LISA - The total madness

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Movie
German title LISA - The total madness
Original title Weird Science
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1985
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director John Hughes
script John Hughes
production Joel Silver
music Ira Newborn
camera Matthew F. Leonetti
cut Chris Lebenzon ,
Scott K. Wallace ,
Mark Warner
occupation
synchronization

LISA - Weird Science (Alternative title: Cool spell with Lisa , original title: Weird Science ) is an American science fiction - comedy by director and screenwriter John Hughes from the year 1985 . The film opened in German cinemas on December 19, 1985.

action

The shy teenagers Gary Wallace and Wyatt Donnelly are born losers: they are victims of pranks by classmates, have bourgeois parents, seem inconspicuous and have not had any luck with the girls, especially not with their favorites Hilly and Deb. While Wyatt's parents are away for a weekend and Gary is staying with him, they decide, after watching Frankenstein's bride on TV, to create an artificial and perfect girl on the computer. After a number of inputs about the desired physical and mental abilities, the preparation of a Barbie doll and the unintentional help of a mysterious thunderstorm, the actually impossible plan works: in front of Wyatt and Gary is the desired idealized dream woman, who is christened "LISA" by the boys.

With inexplicable magical powers, LISA now spices up the dreary everyday life of the two. It lets the boys plunge into the nightlife, makes them braver and makes sure that the female sex is interested in them. Wyatt in particular is made by LISA to finally show his backbone towards his brother Chet, a tyrannical militarist.

At the height of the turbulent weekend, LISA puts on a huge party for the two underdogs in Wyatt's parents' house, which is a great success. But then the boys get cocky: out of a supposed new friendship with the school-leavers Max and Ian, whom they have so far fiercely beaten, Gary and Wyatt want to create another dream woman, but what goes wrong because they forget the doll. LISA is angry with the two of them, whom she holds up against: "When do you finally learn that people love you for what you are, not for what you can give them?" LISA is now staging the attack of a rocker gang on the party . Gary and Wyatt, who initially hide in a closet, now have to face the rockers who hold Hilly and Deb in a stranglehold. In fact, the two friends develop self-confidence and are able to outsmart the leader. The gang disappears, the two win not only the recognition of the dream woman they have created, but also that of the party guests and the affection of the two freed classmates.

The next morning everything is fine: Gary and Wyatt are finally self-confident and have girlfriends. Transformed into a giant toad, Chet LISA promises to be more peaceful and humane towards his brother. LISA has done her job and disappears from the teenagers' lives in a cloud of fog, not without transforming all the damage caused by the party, including Chet, just as Wyatt's parents return.

LISA appears in a sports hall as the new trainer of an obviously unsuccessful school team.

synchronization

role actor speaker
Gary Wallace Anthony Michael Hall Santiago Ziesmer
Lisa Kelly LeBrock Heike Schroetter
Wyatt Donnelly Ilan Mitchell-Smith Oliver Rohrbeck
Chet Donnelly Bill Paxton Ronald Nitschke
Hilly Judie Aronson Maud Ackermann
Ian Robert Downey Junior Sven Hasper
Max Robert Rusler Frank Schaff

Soundtrack

The title track, Weird Science , was interpreted by the band Oingo Boingo and written by their front man, Danny Elfman .

  1. Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
  2. Turn It On - Kim Wilde
  3. Deep in the Jungle - Wall of Voodoo
  4. Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
  5. Tesla Girls - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark
  6. Private Joy - Cheyne
  7. Wanted Man - Ratt
  8. Don't Worry Baby - Los Lobos
  9. Forever - Taxxi
  10. Method to My Madness - The Lords of the New Church
  11. Eighties - Killing Joke
  12. Why Don't Pretty Girls Look at Me - Wild Men of Wonga
  13. Nervous and Shakey - The Del Fuegos
  14. The Circle - Max Carl
  15. Tenderness - General Public
  16. Do Not Disturb (Knock Knock) - The Broken Homes
  17. Oh, Pretty Woman - Van Halen

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times on August 2, 1985 that the film was linked to two “great traditions of cinema”: the fantasies of teenage boys and the Frankenstein legend. Lisa , played by Kelly LeBrock , is an intelligent woman, which makes the film “funnier” and “a little deeper” than a predictable story that it could otherwise be. Ebert praised the fact that Kelly LeBrock is not only erotic, but also warm-hearted in her role.

