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Brad Silberling Visits Land of the Lost
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I wanted these elements to be key in the film (if they had survived my memory that long, there was a reason). I wanted them to live in the film as I remembered them, not as they actually would be if I dug out my Rhino DVD collection.
By today’s sophisticated standards, the original show can be described as campy, if not downright cheesy. But the victory of the show was its ability to capture the viewer’s imagination. Those Sleestaks worked—they frightened me. So I set out to design the world from my emotional memory.
The first thing we discussed was this very choice. Rather than placing Will in a cheesy world with stop-motion dinosaurs that would be fun in a seven-minute “SNL” sketch, Marshall, Will and Holly were going to confront bad-ass, lethal obstacles—living, breathing dinosaurs out for blood—which in the end would only increase the comedy. That held true for the entire production.
I personally loathe the concept that comedies have to be flatly photographed, pedestrian in design and have no feel for cinema. If I was gonna do this, I was gonna do it right, to please my own moviemaking expectations. That meant hiring the finest production designer (Bo Welch), an exceedingly talented cinematographer (Dion Beebe), a remarkable composer (Michael Giacchino)… and on down the line.
To the studio’s credit, they supported this vision—though there was a notorious day when I found myself lecturing a room full of studio brass on photographing comedy. When asked if Beebe (who won an Oscar for Memoirs of a Geisha and was nominated for another with Chicago) “knew how to shoot comedy,” I quickly shot back that that was my job. I had to know how to shoot comedy. His job was to expertly and tastefully light and photograph the images I had in mind. (So ended that misconception.)
The intention was to create our own tightrope to walk—a vibrant new tonal blend I’d never really seen before: A true adventure-comedy. The stakes would be real, the predicaments and set pieces played for keeps and it would be the characters’ behavior in these situations, how they would react to the obstacles before them, that would generate the comedy. It would be cinematic and idiosyncratic and, because of that, it would be all the more original and (key word here for any studio) “accessible” to an audience.
The subversiveness that I remembered from the original show would be the key to our DNA and would allow me to use the remarkable tone and skills that Will Ferrell has to maximum effect. It told me immediately how to stage and attack my camera work.
Rather than fall into the trap of formalism that most effects-heavy movies lapse into as if by rote, I wanted the story to seem to be happening around us in real time, with no ability to anticipate the next turn ahead. That meant an almost verité style, with scenes shot off-the-shoulder and remarkably loose (however carefully mapped out in reality). It’s a recipe I hoped would only add to the humor. When confronted with a dinosaur, the moments become all the more jagged and at times clumsy—and very, very real.
This held true for the characters, as well. If Chaka, the monkey boy in the original series, was meant to be cute, it never really worked. He weirded me out back then and I don’t believe I was alone. What to do with him in the film? How about make him absolutely untrustworthy and somewhat profane—an unpredictable con man who seems to act only out of self-interest. (Again, be true to my emotional memory.)
We did just that and now he’s arguably my favorite character in the film. Does he work against the audience’s enjoyment as a result? Will he sell less popcorn? Judging from the early screenings, he just may steal the show.
In the end, to steer a ship this large, with these sorts of dollars on the line, a director has to be a narcissist. You have to believe you know what will best connect with the audience, because you know what best makes you laugh or tremble.
Second-guessing your instincts is the sure road to ruin and lamentable mediocrity. You can’t check your creativity at the door, as it’s your creativity that will elevate what might be a simple effort into a true event. For the studio, that means success and, if they’re lucky, sequels. For me, it means true cinematic bliss.
Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel and Jorma Taccone, will be released by Universal Pictures on June 5, 2009.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Turismo Viagem on 7/02/09 at 9:56 am
“If you don’t know where you are in your film, it’s counterfeit.”
This quote made me think a lot. I had to change the location of where I am in my head to grasp the reality of this philosophy :) Lol…- Comment by Ooty on 8/19/10 at 1:35 am
You have all inspired me to focus on providing more informative and resource type link building posts in the future, so stay tuned for more soon.
- Comment by sniper2 on 9/26/11 at 3:12 pm
This story was published in the Spring 2009 MovieMaker Magazine. The headline was:
Tentpole This!/How to personalize your summer event movie and not get caught
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