By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Lloyd Grove Exclusive: Universal Chairman Says 'Miami Vice' Does Not Suck
You know me: I am rarely inclined to allow the last word on all matters cinematic to anyone but Roger Friedman. When Fox’s gossiptard revealed word on the playground last month saying Michael Mann’s upcoming Miami Vice was “a dud, and a major one at that,” that was pretty much all the advice I needed to stay away.
Alas, there is one man in New York with the high-voltage veto power to supersede Friedman when the chips are down. Of course I am referring to film festival dessert victim and only-occasionally-credulous Daily News gossip Lloyd Grove, who writes today that Universal chairman Marc Shmuger (above) has at last gotten to “G” in his trip through the damage-contRolodex:
“All of us agree this is a brilliant movie from the first frame to the last — a great Michael Mann movie,” Shmuger bravely insisted. “It’s definitely opening on time, and we’ll be screening the final version all next week.” …
And Shmuger defended Mann’s maddening post-production “process” — screening the film at least once a day, then obsessively adding and subtracting dialogue, pauses and even frames, then redoing all the changes in what I hear is a desperate effort to fix the unfixable.
“Michael Mann’s process is exhausting, it is intense, and some people are not up to the challenge,” Shmuger said. “Either they keep up with him or they fall by the wayside. It creates some raw feelings along the way.”
And not least among Universal’s accountants, who are walking especially gingerly after an official budget overrun of what Shmuger pegs around $15 million (previous reports–including Friedman’s–had the original $120 million cost ballooning as high as $180 million). I should have known to count on Grove for the real front-office spin, and I only hope he can pass along some of the chatter between Shmuger and the next name on his cold-call list: Miami-based Ignore Magazine, which noted (via Nikki Finke) that “Miami’s citizens are being forced to gulp down his deplorable, unneeded revision. Sorry Michael Mann, nobody wants to see this movie,” before reimagining a cast headlining Johnny Knoxville and Marlon Wayans. At least Uni could cut the cost in half–maybe even by three-quarters if Shmuger could persuade Keenan to write and direct.