West Side Story | 10 DEC 2021 | RIP Stephen Sondheim | Comes to Disney+ March 2nd

[35MM-18]

12 minutes ago, TLK said:

Not the same situation obviously but Spielberg didn't recast TJ Miller in Ready Player One. Although he was a minor character and they may have reduced his role to a bare minimum for all I know.

It was likely too late for Spielberg to do anything about Miller in that case, seeing as those allegations came right at the end of RPO's post-production, and recasting him would've driven up the budget a lot more.

[CoolioD1]

IIRC there was a live action scene with TJ Miller's character that ended up being cut.

[TMP]

All the 'Berg had to do was cast a good actor from the start

[DAJK]

I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't have even heard about this story if it wasn't for these forums. And considering how social media savy the crowd is that follow Ansel Elgort the most, I genuinely don't know if this is going to spread, or if it will likely remain quiet.

 

Now, I'm not at all commenting on the validity of the allegations whatsoever, moreso just on the fact that I'm surprised at how quiet this has been so far.

[infamous5445]

It takes time to actually investigate claims like these. No reputable outlet is going to put out a story the same day stuff like this comes out.

[dudalb]

52 minutes ago, DAJK said:

I'm not going to lie, I wouldn't have even heard about this story if it wasn't for these forums. And considering how social media savy the crowd is that follow Ansel Elgort the most, I genuinely don't know if this is going to spread, or if it will likely remain quiet.

 

Now, I'm not at all commenting on the validity of the allegations whatsoever, moreso just on the fact that I'm surprised at how quiet this has been so far.

I think if it were a quieter news day, this story would get more play.

But with the Covid Virus exploding, A Trump rally that look like it is going to end in violence,and protests still going over police brutality, stuff like this gets pushed to the back page.

[Napoleon]

It's laughable how this is being ignored by the big media. They write articles about stories that go viral on social media all the time. Especially when celebrities are involved. It's clear there's some work being done behind the scenes to bury or delay the reporting.

 

Stuff like this is how HW was allowed to commit his crimes for decades even though everyone in Hollywood knew.

 

Not saying AE is guilty, or that what he allegedly did is comparable to the HW case, just that the way stories are buried are similar.

[Eric Duncan]

Moderation

 

Yeah I know where this is going. Before things get worse, I think it's best to lock things up for a little bit. We'll open this up later.

 

btw rape apologies aren't cool. Stop it.

[Eric Duncan]

 

[Cap]

He said it happened but it was consensual. 🙃

 

[Eric Duncan]

Alright, enough time has passed and Elgort made his own statement that I think it's time to re-open things.

 

Now, to avoid what happened last time, like we did for the Aquaman 2 thread, you can only talk about Elgort's assault case in how it relates to the film and its box office potential. If you want to talk about the bigger culture, whether it be Elgort's case, Elgort's case, sexual assault, sexual harassment, or even cancel culture (lmao), please do so in the Sexual Assault in Hollywood thread.

 

 

 

I'm also going to say upfront that I have seen posts that act as if it's the girl's fault, with a whole bunch of posts stating the likes of "why didn't she say no? She agreed to it, so why is she saying it's assault?" Simply put, this props up rape culture, puts the blame on the victim instead of the assaulter, and is something I, and I'm sure my fellow staff members and regular BOT members, find disgusting and do not want to see on these forums. So if you're gonna post stuff like that, just get out. Because straight up, this website's better off with you gone. Don't @ me.

 

Got it? Good. That is all.

[SLAM!]

So I've been typing Ansel Elgort into Twitter just to see the discourse that's been happening due to the scandal, and I have some heartwarming news about the box office potential of the film.

 

Conventional wisdom would dictate that people would boycott West Side Story because of the Lead Actor's situation. And I'm sure that many people are still planning on boycotting. But there's a vocal community on Twitter that is urging people not to boycott the film, the reason being the "hard work of the POC actors and ensemble." 

 

They've cited new actresses like Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose as reasons to support the film. And they've posted behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of dance numbers where everyone is in the streets dancing. In short, there's people who want the film to succeed despite Elgort's involvement.

 

My take? I think I want the film to succeed. I think this community's reasons for wanting people to see this film are valid. And depending on how the Elgort situation progress, this could be the last film he ever stars in anyway.

 

The two things I'm looking forward to seeing:

 

1) How will West Side Story gross compared to La La Land and Mary Poppins Returns?

 

2) Will the Golden Globes be disgusting and short-sighted enough to nominate Elgort in Best Comedy/Musical actor? (Considering how weak of a year it is.)

Edited June 21, 2020 by SLAM!

[Gavin Feng]

I'm really curious how audience and industry would treat this movie later. According to current situation, it looks like a PR victory(no matter the statement is real or not). Marketing team might face a tough war or nothing.

[Maggie]

I think the movie won't be affected. The only thing that may suffer is Ansolo with a loss of Golden Globe. And even that is not sure. It will all be forgotten in a few months

[35MM-18]

19 hours ago, SLAM! said:

1) How will West Side Story gross compared to La La Land and Mary Poppins Returns?

Truth be told, even before everything that's happened, I always felt this film's gross would wind up being closer to the latter ($349.5 million) than the former ($446.1 million).

 

After all this, I'd consider it lucky to go past $300 million.

[DAJK]

Unless some new news appears between now and the release of the film, I really don't think this is going to be affected that much box office-wise. Coming from one of the only age demographics (outside of movie geek world) who even know who Ansel is, the talk and reaction to all this is really muted.

 

This also came at a time when other things were absolutely dominating the news, and people's attention span is a finite resource. Unless the studio does something like pull the film or cancel it altogether, I genuinely don't think the box office is going to be affected as much.

[babz06]

I havent seen bigger outlets reporting this news so i do wonder if the movie is going to be affected at all. 

[CoolioD1]

yeah seems like it all blew over quick. people in the thread probably overreacting. they'll maybe keep ansel out of the press tour to avoid it coming up again but otherwise i think a minimal effect (btw i already wasn't expecting this to do especially well)

[Maggie]

.

Edited June 22, 2020 by Maggie

[CoolioD1]

1 minute ago, Maggie said:

yeah Spielberg cooked up some fake allegations against those Riverdale guys to muddy the waters and put doubt on those Ansolo allegations. It's genius, if not disgusting. Hey, it's Hollywood PR at its finest

what on earth no.