- The Smurfs 2
I haven’t seen any of the films Raja Gosnell has directed, which include Big Momma’s House, the live-action Scooby Doo adaptation and its sequel, and now The Smurfs 2. But when I received an offer to interview him last month, I jumped at the opportunity. I have, admittedly, very little knowledge of how big-budget family movies get made; in fact I tend not to think much at all about matters of filmmaking when considering the genre. This is due, in large part, to the marketing blitz that accompanies the release of any such film nowadays. I don’t have kids, and I’m rarely obliged to review kids’ movies for my job. Why bother seeing the Smurfs in a theater, I figure, when I see enough of them on bus advertisements, backpacks, and fast-food packaging?
Either one.
And then, the studios just started making more family films. They’re some of the more reliable performers that the studios have. And I happen to be good at them and really, really enjoy making them, so I think it’s my fate.
- Home Alone 3
In Smurfs 2, Brendan Gleeson plays Neil Patrick Harris’s stepfather, and he’s a big, John Candy-type character who busts into a room and says inappropriate things. We had a scene like that. He’s known as the “Corn Dog King”—everybody knows him from selling corn dogs on TV. And so, he’s going around handing out special corn dogs to everyone, putting a little twist on the corn dogs based on how the person might look or what their character might be. We thought it was hilarious, but it proved a little too edgy for some of our parents in the focus group. We had to take it away, but . . . [laughing] it will always remain in our hearts. Brendan did such a great job with that.
- Brendan Gleeson (right) in The Smurfs 2
I feel very satisfied. It’s just a more interesting story. Smurfette was created by Gargamel, but she was taken into the [Smurfs’] village and, through the Smurfs loving her and a special potion Papa [Smurf] made to turn her blue, she became a full-fledged Smurf. But, in the back of her mind, she knows she was created by the Smurfs’ archenemy, and that haunts her a bit.
Jordan [J. David Stern] crafted the story. While I was [directing] [The Smurfs], he was off thinking of what the story of Smurfs 2 might be with some other writers. They touched on the Smurfette creation story as jumping-off point . . . The basic structure was hashed out in those early sessions.
