Producer Mark Canton Delivers Swipe At James Cameron For 3D In ‘Sanctum’
All old school (or even semi-old school in this case) Hollywood producers are awesome (see Jerry Weintraub for a recent example). Mostly because they’ve been around the block often enough that they’re simply too old to mince words or bother with a diplomacy filter.
Case in point, “300” and “Immortals” producer Mark Canton (who also has films like “The Spiderwick Chronicles” and “Fame” on his CV), who cuts straight to the chase.
While he thinks 3D works for some films like the “Piranha 3D” B-shlocker he produced, he’s not necessarily keen on the technology for every film out there. And while James Cameron took a swipe at the what he called the inferior stereoscopic technology of “Piranha 3D” at WonderCon in San Francisco this weekend, Canton shot back. “Did you see the underwater movie [“Sanctum“] he released? It was in 3D wasn’t it?” he asked making a something-smells-in-here stinkface with a long pause. “I rest my case. He’s genius, but I don’t even remember the name of the movie.”
Canton is pretty candid about his thoughts on 3D in general and while he didn’t outright say he didn’t want “Immortals” in 3D, he sure danced around it. “The movie looks great as it is,” he stressed. “but those are big decisions 3D, but i think it will be as well received [in any format].”
Asked if 3D is a gift because of Tarsem, who is perhaps one of the greatest visual directors out there today, Canton responded. “Is [3D] even a gift? I heard today that Jon Favreau said, when he showed the ‘Cowboys & Aliens‘ footage that it was gonna be in ‘glorious 2D,’ and so was ‘300‘ and so was ‘Inception,’ so…”
“I don’t particularly care…” he trailed off watching his words when asked what he specifically thought about 3D, but again stressed it was OK for certain films. “I disagree with Jim Cameron because ‘Piranha’ was a perfect 3D movie. I think that it’s the type of movie that you wanna feel like you’re in the screen. It’s a different kind of ride. ‘Immortals’ [on the other hand] would look great either way. Tarsem is so visually superior to most filmmakers [long pause], but… we’re going 3D so get your glasses.”
“There’s a lot of firepower in this movie,” Canton said of the cast that includes Henry Cavill, Luke Evans, Mickey Rourke, Freida Pinto, Kellan Lutz, John Hurt, Stephen Dorff and Isabel Lucas. “Mickey is bad-ass in this movie, it’ll remind you why you love Mickey Rourke.” Canton had immense praise for Tarsem as well and sounded uber-confident about the picture taking him to the next level (and it’s probably no surprise that “The Brothers Grimm: Snow White” also shares a home with “Immortals” at Relativity; clearly they have strong confidence in the director). “He’s a wonderful filmmaker who’s about to hit the world of popcorn in a big way. You love that feeling. It’s a great thing.”
“Immortals” hits screens in 3D on 11.11.11, i.e. November, 11. —Reporting by Sean Gillane
