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CNN Live Event/Special
Interview With Devin Gordon
Aired May 23, 2003 - 19:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was a sneak peek at "Terminator 3," one of the hotly-anticipated movie sequels coming out this summer. But it's not the only movie that audiences are waiting for, which is why we've invited "Newsweek" general editor Devin Gordon to help us with a preview. Happy summer movie season to you.
DEVIN GORDON, "NEWSWEEK": Thank you. To you too.
KAGAN: Good to have you with us. We're going to get to "Terminator 3" in a moment. First, let's see if there's a couple of laughs out there for us and check out Jim Carrey's new movie, "Bruce Almighty." Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 'BRUCE ALMIGHTY')
JIM CARREY, ACTOR: And he saw that it was good! Whoa!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Looks like funny times from Jim Carrey, kind of reminds me of the old "Oh God" movies.
GORDON: Yes, the old George Burns movies. Yes. They've been getting a lot of comparisons to that already.
KAGAN: Is it funny, though? That's the bottom line.
GORDON: I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's funny but not too funny. I've heard it's not -- it's sort of a disappointing movie, that those early scenes where you see him sort of pretend to be God are sort of the hits of the movie, and then it just lapses into this sort family fare.
KAGAN: The best stuff is in the trailer.
GORDON: Yes.
KAGAN: That would be too bad if it turns out to be that way. A lot of action movies. We can't have summer movie season without action. One coming from the TV genre, making a movie out of "The Hulk." Let's go ahead and take a look at that one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE HULK")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even now I can feel it, buried somewhere deep inside, watching me. Waiting. But you know what scares me the most? When I can't fight it anymore, when it takes over. When I totally lose control. I like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: OK. Well, I guess we'll have to wait for the movie to see what the actual Hulk looks like. Where's Lou Ferrigno when you need him?
GORDON: Oh, he's actually in the movie.
KAGAN: Is he?
GORDON: He's got a brief little cameo in the movie. He is not playing Hulk this time. Actually, no one is playing Hulk; Hulk is an entirely CGI character, but Lou has a little bit of a cameo in the movie.
KAGAN: And compared to the other cartoon movies we've seen lately?
GORDON: This is much more ambitious than I think anything you've seen yet.
KAGAN: Really? How so?
GORDON: ... from sort of Marvel Comics, in the sense that they're building a giant, muscular green character from scratch. Whether or not they're going to pull it off has been a subject of much debate among Marvel Comics fans, among movie fans. We'll find out in mid-June.
KAGAN: We'll see if moviegoers go for that. Now, family fare out there, there's one that looks so adorable in the trailers in the movie theaters, "Finding Nemo." Tell us a little bit about this before we look at the clip.
GORDON: This is about an older fish, a father fish who loses his boy to a dentist office fish tank, and sets out across the ocean to find it. It's from the makers of "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc," which means that you can almost certainly count on not just a great kids movie, but a movie that adults are really going to get a lot out of as well.
KAGAN: Let's listen a little bit to this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FINDING NEMO")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know where my dad is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honey, your dad's probably back at the pet store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pet store?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, like I'm from Bob's Fish Mart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pet Palace. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fish-o-rama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mail order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ebay!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So which one is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the ocean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ocean! Ahh! He hasn't been decontaminated yet. Jacques! Clean him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oui.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ocean!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, la mer. Voila! He is clean!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Now, the fun thing with "The Toy Story" movies is it was not just good for kids, there was lots of adult humor in there, but still appropriate for the entire family.
GORDON: Yes, I'm going to go see it. I mean, I'm not sure if I fall into the kids or the adults category, but I'm definitely going to go see it. I mean, you can count on the Pixar movie makers to have jokes like Jacques, having a Jacques Cousteau reference in a kids movie. I mean, kids are never going to get that. The adults are going to love it.
KAGAN: No, 5- or 6-year-olds, but the big kids are going to like that. We'll definitely look for that one. Also looking for any kind of Oscar worthy movie. You don't usually see that during the summer season, but there might be some hidden there? "Seabiscuit?"
GORDON: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). "Seabiscuit" is probably the one Oscar contender that will come out of this summer. Last year, all five Oscar nominees came out after Thanksgiving, but in the past there have been Oscar nominees that sneak into the summer and try to take advantage of the fact that people are probably going to be bored of explosions by a certain point. "Moulin Rouge" took that strategy and nearly won. This summer, I think "Seabiscuit" is going to be the one Oscar nominee that comes out of the summer months. Universal has very wisely positioned this movie to come out in July, right when they figure people are going to be really sick of things blowing up and CGI characters and all that, and they're going to want something serious, something intelligent.
KAGAN: And they might benefit by current events, the story about an underdog horse, with Funny Cide doing so well in the Triple Crown pursuit. Perhaps that will help people get into the movie seats. GORDON: Yes, very convenient for them. Everything about the Seabiscuit story, everything about that phenomenon just seems like timing, timing, timing, everything has worked very well for it.
KAGAN: We will be watching. Devin Gordon of "Newsweek," thanks so much. Have fun at the movies.
