Without seeing the film yet myself, it’s hard for me to say what I expect from “The Meg.” On the one hand, the trailers all point towards a fun, end-of-summer romp that features Jason Statham (always entertaining) fighting a massive shark (should be entertaining) to the death. As a fan of ridiculous action films, this sounds like a good time at the theater. However, there’s this nagging feeling in the back of my head that we could be looking at the next “Snakes on a Plane” (*shudder*). And listening to director Jon Turteltaub and star Statham describe the film, I think my suspicions may be true.
One would assume that a film that features a 75-foot shark would include copious amounts of blood and gore. However, that’s not the case in the decidedly PG-13 film. Don’t believe me? In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, Turteltaub describes what he cut out of the film to keep the rating. And you know what? What he describes sounds pretty awesome.
“Knowing that this is for Bloody Disgusting, I am so disappointed the film wasn’t more bloody or disgusting,” Turteltaub said. “My wife is glad about it and I’m glad my kids can see the movie, but the number of really horrifying, disgusting and bloody deaths we had lined up that we didn’t get to do is tragic. There was some really good shit that didn’t survive to the final cut.”
“We shot or even did a lot of visual effects for [gory scenes],” Turteltaub said. “We just realized there’s no way we’re keeping this PG-13 if we show this. It’s too fun a movie to not let people who don’t like blood and people who are under, say, 14 years old into the theater. I was very hesitant to cut out a lot of blood and gore. I wouldn’t have if I thought it was wrecking the story but it wasn’t. It still looked okay. I’ll sit down privately with your audience and take them through some really nasty shit.”
A shark movie with no blood or gore aimed at 14-year-olds? Uh oh. This doesn’t sound too good.
And then you have the most recent interview with Statham, via Collider, where he describes that the film he initially signed up for is not the film audiences are getting. And as you might expect from the outspoken actor, he definitely doesn’t hold back the disappointment.
When asked about what has changed from the initial script he read for “The Meg,” the actor replied, “A lot. Scripts totally different. There was so many different … sometimes you just go, ‘How did it happen? How did it go from this to this to this to that?’”
He elaborated, “Yeah, but there was other stuff at the beginning that was … I’m, you know. I’m just saying it was radically different. I guess in some ways your imagination and your own perception of what it’s going to be is its worst enemy.” If that doesn’t sound like someone disappointed with their film, I don’t know what does.
Statham continues by talking about how Turteltaub’s vision for the film, and the final cut, just didn’t really meet the actor’s expectations of what the tone might be for “The Meg.” “Jon’s interpretation of this is a fun end of summer [movie]. It’s full of humor. It’s a little bit more directed to a different taste of what my own is in terms of I like more gory adult stuff. I’m a lot older but I can’t speak for what this film could possibly speak to a younger audience,” he said.
When the interviewer talks about how much fun the movie is anyway, Statham interjects saying, “Yeah but you go, ‘Where’s the fucking blood?’ It’s like, ‘There’s a shark.’”
These words don’t sound like someone who is amped on the upcoming film, which says a lot considering Statham’s face is on every poster and in every trailer. So, it makes sense that the actor admits he’d be hesitant to come back to a sequel, “But I’d jump into the hot seat with Jon straight away. I say that with caution. I’d have to have some understanding of what it would be this time around.”
These are not the type of quotes that a studio would be excited about coming from the director and star of a reportedly $150 million movie. Current tracking on the film puts the opening weekend domestic box office total around $20 million. Sorry cult movie and B-movie fans, it appears that “The Meg” is the watered-down, PG-13 mess you were worried it might be.