The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was “designed for speed” and “mostly flat”. He is giving away the opportunity to “ironically question the phenomena of the 80s”.

backgrounds

  • The film pays homage to the 1935 film Frankenstein's Bride , which was also produced 50 years earlier by Universal . The sequel to the first Frankenstein film from 1931 that Gary and Wyatt watch on television. The short exclamation " She's Alive! " Also used for the theme of the film Weird Science produced by Oingo Boingo . She's Alive! “From the television set when Lisa's first appearance came from Frankenstein's bride . The short, colored excerpts from the Frankenstein films that can be seen on Wyatt's television were specially colored by Universal for the film . There is also a cut scene from the US TV version of the film in which Gary and Wyatt talk in more detail about the Frankenstein film and, in addition to films like I spit on your grave or Zombie, mention its sequel to Frankenstein's bride .
  • Producer Joel Silver was inspired for the title of the film (Weird Science) from a comic series of the same name from the 1950s. In the Made of the Future issue , a man who has been abandoned by his wife creates a new woman without further ado. This plot served as the basic idea for the film, on which John Hughes then based the script.
  • The fictional town of Shermer, in which the film is set, is a setting that director John Hughes used in many of his films. The sports groups shown at the beginning and in the final scene belong to Shermer High School . In reality, this school was what was once the Niles East High School in Illinois . It was closed in 1980 and has since served as a location for a number of films. She and the city of Shermer appear under the name Shermer Highschool next to Lisa - The bright madness also in Ferris makes blue , You can only appear as an adult and The Breakfast Club . It is not known whether this is supposed to mean that all of these films are set in the same universe, or whether it is simply a Hughes quirk.
  • The film contains a small allusion to The Breakfast Club , in which the character of Brian already claims to have a girlfriend who lives in Canada. In Lisa - The bright madness , Gary, who is also played by Anthony Michael Hall , is now at his suggestion to create a woman with Wyatt's computer. He initially asks mockingly what about his girlfriend in Canada.
  • The film was shot in Illinois , including Chicago , Highland Park , Northbrook, and Skokie . It grossed approximately $ 38.9 million worldwide , including approximately $ 23.8 million in cinemas in the United States. The film was estimated to cost $ 7.5 million to make.
  • Although the film generally received average to poor reviews, especially when compared to the rest of John Hughes' films, it enjoys cult status in the USA and is quite well known in pop culture . So eight years later the material was processed into a television series of the same name with 88 episodes. But with a completely new line-up.
  • In the film, Gary and Wyatt name Lisa after a girl Gary was in love with. Hughes did not choose this name by chance, it is supposed to be a reference to the then ultra-modern Apple Lisa .
  • For Anthony Michael Hall , who plays Gary, this was the third John Hughes film in which he starred. He was paid $ 300,000 for his role. John Hughes is said to have cast it so often that he saw it as a fitting embodiment of his own youthful self, as a kind of alter ego.
  • Ilan Mitchell-Smith , who plays 15-year-old Wyatt, was only 14 years old when filming began, making him the youngest person on the set. He got the role without auditing, after an in-person audition with John Hughes while he was filming The Wild Life in 1984, in which he played a rebellious teenager obsessed with the Vietnam War. He was paid $ 150,000 for his role in John Hughes' film.
  • Vernon Wells acts as the leader of the "killer mutants" , who caricatures his part as the villain in Mad Max 2 with this role . Likewise, Michael Berryman was already known to a wider audience for his impersonation as a mutant in the hill of bloody eyes .
  • For Bill Paxton and Robert Downey Jr. , who can be seen in supporting roles, the film was a stepping stone to their later careers.

Awards

Ilan Mitchell-Smith was nominated for the Saturn Award in 1986.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b L.ISA - The bright madness in the lexicon of international filmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on February 7, 2015.
  2. ↑ www.ofdb.de
  3. ^ Roger Ebert : Critique of Weird Science . In: suntimes.com , August 2, 1985, accessed February 7, 2015.
  4. ^ Filming locations for Weird Science. In: IMDb , accessed on February 7, 2015 (English).
  5. ↑ Box office / business for Weird Science . In: IMDb , accessed on February 7, 2015 (English).
  6. ↑ themorningnews.org Interview with Ilan Mitchell-Smith https://themorningnews.org/article/to-the-teen-beat-of-his-own-drummer/
  7. ↑ Uproxx.com Interview with Ilan Mitchell-Smith https://uproxx.com/movies/weird-science-30th-anniversary-ilan-mitchell-smith-remake/
  8. ↑ themorningnews.org Interview with Ilan Mitchell-Smith https://themorningnews.org/article/to-the-teen-beat-of-his-own-drummer/