Gaiman and McKean Team for "Mirror Mask"

[MikeWatt]

Originally posted by beaker
Dark...very dark, grotesque, avant garde, and very ornate.
Unless they switch gears or something.

Beaker, what do you find grotesque about their work? "Beautiful and surreal" usually pops to my mind. I think Gaiman would be perfect to explore the Labyrinth world, and McKean's photo-realistic style would really open up the dreamlike imagery...

Mike

 

[beaker]

Originally posted by MikeWatt
Beaker, what do you find grotesque about their work? "Beautiful and surreal" usually pops to my mind. I think Gaiman would be perfect to explore the Labyrinth world, and McKean's photo-realistic style would really open up the dreamlike imagery...

Hey, why does grotesque have to be a bad thing??? Dark Crystal is grotesque and I thought it was JHC CS' most brilliant work. Indeed, beautiful, strange, surreal...especially in collaboration with Gaiman's writing and JHC. I thought Phil was aksing about Dave Mckean only. Mckean has been one of my fave artists for over a decade, though Ive mostly just seen his comic/graphic novel artwork. His work has been mirrorer in stuff like videos(Pearl Jam 'Jeremy') and The Cell.

At any rate, I couldnt believe the news of this...a visionary artist, writer, and effects company all under one project? Dang!

 

[MikeWatt]

I for one am very excited.

I see what you mean by "grotesque", btw, meaning "Strange, unreal and unsettling" rather than ugly. Sorry for the misconception.

I definitely saw the influences in THE CELL - the design was the only thing that got me to sit through the completely idiotic story. The ending was a jaw-dropper, in a "well that was pointless" kind of way. Although the design, stunning! There were some Henson influences there too, if you look hard enough. Not to mention a healthy dosage of Gilliam.

Mike Watt
www.hollywoodisburning.com

 

[beaker]

Like Roger Ebert, I called The Cell the most visionary film of 2000(Ok, I think The Cell made it as #2 on his list right under Crouching Tiger) Yeah the script was weak in parts, but as a fan of avant garde visuals in cinema from beinnign to end I was completely floored.

Then again, like Natural Born Killers it was a direct homage/ripoff of a whole mish mash of visual styles. Basically the Cell is pretty much Mark Romanek's(Nine Inch Nails and Madonna videos)
MTV style, meets The Brothers Quay and a bit of Dave Mckean and Godfried Helmwein.

Yeah I didnt mean ugly...but 'ornate' when trying to describe Mckean's style. Calling it macabre for me would be lazy.
Grotesque yet strikingly visual. Anyone whose scene Mckean's photo realistic painting style knows how remarkable some of hi stuff is. My first taste of the Gaiman/Mckean collaboration was from the Sandman comic book over a decade ago.

Personally I think a lot of modern Fantasy films(well, cept maybe LOTR) is too sterile. I wanna see a return to that organic look of Dark Crystal. At any rate, this project sounds too cool...just wish it wasnt straight to video.

 

[Struble]

Originally posted by Phillip Chapman
Given their past work, what can fans expect from this new project? What are some of their styles with characters and how they develop a story?

(sorry about the late response)

McKean is a multimedia painter. He mixes pen and ink, painting, photography, and photoshop manipulation. His work is often exhibits a dark disturbing surreal kind of beauty. But he also has a sense of whimsy and the absurd. He can go both ways.

The film of his I've seen is absolutely beautiful. It is identical to one of his paintings.

Gaiman is an English-transplant-living-in-America author who writes both comicbooks and novels. He also ranges from dark to light fun stuff.

All in all, you can expect a very artful movie. I'm telling you, it'll be beautiful.

Sh.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

Hmm, comic book artists. No wonder I'm not getting this thread (not much of a comic book enthusiast).

 

[Struble]

Originally posted by BoyRaisin2
Hmm, comic book artists. No wonder I'm not getting this thread (not much of a comic book enthusiast).

Wrong. An artist and a writer. Who both happen to work in comicbooks, but are well respected |outside| of comics. Gaiman is a best selling author of novels. The kind that doesn't have any drawin's in it.

Sh. works in comics and is respected nowhere.

 

[Struble]

Originally posted by Struble
Sh. works in comics and is respected nowhere.

Ooooooooops. Excuse my little outburst there. I just realized what you meant. I thought by "get" you meant "care for", not "understand."

Sh. is a dunderhead.

 

[rugers]

Hi,
I am a newby on this forum, with a question..
Does anybody know where I can buy tapes/dvd's/copies of Dave McKean films? ..I can't seem to find The Week before, great film, but where can I order one??
..and my second question: when is Mirror Masks set for release?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Just thought I would interrupt the discussion to point out that Muppet Central was briefly mentioned in Neil Gaiman's blog. It's under yesterday's entry (November 9th) put you have to scroll down to the second mailbag question to catch it. I thought it was kind of neat.

Check it out - http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp

Incidently, I'm not a real fan of Neil's per se, but he is a phenomenal writer and I enjoy reading his blog and I am really looking forward to seeing Mirrormask when it comes out.