Kevin Eastman, publisher of the Heavy Metal magazine and, incidentally, the creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (back when they were edgy), has provided more than just some inside dirt on David Fincher's spat with Paramount over The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - he's now actually told some tales about the directors coming to work on Fincher's production of a new Heavy Metal movie. The original 1981 film was an anthology of animated shorts which blended sci-fi and fantasy and celebrated its overabundance of gore, sex and nudity - aimed squarely at the young pubescent nerds who would revel in such things. One could surmise that Fincher (Seven, Fight Club), Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, The Hobbit), Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) were among those young nerds, as they are all slated to direct segments of the new anthology.
One does have to wonder, though, how Del Toro will fit an animated short film into his extremely crowded slate. Also, with established directors like these, will the new anthology retain the sophomoric and prurient content of the first edition, or will they up the level of class? If they do, will it then cease to be Heavy Metal? They're shooting for an R, so it surely won't be for kids, at least.
Watch the trailer for the original film version of Heavy Metal.
Watch another animated film aimed exclusively at adults: The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, for free in its entirety right here on Fancast.
