From Jim Metrock:
Here’s an article from CNN that has some very disturbing comments by the screenwriter of the new Footloose movie. This is the movie that Channel One News has been relentless advertising to kids down to age 11 since mid-September.
The only two executives that I know who are left at Channel One are the CEO Kent Haehl and “Education” VP Dr. Paul Folkemer. These gentlemen should be a little ashamed allowing this movie to be so prominently featured on their in-class TV show and on their website channelone.com. Yeah, I know, Kiddie Marketers like these two have a very high threshold for embarrassment, but still.
One would think that when a marketing company like Channel One has a captive audience of “nearly 5.5 million” students in an age range from 11-18, that company would be extra cautious about what they advertise. Since 1996 when I watched my first Channel One News show I can easily say this company has been consistently reckless with their advertising. Luckily the company is dying and many schools refuse to make their students watch the program.
Original ‘Footloose’ Would Have Been Rated R
ONLINE CNN NEWS: The new “Footloose” almost had one of its old stars in it.
“One of my first drafts had a deadbeat dad of Ren [McCormack]. The studio came to me asking a role for Kevin [Bacon], and that was all I could really see him playing,” director Craig Brewer told. “But he passed on it because he felt that it would hurt the movie. He was right, and I cut it out of the script. None of the originals have seen [the new movie] yet.”
And be forewarned, there is far more to the “Footloose” remake than dancing and praying. The happy-go-lucky “High School Musical” and “Glee” musicals were all the rage at the time “Footloose” was being greenlit, but Brewer refused to bow to studio executives desires and make a film without the hard hitting content of the original.
The very adult themes aside, 2011’s remake still has the same core value — fighting for what one believes in — that made the 1984 film so special.
“When I was a kid my heroes were life savers and had ray guns or were like Indiana Jones, and Ren McCormack was a different character,” Brewer said. “He had the spiky hair and skinny jeans. He was just unapologetically himself and I left the theater feeling like I could take on difficult obstacles and be myself. I felt a sense of comradery and friendship in that movie that I could experience in real life.”
The film’s stars Julianne Hough and Kenny Wormland said they connected with the film because they both had a blast dancing in high school.
“I was part of a dance company and they were all my friends,” Hough said. “I taught dance after school and my dad wanted me to do more homework but I fought for more dance!”
Wormald said it was tough being an adolescent who liked practicing the cha cha. “At moments it sucked because I would get made fun of for dancing, so I was kind of always fighting to say ‘screw you’ to those kids, and I knew I loved to dance no matter what they said,” he added. “They were going home to play Playstation and I’m dancing with 40 girls, I mean come on.”
Footloose opens in theaters October 14, 2011
