The Creative Team
At IGNFilmforce.com, Brooks said, "It's sixteen years, and we have gathered together the people who have been there from the beginning, and everybody who ever was a show runner on it, so we've all gathered together and we're looking at this right now."
"We'd do a film to try and tell a good story and some of the things, the fun things we can do in a film that we can't quite do on the show... And we've always said we're willing not to do the movie. We never feel we have to do the movie, and even here, where we're edging towards it, the one thing that we all have to look at each other and say [is], 'Let's go!' But we're encouraged at this moment. It could change in a minute."
We asked Brooks whether language would be the primary difference in a theatrical Simpsons. "No. I can't talk about it, but first of all we'll try to tell a story, and we'll try to tell a story that deserves the full-length treatment, that's for sure."
Brooks also revealed to the "Philadelphia Daily News" that the original nine members of the show's creative team would reunite for the movie.
Possible Release Date?
Al Jean spoke with "Entertainment Weekly." In the interview, he said the show's writers are working on the long-promised feature film, with a possible 2008 release date. They've even laid down some possible plotlines (not that they're ready to reveal any.) "There are a couple things on the show that I steered away from what might be in the movie," Jean says. "The biggest thing is you don't want to do a movie that's not reflective of the quality of the show, and you don't want the quality of the show to slip because you're doing the movie. So we're taking a little time."
According to the Internet Movie Database, 2008 is the year The Simpsons movie will be released.
In June of 2005, while in London performing her one-woman show "My Life as a Ten Year Old Boy," Nancy Cartwright told BBC Radio 1, "You know what? We've just done the table read for the "Simpsons" movie so although we've been promoting that we're going to do it, now we're actually doing it and are in production."
Bart Loses His Virginity?
In 2001, David Mirkin joked with Cinescape Online's Cin City columnist Cindy Pearlman, saying he'd like to see Bart lose his virginity in the movie. He added, "I see lots of Simpson sex."
Unfortunately his comment sent the media into a tailspin. MegaStar reported on the rumor as a true possible plot. The ezine went as far as to say, "Insiders claim Bart will lose his cherry to an older woman who tempts him into her bed." Fans, of course, recognize Mirkin's sarcastic tone and realize he was just joking. No storyline has been confirmed to date.
On February 17, 2000, Fox executive Antonia Coffman told the New York Post, "Nobody has come up with an idea to sustain two hours, and we're not just cashing in on the financial success."
Animated or Live Action?
Many fans fear that The Simpsons movie could go the way of "The Flintstones." Fans grumble about the possible disappointment of seeing Homer in true human form. Luckily, the fans are not alone on this issue. In 1996, then executive producer Bill Oakley told Bill LaRue of Collecting "Simpsons!," "I think everyone was hoping, wow, it's going to be so exciting to see Fred [Flintstone] in real life, and then it wasn't. So it might be better to keep [the movie] in animated form."
In 1998, executive producer Mike Scully expressed similar concerns to Cult TV, "It would have to be animated. I don't see how we could ever do a live-action movie as funny as the animated series. The animation allows so many creative liberties that you just wouldn't be able to achieve with live-action. I think it would be impossible for a set of actors to portray these characters. The audience likes to see them the way they are, and if you tried to turn, say, John Goodman into Homer, then it ultimately has to be disappointing to everyone, including John Goodman. Obviously, he could never live up to Homer."
What About The Cast?
In July of 2004, Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson) told the BBC "You bet" when she was asked if she would do the Simpsons movie.
Though Harry Shearer has criticized "The Simpsons," in November, 2002 he told Ain't It Cool News that he's happy to say that a deal has been made, "in a manner of speaking," with cast members about a feature film version of "The Simpsons."
In June of 2005, the cast gathered for a table read of the first draft of a script. MTV.com reports that Simpsons rep Antonia Kaughman said, "It was all of our six principal actors, and then we have a couple secondary actors, and they do all of Springfield — over 100 characters amongst them."
