Vincent Newman is one of the producers of the upcoming ”Red Dawn” remake and was good enough to reach out after the L.A. Times story about the switch from Chinese to North Korean invaders exploded online. After a couple of conversations, I can tell you that he and everyone else involved in the film appear to be absolutely committed to the original, especially the central message surrounding the importance of fighting against tyranny and for America and liberty. 

The switch to North Korea for the reasons spelled out in the L.A. Times piece is maddening, but as far as the film itself goes, my main concern isn’t who the invaders are, it’s the themes explored throughout the story. Will we be presented with young people forced to grow up and come to grips with the fact that America is worth fighting and dying for? Will duty, valor, self-sacrifice and manhood drive the narrative? If the answer is yes, the North Korea stuff is academic — just a revealing look at the studio mindset, not the quality of the film.

When I first spoke to Vincent, the idea was that I would write something up afterwards in the form of an interview, but after hearing him out I thought a better idea would be for him to communicate directly with the BH community — and so in the spirit of Big Hollywood, a group site where we encourage artists to come on board and talk about their projects — he generously agreed.

I received this email yesterday afternoon with permission to publish it in full:

John,

There has been a great deal of commentary and speculation as to the nature of the latest round of changes that have been made to our remake of Red Dawn. I’m reaching out to you in hopes of adding some facts that might give greater insight in to what has actually occurred.

As has been rightly pointed out, all of the filmmakers loved the original Red Dawn. Our hope is that the remake can have the same generational effect in the present that the original did, and still does, for so many of us. Therefore, the utmost of care has been applied to all aspects of the production, including the ever-evolving and on-going editing/revision process that occurs on every film.

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Aging pop star Morrissey has decided to pile on with the rest of the world, and engage in a little China bashing. With his recent remark he has taken the hate to a new level, by declaring Chinese people a “sub-species.”

If you’re young enough to fit into the limited sizes available at Aéropostale®, you might not even remember who Morrisey is: he was the front man for The Smiths, the band almost single-handedly responsible for the music now called “Alternative.“ The Smiths put out several gloomy pop albums in the late eighties and early nineties; before the band members hit a streak of sobriety, suddenly realized they couldn’t stand each other, and went their separate ways.

At the close of the century, Morrissey’s solo career fizzled. His gloomy songs were full of the self-importance and introspection that most Gen-X kids outgrew, by the time the millennium bug was all the rage. Today he frantically grasps for relevance, in a world that found his suicidal-girl tantrums tiresome a generation ago. He recently almost appeared at the Coachella music festival before the gross smell of cooked meat made him gag so hard he had to leave. Morrissey is now the darling of PETA, a group second only to Fundamentalist Islam for their ability to grab headlines and attract social misfit youths.

Morrissey declared the Chinese a sub-species for their mistreatment of animals. Which is kind of strange since China is home to Buddhism, the original vegetarian cult. China also invented soy and noodles and just about every other foodstuff that vegetarians require to keep themselves alive. They invented paper and were producing works of literature when Morrissey’s ancestors were living in caves and sharpening rocks for the hunt. (more…)

[Rosie] O’Donnell said she wanted to “build on what Oprah began and excelled at for 25 years, in my own style and with new adaptations and ideas.”

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There`s nothing I love more than female celebrities helping out troubled beasts or endangered species. You`ve got Pam Anderson worrying about the polar bears, Doris Day fretting over abandoned cats and dogs – and of course, Sheryl Crow passionately fighting for wild horses currently roaming our country. Apparently, Crow`s mad at the government for trying to remove 25,000 mustangs from the range, in an effort to send them to greener pastures.

I feel her mane.

But as much as I admire all their work protecting those who can`t protect themselves, it makes me wonder: would they do the same thing if they were the ones who became endangered?

I`m talking about women. (more…)

I am on vacation in South East Asia visiting friends and touring some areas that I am quite familiar with and some not so much. I have not had much access to news or the internet until the last two days. However, from what I have heard recently, there are definitely a few things that need to be addressed.

A few days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a speech in we he agreed for the first time to the possibility of a two state solution. To many countries in the world, this is considered a major breakthrough in the Palestinian conflict. For the first time in recent memory, Israel is ready to consider giving the Palestinians a homeland. The entire western world applauded the concessions. Of course, the Palestinians did not: they condemned them. (more…)