Morning thoughts about Chris Dane Owen's Empire Queen, spoilers under a readmore.
CDO has always seemed like a really self-serious guy, I've seen interviews with him and he's always struck me as a little ambivalent to the idea that people find his work ridiculous.
And yet, Empire Queen is a comedy. Or at least, it's obviously not taking itself very seriously. I went back and watched the music videos this morning and the difference is striking because those are played completely straight, and the dumb, dumb narrative is clearly being played out in a much more elaborate form. Clearly the story had to be boiled down to its absolute essentials to give us Empire Queen (and yet we still somehow got like 45 minutes of Sterling peering at crevasses in caves which like, okay).
But yeah, I genuinely believe that the story CDO originally conceived was a sweeping fantasy epic. What made him rework it in this form? Increasing comfort with the way people have perceived his work? Just the simple constraint of needing it to be 2.5 hours long? Budget? Perceived marketability? The fact that everyone involved is over 10 years older?
But imo you can still feel Arra of the Third Kingdom inside Empire Queen, trying to break free. The goofy expositional VO, the weird asides to music video content that couldn't fit in the movie. I wonder if this is the movie he really wanted to make. Certainly it's not the movie he'd have made a decade ago.
It makes me a little sad, in a way.
I think the winking is half-hearted. I think Empire Queen wishes it was earnest.
