The Flop House - Movie Minute Klassic - Comic Heroes

Episode Date: August 9, 2009

The Flop House gets just as lazy in August as anyone else, so while we're on vacation, please enjoy this rerun of our most popular movie minute.

And now the flop house movie minute. So, Emily, you had an idea for a Ziggy movie. I just feel like the Ziggy character is one that has a lot of cinematic potential. What is he, man or unmanned Superman, subhuman? You don't know. Then there's the dynamic between him and the parrot. The parrot hates him, but depends on him. And's that dependency. I think that makes him hate him It's a very gray gardens aspect you've got the dog the dog is loyal dogs representing loyalty as dogs

And then you've got say his different complaints his different troubles the world obstacles goes to the complete department That could be a big set that's your set piece right there was the complaint department look like on the other side of the Complete window you've got he goes to the doctor's office maybe as cancer The big set that's your set piece right there was the complaint department looked like on the other side of the complaint window. You've got, he goes to the doctor's office, maybe as cancer. I don't know. That could be your story, very constantine. He runs out of man dresses. Doesn't wear pants.

Does he get in trouble for that? Does he have genitalia? We don't know, because the man dress covers it, but he doesn't wear pants. He has a cat. The cat is indifferent. We don't know. Aliens land, very often in the script. Is the movie about the first time he makes contact or is it a multiple thing? Do they land

and he already knows them? Do they have a backstory? Is this something that we can gap? Do we show the first meeting flash forward? Five years. The aliens are coming over more often also disparaging him. It's man, there are three stories you can tell. Man versus nature, man versus God, and man versus man. In this case it is man versus man. If Ziggy is a man, we don't know. Could be man versus nature. Ziggy represents nature. Could be man versus God. Is Ziggy God? Are the aliens God? They come down from above. Is the parrot God? He can criticize Ziggy, but he has does not have to worry about any sort of rebuttal, any sort of vengeance. Why? Because maybe he holds the power over Ziggy. I like it, but how are we gonna realize Ziggy? Ziggy, CGI, or is Ziggy a short man with a really big head and nose prosthetic? There are three schools of thought on this.

One, well, one CGI Ziggy, I think that's a problem, works for something like Shrek, which is CGI world for Hulk, however, very hard to put it across. I would say no CGI Ziggy, unless it's an all CGI movie, and in that case, the specialness of having a talking parrot and a Ziggy is destroyed if it's a cartoon. Also you could say do Jeremy Piven in a fat suit.

That would get across the visual idea of Ziggy in a very flinstones pop-eye sort of way, but it might not be realistic enough again. It looks too much like a man in makeup. Or and here's a more radical idea. We don't try to visually get Ziggy across, but through the mannerisms, the voice. In this case, I see Wallace Shawn as Ziggy. If it's animated, Wallace Shawn as the voice of Ziggy. Certainly. The man is like a Ziggy in real life, a real life Ziggy, if you will, except that he is very much a man with male genitalia. We assume he has pants, but what's beneath them? We don't know. My dinner with Andre doesn't really address this. Neither does his role in the Princess bride

Neither does his role in Clueless, where he does have romantic feelings for a human woman But that doesn't necessarily mean he's a man. Swamp thing had feelings for a human woman And yet he was a sort of swamp elemental made up of organic matter with the memories of a man Yes, the memories of a man But does Ziggy have that sort of background? Is Ziggy the reincarnation of Alec Holland, a scientist? I doubt it. He's Ziggy. Is Ziggy some sort of mutation that's gone hardly wrong and has escaped and now is set up his life? What does he do for a job? What does he do for a living? Maybe the government kind of keeps him around because he's too important to kill. At the same time, they must control him. Maybe the complaints department is

part of a conspiracy to keep Ziggy down. Maybe the parrot is an informer for the government to tell them about Ziggy's movements. Maybe Ziggy drives to leave, gets on a bus, the aliens stop the bus, the aliens are working with the government, Roswell. Area 51, all these things come together. Ziggy has a conspiracy thought sort of thing, a Ziggy identity if you will. Born, ultimatum, Ziggy ultimatum, maybe a Ziggy, I don't know, something with a conspiracy. Ziggy, with Zodiac, Ziggy Act, you could call it. Everything comes together. Conspiracy of facts, if you will. Very time-stopper. Uh, the idea that reality is up against these people. Very pinter. Minimal. Minimal dialogue. Minimal sets. We never leave Ziggy's house. Maybe Ziggy calls through different periods of time. Very by the skin of our teeth.

