By In a recent interview with Moviefone, Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland), the director of 30 Minutes or Less, denied the accusations that the movie he was directing was based ever-so-loosely on the tragic real-life events in 2003, when a pizza deliveryman was forced to rob a bank with a bomb strapped to his chest. The bomb actually exploded, and the man died in front of some cops on the street…
Cut to 8 years later, and now we have a movie based on the events, while the media is in an uproar. The family of the victim is denouncing the movie as “trash” without having seen it, understandably. There are some details to the movie’s plot that are similar, and then some that aren’t. Meanwhile, the brunt of the blame is falling on Fleischer, which is odd to me, considering he didn’t even write the script. In fact, the screenwriters are the only ones who were even remotely familiar with the events that happened in 2003. Clearly there is a lot of confusion out there and emotions running high. What’s worse is that nobody knows who to blame here, so people usually end up blaming the wrong person.
Hit the jump to see how I explore the assertoric logistics of these accusations and finally reveal who is REALLY to blame here…
[Via Moviefone]The possibility that Fleischer is to blame is dependent on the assumption that Fleischer knew about the events that transpired in 2003, knowing full well when he agreed to work on the movie that it would be scandalous. In the interview, however, he seems stand-offish about the whole affair, as if he honestly had no idea the story was based on real events… and you know what? I believe him.
Think about it: Why would anyone want to work on a movie that attracts such negative attention? Why, especially after making such a hit success as Zombieland, would you want to taint your career with such a risky and potentially career-shattering move? The answer: You wouldn’t. Fleischer obviously had no idea what he was getting into with this movie and, so, I blame the writers and/or the producers here. The producers either knew about the events and did it anyway, because money, or they didn’t even bother to research before okaying the project, which is just as stupid and makes them seem ignorant and brash.
My final verdict, however, is that the writer is most likely the one at fault here. Why? Because the writer of 30 Minutes or Less is Michael Diliberti, the man who worked on Notes on a Scandal and Failure to Launch… He worked on a friggin’ movie with the word “scandal” in the title AND he worked on a Matthew McConaughey film. Lock him up already.
But enough of my endless rants… What are your guys’ take on this? What theories do you have? Do you think Fleischer should have known better and researched more properly before taking on this project? Do you blame the writer who actually wrote the script and probably should have told them it was based on a true story? Do you blame the producers who are just so money-hungry that they don’t even care who they hurt to get their payday? Is it just everybody? Who is to blame here? Should we even be placing blame here? Do you even care? Who put this bowl of chocolate pudding in my underpants?