Let’s face it. Hollywood remakes are a dime a dozen these days and perhaps the biggest offenders of them all are uninspired animated CGI remakes of old beloved cartoons. “The Smurfs,” “Yogi Bear,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” — each one worse than the last, but thanks to massive box office returns, more of them keep getting made. So, perhaps, that’s why “The Jetsons” remake is still kicking around despite being in development hell. A remake that’s really only interesting for one reason… and it’s the most ridiculous, “so crazy it just might work” reason of all.
In January of 2012, we caught wind of the possibility that Kanye West was interested in, and possibly involved with, being the creative director of the “Jetsons” movie. The rumor popped up thanks to a (since deleted) tweet he made back then. Not much else has been reported on the story since, save for a brief report about the Jetsons film getting a rewrite (not by Kanye, unfortunately). But thanks to the recent release of Kanye’s latest album Yeezus, the rapper has been giving a couple of interviews including this interesting New York Times piece. But most interesting, perhaps, is this little golden nugget from an interview with W Magazine:
“We weave through highway traffic as West makes calls about an upcoming Jetsons movie on which, he tells me, he is creative director.”
Say what? Could this actually be for real? We can only hope so. What’s most curious about the situation is a Vulture report early last year in which his tweet was completely shot down by producer Denise DiNovi who went on to say, about Kanye’s supposed “creative director” claims: “There is no such thing on a movie. There’s an art director and a production designer.” But DiNovi wasn’t completely negative, later saying, “He’s not the creative director on the movie, but I loved his passion for ‘The Jetsons.’ He gets the whole thing about the future that never was. He sees us living on a precipice of technology – cameras in your eye, your mind as a remote control to fire lasers – and wonders how things are going to break, for good or for bad.”
Again, nothing was ever confirmed but perhaps hiring screenwriters last February was thanks to Kanye’s push for the film to be made? Did Kanye West just invent the role of being a “creative director” on a film? And did Warner Brothers let him have that role because, fuck it, he is way, way more into making this movie than anyone else is? Just read that last quote, this dude gets “The Jetsons.” That’s what “The Jetsons” have been all about this entire time. Cameras in your eye. Your mind as a remote control to fire lasers. That’s right, lasers. That’s what’s happening in the future. Kanye’s version of the future, that is. And when “The Jetsons” drops in the cruel summer of 2015 (just a prediction), you will know exactly what that future entails. Minds will be blown… by lasers.