These are theatrical things again, but you can make plays into movies. We've proved this, our town, Hamlet. Maybe again, Wallace Sean puts across Ziggy's characteristics just as himself. No prosthetics. We see Ziggy in our mind's eye, but our regular eyes eye just see Wallace Sean. Movie posts are just going to be one of the panels from the strip. That's a good question. We could show a panel from the strip with the back of the live action Ziggy looking at it. Creates Mr. in the audience. Does he look like Ziggy? Maybe there's just the Ziggy back of the live action Ziggy looking at it creates Mr. in the audience does he look like Ziggy maybe there's just the Ziggy outline with the question mark in it just as guess who or it says something

like or you know there's a close of the parrot he's a sassy parrot and it says like this summer get zigged we don't know these are all these are some ideas I can have the guys in promotions put it together but there are many things we can do with the poster I don't know if we need to get the cartoonist of Ziggy involved or if we do it all with photoshopped actors as they do. Trailer, give me a trailer. Trailer starts, complaint department, man behind the desk, then close up on his face, shock as something we hear shuffles up to the window, and then, sir, you have a complaint?

And then we hear, I wish I was taller. Suddenly, cut to, or maybe camera spins around to Ziggy right there, and then we hear I wish I was taller suddenly cut to or maybe camera spins around to Ziggy right there And then suddenly the title comes up big Ziggy in that kind of Flintstones rock font maybe or maybe in the Ziggy cartoon Font but a three-dimensional version of it and then we see Ziggy gives someone last bond-mot to the camera You know something along the lines of life Shrugged his shoulders. Maybe we see the parrot go, uh-oh, and then again that slogan, I think is really good, this summer get zigged. I see this as a summer tent pole movie, definitely.

This is big business, comic book movies have done very well, Spider-Man, X-Men, et cetera. I think Marmaduke, not so well. So I think this is a tent pole movie, merchandising. I see a lot of merchandising, Ziggy figures. Ziggy stick them up to go into windows in your car. Ziggy at Burger King collect all forward Action figures obvious you have your sets you have your house playset you have your complaints department playset

You have your doctor's office playset alternate Ziggy figures Ziggy with pants Maybe that's a spoiler for the end of the movie I don't know you maybe you dress them up Maybe he's a stuffed animal and dress them up that brings the female audience in little girls They like it. They like talking animals stuffed animal Ziggy dogs take dogs take them home, stuffed animal parrots, or talking parrots like a big mouth billy bass. You put it on your wall and maybe it says sarcastic things to you. If I really want like a denim jacket that has an airbrushing of Ziggy on the back possibly wearing, I don't know like hip-hop clothing, could I get that? This, y'all right there, that's a

perfect scene right there. Ziggy is this kind of nevishy character. You get him in a scene. You don't expect him to bust out with rhymes or maybe pop and lock. Many does it. We do it all with CGI. Uh, maybe there's a foul mouth granny, wrapping granny, something like that. And maybe this is just a credit sequence. Maybe this is just the end credits. After we've established the Ziggy character, the movie ends with a shot of him, smirking or shrugging. Either things haven't gone his way. Uh-oh, that's life as a Ziggy. Or things have gone his way. Finally, Ziggy's on top. Then we get to the credits, credits roll,

and audiences about to get up to leave. And then, uh oh, more footage. This is gonna be great. And Ziggy wraps about being Ziggy, slaps lips on the sunglasses, backwards hat. Maybe the parrot has gold chains around his neck and sunglasses, curtshift, do rag on his head, turns on the boom box,

and then maybe the dog does some spins on a turntable. Scratching records, how hilarious would it be to see Wallace Sean wrapping and break dancing. How hilarious would that be? Tell me, very. That's money in the bank. That's golden. Wallace Sean will do it.

He needs the money. If he's going to put on another play that no one wants to see, or one man show about how terrible life is, he's going to need Mula. Let me stop you right there. You've just sold your first film. Thank you.