Page 30 - aruba-today-20170222

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Wednesday 22 February
For Gore Verbinski, a fresh start after ‘Lone Ranger’

JAKE COYLE buster extravagance. It
AP Film Writer was both amusement park
NEW YORK (AP) — Say what ride and commentary on
you will about Gore Verbin- American (and movie) his-
ski’s “The Lone Ranger,” tory.
but it didn’t lack for ambi- It was, of course, a massive
tion. disappointment, leading
Verbinski’s $215 million film to a write-down for Disney
was a bid to reorient the of at least $160 million. So
Texas Ranger tale around how do you follow up a
its Native American side- flop like “The Lone Rang-
kick, Tonto (Johnny Depp), er”? If you’re Verbinski, with
and reinvigorate the West- a movie about the dangers
ern with rollicking block- of ambition.

In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, filmmaker Gore Verbinski poses for a portrait to promote his film, “A
Cure For Wellness” in New York.
Associated Press
“It’s not an affliction I con- roughly a quarter of what it He’s a filmmaker of grand
sider myself immune to,” was for “The Lone Ranger,” excess: of lavish production
the director says with a it’s just as detailed, deco- design, of big, costumed
chuckle in an interview. rated and lengthy. The only performances and of end-
Four years after “The Lone issue for Verbinski with the less cinematic references.
Ranger,” Verbinski, the di- 146-minute running time, “Rango,” which was the
rector of the lucrative “Pi- he says, was trimming it first animated feature for
rates of the Caribbean” down from more than three the effects leader Industrial
films and the Oscar-winning hours. Light & Magic, was espe-
animated tale “Rango,” For a filmmaker who has cially stuffed with nods to
has returned with “A Cure often worked from previ- movies as varied as “China-
for Wellness.” The film, which ously existing material — if town,” ‘’Star Wars,” ‘’Cat
opens Friday, is a lush, goth- only a theme park ride in Ballou” and “The Good, the
ic thriller about a snide, un- the case of “Pirates” — the Bad and the Ugly.”
scrupulous and striving Wall chance to tell an original Of his film inspirations,
Street stockbroker (Dane story meant a fresh canvas. Verbinski says: “If you want
DeHaan) who’s sent to a “Hollywood has made this to make a creature with
remote Swiss spa to fetch massive push to ‘event-ize’ a giraffe head and an el-
his company’s CEO. He everything. As a result, all ephant body, you need to
soon becomes suspicious the writers are fleeing to have before seen both a
of the place’s dark myster- TV. You see the fabric rip- giraffe and an elephant.”
ies and healing waters. ping apart,” he says. “It’s “A Cure for Wellness,” too, is
In budget (approximately easier to get $158 million or a homage to B-movies and
$50 million) and genre (hor- $8 million to make a movie their evocative, dream-
ror), it’s something of a re- than it is to get $38 million. like atmospheres. “There’s
turn for Verbinski, whose But when everyone is run- something about those old
“The Ring” (2002) propelled ning away from the middle, film noirs, the way you hear
him to the top ranks of big- I think there are opportuni- the sounds of the footsteps
budget filmmakers and led ties there.” a little too loudly,” Verbin-
to him becoming the cus- Verbinski, 52, is the son of ski says. Viewers will quickly
todian of the “Pirates” fran- a nuclear physicist and it’s note on ode to “The Shin-
chise. not hard to see a scientific ing” in a tracking shot of
“This was starting over,” precision in both his calm, Lockhart’s car winding up
Verbinski says. “I went to deliberate manner and in through the Alps. The Henry
Germany. Aside from Bojan the thick, carefully sum- James adaption “The Inno-
Bazelli, the cinematogra- moned atmospheres of his cents,” with Deborah Kerr,
pher, I didn’t know a single films. The appeal of “Cure was another inspiration.
person on the crew.” for Wellness,” he says, was Whether audiences will
But if anyone expected a playing with the idea of go for it will be a test for
docile retreat for Verbinski, sickness. “He’s a conta- Verbinski. Reviews, while re-
“A Cure for Wellness” is not gion,” he says of DeHaan’s spectful of the film’s craft,
it. Though its budget was Lockhart. haven’t been good.q