Just a quick post to officially shut down, for (at the very least) the reasons previously stated. See you one year from today, on February 5, 2010, at the opening of The Cabin in the Woods.
Update: Of course, when I say the key bit — “I’d much rather experience these projects in as virgin a state as possible when it comes to being a viewer or filmgoer.” — that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send me the screener of episodes two and three of Dollhouse if you have it. Just sayin’.
To date, the best place to catch word on who says they’ve read the script (or, for all we know, given the misinformation campaign, “a” script?) is Twitter. But you might have to rely on the search function, because so far every tweet mentioning that someone’s read it has later disappeared (but they still show via search).
Who’s claimed to have read it?
So far: BenDavid Grabinski (screenwriter), Ryan Rotten (managing editor of Shock Till You Drop), and Drew “Moriarty” McWeeny (film editor, HitFix). I’m not sure if the first two have made any further reference to it, but McWeeny referenced it yesterday.
Update: Silly me. I somehow forgot Brad Miska (co-owner, Bloody Disgusting).
Update: And possible Devin Faraci of CHUD as well, but it’s hard to tell if this is evidence, or just a parroting of other horror website people griping about Whedon calling the film a “game changer”, which is something he’s never actually said.
Update: A name has been struck through in the original list above. Newer information provided indicates that when said individual tweeted “CABIN IN THE WOODS is crazy and not what anyone’s expecting”, they were reacting to rumors or second-hand information, and not to having read the script itself.
Here’s a question for Drew Goddard, Joss Whedon, and anyone else actually involved in the production of The Cabin in the Woods: Was the production itself the source of (presumably) incorrect information on actors being added to established databases such as InBaseline StudioSystem?
And, if the production itself was the source, were those actors asked beforehand if their names could be used in such a misinformation campaign?
Or, if those actors were not asked for permission, do you think it’s ethical to use the names of actors not involved in a project in this manner, given that it could negatively impact their consideration for roles they are actually up for?
A few days ago, Bloody Disgusting reported a rumor about casting for The Cabin in the Woods that already had been shot down by Joss Whedon, but they never mentioned that because they didn’t bother to spend ten minutes on the Internet doing any research.
Over the weekend, site after site after site picked up the rumor. Some of them mentioned the earlier denials. Some of them didn’t.
The latest iteration of all of this is Cinema Blend, which repeats the rumor (adding a new source) and manages to fail at research as well — by claiming that Joss’ denials came after the Bloody Disgusting piece, not a week beforehand.
In the end, could it turn out to be the case that Jena Malone was not cast at the time of the denials but is cast now? Of course.
Or it could turn out that Production Weekly (Cinema Blend’s source) bought into the earlier incorrect information and published it without checking.
Given the release schedule of Production Weekly it’s actually possible that Bloody Disgusting’s source in fact was the very same Production Weekly that Cinema Blend is claiming is a second source confirming Bloody Disgusting’s report.
Whatever the case, there are some basic facts in this story that can be determined, even if there are some that can’t. The timeline of events is one of those facts.
And yet all of these places that publish on the Internet appear to not know how to do even ten minutes of research on that very Internet to get the known facts correct.
Update: They also could have spent five minutes to find information about the Mordecai title.
SCI FI Wire picked up the fact that Bloody Disgusting was “tipped off” that Jena Malone has been cast in The Cabin in the Woods. Nowhere does either site mention that Joss Whedon said no to this rumor a week ago when Malone’s name first surfaced on the StudioSystem record for the film and therefore showed up on The New York Times’ listing for it.
Even if Whedon’s denial was misinformation, or accurate at the time and the situation now has changed, it’s completely farcical (and borderline illiterate for anyone with a pretense toward reporting) that neither SCI FI Wire nor Bloody Disgusting bother to mention that this is not the first time Malone’s name has surfaced, and that the first time it did so it was directly denied by the co-writer and producer of the film.
If all goes according to plan The Cabin in the Woods (unofficial site) will open on February 5, 2010. In a little over one week, exactly one year beforehand, I will be shuttering this website.
Under consideration since the start of the new year, the final push to make this decision (oddly) was watching the first episode of Dollhouse. Seeing the first new instance of Joss Whedon television since Firefly reinforced the feeling that I’d much rather experience these projects in as virgin a state as possible when it comes to being a viewer or filmgoer.
Truthfully, the compulsion to closely follow Whedon’s work during production stems not from a desire to ruin it for other people, but from an underlying appreciation of the creative process which we often get after the fact. Having grown up around the theater, the process of how creative works come about always has been something I’m drawn to. And since I can’t see the process from the inside, I compel myself to try to intrude upon it from the outside.
For those not on the inside, that sort of knowledge, as already seen over the years, can come after the fact. And, arguably, coming after the fact for those not on the inside actually helps deepen the appreciation for the work itself. Coming as it’s happening instead undermines the ability to experience the work first as just the work. That’s okay if you’re on the inside.
But as a fan, personally, I feel it’s time for me to accept my proper role on the outside, and stay away.
You might recall that early last month, someone on Twitter claimed to have read Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s script for The Cabin in the Woods.
Late yesterday, I posted that the co-owner of Bloody Disgusting became the latest person to publicly state the same thing. Today the managing editor of Shock Till You Drop says it as well.
So, either the script has leaked, rendering all of the intended misinformation campaign essentially useless from here on out, or there’s a dummy script out there as part of that campaign.
While I continue to consider shutting this blog down (under consideration since the start of the new year), check out this Web Stalker post over at AMC’s Horror Hacker, in which Todd Brown discusses the potential marketing impact of the deliberate and concerted misinformation campaign surrounding The Cabin in the Woods.
Meanwhile, the co-owner of Bloody Disgusting earlier today claimed to be reading the film’s screenplay.
Update: Quick followup on said misinformation campaign. The New York Times has changed the log line in their listing, but has not removed Nighy and Malone from their cast list.
Why do half of my posts here have questions as their titles? Here’s a good example of why.
That alleged log line? Joss Whedon says it’s wrong. And while we still don’t know if two more actors have been cast, Whedon says that the two actos who showed up in the Baseline StudioSystem record overnight have not been.
In order to protect the story from spoilerization, we’ve been sending out our OWN misinformation, including fake sides for the actors, fake summeries, different names… So there’s gonna be a lot of ‘information’ leaked that will lead to excited speculation about things you will not see. Sorry.
So expect to continue to see a fair number of post titles here which ask questions rather than make statements.
On the heels of reports that Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford had been cast in The Cabin in the Woods (aka Mordecai) as “white-collar co-workers with a mysterious connection to the cabin”, the film’s Baseline StudioSystem record apparently now lists four actors as being attached to the project.
I don’t have access to their database, so does anyone out there happen to know who else seemingly has been cast? Anyone have Baseline StudioSystem access and could look it up?
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