We needed a definitive Roger Corman biopic like yesterday, but if it’s going to shape up this way, it will have been worth the wait. Years ago, around 2010, a project called THE MAN WITH THE KALEIDOSCOPE EYES was a hot property; Joe Dante – a Corman protege – was attached to direct, and Colin Firth was tentatively the name being bandied about to tackle the Corman role.
Alas, it got stuck in development hell, or some other noxious level of purgatory where all potentially-cool films wallow, and it has continued to elude cameras despite the fact it sounds utterly awesome. However, last year it picked up some steam after reports broke that a new producer was coming on board to help it along. THE MAN still hasn’t officially moved forward yet, but its one-time lead sounds like he’s more than down to do it.
Out promoting the Woody Allen picture MAGIC IN THE MOONLIGHT, Firth told BlackFilm’s Max Evry he’s still quite intrigued to step into the legendary genre filmmaker’s shoes.
It’s a wonderful script… It’s one of those things that seems to turn around and turn around. It was a fascinating script. It was about Corman making [The Trip], and his experience with acid. Did you ever read the script? It should get made. I’d love to do it, and I’m fascinated with both of those guys. I met with Joe and we talked about it. I hope it’s not gone forever.”
Indeed, THE MAN WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES mainly focuses on Corman’s wild time making the counter-culture cult classic THE TRIP, starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Bruce Dern. Corman was a straight-laced sort (despite the insane material he regularly churned out), but in order to accurately tell a tale of one man’s descent into LCD madness, he felt he should try the drug for himself. The rest, as they say, is history.
Fingers crossed this project comes to fruition. I can think of nothing better than a Joe Dante-directed Roger Corman biopic starring an acid-dropping Oscar-winner.
THE TRIP trailer
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed