Stephen Furst movie

[OmahaStar]

A quick reminder for folks ... Basilisk: The Serpent King, a movie directed by B5's Stephen Furst (and starring one son, with music by his other son!) will be making its debut this Saturday, 11/25, on the Sci Fi channel, at 9 pm Eastern.

It will repeat at 1 am Eastern.

A preview of this movie was shown at Dragon*Con this year. It's totally cheesy and totally fun.





Jan, I wasn't sure if this would be considered on topic for B5, since it was Stephen ... if it's not, please move it.

[AaronB]

A quick reminder for folks ... Basilisk: The Serpent King, a movie directed by B5's Stephen Furst (and starring one son, with music by his other son!) will be making its debut this Saturday, 11/25, on the Sci Fi channel, at 9 pm Eastern.

It will repeat at 1 am Eastern.

A preview of this movie was shown at Dragon*Con this year. It's totally cheesy and totally fun.





Jan, I wasn't sure if this would be considered on topic for B5, since it was Stephen ... if it's not, please move it.

I'd rather watch him in Animal House as Flounder than watch another SciFi Channel Monster Animal of the week movie. But YMMV

[AmyG]

I have to say, his last one was horrible -- no fault of the directing, mind you. It wasn't even cheesy enough fun to be watchable. That was the dragon one, with all of the flaming peasants being flung around.

[grumbler]

Given that IMDB is crediting "Louie Myman" as the director, I don't think Stephen liked what the SciFi Channel did with his director's cut.

[Joe Nazzaro]

I was thinking the same thing. A director basically has to use a pseudonym to retain his DGA rights, but it usually means they're pretty unhappy when they take their name off it. Personally, I thought there were a few bits and pieces that were fun, but a couple of the actors (including our own Mr. Furst) seemed like they were in their own film. But I think Basilisk added a brand new category to all future bad award shows: best gratuitous striptease by a giant reptile.

[OmahaStar]

Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Ugh. No way am I watching that crapola again. ugh!

[AaronB]

Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Ugh. No way am I watching that crapola again. ugh!

This makes me kinda glad I didn't watch it in hte first place.

[AmyG]

best gratuitous striptease by a giant reptile.

<blink>

I may have to catch a rebroadcast. That's just...mind-boggling!

[Joseph DeMartino]

Given that IMDB is crediting "Louie Myman" as the director, I don't think Stephen liked what the SciFi Channel did with his director's cut.

As far as I know, if Louie Myman was credited as the director, then that's the name of the person who directed the film. Unlike writers, directors who want to take their names off a film are not free to choose any pseudonym they want. Under the terms of the Directors Guild contract with the studios the only name that can be substitued for a director's actual name for screen credit is "Alan Smithee". Any production entity that is signatory to the DGA Minimum Basic Agreement (which means pretty much anybody in the U.S. and Canada, and many elsewhere) or to local union contracts that involve recipricol recognition of union contracts from other countries would be bound by this provision.

It may be that Furst only acted in that one.

Regards,

Joe

[OmahaStar]

As far as I know, if
It may be that Furst only acted in that one.

Regards,

Joe

He said at D*C he'd directed it, and had a cameo.

[phazedout]

AFAIK kAlan Smithee was dropped as the official pseudonym some years ago once it became widely known what it meant. Louie Myman has no DOB and Serpant king is the only film IMDB links to him as directing. PErhaps this is "new" Alan Smithee?
Phaze
on the "can anyone comfirm my smithee information" ID

[Jan]

Well, I realize that Wikipedia isn't the most accurate source but it does have an Alan Smithee entry that says:

Alan Smithee, Allen Smithee, Alan Smythee, and Adam Smithee are pseudonyms used between 1968 and 1999 by Hollywood film directors who wanted to be dissociated from a film for which they no longer wanted credit. It was used when the director could prove to the satisfaction of a panel of members of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers that the film had been wrestled from his or her creative control. The director is also required to keep the reason for the disavowal a secret. The pseudonym cannot be used to hide a director's failures.

and

After this, the Guild decided to choose a pseudonym for each case separately, rather than re-use a particular pseudonym. The first such example is the Thomas Lee credit for Walter Hill on Supernova (2000).

Jan

[AmyG]

As far as I know, if Louie Myman was credited as the director, then that's the name of the person who directed the film.

I hate to give Wikipedia any credit for being right on anything, but if Jan's info from them is solid, I'd believe this is a pseudonym. It just sounds fake, like: "Louie! My man!" Ya know?

Also, when I was speaking of Furst as director, I was referring to that crappy dragon pic that SciFi put on a few years ago, the one that was filmed in eastern Europe, and which IMDb.com reminds me was called "Dragon Storm." (I just think of it as "that flaming peasants film.") That's one I remember him talking about at Dragon Con, and he even brought some clips from it. Lucky us.

[Joseph DeMartino]

It just sounds fake, like: "Louie! My man!" Ya know?

That's what I thought, too, but if you follow the link in my post you'll see that it goes not to Louie Myman's listing, but to a page listing all the Mymans listed on the IMDB, including a producer named Robert Myman, which led me to believe that it is a real surname and that Louie might be a young guy who got a job through relatives. The lack of DOB, etc. in Louie's IMDB entry also isn't significant, since most of the info on the site is fan-supplied and that sort of detail might not be available to the general public, especially with a new talent.

I was, however, completely unaware that the DGA had changed the pseudonym rule, so I stand corrected and am happy to proclaim that Louie is as phony studio balance sheet.

Regards,

Joe

[Joseph DeMartino]

He said at D*C he'd directed it, and had a cameo.

But who are you going to believe? Me or the guy who made the film?

Joe