Harold Ramis blows my mind with the revelation that he was in line to direct the awful, terrible Super Mario Bros. movie.
Seriously, it couldn't have been worse than this, right?Harold Ramis--AKA Dr. Egon Spengler--has been doing a fair amount of press surrounding this week's release of Ghostbusters: The Video Game, as well as his new Jack Black/Michael Cera movie Year One. In a personally pleasing bit of cosmic alignment, he spoke with the Associated Press earlier this week about his near-miss experience with the Super Mario Bros. movie, which just so happens to be the subject of this week's TANG. Weird timing, right?
According to Ramis, producer Roland Joffe asked him to direct Super Mario Bros., which Ramis went so far as to take a meeting on, as he was a fan of the game. Considering the entirely deserved notoriety surrounding Super Mario Bros., I can't blame Ramis for saying that "I'm glad I said no," but I can't help imagine how much better that movie might've been with the guy who directed Caddyshack, National Lampoon's Vacation, and Groundhog Day at the helm.
