Brett Ratner's new dream is to direct the movie version of Wicked

By Sean O'Neal | October 28, 2011 | 7:53pm

Aux Features Film

Within this typically shrugging New York Times profile of Brett Ratner, the director displays his usual mix of indifference to snobby detractors (“I’m flattered, if anything, for those of you who think you’re getting my goat”) and defensiveness towards those same detractors about his worth as a filmmaker (calling Tower Heist an example of his “maturity,” talking about how hard it is to make a film, taking pains to point out his close friendship with, uh, Roman Polanski). It’s a mostly pointless fluff piece that may as well be titled “Hey, I’m Brett Ratner, And I’m Just Doin’ Me,” but it does end with one interesting revelation: Ratner now says his “dream project” is to direct the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, which he points to as an example of how he always likes to challenge himself—“and whether I failed or not, I didn’t fail in my mind,” Ratner adds, probably redundantly.

Of course, a Wicked adaptation has been in the works for a while now, both as a Universal feature film that Ryan Murphy was once attached to, and most recently as an ABC miniseries. But the film version seems to have more or less stalled, suggesting it’s just waiting for a juggernaut force like Brett Ratner to come and direct it—like, really direct the shit out of it—in exactly the same way that he already produced another “edgy” reimagining of Snow White with Tarsem Singh. (It also suggests Ratner saw the South Park episode about how Wicked will score you blowjobs.) So now the question becomes, will anyone help Brett Ratner realize his dream of creating an overblown spectacle full of superficial characters and mechanical plotlines, except for everyone he’s ever worked with ever?