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Death to Smoochy
Summary: Death to Smoochy tells the comic tale of Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams), the costumed star of a popular children's television show who is fired over a bribery scandal and replaced by Smoochy (Edward Norton), a puffy, Barney-esque fuchsia rhinoceros. When Randolph discovers Smoochy is having an affair with his ex-lover, Nora (Catherine Keener), a top programming executive at the network, he plots his revenge. The film also stars Danny DeVito as Smoochy's agent and Jon Stewart (Big Daddy) as the network president.
We're all looking for a movie to take our children to.This is not that moviePhoto Gallery || Articles || Official Website || Movie Trailer || Production Notes || Premiere Photos || Attack of the Catch PhraseLatest News
3/27/02 Stranger the Fiction: CANOE reports a protest against Death to Smoochy by a staffer of Canada's "Ricky's Room" a children's program starring Ricky the Rhino. Read the article! 3/26/02 Today's Dark Horizons features interviews with EN, Robin Williams, and Catherine Keener. Dark Horizons interviews. Comedy Central has a Death to Smoochy contest. Comedy Central website 3/21/02 April's Interview Magazine includes great pictures and a conversation between Edward Norton & Robin Williams. 3/18/02 TONIGHT Entertainment Tonight will have an interview with Robin Williams [Thanks to Mindy for the info!] Read Robin's Rockin' Rhino. The first reviews of Smoochy are out, however, both are unfavorable. They also contain some PLOT SPOILERS so you may want to skip the reviews if it would ruin the movie for you Variety review and Hollywood Reporter review This comes as a complete surprise to me since all of the early info I've seen has been completely positive. The script reviews (and EN's comments about the script) have indicated that this was one of the funniest scripts out there. And the early reviews from people who have seen the test screenings have also been extremely positive. I don't know, but it might be too dark or edgy for the mainstream audience, so I guess we'll have to see how it turns out. 3/7/02 Dark Horizons posted an interview with Death to Smoochy director Danny DeVito. There is also an AP article on Robin Williams 3/1/02 The film premiered at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival with a Q & A session afterwards. The first of the pics are up in the Smoochy gallery with hopefully more to come as well as info from the Q & A. 2/25/02 The Death to Smoochy official website has expanded. Take a look: Smoochy Must Die 2/21/02Warner Bros has added more options for the Death to Smoochy trailer including Quicktime Death to Smoochy trailers 2/16/02- The Death to Smoochy trailer is now online at
Yahoo! Movies Click here for the trailer.
[Thanks to Joanne for the info!] If you want to see the trailer on the big screen, I saw it playing before
Hart's War which is pretty interesting since EN was signed to play the lead in Hart's War, and then
backed out, and then later signed on for the role of "Smoochy". Check the Mag alert page for
some articles now available on Death to Smoochy
2/12/02- Just added Premiere article on Death to Smoochy 2/7/02- With the film opening in less than two months, articles are starting to appear including ones in in the March issue of Premiere magazine and one in this week's Entertainment Weekly (read the article) [Thanks to Jo for the info!] 1/30/02- The world premiere of Death to Smoochy will be held at the U.S. Comedy
Arts Festival on February 28, 2002 in Aspen, CO. Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Danny DeVito,
Catherine Keener, Jon Stewart, and producer Andrew Lazar will be present for a Q&A session.
Read the press release
1/22/02- Behind-the-scenes photos taken during the Times Square filming are now available from my recently acquired Hello magazine from Feb 2001 1/14/02- Upcomingmovies.com reports that the film has been pushed back two weeks to March 29, 2002 (Good Friday). 11/11/01- Upcomingmovies.com reports that the release date for Death to Smoochy has been moved up a week to March 15th, 2002. 7/19/01 EN made an appearance Wednesday July 18 on the Daily Show (hosted by his Smoochy costar Jon Stewart) to promote The Score Listen to the interview 7/13/01 Entertainment Weekly features a pic of Smoochy on Ice with Olympian Elvis Stojko and a paragraph mentioning EN's skill on skates - Rink Leader, a 10 year-old describes her experiences on the set - Movie role cool job for local skater. (some plot spoilers). From May's Premiere magazine: The Changing of The Garb. ..take costumer Jane Ruhm’s lament: Edward Norton wanted to wear Armani for the upcoming Death to Smoochy. "But the character Edward’s playing is a hippie!" Ruhm says from the Smoochy set in Toronto. "So he had Armani make a hemp suit." But that was just the beginning. "There’s all this weird negotiating about what they want in return," Ruhm says of the contractual agreements stipulating that if a product is used in a film, it must be displayed in a certain way. "These are neat clothes, and they’re fun to have and all," she adds, "but I could’ve made Edward a great suit without having to go through millions of phone calls and negotiations. In the end, I didn’t want him to wear those clothes but . . . Well, he is." Screenwriters Utopia has posted another script review
Another script review has shown up on Ain't-It-Cool-News, this time of the August 11, 2000 draft. There are some PLOT SPOILERS and it describes how the movie opens, but it is also an extremely favorable review. AICN Death to Smoochy script review [Thanks to Joanne for the news!!!]. A script review of Death to Smoochy has been posted on TNMC
Movies. It is a very favorable review of the script. The review does contain some PLOT SPOILERS (details but no endings or twists)
so you may want to skip it if it would ruin the movie for you Death to Smoochy script review. Please note
that the review does not mention the date of the script, so we don't know if it is a recent draft or if it has undergone several revisions. The
reviewer doen't mention the details of the ending. Earlier, it was reported that director Danny De Vito didn't like the way the ending turned out
and rewrites and reshoots had to be completed.
