Now I'm NOT having a go at Danny Boyle here...but...
I do feel a bit let down. His latest project I think is going to be a major let down. I don't see it having anywhere near as much impact as TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, A LIFE LESS ORDINARY, THE BEACH, 28 DAYS LATER, SUNSHINE, MILLIONS, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 127 HOURS or indeed FRANKENSTEIN at The National Theatre.
I'm not going to be buying my Blu-ray copy of The 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony because...well I'm not a big fan of the plot for a start. It concerns a rag tag team of deluded, egotistical ex sports people, lying and fiddling politicians and BIG BUSINESS getting together to spend somewhere in the region of 9.3 BILLION of PUBLIC FUNDS (rest assured it will go up) on something that in the end will only give real long term benefit to BIG BUSINESS. To me it sort of flys in the face of the economic times we are living in, and the terrible financial year(s) that lie ahead of the country. I mean - shouldn't there be some kind of WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!!!!! moment here? So the plot sucks...I much prefer his everyman stories and I can't really find one here...
Having said that in true Hollywood tradition the budget has er...gone up. From 40 MILLION to a new shiney figure of 80 MILLION - for a feckin' opening ceremony - hang on, maybe this is a follow up to MILLIONS? Alas no...and don't forget there's a closing ceremony ran by someone else so he's not even doing the closing credits - and yeah that's gonna cost a few bob too.
I can't say I feel sorry for Lord Seb Coe (the London 2012 Olympic Chairman) either who recently used a very poor choice of words whinging about costs:
"We will be living hand-to-mouth between now and the Olympic Games," said Coe, speaking at an event to mark the announcement of the first 6,800 nominated torch bearers. "At this moment we are absolutely balanced but, as you get towards the Games, you know there is a build-up of pressures." Oh he's not talking about US living hand to mouth - no, it's the poor dears organising the Olympics, as recently it was also announced that the cost of security within venues, organised by Locog but paid for out of the PUBLIC PURSE, has almost doubled from £282m to £553m.
Come to Halliwell in Bolton Mr Coe, where I live, or indeed any other deprived inner city area and I'll show you another definition of living 'hand-to-mouth' a lot of hands here aren't even getting anywhere near the mouth - so - to coin a phrase - watch your mouth before you gob off again. Oh and to rub salt into the wounds this fantastic organiser defended the escalation in security costs. Locog ( The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games) originally estimated that only 10,000 security guards would be required in competition and training venues and signed a contract with G4S last year based on those figures. But it later emerged that an extra 13,700 would be required, to be drawn from the military, volunteers and a retraining scheme. Surely in ANY other kind of business an organiser of this calibre would have been SACKED. Don't worry, with his record I'm sure he'd end up taking over at RBS - hell he might even end up being our next Chancellor.
It's probably going to take 127 HOURS to get through security. You'll be playing TRAINSPOTTING trying to get on the already overcrowded tube before the projected extra MILLIONS of tube journeys around the Olympics, and 28 DAYS LATER when it's all over and forgotten about, confined to a SHALLOW GRAVE, the organisers will be lapping it up on THE BEACH spending the MILLIONS they've made out of it...they've created a FRANKENSTEIN's monster that London tax payers will be paying for for years.
9.3 BILLION...now if that had been invested in trying to revive the BRIT FILM INDUSTRY Danny? It might have given something back. Cue CHARIOTS OF FIRE...ah remember Colin Welland back in the glory days? 'THE BRITISH ARE COMING...'
1981 when we still just about had a film industry, with hope in our hearts and wings on our heels?
Shame we never got there.
Joe x
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