trailers in da (movie) house

A week or so ago (Memorial Day weekend, come to think of it), I saw the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean. The movie itself was okay like I mentioned earlier. Of course we got there early to see the trailers. I’m not ashamed to admit sometimes I find the trailers more interesting than the movie I’m about to see. I’ve noticed that after a while, all the trailers seem to look the same, or at least have the same MTV snippet like style – y’know, the 2-second-slow-motion-fade-in-and-out cuts. There is usually some blurb or short scene from the movie, and of course a quick recap of all the major stars. It’s funny to compare them to the trailers of long ago – where there would be heavy voice-over guy narration and sometimes just 30 or so seconds of continuous footage.

I thought it was a real hoot to see the “trailers” when I went to see Grindhouse with my brother, F. The cheeziness of it all was hilarious.

Anyway, one of the PotC trailers looked vaguely familiar to me. Then halfway into it, I realized it was based on The Golden Compass. I was pretty amazed – had no idea they made a movie out of it. I read the book years ago – F gave it to me as a present, telling me how good the author was. I always trust his recommendations, so I finally started reading it, about 3 months later. He gave it to me just as the Harry Potter thing was building momentum – just before they announced the HP movie. I’ve never read any of those books, so I was always puzzled why F turned me onto The Golden Compass. Needless to say, I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I haven’t picked up the second book yet – at the time it wasn’t available for some reason, until I finally got it a year or so ago.

Things get in the way, so I haven’t started the second book. Honestly, I think I have to reread the first book to refresh my memory. I am excited – usually books I read hardly ever get turned into movies (at least before I know they will be movies).

Anyway, movie trailers sometimes make me wonder how we’d direct our own minute or so trailer based on our own lives. Would it be a 2 second slow motion snippet? Would it be a comedy? Drama? Satire or horrorshow? Maybe for some an action flick, or even a blue movie. An animated film? A straightforward documentary perhaps.

I’ve always thought it would be a hoot to cast people in the movie version of my life. Hmm. I think mine would have that voice over guy. And Meryl Streep with a cameo by Christopher Walken. Why not, they seem to be everywhere.

Of course we’re still in negotiations. And the script is nowhere near finished.