US making of "Bedazzled" or Faust (video)

Eds., Wisdom Quarterly; Bedazzled (2000 remake), Making of Bedazzled

Long ago, in a universe (called "Hollywood") far, far away, a remake was undertaken. It was of a brilliant British cult classic, a retelling of the old German tale about Dr. Faust: a man sells his soul for seven wishes. Peter Cook (as Beelzebub) and Dudley Moore (as Stanley Moon) satirize popular Christian misconceptions, poking holes all over the religion or at least the beliefs about it most of us as Westerners carry around about it. Someone saw that property, fell in love with it, bought, and proceeded to ruin it. It might not have been so bad, but at the last minute a giant mistake was made.

Following the original, Stanley Moon (recast with Brendan Fraser as "Elliot") wishes for fame in the form of "sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll." He wishes to be a popular rock star. The scene was filmed at the Olympic Auditorium in the middle of Los Angeles with lots of extras. It was very funny and raunchy. But the producers or director decided, probably with the aid of one or more ill-informed focus groups, that it was too much.

The hilarious and pivotal scene was deleted and replaced by a nonsense historical piece with Elliot as Pres. Lincoln getting shot in the Ford Theater. Idiotic. The rentable DVD has the deleted scene restored, but it's not nearly enough. Someone on the staff at Wisdom Quarterly was an extra on the day that scene was filmed, because KROQ 106.7 FM, Los Angeles, invited listeners to miss school or work to come down and be in a Hollywood production. The upshot is the original is much funnier, much smarter, and much more original than anything Hollywood does to a property it options.