Mad Central

These gag reels made for cast/crew are so often a disappointment. But they're a time-honored tradition in the entertainment industry.

I was reading a CLASH OF THE TITANS feature in the Entertainment Weekly periodical and found this excerpt amusing:

"We got a phone call from (Liam) Neeson's agent," recalls Titans producer Basil Iwanyk. "This was right before Taken came out"—and before Neeson's wife, Natasha Richardson, passed away suddenly after a brain injury—"and he wanted to meet with us. He was like, 'My kids are nuts about Greek mythology. If I played Zeus, they'd think I was so f---ing cool.'" Neeson remembers the meeting slightly differently: "My first thought was, They have to get Sean Connery for Zeus," he says.

It's funny how producers have a way of twisting and spinning reality. Some of them are like cheerleaders, trying very hard to get people excited about a project.

I try not to be too cynical because cynicism is Conan O'Brien's least favorite quality (and I always want to please Conan), but I'm guessing that COTT was one of a stack of scripts Neeson's agent gave him for consideration. He ended up taking the meeting with some hesitation and was gradually talked into it.

It's such a curious business because nobody wants to say anything bad about anyone else just in case. But in the proper confidence, you can probably get everybody to talk smack about a lot of people.

Thankfully (?), nobody cares who I am just yet...