Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Nobody expected much fromBig, and in retrospect, its not hard to see why.
Most distressingly,Bigsmelled like a photocopy.
All received mixed-to-negative reviews, and by the time the third arrived, critics were already crying uncle.
These films come in waves, shruggedLike Fatherdirector Rod Daniel inStarlogmagazine.
I dont know why that is.
Every time someone comes up with a circus script, there are suddenly 25 circus scripts in town.
So what did Marshall get right that three other directors got wrong?
In hisBigreview, Ebert floats a convincing theory.
We finished typing the screenplay on a Tuesday, she recalled.
This was 1985, and that was the last thing that happened quickly.
The preproduction period was also extended by the hunt for an appropriate director and star.
BallardsEmpire of the Sun instead.
(Did Spielberg protect his innocence by losing himself in someone elses childhood?
mused theVillage Voices Jim Hoberman).
(WhenBigwas released, Marshall told the New YorkPostthat Winger suggested switching the gender of the lead character.
The other way its impossible, its Polanskiville.)
but we knew he could do that.
But the scene that most clearly articulates the quantum leap in quality betweenBigand its body-switching contemporaries comes fairly early.
I dont wanna stay here by myself, Josh objects, not unreasonably, but he must.
A clue comes in one ofBigs few negative reviews.
WhileBigwas shooting in New York in the fall of 1987, the stock market crashed.
October 19, a.k.a.
By the timeBighit theaters the following summer, they may have regretted those choices.
It probably was, of course.
But its a nice thought.
