comment #1

Mark says ...

Of course Beatty wouldn't hire himself as the lead to continue on as Tracy. He would do what Stallone did with his babied Rocky francise, and hire some young stud to take over the title character. Wait...excuse me?

comment #2

Anonymous says ...

CGI everything. Mocap in a younger CG Warren Beatty.

comment #3

Daniel Zelter says ...

Even if Beatty was able to play the part, would a Dick Tracy movie resonate with today's audiences like it did 16 years ago? Especially when you consider the disappointing numbers for flashier titles like Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

comment #4

Mike Gebert says ...

The Dick Tracy movie didn't resonate with audiences 16 years ago.

Maybe next Brooke Shields can fight for the rights to Brenda Starr.

comment #5

bward says ...

Batman Begins was a hit btw. And Dick Tracy sucked 16 years ago, it's an old idea whose time has come and gone. Let it go.

comment #6

Patrick says ...

YES! Dick Tracy is a wonderful film and won many
of my film awards in 1990! I've been waiting for
another outing for well over a decade! Colin
Farrell would be perfect playing Dick. We certainly
know he's got a BIG one! His black hair (found in
'Ask the Dust') is just the number for the role.
Actually, it did resonate with people 16 years
ago...OVER $100 million in domestic BO! Oh, I
wouldn't call the $205 million gross for a far
from typical 'Batman Begins' disappointing. What
world are you living in? Jesus God!

comment #7

Joel says ...

Tracy was a failure only in terms of studio expectations; Disney expected a mega-blockbuster, and market accordingly (the McDonald's campaign was epic, or at least it looms large in my mind, though I was just 9 at the time).

I think it's a pretty great film, despite the typical pre-teen sidekick, as flashy and a lot more fun than Sin City.

comment #8

Josh Massey says ...

Of course Warren would want to play Dick again. It's absurd to think he wouldn't - just as absurd as thinking Disney would greenlight it.

comment #9

town and country says ...

Warren's day has come and gone. He needs to wake up and smell the coffee. Age appropriate characters are beckoning him and frankly, the only thing good that came out of Dick Tracy was Madonna's Tracy-inspired hit Vogue....

comment #10

Dan R% says ...

I haven't watched "Dick Tracy" in years, but like Joel, I loved it when I was nine. It's one of those films that I'm not too eager to revisit, because I have a feeling it won't be the same. Some things are better left alone.

But if Beatty redid the film/sequel, I'd probably go for it. I remember reading on AICN a couple years ago that Beatty had a more violent cut of Dick Tracy that was gonna be put onto DVD. That obviously never materialized - so I'm guessing that maybe if he gets to do another Tracy flick, it'll be a more adult...

comment #11

Anonymous says ...

(version)

comment #12

Martin Benitez says ...

If he wants to do comic-books, how about focusing on a more interesting concept? Tracy is something that should be only a nice homage one-time type thing. It doesn`t have legs for multiple flicks. I think Beatty should do something meatier with more of an edge like he did with Bugsy Seagle. I wonder wich comic character would that fit that desription?

comment #13

Clifford Anderson says ...

William Forsythe as Flattop was one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a mainstream Hollywood film.

That and Teri Hatcher's nude scene in Heaven's Prisoners. What the fuck was up with THAT?

comment #14

Daniel Zelter says ...

When a Batman movie needs strong WOM to keep it in theaters for a month, you know it's a disappointment. It's not a flop like Superman Returns, but it's obvious the franchise doesn't have the same strength it did almost 18 years ago.

comment #15

Aaron says ...

Dick Tracy is still the best _looking_ comic book movie ever made.

comment #16

senor wences says ...

dick tracy was rubbish
lot of maddonna musical numbers, lack of action, irritating limited color palette (red, yellow, etc)
tedious film and beatty is not exactly an animated actor

comment #17

Winsor McCay says ...

Limited color palette? I guess you never saw the original strip.

Clearly, Beatty's talk about a sequel is probably just grist for the lawsuit. No one is clamoring for more Dick, ah, Tracy, at the moment.

Unless, of course, it's Dick Tracy in IMAX 3-D, starring Scarlett Johansson as Tess Trueheart.

comment #18

Colin says ...

When Paul Thomas Anderson approached Warren Beatty to play the Burt Reynolds role in "Boogie Nights," he was surprised to learn that Beatty was interested...in the Dirk Diggler role. I'm betting he'd be up for playing Tracy again.

comment #19

Mike Gebert says ...

So for the record, in recent years Beatty turned down Kill Bill, Boogie Nights, and running for president...

...but accepted Love Affair and Town and Country.

comment #20

lesterg says ...

I'm guessing the "sequel" thing is just to solidify his legal argument. More likely, he's talking a remake/TV series or something.

Then again, it's Beatty...so you never know.

comment #21

Anonymous says ...

Wasn't there a famous memo circulating from someone at Disney saying something to the effect that "Dick Tracy's return wasn't worth the investment'? I remember it causing a minor scandal at the time.
Now off to youtube for a Teri Hatcher Heaven's Prisoner search.

comment #22

travis b. says ...

zelter - how does the positive word of mouth for the last Batman film make it a dissapointment? people were wary because of the of the previous two Batman films, thus they weren't quick to jump on BB when it first came out. how often does a summer tentpole like that have positive word of mouth that keeps it going after its first couple of weeks? i think it was pretty successful man.

comment #23

Linden says ...

That was Jeffrey Katzenberg's famous "internal memo."

Dick Tracey managed to do ok at the box office. But the problem was that Disney was expecting this to be a Batman like movie where they could make a ton of money off of merchandise. But as it turns out no one was really all that interested in buying Dick Tracey merchandise which then ended up just sitting in stores gathering dust. It was because of the merchandising that Disney lost money.

comment #24

Alexandro says ...

I recently re-watched Dick Tracy and is a lot better than I remembered it to be. Kinda too formulaic by the end, but it's not supposed to be that highly sophisticaded, it was a popcorn movie after all. Beatty as Tracy was kind of meh, but the supporting cast was aweosome. Pacino is perfect, I heard on some tv show that he'd love to do more slapstick comedie roles like that, that it was pure pleasure and fun to him do that film. Hoffman is pretty funny in that clownish performance. Even Liam Neeson has a surprising bit.

The cinematography was beautiful, whoever said that about the "limited color palette" needs to find something better to trash on this film.

Madonna did suck, as usual.

About Beatty replaying Tracy, you bet that's what he wants to do. Man he should just direct another movie or something, leave Tracy alone for a while.

comment #25

RK says ...

Beatty's of the age where he should play Alfred the Butler, not Dick Tracy.

Next thing you know, Beatty would like to play Aquaman.

comment #26

Daniel Zelter says ...

Mike: Turning down Kill Bill wasn't such a bad idea, since it was, like most Quentin films, a paycheck for washed-up actors. And I hear Burt wasn't entirely pleased at Anderson poking fun of his image from the 70's. Finally, the last time an actor was President, Osama and Saddam became our friends.

travis: The fact that there needed to be any WOM for it for it to stay afloat is what makes it a disappointment. In the past, a Batman movie just made money, and that was that. But this one got its ass handed to it by Xenu Jr.'s vanity project, for eff's sake! And while it's true Batman Begins had good legs, Warner obviously hoped it would open with a bang.

comment #27

Linden says ...

Yeah, Burt was pissed. But after having seen the film Sydney Pollack and Warren Beatty, who had both been offered the part but said no, said that they regretted it.

comment #28

Mike Gebert says ...

Beatty IS a washed-up actor who keeps up the appearance that he's not one through scarcity.

The sad thing is that he let most of his late middle age go by making nothing but Ishtar and Dick Tracy. Warren, I got news for ya, by now Bonnie and Clyde and Shampoo are OLD movies, you don't have many chances left. One reason we love Jack Nicholson is that he wasn't afraid to be old and make something as good and real as About Schmidt... while his buddy Warren was remaking Love Affair at age 57.

On the other hand, it's true that Burt Reynolds can hardly be credited for his genius in choosing parts, since he fired his agent for putting him in Boogie Nights. Which means he thought his agent had done a good job when he put him in Cop and a Half.

comment #29

gh says ...

Dick Tracy was a failure only in the sense that it was completely unwatchable.

comment #30

Buck Barrow says ...

"Bonnie and Clyde" and "Shampoo" seem "old" only to whippersnappers. Beyond age, they're good, and, beyond merely good, each is so much better than any random movie plucked from that endless stream of dreck that sails past our happy green glen here, today. I'm happy that they--and "Reds"--exist. If Beatty is "washed up" because he's old, then prepare yourself for a cool bath yourself.

“It was in the reign of George III that these personages lived and quarreled; they are all equal now,”

comment #31

Mike Gebert says ...

""Bonnie and Clyde" and "Shampoo" seem "old" only to whippersnappers."

Well, isn;t that the core movie audience? I'm not saying it's right, but it's true. Shampoo is as old now as Double Indemnity was when Shampoo came out. Bonnie & Clyde is as far away as the silent era was when Bonnie & Clyde came out. And Beatty's last hit was 15 years ago. By what other standard can you say he's still a bankable star with relevance to today's audiences? He's a 70-year-old man saying he wants to make a movie from a 30s comic strip.