Fallout from Men in Black International

There is an article in the Hollywood Reporter about Men in Black International and it seems to largely blame producer Walter Parkes. The article says that Parkes rewrote the script and implied that he watered it down. Parkes clashed with director F. Gary Gray and it got so bad that Gray nearly left the film.

I don’t understand Hollywood. The studio had a script that they liked and Gray was coming off hit films the Fate of the Furious, and Straight Out of Compton. Gray’s star was on the rise. It seems like the wise thing to do as producer would be to support Gray and let him do his job.

Parkes did not take that action, he re-wrote the script (or he had the script re-written) and continued updating it during filming. Parkes has been involved in the franchise from the first film, maybe he felt he understood it better than anyone else working on the new film. The article is a bit vague on some points but the article suggests Parkes resisted “modernizing” the franchise.

It is an interesting article, I am bit surprised how quickly it came out. (I guess people talked while the film was in post production.) It ends quoting an insider ‘the core concept is so good that the Men in Black will return in some form or another’ (I am paraphrasing). Perhaps but it might be awhile and I am not sure it is going to be as a movie.