Leslie Nielsen passed on

[mrbasehart]

Leslie Nielsen was awesome.  84's a good age, and it seems like he had a great life, but he'll be missed.  RIP.

[Edward J Grug III]

Leslie Nielsen's final movie may never be completed without your help

At the time of his death, Leslie Nielsen had completed work on the low-budget animated film The Waterman Story, a feature adaptation of the popular Newgrounds-based animated series, starring as a famous adventurer who goes missing, leaving his son—who's also the frontman of comedy-rock duo 16Buttons Of Justice— to go looking for him. Unfortunately, while Nielsen recorded his voiceover well over a year ago, the movie has been stuck in limbo since last February, with producers unable to afford to finish animating it. As it stands now, director Bryan Waterman is still looking for investors to contribute via PayPal to the film's completion, in exchange for a special thanks credit on the film. In lieu of sending flowers, perhaps you could channel your Nielsen-related grief into the "Making Sure Leslie Nielsen's Last Movie Isn't Something Called Stonerville" fund.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/leslie-nielsens-final-movie-may-never-be-completed,48398/

[Johnny Unusual]

Leslie Nielsen was awesome.  84's a good age, and it seems like he had a great life, but he'll be missed.  RIP.

A great way to sum it up, really.  +1.

+2 to that.  He had a great career and always delivered even in inferior projects.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Watching him do drama vs. comedy is like watching 2 different people.

I'll remember him for Forbidden Planet just as much as Airplane and Police Squad.

I got out my Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea disks and watched the one he was in, playing an obsessed captain/scientist.

It's on Hulu:  http://www.hulu.com/watch/2580/voyage-to-the-bottom-of-the-sea-the-creature

[MartyS (Gromit)]

Watching him do drama vs. comedy is like watching 2 different people.

I'll remember him for Forbidden Planet just as much as Airplane and Police Squad.

Yeah, I agree with this. I'm glad to see Forbidden Planet made it to BD finally--I'll add it to my collection when it hits the $10 mark.

Don't know why it took so long, it was out on HD-DVD at the start of the format war, from what I've read they didn't do a new transfer, just re-encoded with less compression because there's more room on BD.

It's definitely worth the upgrade, especially for the animations of the invisible monster in the beams, all the fine lines are there in HD, where on DVD they get blurred into each other.

It's odd he didn't get more leading man movie roles, he got some after Forbidden Planet but got fed up with the roles MGM was giving him.

I've seen The Poseidon Adventure several times (including when it came out in the theater), but don't remember him playing the captain...

[SJP]

It's odd he didn't get more leading man movie roles, he got some after Forbidden Planet but got fed up with the roles MGM was giving him.

Knowing how he was in real life, I wouldn't be surprised if he turned them down because they wouldn't let him bring one of those little fart maker machines on set.   

[Compound]

I've seen The Poseidon Adventure several times (including when it came out in the theater), but don't remember him playing the captain...

I do. The various WB cartoons in the early 90s would make reference to it from time to time. Like so:


I really wish the guys would riff "Poseidon Adventure." I doubt it'll happen, but I still hold out hope.

[Starman!]

Even better: Riffing the remake.

[Compound]

While the remake is an inferior film, I'd contend that riffing the star filled cast of the 1970s version would be more enjoyable than riffing Fergie and Jack Burton.

[Edward J Grug III]

Both are prime targets, but I think the remake is too "under the radar" and forgotten for the guys to do.