Seth
Gordon, director of the documentary film The King of Kong: A Fistful
of Quarters, a David vs Goliath documentary about two men competing
for champion rights to the classic arcade game Donkey Kong, opened
up about his new film, its process and his future.
“My favorite place is Fun Spot [an arcade featured in King of Kong]. Family reunions were in New Hampshire. I burn in the sun, so my family would leave me at Fun Spot. It is a family place and they would give tokens for grades. I would think about it all year. I met Steve Wiebe [one of the main characters in the movie] four days after they had been in his garage. At first I thought he was too vanilla but after I met all the players, I wanted to do the project. It took a year and a half.” When asked what the response of the featured people was to the movie, Gordon indicated the results were unsurprisingly mixed. Gordon said, “Steve Wiebe loves the movie. He has practically memorized the movie.” The enthusiasm was not shared by Billy Mitchell who, according to Gordon, has launched a smear campaign against the film - but all reports indicate he has yet to see the film. “Billy has said he feels it is unfortunate that this one moment in time is what is captured and what he’ll be remembered for.” Gordon believes that Walter Day (Chief Scorekeeper of Twin Galaxies, the official score keepers of video games) has come around to see sides of Billy that he had not seen before. Steve Sanders, Billy’s sidekick, of all the featured people, has most completely accepted Wiebe. The response to the larger than life, real life people has been unexpectedly well received by New Line Studios. New Line has optioned the rights to make King of Kong into a feature film and Gordon will be the director of the remake of his documentary. Some names that have been thrown around to play Billy, the movie’s villain, are Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, and Tom Cruise. “It isn’t just the look, it is the eyes.” Gordon explained about casting the actor who will portray Billy Mitchell. A feature remake of King of Kong isn’t the only thing coming
down the line for Seth Gordon. He will be directing Four Christmases
with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn. With sincere humility
Gordon confided, “I don’t know why making this little
movie [King of Kong] means I should be making such a big movie.” Click to read the "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" Movie Review! |
