"See 'Scooby-Doo' Poster Exclusively on Zap2it "
Source: Zap2it.com
URL: http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/story/0,1259,---11674,00.html
Date: 04.02.02
Warner Bros. has unleashed the first look at the official movie poster of the live-action version of the cartoon "Scooby-Doo."
Zap2it.com has been allowed to host the official film poster exclusively on the Internet until Thursday (April 4) when the studio will release it in theaters and on trailers.
The studio and filmmakers know that bringing the popular talking dog to life is a huge challenge because it's based on a TV cartoon that's a multi-generational favorite since the 1970s. The hippie-like Mystery Machine van and ghost-chasing youths being brought to life have fallen under early Internet criticism even before anyone has seen any of the film footage, mainly because fans worry that the computerized dog in the film won't remain faithful to the show.
"We know it's a tough challenge," said producer Chuck Roven, when Zap2it visited the set. "We're going to use some animatronics with his head and paws, but we want you to think he's a living breathing real dog."
Although Roven said that 95 percent of the film will have the Great Dane as CG, he hopes that viewers won't be able to tell the difference. They're working behind the scenes on the film footage to make that transition seem seamless.
"The most difficult part has been trying to get the four-legged walk to look realistic, because this dog also gets up on two hind legs, too," Roven explained. "But we have to keep him 100 percent dog."
"Scooby-Doo" comes to life with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" star Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, the red-head; Freddie Prinze Jr. in dyed blond hair as Freddie; "Scream" star Matthew Lillard as the beloved Shaggy and "Freaks and Geeks" Linda Cardellini as Velma.
From all reports, early screenings have tracked remarkably well, and Zap2it tracks the "Scooby-Doo" interest among the top five highest of upcoming summer films. But websites such as Ain't It Cool News and others have lambasted the popularly-known cast, and picked apart early versions of the script. At one point, Mike Myers and Janeanne Garafalo were suited to do an older version of the Scooby cast, but plans were dropped before all the actors signed on to the project. Then, the idea was to skew to a younger audience with these popular stars.
In 40 minutes of scattered footage (before any computer animation was added), Zap2it saw that the storyline of the film is rather dark compared to the light-and-airy cartoon. The story takes place in present day after the Mystery Machine team has broken up and gone their separate ways, Freddie has become arrogant and obnoxious, Velma is even more sexually ambiguous and they're all living on their past ghost-chasing glory. Then, Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean") brings them all to Spooky Island, an abandoned amusement park, for an unscheduled reunion.
Fan reprisals against unrealistic computer generated images are becoming commonplace lately, and Peter Jackson who's directing "The Lord of the Rings" movies says that he's concerned about Gollum, a fully computerized character who's appearing in the next installment of the movie, scheduled for next Christmas.
Even mastermind of the digital animation George Lucas gets criticized for using special effects. His fully computer-animated Jar Jar Binks in the last "Star Wars" installment was severely lambasted by fans and even resulted in fans putting out their own versions of the movie with that character excised from it. So, producer Roven and director Raja Gosnell("Big Momma's House") are particularly sensitive to the concerns of the avid "Scooby" fans.
"I grew up with Shaggy and Scooby and to bring him to life is a dream come true," said Gosnell, dressed in a sweat jacket and black jeans. " And I knew there would be concern by the "Scooby-Doo" fans, so I want to remain faithful to the idea, but give the characters some more dimensions to the characters that we all grew up with."
The cartoon formula had the foursome and the dog run into mysteries that usually involved ghosts and ended with a chase where they uncovered the real bad guys. The original Shaggy was voiced by radio personality Casey Kasem, and the name of the show came up when a writer heard Frank Sinatra riff "scooby-doobie-doo" on the "Strangers in the Night" song. The rest is legend, and it's that legend the filmmakers have to live up to when bringing the dog to life.
"We did try some actual stuffed versions of an early design which is being used for reference points and light," says Roven, dressed in a blue shirt on a warm April day. "A couple of Scooby stuffed heads also exist, they're around here on sticks, and we use them for lighting and referencing by the effects people and for the actors."
Zap2it was part of a junket paid for by Warner Bros. last year with seven Internet web sites to visit Gellar, Prinze and some of the rest of the crew and cast on the Spooky Island amusement park set in Australia.
"This is going to be my toughest role," says Lillard, who's co-starred with Prinze in four films. "I mean, this guy is legendary and I'm either going to fall flat on my face or be known as Shaggy forever."
Lillard, as Shaggy, used also a dwarf on the set to act with until the computerized dog is put into the movie. Roven says that the idea for the set in Australia came up when he found out that Warner Bros. owns three amusement parks on the continent: Dream World, Movie World (just next door to the studio) and Sea World.
Taking visitors on a tour of the set, art director Bill Boes passed through a set of huge suits of armor and giant heads as well as a wall of man-eating pieces of meat.
"We got a lot of this stuff from junkyards and garage sales, we want it to look like a cluttered abandoned amusement park," said Boes, "We also want the place to look a bit like a cartoon, but not cartoony. It's tough, we don't want to upset any of the fans."
John Cox Creature Workshop and Jim Henson's Creature Shop as well as the F/X House, Rhythm and Hues and the Warner Bros. Feature Animation team helped create the effects in the film which is set for release June 14.
Read other stories and film clips of interviews with the stars on Zap2it.com, as well as the behind-the-scenes photo galleries and the latest pictures.
Here's the poster, btw: