Over the weekend the first trailer for Dolittle was dropped, and honestly, the timing was kinda weird. In the middle of a Sunday, really? I wasn't the one who posted it here but if I had I would've mentioned how odd that was, and how it seemed designed to deflect the shitstorm of hate it was bound to receive. Which it did. It seems that changing the Robert Downey Jr. film's title from The Voyage of Doctor Dolittle wasn't going to help alter the negative perception gained from an overlong, troubled production led by Stephen Gaghan, who was always a curious choice as director.
That negative perception got solidified as fuck recently when a Reddit user, claiming to be part of the production crew, went on an epic tirade about Gaghan, who he calls "batshit" and "literally insane." First, it's important to remember previous news which was that test screenings for the film didn't go well, so Universal brought on Battle: Los Angeles director Jonathan Liebesman to helm reshoots with Lego Batman's Chris McKay handling major rewrites. That stuff gets brought up by the disgruntled Reddit user, but it's just one part of one killer takedown of Gaghan...
“It was deep in production hell last year, they started filming scenes before they had even planned where the animated animals would be standing, it was nuts. And then the batshit director went and got fired, which was a little too late after his insane outbursts and subsequent banning from stepping foot into both the lead concept department AND the lead Pre-visual animation department.”
“Then he demanded that the previsual department be fired because ‘We can figure it out on the day”, yeah Stephan, you can figure out where 5+ animated characters and Robert.D.Jr are standing when you have 30 individual camera shots to film on a monday morning, you fucking moron.”
Oof. The upset crewmember mentioned Gaghan's uncontrollable anger at minor production issues, saying he “was literally insane, almost put a fist through a new 8k tv because the talking Goose wasn’t on screen while it was talking in one shot, even though he asked the week before for us to move the goose out of the shot…”
There's even a funny anecdote about the director's dog, who was apparently on set for some reason, and something curious about its treatment of certain members of the crew. He says the canine is “one of the most incredibly regal looking motherfucker I’ve ever seen which is a shame because it's a stone cold racist. And without a doubt will track down every human in the building with even the slightest drop of ethnic ancestry and bark."
He further elaborates on that and it's pretty funny. The Reddit user does admit to not being around for the reshoots but further buries Gaghan by saying “…if it’s even remotely watchable then the new guys deserve some fuckin’ medals haha.”
I don't know if any of this is true, but if it's not this guy has way too much time on his hands. My gut tells me there's a kernel of truth to much if not all of it, although it may be slanted by this person's negative experiences. I mean, he seems pretty upset over a movie that probably doesn't affect him personally, right?
Given that Dolittle already looks crap, stuff like this isn't going to help. That said, your casual moviegoer probably doesn't care and won't hear about any of this. They'll see Tony Stark surrounded by a bunch of talking digital animals and that could be a charming if forgettable night out for the family. And if that's all Dolittle turns out to be, and it ends up making Universal some coin, then none of this will matter.
Dolittle sails into theaters on January 17th 2020.
So someone that worked on the new Dr Dolittle movie is posting about it on reddit aaaaaaaaaaaaand..... pic.twitter.com/uhtb0FjSpf— 💀Odd Thomas Bryant💀 (@TMBryant96) October 13, 2019
