I talked to The Crazies director Breck Eisner about two weeks ago and where he confirmed Flash Gordon would be 3D. I recently got to talk to Eisner again about his latest film and now having more time with him, I got a few new updates on his planned space adventure. We already knew this wasn’t going to be a lovably bad piece of camp like the 1980’s Flash Gordon, that Eisner was going back to the original comic book strips, and that this isn’t a remake. While Flash is still a little way off, Eisner says we may see it in either 2012 or 2013, he’s even already thinking a bit about the video game (it’s Sony), and he also talks a bit about whether or not he would incorporate the Queen song Flash. Here’s what he had to say.
With the success of The Crazies, which I would call a sleeper hit, will that help Flash Gordon get off the ground?
Breck Eisner: If the studio likes the movie and if Sony likes the movie then it definitely helps for sure. If they have another movie they respond to the direction of then it’ll give me another piece to push forward. It’s a very different tone of movie so you can’t really make a parallel to the type of movies [they are], but moviemaking is moviemaking. Good shots are good shots and good performances are good performances no matter what genre. I assume it helps and they seem to like the movie.
One thing that I think every Flash Gordon fan wants to know is whether or not Queen’s Flash will in someway be incorporated? The greatest song ever.
Breck Eisner: (laughs) I have no idea, but isn’t that a great song? I can guarantee you Queen will not be doing the score like they did with the original, but who knows. The movie is not going to camp so that might rule out Queen… I have no idea, but I love that song so in someway it would be cool to get it in.
Do you have any idea when production could start?
Breck Eisner: No, the earliest production could start is in a year. The absolute earliest it could start literally. I really want to build all the environments on the PS3 engine or if there’s an updated engine so the environments we build for the movie are usable for a game design. It’s Sony making the movie so there’s a heavy investment in the platform itself so building those environments is a long process. Good game creation is two years so the idea of doing the game is going hand in hand with doing the movie. We want to make sure we do the right game and we don’t even have a script yet. It’s a long road.
You’re already thinking about the video game?
Breck Eisner: Well, you gotta these days. Why wouldn’t you? It’s the perfect video game movie. Video games and movies fail all the time when you don’t give them enough time. You cant make a good video game in a year, but you can make a good movie in a year.
So you think we could see Flash Gordon in 2013?
Breck Eisner: I think that could be good, I’d be happy… God, that sounds so far away. I think 2012 or 2013 is more realistic. I’ll know when I turn in the script and see whether they respond to it. Maybe we’ll get moving fast, but I know for sure you’re prepping your post and we’re definitely not going to be before 2012.
The Crazies is currently in wide release. Check back with TFS for more Flash Gordon updates.