Today I finished editing an upcoming Outcast called "All's Well That Ends Well," where I talk about four of my favorite movie endings (and one television episode ending), the first being INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS from 1978.
I drove home from the cabin, and when I got phone reception again, I had a message from Marshal Latham asking me if I wanted to watch INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (both versions) with him to review on our movie podcast. A little bit strange, but I didn't think anything of it until I got a message from my buddy Jeff asking if I wanted to watch INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) with him.
Very strange.
Well, it wasn't a coincidence, or just the fact that INVASION '78 might be my favorite remake ever*. It was on the news that he had passed away.
Years ago, I worked on "Commander-In-Chief" for a day over at Raleigh Studios, and there was Sutherland, looking unpleasant and intimidating (as usual--the guy just had the most villainous face even though he surely played good guys more often than not), and I told him that when I was a kid, I was afraid to sleep with the window open because I was afraid of the plants from BODY SNATCHERS getting me. And he laughed, like he'd never heard somebody say that before.**
Anyway, he died, at eighty-eight years old, and Deadline said he was best remembered for playing President Snow in the HUNGER GAMES films. I initially took umbrage at that statement, since he'd been a working actor for decades before that, but after I thought of it, I figured that even with his hit films, like MASH and BACKDRAFT and A TIME TO KILL and JFK, you put the box office of every one of his movies together, it wouldn't equal what the HUNGER GAMES flicks made. So, okay.
*Really, what else would even be on the list?
**He HAD to have, though, right? I mean, a hundred times over the years?
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