GVN: Hello Mark! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with Geek Vibes Nation about your latest book, Movies Go Fourth. Could you start by telling our readers about yourself and your writing career?
A little bit about me. I directed and produced JEDI JUNKIES, a documentary about extreme Star Wars fans. For that, I interviewed a few actors from the films (Darth Maul, Boba Fett, Chewbacca), but it was primarily a look at the fans. We profiled people who studied to be Jedi, people who made their own lightsabers, toy collectors, and even a guy who built his own life-size Millennium Falcon in his backyard.
I’ve written three other books. My first book is called HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO and it’s with actors who have played superheroes over the past 7 decades. So I interviewed actors who have played Superman, Batman, the Hulk, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Captain America, Batgirl, Supergirl, and so on. But basically all of your favorite Marvel and DC heroes.
Then I wrote two books on James Bond. The first book is called THE MANY LIVES OF JAMES BOND and it’s filled with interviews with the creators of Bond in different media, including film, novels, comic books, radio dramas, and even video games, That book also includes the largest collection of interviews with actors who have played Bond in different media.
My other Bond book is called THE LOST ADVENTURES OF JAMES BOND and that’s a look at the Bond films that Timothy Dalton never made. So I go into vast detail about his third unmade Bond and his fourth unmade Bond. I’ve always been curious about what more Dalton Bond films would have looked like, so I did a crazy amount of research to find out.
GVN: Can you tell me about your latest book Movies Go Fourth: 4th Films in Fantastic Franchises?
MOVIES GO FOURTH is about 4th films in your favorite franchises. I interviewed the filmmakers behind Superman, Batman, James Bond, Die Hard, Star Wars, Star Trek, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy, Jaws, Highlander, Dirty Harry, Planet of the Apes, and some unexpected ones like Police Academy and Ernest.
It’s a strange topic for a book. But trilogies used to be the perfect form of storytelling. That’s because there is a beginning, middle, and end. Take the original Star Wars trilogy. You meet our heroes in Star Wars (aka A New Hope), things get more dire for them in Empire, and Jedi they thwart the bad guys, and they live happily ever after. But what happens when the story is over and the studio or the filmmakers want to continue the story? What happens if they have different ideas on how to do that?
GVN: How did you develop the idea for Movies Go Fourth? How did writing it differ from your other books?
I think the idea for the book slowly developed. I noticed that the fourth Jaws, Superman, and Batman films were the most “notorious.” Sometimes they even appear on the list of worst films of all time. So I wanted to explore what they had in common. My previous books had relatively narrow subjects–superheroes or Bond. For MOVIES FOR FOURTH, I had to explore many different franchises and genres, action movies, sci-fi, comedy, and so on.
GVN: How did you go about finding your interviewees? Did you have any trouble getting them interested in discussing the fourth film installments?
Getting busy and successful filmmakers to talk about their older projects can sometimes be challenging. However, the advantage is that because they are not actively promoting a particular film, they can be more candid about it. Enough time has passed so that we can get a fuller accounting of what went down.
GVN: The fourth film in a franchise can be a mixed bag. It could reinvigorate or kill a franchise. Did you discover any surprising commonalities among the fourth films?
The fourth film can play an important part in a film’s legacy. Batman, Superman, and Jaws all stopped (at least for a while) after their fourth installment. But after the critical disaster of Batman 4, the franchise rose to creative and financial heights with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. The mishandling of some of Jaw’s sequels led Steven Spielberg to take a more active hand in the Jurassic Park films that he didn’t direct.
For every fourth film that doesn’t come out great, there’s always a fourth film that blows everyone away, like Mad Max: Fury Road and John Wick 4. Going back a little there’s the fourth James Bond, Thunderball, and the fourth Dirty Harry, Sudden Impact, which gave birth to the line, “Go ahead, make my day.”
As for surprising fourths, Porky’s 4 was only made to protect copyright. It wasn’t even released with the title Porky’s. It was originally called Pimpin’ Pee Wee, although later it was retitled to include Porky’s.
There are also a few “passing the torch” fourths where a legacy character appears and effectively passes on the franchise to a new cast of characters. For instance, Christopher Lambert is the star of the first three Highlander films, but Highlander 4 was supposed to be the start of the new series starring Adrian Paul. Scream 4 seemed to be designed for the same trick.
GVN: In your opinion, what’s the key to creating a successful fourth film? Where do you think many of them go wrong?
