It’s been 25 years since John Cusack lofted a boombox over his head beneath Ione Skye’s window in Cameron Crowe’s “Say Anything,” which means it’s the perfect time to unearth its dead corpse from the VHS graveyard and turn it into an unrecognizable adaptation in a cynical cash grab.
That’s exactly what NBC had in mind, according to Deadline, before the film’s director Cameron Crowe vigorously denounced the idea and disavowed any involvement with the project on Twitter.
Regarding the announcement of a “Say Anything” tv show… @JohnCusack, @IoneSkye1 and I have no involvement… except in trying to stop it.
— Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe) October 7, 2014
Cusack echoed Crowe’s sentiments not long afterward.
Hell no !! “@readdreamwrite: .@johncusack Are you or @CameronCrowe involved with this series? http://t.co/CAIfVIR9L3” — John Cusack (@johncusack) October 7, 2014
And just like that, less than 24 hours after the project was announced, the reboot was dead.
The fact that a single tweet could immediately halt a show being made tells you everything you need to know about the television industry. They’ll throw 20 half-formed idea against the wall and if one of them sticks, it’s a good day. We hope this is starts a trend of other celebrities speaking out against ill-advised adaptations of their seminal works. After all, Tom Hanks shitting on FOX’s proposed adaptation of “Big,” Val Kilmer denouncing the Adam Sandler-backed “Real Genius” project, or Michael Richards and Gilbert Gottfried holding a seance and summoning the ghost of John Ritter to scare NBC executives into abandoning their “Problem Child” remake will be more effective than a million snarky blogger tweets.
