An Open Letter to Miguel Sapochnik and Universal Pictures
Dear Miguel Sapochnik and Universal Pictures and other associated parties.
Concerning your upcoming film "Repo Men."
I think i saw this movie already, except it was good. It was a musical with awesome comic book interludes that dripped with creativity, and it was called "Repo: The Genetic Opera."
Is "Plagiarism" a word that no longer carries any meaning in Hollywood? Have we finally dropped our standards so low that we can now completely lift the plot from another movie, and remake it with different actors, and NOT call it a remake? At least have the decency to throw in a tagline "Inspired by the Fantasia Ground-Breaker Award Winning Musical "Repo: The Genetic Opera!" in the trailer! That would give this movie a shred of legitimacy in my mind. Sadly, our buddies at Universal can't be bothered. They're banking on the hope that since Repo: The Genetic Opera wasn't the most popular of movies, that they can repackage it and sell it back to the movie going public with better advertising. The really sad part is that they'll get away with it, scott free.
I don't mind the movie so much, I mean, I understand that it's not a direct transliteration of the plot. Really, all that they share is the backstory. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, a horrible rash of organ failures starts sweeping mankind. Everyone thought all hope was lost, until a mysterious organization stepped in, promising salvation for the human race. Newly grown synthetic organ replacements, you get to live, but you'll be in debt to the corporation for the rest of your life. But what happens when someone is unable to keep up with their payments? Well, the corporation sends the Repo Man, a dark, seemingly inhuman figure with the reflexes of a warrior and the finesse of a surgeon. He hunts you down, slices you open and takes back the company's property.
Here is where the two respective plots branch out. In The Genetic Opera, there is a long and involved plot where Rotti, the owner of the company, becomes very jealous of his star surgeon, Nathan when the love of his life, Marni, spurns him for Nathan. Rotti hatches a fiendish plot to murder Marni, and Frame Nathan for it. As protection, Rotti traps Nathan into the solitary life of a Repo Man, so while he works his ass off, trying to rid himself of the guilt, he neglects his daughter, Shyloh, who Rotti decides belongs to him.
In "Repo Men," the plot is far less involved and far less interesting. A Repo man needs one of his organs replaced, and is now caught up in the same insidious trap he himself has dedicated his life to enforcing, WHAT A TWEEST! But since he is by all rights a trained killer, he goes on a bloody rampage for his freedom, and the freedom of all mankind. A plot worthy of M. Knight Shymalan himself!
However, this remake is devoid of the musical and comic book aspects of it's predecessor, and along with it, devoid of all heart and creativity as well. A film which once stood out from the pack so highly has been reduced to nothing more than a cheesy futuristic action flick, which I am certain will be filled with plenty of "shocking" scenes of highly detailed surgeries, as well as murder.
I would say that I wish that Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich could receive writing credits for coming up with the concept, but I doubt they'd want their name anywhere near this cinematic abortion.
However, I do foresee a rash of theater pranks arising out of the ashes of this disaster. I can see moviegoers flocking to the theaters in costumes from the Genetic Opera, or impromptu musical scenes taking place in line, or in the theater itself. It had enough of a cult following, and seemed to appeal to crazy people mostly, what more can you expect from a musical starring Paris Hilton, Nivek Ogre from Skinny Puppy and Anthony Head, of Dr. Who and Buffy fame? I hope that little splinter groups of these crazies go and sabotage this movie as much as humanly possible, and that the results will be on youtube within moments of their execution :)
Concerning your upcoming film "Repo Men."
I think i saw this movie already, except it was good. It was a musical with awesome comic book interludes that dripped with creativity, and it was called "Repo: The Genetic Opera."
Is "Plagiarism" a word that no longer carries any meaning in Hollywood? Have we finally dropped our standards so low that we can now completely lift the plot from another movie, and remake it with different actors, and NOT call it a remake? At least have the decency to throw in a tagline "Inspired by the Fantasia Ground-Breaker Award Winning Musical "Repo: The Genetic Opera!" in the trailer! That would give this movie a shred of legitimacy in my mind. Sadly, our buddies at Universal can't be bothered. They're banking on the hope that since Repo: The Genetic Opera wasn't the most popular of movies, that they can repackage it and sell it back to the movie going public with better advertising. The really sad part is that they'll get away with it, scott free.
I don't mind the movie so much, I mean, I understand that it's not a direct transliteration of the plot. Really, all that they share is the backstory. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, a horrible rash of organ failures starts sweeping mankind. Everyone thought all hope was lost, until a mysterious organization stepped in, promising salvation for the human race. Newly grown synthetic organ replacements, you get to live, but you'll be in debt to the corporation for the rest of your life. But what happens when someone is unable to keep up with their payments? Well, the corporation sends the Repo Man, a dark, seemingly inhuman figure with the reflexes of a warrior and the finesse of a surgeon. He hunts you down, slices you open and takes back the company's property.
Here is where the two respective plots branch out. In The Genetic Opera, there is a long and involved plot where Rotti, the owner of the company, becomes very jealous of his star surgeon, Nathan when the love of his life, Marni, spurns him for Nathan. Rotti hatches a fiendish plot to murder Marni, and Frame Nathan for it. As protection, Rotti traps Nathan into the solitary life of a Repo Man, so while he works his ass off, trying to rid himself of the guilt, he neglects his daughter, Shyloh, who Rotti decides belongs to him.
In "Repo Men," the plot is far less involved and far less interesting. A Repo man needs one of his organs replaced, and is now caught up in the same insidious trap he himself has dedicated his life to enforcing, WHAT A TWEEST! But since he is by all rights a trained killer, he goes on a bloody rampage for his freedom, and the freedom of all mankind. A plot worthy of M. Knight Shymalan himself!
However, this remake is devoid of the musical and comic book aspects of it's predecessor, and along with it, devoid of all heart and creativity as well. A film which once stood out from the pack so highly has been reduced to nothing more than a cheesy futuristic action flick, which I am certain will be filled with plenty of "shocking" scenes of highly detailed surgeries, as well as murder.
I would say that I wish that Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich could receive writing credits for coming up with the concept, but I doubt they'd want their name anywhere near this cinematic abortion.
However, I do foresee a rash of theater pranks arising out of the ashes of this disaster. I can see moviegoers flocking to the theaters in costumes from the Genetic Opera, or impromptu musical scenes taking place in line, or in the theater itself. It had enough of a cult following, and seemed to appeal to crazy people mostly, what more can you expect from a musical starring Paris Hilton, Nivek Ogre from Skinny Puppy and Anthony Head, of Dr. Who and Buffy fame? I hope that little splinter groups of these crazies go and sabotage this movie as much as humanly possible, and that the results will be on youtube within moments of their execution :)