It’s kind of of trivia that you should use to stump buddies at events, particularly these people who fancy themselves a know-it-all about how the movie business works: would not a serious movement image primarily based on a Marvel comedian produced by “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” guru George Lucas throughout the peak of his filmmaking profession sound like a sure-fire hit? In fact, it is a trick query, as the film in query, 1986’s “Howard the Duck,” was a infamous flop, one which despatched Lucas again to the “possibly I ought to take into consideration making some ‘Star Wars’ prequels” drafting board and really possible helped maintain extra Marvel properties off the large display for a number of years. Though the movie was actually not an entire waste of time — its lengthy analysis & growth course of concerning the title character ultimately led to what turned Pixar — its standing as a flop tarnished the careers of Lucas, director/co-writer Willard Huyck, and the Marvel characters.
As with most unfairly maligned films, it seems that “Howard the Duck” was extra forward of its time than hopelessly flawed. Its try and translate the comedian character written and created by Steve Gerber to the display resulted in a film with a really subversive humorousness, one which might’ve been higher obtained in a post-“South Park” and “Grownup Swim” world. As it’s, the film has steadily been reappraised and revisited since its launch, and whereas parts of the movie have saved it from being absolutely embraced as a hidden gem, there isn’t any denying that it helped unwittingly pave the best way for extra daring tv and cinematic fare, each within the comedy and comedian guide film genres. Because of the film being Lucas’ largest remorse of his profession, the filmmaker has tried to get some perspective on it over time, and he is give you an thought in hindsight that he feels would’ve been the sure-fire answer to have made “Howard the Duck” successful. But, as everyone knows (or ought to know), there isn’t a such factor as a sure-fire success in Hollywood.
Lucas thinks John Landis ought to’ve made ‘Howard the Duck’
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In line with a quote from Lucas collated by the Telegraph on the filmmaker’s seventieth birthday in 2014, Lucas got here to consider that none apart from John Landis ought to’ve taken the reins on “Howard” for it to be a hit:
“My biggest remorse in my profession is that John [Landis] was unable to direct ‘Howard the Duck.’ I really feel the film would have been much more profitable and saved me the years of hardship following its launch.”
Earlier than you cry “John Landis, the man whose actions helped result in the deaths of a number of individuals on the set of ‘Twilight Zone: The Film?’ Him??,” it is necessary to recollect the context. Though the “Twilight Zone” tragedy had certainly occurred a number of years earlier than “Howard the Duck” was made, Landis hadn’t but been absolutely canceled (to make use of the parlance of our time), and was nonetheless on a run of creating very profitable comedies equivalent to “Spies Like Us” and “Coming to America.” In truth, the first motive he wasn’t accessible for “Howard the Duck” was as a result of he was making “Three Amigos,” which was famously the primary on-screen pairing of the beloved “Solely Murders within the Constructing” duo Steve Martin and Martin Quick. Along with his observe report nonetheless being robust in 1986, Landis additionally had a previous working with bringing fantasy creatures to credible life on display, finest seen in his collaboration with particular results make-up artist Rick Baker on films like “Schlock!” and “An American Werewolf in London.”
‘Howard the Duck’ and the stepping stone film
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To be honest, the man who ended up directing “Howard the Duck,” Willard Huyck, had a background in each comedy and horror, too. His resume contains co-writing “American Graffiti” (along with his accomplice Gloria Katz and Lucas) in addition to directing the Dudley Moore comedy “Greatest Protection” and the brilliantly surreal “Messiah of Evil.” It is why “Howard” actually may be very humorous and, at occasions, genuinely disturbing, making for a bizarro cocktail of a film that was destined to be a cult favourite. So, maybe what Lucas is referring to almost about hoping for Landis is not the tone or method of the movie itself, however quite the creation of the Howard character, because the producer was by no means a fan of what in the end was the answer: placing an actor in a duck swimsuit.
Whereas a extra believable Howard might’ve helped the film turn into extra extensively embraced by audiences in 1986, my perception is that “Howard the Duck” was all the time destined to be considered one of these stepping-stone films. In spite of everything, a failure might be simply as progressive as a hit (and the reverse can actually be true). Whereas Lucas actually has the appropriate to lament what may need been, he ought to take some pleasure in paving the best way for extra subversive materials that “Howard” influenced. Heck, Marvel Studios continues to flirt with giving the duck one other cinematic go-round in some type, and that would not occur if there have been zero curiosity within the character. Who is aware of — maybe there shall come a day when Lucas will not see the misadventures of the Duckworld dude as his largest remorse.