This is probably not a happy holiday season at Kyle Newman’s house. He was the guy who was directing the Revenge of the Nerds remake for two weeks before Fox Atomic pulled the plug on it. Yesterday I was at the We Are Marshall junket, and I spoke with McG, whose Wonderland Sound & Vision was producing the picture; I asked McG if they were looking to replace the creative talent on the film, and he told me: “Perhaps. We’re thinking about that right now. If we’re going to do it at all, we want it to be right.”
McG stepped up and took full responsibility for sending everybody home. “I made that choice to shut it down with Peter Rice of Fox Atomic because we weren’t happy with the creative on the picture. We lost our number one location at Emory College and between those two choices we said, ‘Let’s stop shooting until January or February, when we can get back on track.’”
He wasn’t specific about what made him unhappy with Newman’s work, but there’s something between the lines of a sentence like this: “There are some really great, inventive comedies coming out these days, with Borat, and I don’t want anything to do with the blaspheming of a classic.” I can’t believe that McG is even for a second considering making Revenge of the Nerds some kind of Boratesque reality film, but I wonder if he’s talking about making it smart and edgy in a way that goes beyond tits, ass and beer.
And I don’t think you have to read too far between the lines here to see just how unhappy he was with what Newman was doing: “I don’t ever want to have to face you and be ashamed of what we’re talking about.”
I hope Fanboys is well received, Kyle.