Jack Black hits "Rewind" for comedy

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Jack Black is set to star in the eccentric comedy "Be Kind Rewind," playing a junkyard worker whose brain is magnetized, destroying every tape in his friend's video store and forcing the pair to remake the lost films.

Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") will direct the film, which begins a two-month shoot September 6 in New York. It is budgeted under-$20 million.

In the film, Black plays Jerry, a man whose headaches lead him to believe his brain is melting. His brain is magnetized, leading to the unintentional destruction of movies in his friend's store. In order to keep the store's one loyal customer, an elderly lady with signs of dementia, the pair re-creates a long line of films including "The Lion King," "Rush Hour," "Back to the Future" and "Robocop."

Producer Georges Bermann said Gondry wrote a draft in three weeks. Gondry's most recent film was "Dave Chappelle's Block Party." No domestic or international distribution deals have been lined up for the film.

Black returns to theaters June 16 in the Paramount comedy "Nacho Libre."

Hmmm... my first thought on hearing the plot was "this is gonna be a sucky UHF rip off". Then, thinking it over a bit I decided that it could end up being a work of genius. I'll give it a chance.

yep.. there will be no in-between.. This will either be great or crap

Not only does this sound puerile, but also immediately obsolete and antiquated...VHS tapes?! That's so '90s...

For some reason this reminds me of the Tex Avery cartoon where the dog escapes from prison via digging a tunnel and winds up in the tv set of the warden's home.

Is there any word on this one yet? Since Michel Gondry is directing, there's no doubt that it will be a great film visually. Maybe some pictures from the set, script reviews? Anything at all so far?

What a terrific idea! This would deinitely make a great 4-minute SNL skit!

I think that's the whole idea. One loyal 90 year old customer?

This movie will blow dead goats.

You will be in for a shock!

Agreed! Is this going to be a period piece, set sometime before the year 2000? Because if not, I haven't seen a lot of VHS tapes inside Blockbuster lately...

Why, are they live goats?

It doesn't have be a period piece. Gondry is known for his flights of fancy, and I think film just wants to embrace the video store culture of the 80s and 90s, not the reality of today.

Seriously. I was like 'who cares'. Gondry is not exactly known for doing down-to-Earth set-in-reality stuff. He has a lot of fun with that stuff. I guess there's always people who will question, "well, why didn't they just buy new tapes? If they couldn't afford them, why not try to get a loan through the Small Business Association?"

The idea sounds like a good time. And that's what Gondry's movies are.

This is a pretty old thread. I checked IMDB, and it says it's in post production. So I guess that the movie DID get made, and it SHOULD be coming out in the next six or ten months.

More than the movie itself, I'm actually anticipating seeing how the remakes look. And I don't really look forward or pay much attention to upcoming movies anymore.

i like Gondry, but i hate jack black. this is going to be a dilemma.

Here's some information on the look of the remakes from an interview I did with him last year:

TF: Finally, on your next project, do you think Be Kind, Rewind will be stylistically more like Science of Sleep or Eternal Sunshine?

MG: I don't know, I'm going to try to shoot a wider format, anamorphic, the letterbox, and it would be a contrast with the way we shoot the movies, which is video, and completely crappy, and the way the film is going to look, which is going to be a little more slick, so we'll see. I put myself in a different situation, like, the last film I did, the two last films I did, it was all handheld camera, and this one I think I will put my camera on a tripod, or crane.

Also, slightly off-topic but I'd like to bring up the other project he mentioned which sounds awesome beyond belief. This is the coolest thing he mentioned to me.

TF: Speaking of that, what do you think is the most rewarding thing you've gotten out of your relationships with your constant collaborations with Bjork and The White Stripes, and would you ever do a film with them, whether that's a fictional film or a concert film like Block Party?

MG: Yeah, I think so, I have a project I wrote for The White Stripes, and then it was put on the side, and it was a biographic project, and basically, I was really happy with the project, and I hope it's going to happen someday. I would play them their music, and they would tell me, listening to their music, what they had in mind when they wrote the song. Then, we would illustrate these moments with two actors, one for Jack and one for Meg, while they are doing the same music. So it would build up like that. Each time we would have some interview or voice over, and we see people re-enacting as they were playing the next song, and it would build up like that.

Also, he says he will be doing another installment of Directors Works.

The plot sounds dumb, and I don't care for Jack Black, but I'll see it for Gondry. Even his movies I didn't like much (Human Nature) were worth seeing.

Not written by Charles Kaufman? Meh.

If there is one actor I wouldn't mind seeing disappear, Jack Black would be the one I'd choose, without hesitation.

Jack Black can be funny in small doses. School of Rock was good. I hated Nacho Libre though (although I personally think Hess was a victim of excessive studio tampering, and the film, while not perfect, could have been better had Hess been free of Nickelodeon and Paramount).

Personally, I think Nacho Libre could have been better had Paramount and Nickelodeon been free of Jared Hess. But that's a whole other thread. I can't wait for this. I don't care if it should be a 4-minute SNL skit, I'll see any film Gondry directs.

Hmmm...

Love Gondry.

Love Jack Black.

I'm there.

= J

Apparently the first review of the film (Jesus, I didn't even know they started shooting yet):
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31665

Didn't notice any spoilers.

click for link

Looks like it's coming out April 2008.

yea damn, I thought it was this fall. o well, looks good