GORDON: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 23, 2003 - 19:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was a sneak peek at "Terminator 3," one of the hotly-anticipated movie sequels coming out this summer. But it's not the only movie that audiences are waiting for, which is why we've invited "Newsweek" general editor Devin Gordon to help us with a preview. Happy summer movie season to you.
DEVIN GORDON, "NEWSWEEK": Thank you. To you too.
KAGAN: Good to have you with us. We're going to get to "Terminator 3" in a moment. First, let's see if there's a couple of laughs out there for us and check out Jim Carrey's new movie, "Bruce Almighty." Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, 'BRUCE ALMIGHTY')
JIM CARREY, ACTOR: And he saw that it was good! Whoa!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Looks like funny times from Jim Carrey, kind of reminds me of the old "Oh God" movies.
GORDON: Yes, the old George Burns movies. Yes. They've been getting a lot of comparisons to that already.
KAGAN: Is it funny, though? That's the bottom line.
GORDON: I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's funny but not too funny. I've heard it's not -- it's sort of a disappointing movie, that those early scenes where you see him sort of pretend to be God are sort of the hits of the movie, and then it just lapses into this sort family fare.
KAGAN: The best stuff is in the trailer.
GORDON: Yes.
KAGAN: That would be too bad if it turns out to be that way. A lot of action movies. We can't have summer movie season without action. One coming from the TV genre, making a movie out of "The Hulk." Let's go ahead and take a look at that one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE HULK")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even now I can feel it, buried somewhere deep inside, watching me. Waiting. But you know what scares me the most? When I can't fight it anymore, when it takes over. When I totally lose control. I like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: OK. Well, I guess we'll have to wait for the movie to see what the actual Hulk looks like. Where's Lou Ferrigno when you need him?
GORDON: Oh, he's actually in the movie.
KAGAN: Is he?
GORDON: He's got a brief little cameo in the movie. He is not playing Hulk this time. Actually, no one is playing Hulk; Hulk is an entirely CGI character, but Lou has a little bit of a cameo in the movie.
KAGAN: And compared to the other cartoon movies we've seen lately?
GORDON: This is much more ambitious than I think anything you've seen yet.
KAGAN: Really? How so?
GORDON: ... from sort of Marvel Comics, in the sense that they're building a giant, muscular green character from scratch. Whether or not they're going to pull it off has been a subject of much debate among Marvel Comics fans, among movie fans. We'll find out in mid-June.
KAGAN: We'll see if moviegoers go for that. Now, family fare out there, there's one that looks so adorable in the trailers in the movie theaters, "Finding Nemo." Tell us a little bit about this before we look at the clip.
GORDON: This is about an older fish, a father fish who loses his boy to a dentist office fish tank, and sets out across the ocean to find it. It's from the makers of "Toy Story" and "Monsters Inc," which means that you can almost certainly count on not just a great kids movie, but a movie that adults are really going to get a lot out of as well.
KAGAN: Let's listen a little bit to this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "FINDING NEMO")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know where my dad is?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honey, your dad's probably back at the pet store.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pet store?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, like I'm from Bob's Fish Mart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pet Palace. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fish-o-rama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mail order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ebay!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So which one is it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm from the ocean.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, the ocean?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ocean! Ahh! He hasn't been decontaminated yet. Jacques! Clean him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oui.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ocean!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, la mer. Voila! He is clean!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Now, the fun thing with "The Toy Story" movies is it was not just good for kids, there was lots of adult humor in there, but still appropriate for the entire family.
GORDON: Yes, I'm going to go see it. I mean, I'm not sure if I fall into the kids or the adults category, but I'm definitely going to go see it. I mean, you can count on the Pixar movie makers to have jokes like Jacques, having a Jacques Cousteau reference in a kids movie. I mean, kids are never going to get that. The adults are going to love it.
KAGAN: No, 5- or 6-year-olds, but the big kids are going to like that. We'll definitely look for that one. Also looking for any kind of Oscar worthy movie. You don't usually see that during the summer season, but there might be some hidden there? "Seabiscuit?"
GORDON: Yes, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). "Seabiscuit" is probably the one Oscar contender that will come out of this summer. Last year, all five Oscar nominees came out after Thanksgiving, but in the past there have been Oscar nominees that sneak into the summer and try to take advantage of the fact that people are probably going to be bored of explosions by a certain point. "Moulin Rouge" took that strategy and nearly won. This summer, I think "Seabiscuit" is going to be the one Oscar nominee that comes out of the summer months. Universal has very wisely positioned this movie to come out in July, right when they figure people are going to be really sick of things blowing up and CGI characters and all that, and they're going to want something serious, something intelligent.
KAGAN: And they might benefit by current events, the story about an underdog horse, with Funny Cide doing so well in the Triple Crown pursuit. Perhaps that will help people get into the movie seats. GORDON: Yes, very convenient for them. Everything about the Seabiscuit story, everything about that phenomenon just seems like timing, timing, timing, everything has worked very well for it.
KAGAN: We will be watching. Devin Gordon of "Newsweek," thanks so much. Have fun at the movies.
GORDON: Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
