{"id":197,"date":"2007-08-28T23:44:59","date_gmt":"2007-08-29T05:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=197"},"modified":"2014-09-06T15:00:13","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T21:00:13","slug":"disney-thumbs-nose-at-ebert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"Disney thumbs nose at Ebert"},"content":{"rendered":"

From August 27, 2007:<\/em><\/p>\n

Click to Read<\/a><\/p>\n

An Associated Press<\/strong> story in\u00a0The\u00a0Los Angeles\u00a0Times<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0reports that Roger Ebert<\/strong>‘s signature “thumbs up\/thumbs down” coda, as used on his syndicated movie review show, has become a sticking point in the film critic’s contract negotiations with the program’s producer, Disney-ABC Domestic Television<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Editor’s note:<\/em>\u00a0The real<\/em> core issue here – whether an Ebert\u00a0pay cut is justifiable by\u00a0the Disney brass, given his extended absence from AT THE MOVIES<\/strong> due to recurring health issues – has been amusingly downplayed in this AP wire story in favor of a\u00a0subplot involving removal of the trademarked “thumbs” iconography and phrasing from brand-new episodes, hosted by Richard Roeper<\/strong> of the Chicago Sun-Times<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0and Robert Wilonsky<\/strong> of the Dallas Observer<\/strong><\/u>. Since the press has already given this “development” too much play, I’d like to turn your attention towards a quandry that’s way<\/em> more interesting…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Variety<\/strong><\/u>\u00a0reported\u00a0back in June<\/a>\u00a0that Universal Pictures, Imagine Entertainment<\/strong> and RUSH HOUR 3<\/strong> director Brett Ratner<\/strong> finally received approval from Hugh Hefner<\/strong> on the script for a\u00a0big-screen biography of the Playboy<\/u><\/strong> founder. (And, one hopes, there will be enough budgeted for location work so they can shoot scenes from Hef’s early years at his alma mater<\/em>, the University of Illinois<\/strong>.) This announcement got me thinking. If someone greenlit a movie about Roger Ebert, who would be best suited to direct it?<\/p>\n

Such an undertaking could flourish in the hands of a maverick like Overlooked Film Festival<\/strong> pal Werner Herzog<\/strong>, or younger agile-minded talents who might deconstruct the form akin to\u00a0the Harvey Pekar<\/strong> “biopic” AMERICAN SPLENDOR<\/strong>, and I bet Ebert would be thrilled<\/em>. Then again, maybe this<\/em> is the most appropriate fella for the job<\/a>, although the potential result would probably be just\u00a0a little too<\/em> borderline loopy\u00a0for its own good.<\/p>\n

Pitch me<\/a>\u00a0if you have a brilliant suggestion. I’d like to hear it.<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Associated Press story in The Los Angeles Times reports that Roger Ebert’s signature “thumbs up\/thumbs down” coda has become a sticking point in the film critic’s contract negotiations with his television producer, Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Also, your editor wonders out loud, “If Hef gets a biopic, why not Ebert?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media-coverage","category-roger-ebert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}