So I was looking at Variety’s report about Kelsey Grammer signing up to play good ole Ebenezer Scrooge in David Zucker’s A Cristmas Carol update, and I found this oddity: “Scary Movie 4 helmer David Zucker.” I assume they single out Scary Movie 4 because it was his most recent film, but come on. The complete lack of respect for Baseketball is sickening.
My bullshit opinion aside…
This isn’t the first time Grammer played Scrooge; he was also in the musical version of A Christmas Carol that ran on NBC in 2004. Thankfully, Zucker is apparently just using A Christmas Carol as a template for the new film, which is titled An American Carol. This one will be set in the present day and will make fun of modern American culture (aaaaahhhhh, that Scary Movie 4 thing makes sense now). I hope he has some jokes in there about things I don’t like!
The man himself wrote the film with Myrna Sokoloff, with whom he teamed up to make some moderately amusing political ads (here and here). I might find those ads more humorous if they hadn’t created in me an enormous fear of Democratic leadership.
What could suck for those of us in the flyover states is that An American Carol is being funded by Zucker and Stephen McEveety. McEveety used to produce Mel Gibson movies and eventually took a position at Icon, but after The Passion of The Christ earned him suitcases full of money, he struck out on his own. Then he founded the fledgling Mpower Productions. This means An American Carol’s budget will be small (which is alright) and the distribution prospects aren’t so hot.
They start shooting next week, which means he has a conflict with his lame sitcom Back To You. Variety says he’ll just do both at the same time. I smell a new sitcom there.