Or, from another point of view, he’s secured the rights to some ropey old animated fantasy movie
The original Fire And Ice was a collaboration between recently-deceased fantasy artist Frank Frazetta and the director of the animated The Lord Of The Rings , Ralph Bakshi. Part Conan, part Tarzan, part The Land That Time Forgot , it was full-on heroic fantasy fare with big busted women, bare-chested men with bloody great swords and axes and a plot you could write on a postage stamp. It was also a bit bobbins, and I’ve always felt partly to blame for it never getting a major release in the UK. I went to a preview screening, y’see, back when I was a mipper, and the film company canvassed our opinion on the way out, and I was none too complimentary. Sorry folks.
Seems like Rodriguez and I are at odds with this one, though. A big Frazetta fan, he explains to Ain’t It Cool : “The awesome Ralph Bakshi and I have been working it out for a while, and it’s now a Troublemaker Studios Picture. What’s cool is, unlike past projects that I’d get involved with that would get stalled for various reasons, I control the rights to this one. So it’s actually in my power to set it up and get it made, which wasn’t the case on other projects. And for you filmmakers out there, that’s really the best way to get things done. If you can manage to get the rights yourself to a property by dealing directly with the artists and creators like I did with Frank Miller on Sin City, and now with Ralph Bakshi on Fire And Ice, it makes a world of difference and you can get started sooner rather than never.”
