December 11, 2004

Movie Crossovers.

In order to keep my mind from being flung into the far reaches of space during the mind numbing expanse that was Christmas with the Kranks, an idea came to me rather early on, and has been festering ever since. You may get an idea of what I am talking about by the title, but that is only a piece of it.

I'm not talking about crossovers like Freddy vs. Jason or Alien vs. Predator, or any other full blown crossover film. What I am thinking of would be more akin to an Easter egg, which you may or may not notice in the film. Something fleeting that if you do happen to catch it, you would be caught offguard.

The idea popped into my head during the opening sequence in the airport terminal where Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis are bidding farewell to their daughter. I thought, what if we saw Tom Hanks wander through the background in character as Viktor Navorski from The Terminal? It would have made the audience do a double take, kind of like "wha...?"

Some things would have to be under consideration for something like this to occur. For one the films would have to be filmed knowing that they were going to do this. Ideally the films would have a common location to make the appearance more acceptable. Another issue would be continuity with clothing and such, as more than likely the films would not be on the same shooting schedule.

Granted this would also have it's own set of problems concerning the finished product. Would the appearance take the audience out of the experience? It could possibly break that suspension of disbelief barrier that was being built by suddenly introducing a non-variable throw away scene, as this would likely be.

I kind of like the idea, the sense of randomness introduced. The building of a universe if you will. Placing these characters in a similar time and place. I was just thinking of Hanks wandering through the background, or perhaps bumping into Allen and apologizing in that accent he used.

I may just have been trying to come up with something to pass the time in that film where watching paint dry would have been funnier. Now, am trying to think of other film combinations that would have been interesting to see.

Perhaps Bill Murray from Lost in Translation bumping into Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Grudge?

How about Jude Law's Alfie crossing paths with Nicolas Cage in National Treasure?

Or Tom Sizemore from Paparazzi running across Chris Evans in Cellular?

Oh, I know, Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman seen courtside at a Ben Stiller Dodgeball match?

I don't know, it sounded interesting when it first popped into me head. Feel free to add your own pairings. I know my last few couplings were pretty goofy, but this started as more or less a serious idea in my head, and would still be interested if it were to ever be done.

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