Looks like Millenium head Avi Lerner spoke too soon– TEXAS CHAINSAW 4 is not being fast tracked in the way he originally claimed. Producer Mark Burg came forward yesterday to clear the air about the oversight:
“The rights are controlled by Carl and Main Line Pictures, no matter what Millennium says… Millennium simply sold the foreign rights and they will not tell us when a sequel is ready to be made. The script was developed by Carl, myself and writer/director John Luessenhop. Millennium and about ten producers came aboard only when we needed their check. Maybe they’re looking for something to sell at Berlin, but they have no right to announce this sequel and if we make another it has to be as good or better than this one and that takes time.”
To counter this argument a spokesperson for Millenium reiterated that the company is guaranteed involvement in the sequel. “I understand all this wrestling about credit, but you show me a producer who’ll turn down the cash they need to do a sequel, and I will fall off my chair. Without us, that movie would not have gotten made.”
Sounds like a bit of a battle of the egos to me. Apparently Mazzocone and Burg were none to happy about a Los Angeles Time story from earlier this week that heaped praised on executive producers Lati Grobman and Christa Campbell. According to Mazzocone and Burg they kissed into those credits at the request of Lerner, and that they served no creative role and barely if at all showed up on the set.
Battling for credit over a slasher sequel seems like a stupid idea reason to stall any production. What do you guys think? Is TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D worth playing the credit grabbing game? Talback with your thoughts below…