It seems like when someone makes a spoof of bad movies they take a stab at Ed Wood. We all know he made some bad movies just leave him alone. I do admit his writing wasn't very good, but he knew how to entertain an audience. If Ed Wood was around today he might be getting as much money as joel schumacher is getting to make his garbage movies.
share"I Woke Up Early the Day I Died" isn't a spoof of an Ed Wood movie, as it was written by Ed Wood himself. I think that he is only known by fans who have eclectic tastes in films, and is not well-known by the general public, who know of other filmmakers who make worse, if not even more tasteless, movies.
It is a shame that Ed Wood didn't live to see an appreciation of his work, and that he died in poverty. I am glad that Tim Burton made his loving tribute to Ed Wood, so that people will remember him not just for the kind of films he made, but that he was able to give a humanity to him and show him as a person who had such a love for making movies and for wanting to be true to his vision as a filmmaker, that he dared to look foolish doing it.
Regarding "I Woke Up Early the Day I Died," I think it is blessed with some of the best actors that Hollywood had to offer for this unique film and who were very good in being able to carry off the quirkyness that is prevalent in Wood's characters. It's not a film for everyone, but it seems to be a better-written work than the other films of his that I have seen. I admire the actors who took part in the making of this film, albeit in very strange, if not haunting, roles.
What I'd like to know is, with the upswing in Ed Wood since Burton's movie (I was a fan for a long time, but I'm a fan of B horror flicks in general, so Plan 9 and Bride of the Monster saw my screen pretty quick)... anyway... what I'd like to know is, <how> this movie sneaked in under the radar, just a couple years after Burton's flick. I haven't seen this yet, but I will, I guarantee you--it sounds pretty intriguing, and I'd love to see all of these people in the same flick. The cast sounds like a major roll call. Kathy Woods, Rick Schroeder, Christina Ricci--must've been a slow year for actors or something!
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There's a couple reasons why I think this film (undeservedly) got swept under the rug.
- Tim Burton's Ed Wood received high critical acclaim but did poorly at the box office. When IWUETDID premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1998, it attracted no interest from U.S. theatrical distributors most likely due to the fact that audiences weren't financially engrossed with the Ed Wood biopic. I think that if Ed Wood had done better in the box office, distributors would have been more interested. But that's just my speculation of course.
- IWUETDID also got some *beep* because some critics (or journalists, I guess) thought it lacked Wood-authenticity and that Iliopulos was merely mocking Wood.
- But most importantly, Cinequanon Pictures (the company that financed the film) decided to release the film themselves (despite having no previous experience with such a task). They released it in September of 1999 in New York and made no money. So the company went bankrupt. This caused the film to go into financial limbo, preventing it from a commercial release here in the States. I believe the rights are still in the ownership of a bank until Cinequanon sorts out their mess.
All that being said, I should point out that not only am I a huge fan of Burton, but also of the Ed Wood biopic, Ed Wood himself, and this film in particular. When it comes to Edward D. Wood, Jr., I think people either love or hate his work and that there are very few in the grey area. It's easy for us to say "this stuff is great? why can't you see that?" but I think we can all admit all this is far from mainstream. Had Cinequanon not gone under, I think there would have been a DVD release...or something! I also can't help but wonder how the actors feel about their work in this film. If I were rich, I'd buy this film in a heartbeat and distribute the *beep* out of it.
And in response to ShootTheSchoolChildren's - "If Ed Wood was around today he might be getting as much money as joel schumacher is getting to make his garbage movies."
- I agree with you 100% (though I don't really have an opinion on Schumacher. Wood was simply ahead of his time. Anyone can buy a camera and start shooting these days. Just imagine if Ed had had access to what we have. Maybe he wouldn't have died penniless. Or maybe we wouldn't have any of his work.