A fourth film requires a very strong creative idea. It shouldn’t be just yet another adventure. John McClane shouldn’t just encounter yet another in a long line of terrorists. The fourth Planet of the Apes film was intended to end the franchise. Of course, that didn’t happen. But their creative conceit was that they were going to give the franchise an ending. Which is sort of unheard of.
GVN: I must ask: do you have a favorite fourth film? If so, why? What’s your least favorite fourth film?
For the most part, I only explored films and franchises that I love. I do have a big soft spot for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Christopher Reeve is the ideal Superman and they brought back Gene Hackman to play Lex Luthor. Reeve came up with the basic premise. It was intended to be a return to form. Unfortunately, the finished results didn’t live up to anyone’s expectations.
GVN: What about Star Wars?
That’s the tricky one. Some people argue that the fourth Star Wars film is The Phantom Menace, and some people might argue that it’s Chapter IV: A New Hope. I playfully make the argument that, as Yoda says, there is another. The Ewok Adventure, the made-for-TV film, was released theatrically overseas. So for those audiences, that’s the fourth Star Wars. It depends on your certain point of view.
GVN: Please tell us both the most rewarding part of writing the book and the most frustrating.
The most rewarding part of the book is asking questions to the filmmakers that the fans themselves would ask. The most frustrating part is transcribing the interviews.
GVN: Was there any surprising information or insight you discovered throughout writing this book?
Sometimes I was surprised that a film made it to part 4. Home Alone 4? Porky’s 4? Meatballs 4? Who knew? Here’s a quick story about Meatballs 4, that actually takes a full chapter to explain. Meatballs 4 started out as an independent film called Happy Campers. It didn’t become a Meatballs film until halfway through production. Needless to say, that decision was not universally embraced by the cast and crew.
GVN: What about any great but unmade part 4s?
I devote a chapter to Godfather Part IV and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4. I’m really excited to see the details about Spidey 4. I reveal the plot, the villains, and the casting ideas. It’s the next best thing to seeing the movie. Well, not quite. But it’s still pretty great.
GVN: What are you working on next?
I hope to have another Bond-related book out by the end of this year. And then I’ll take a nap.
GVN: Where can our readers connect with you online?
My website is MarkEdlitz.com and I’m on Twitter under my name @MarkEdlitz. Follow me there and ask me questions about MOVES GO FOURTH. The book is really about sharing the creative process from the writers, directors, and actors themselves. It also has a great interview with Joel Schumacher. It takes years to write a book, so if any of this sounds vaguely interesting, I hope your readers will give it a shot.
About The Book
Movies Go Fourth is a celebration of the fourth movies in the most popular film franchises of all time. It offers behind-the-scenes stories of fourth films from such beloved series as Star Wars, Star Trek, and James Bond. It also explores infamous fourth films, including Jaws: The Revenge, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, and Batman & Robin. This riveting book reveals the inside scoop on some of the biggest films in horror (Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street), sci-fi (Highlander, Terminator, Planet of the Apes), action (James Bond, Die Hard, Rambo) and comedy (Police Academy, Home Alone). Author Mark Edlitz also examines notable unmade fourth films, such as Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather: Part IV and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 4.
Film trilogies used to signify a movie’s success. Today, studios prefer to make never-ending stories. So what happens when the trilogy is over and the filmmakers or the studios want to make a fourth movie? Do they stick with the original story or create invent new characters who chart a new story? How do they honor what came first while inventing something new? And what happens when the artist and the studio come into conflict? This book answers those questions and many others.
Through exclusive and revealing interviews, Movies Go Fourth delves deeply into making some of the most popular film franchises of all time. Based on candid interviews from the filmmakers themselves, Movies Go Fourth reveals what happens when art and commerce collide.
Pick up your copy of MOVIES GO FOURTH: 4th FILMS IN FANTASTIC FRANCHISES
About The Author
Mark Edlitz’s is the author of HOW TO BE A SUPERHERO, a book about superheroes and the actors who play them. He also wrote THE MANY LIVES OF JAMES BOND and THE LOST ADVENTURES OF JAMES BOND.
His writings have appeared in The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex, Moviefone, Sirius/XM Radio’s Slice of SciFi and Empire magazine online.
Edlitz wrote and directed the award-winning independent film The Eden Myth. He also directed and produced Jedi Junkies, a film about extreme Star Wars fans.
Writer. Video Essayist. Film/TV Critic. Pop Culture Enthusiast.
When he isn’t writing for Geek Vibes Nation or The Cinema Spot, Tristian can be found typing away at one of the novels or screenplays he’s been working on forever.