Filming apparently wrapped early to mid-May since a column in the Toronto Sun (5/15/01) indicated that a wrap party for the film was held earlier at the Winsor Arms Total Film (5/01) has an article with pictures on the film Foam Rhinos Must Die! Rewrites, Reshoots, and a new ending- From Dark Horizons report 4/17/01 "I was recently on the set of Smoochy and I heard from a good source that the ending that was already filmed was hated by Danny Devito. He got the writers back together to rewrite the ending. He also was reshooting scenes that were filmed in February in Toronto at the CBC. My **** has worked many days in the past few months, and I do know Danny, Robin and Ed have been fabulous with the kids and as a parent, I couldn't ask for more" EN has a few more weeks of filming- From Toronto Sun 4/17/01 MULTI-FACIAL: Edward Norton wraps the Danny De Vito-directed dark comedy Death To Smoochy with Robin Williams in a few weeks here, before heading south to Mexico City.
A bunch of pictures have just been posted of EN in costume from banners that were used in the Times Square filming. You can find them on both the Dark Horizons website and on IGN Film Force. They are now in the Photo Gallery There was a favorable review of the script posted on C.H.U.D., however it contains MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS- Click here to read the review The following snippet was posted on Dark Horizons on Monday, January 29, 2001: "Death to Smoochy" is currently filming in Times Square. While there weren't any visible cameras or actors around today (stars are Edward Norton, Robin Williams, Jon Stewart, Katherine Keener, and Danny DeVito, who also directs), two things are noticeable, in addition to a bunch of production assistant types hanging around in some areas. First, above the WB Studio store, there's a HUGE sign with a picture of Norton in costume as "Smoochy," a large purple rhino. The sign says "It's Smoochy Time!" and next to it, neon of "National Kids Net" lights up. Secondly, ABC's big new Times Square studio is covered with photos for exterior shots--lots more shots of Norton as "Smoochy" plaster the windows, and just inside the door a shot of "Smoochy" and his "Rhinettes" (two short similarly attired men) is visible. Unfortunately, I don't have a digital camera, so I couldn't snap a shot." The next day, another on-set report was posted on Dark Horizons. "Death to Smoochy" Robin Williams filmed this Sat and Sunday in Times Square in front of the ABC news building which had animated signs created for the film that said "National Kid Network" with a picture of Robin wearing a pink Rhinoceros mask with phrase "It's Smoochy Time" this sign was also placed just under where the New Year's Eve ball drops down. They filmed many close ups on "Military Island" which is the cement island just below where Times Square splits between Broadway and Seventh Ave. Salma Hayek is also in this film. Danny DeVito is producing. Heard they may return for either day or night shots Wed and Thur, Jan 31 and Feb 1. Last week they did night shots in Chinatown. They may also shoot somewhere unknown in New Jersey before wrapping here Feb 11 and finishing up in Toronto." The New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theater, and Broadcasting has the film shooting in NYC from January 3 - February 15, 2001. Afterwards, filming will move to Toronto. Random TriviaEdward Norton and Danny DeVito have come close to working together twice before. The lead role in The Rainmaker (in which DeVito co-starred) came down to a choice between EN and Matt Damon (with Damon getting the role). EN was again up for a lead in a DeVito film, this time to portray comedian Andy Kaufman in Milos Forman's Man on the Moon (DeVito co-starred and produced), but the role went to Jim Carrey. Anastas Michos is the cinematographer for Smoochy. He has previously worked with Edward Norton on two other films: first as on Milos Forman's People vs. Larry Flynt and then on Keeping the Faith. He also worked with Danny DeVito on Forman's Man on the Moon. Misc- The name of Norton's character (behind the Smoochy costume) is Sheldon Mopes Flatbroke's Note: Early announcements of this film incorrectly spelled the title of the film "Death to Smoochie." WebsiteUpcomingmovies.com: Death to Smoochy- This site is very good at keeping up at the progress of upcoming movies Death to Smoochy Photo GalleryMain Page || Biography || News || Films || Articles || Photo Gallery || Multimedia || Site Map || Website UpdatesLast updated: Monday, July 19, 2004 If you have new information on Edward Norton (and you can provide a verifiable and reputable source), please email me- Susan Note: Articles and images have been posted without permission for noncommercial and nonprofit use
with no intention of copyright infringement. The purpose of this reprinting is to disseminate correct information about the
actors, films, and studios. I have included author names and links to sources whenever possible.
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