Back in January, filmmaking twins Danny and Michael Philippou aka RackaRacka met with DC Studios about a potential superhero project. Some believe it was for “Lobo,” but those are just rumors.
The meeting occurred not too long after RackaRacka had premiered “Talk to Me” at the Sundance Film Festival. I’m sure James Gunn saw the film and said, “get me a meeting with these boys!”
It turns out that not only did RackaRacka meet with Gunn, but they were even offered a project to direct. Consider me impressed that they actually declined what would have been a huge paycheck:
Here’s how the meeting went down, in their own words:
They offered us a project but we decided not to go forward at the moment - we wanted to focus on our original material for the time being. In the future, you never know.
Props to RackaRacka for keeping their artistic integrity intact. They show a lot of promise in their debut, “Talk to Me” — it’s really a uniquely original statement on their part.
If you remember, I had reported, a week or so ago, that recently-fired Marvel exec Victoria Alonso had reportedly told an unnamed Marvel director, who helmed one of the biggest movies the studio has ever put out, that he did not direct the movie, but that we (MARVEL) direct the movies.
What the Marvel/DC machine has been basically doing these last 10 years is systemically harvesting directors from the Sundance Film Festival, filmmakers who directed acclaimed original indies. And then they prop them up with a seven-figure salary, a high budget, but control their every move.
I’m talking the likes of Jon Watts, Taika Waititi, Ryan Coogler, Anna Boden/Ryan Fleck, Chloe Zhao, Nia DaCosta, Julius Onah, and Cate Shortland. All young-ish Sundance alumnae. All currently, or formerly, invested in the MCU.
RackaRacka are not ready to be placed on that list. Good on them.