always fights a similarly overpowered villain. It took literally a monster to finally kill him. So I see the desire to have him face something that we, visually, have never seen him faced before. Yes the 'World Engine' from Man of Steel was "The Giant Spider" in context, but, it was still a cool hurdle for Superman to face. His line "..from the streets" while ridiculous, is likely supposed to actually mean a more hardened variation of Superman, who fights and moves like a normal human would, as opposed to, again, the previous incarnations that always seemed to look hokey in battles (the awkward Superman kicks and magical 'S' bag thing) That's why Man of Steel fought hard to earn the viewers respect with such intense battle sequences. Again, Peters is ridiculous, but he fought for things that were necessary, and he was pushing for some impressively forward-thinking elements, like a potentially homosexual representation in a major superhero blockbuster, in 1997. That is surprisingly open-minded. After taking this into account, I kinda wanted this movie to happen.
whoa man, you have a lot to say, I watched the death of superman lives as well...but right now I do not feel the need to read ALL of that right now lol - will try and get back with ya another time :D
Not only did the guy not know anything about Superman, he also doesn't know anything about spiders (not insects) or polar bears (not found in the Antarctic)
Thank god Kevin didn't die from his heart attack. It would've been so tragic. Really great that he changed his life around, losing weight and keeping his health a first priority.
For a decade I’ve came back to this video. Every time it makes laugh… the wild Wild West metal spider ending takes me by surprise every time.. it’s just a 1/1, beautiful, indescribable, absolutely unbelievable ending to the story 🤣🤣🤣
This is one of the greatest bits of storytelling/picture-painting I've ever heard. I watch this about 2-3 times a year, just for the pure enjoyment of it. If I'm ever feeling a bit down or rough, this picks me up immediately. It's just so funny, detailed, flows, etc. I'm not a writer so I don't know all the reasons, I just know that this is my one go-to/return RU-vid clip, and if it ever goes away, I'm screwed. Jon Peters sounds like a knob-and-a-half, and is probably responsible for so many big "summer tentpole" movies being such mindless, formulaic horseshit.
On the Brainiac fighting in the Fortress of Solitude: Superman doesn't have an army, but he does have a robot personnel that Brainiac could fight. Justice League Action has an episode called "Battle for the Bottled City" where Brainiac does exactly that.
