The Simpsons' to hit big screen
By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES The Simpson's are finally d'oh-ing the big screen thing.
After year's of speculation, rumors and false starts, The Simpsons Movie will hit theaters July 27, 2007, the show's producers tell USA TODAY.
"It only took us a decade and a half," says Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, which first aired in 1989 and is the longest running sitcom on television. "We decided that this year, instead of taking a vacation, we'd make a movie."
Fans of the show will get a glimpse of the movie this weekend in the form of a 20-second trailer attached to Ice Age, which opens Friday.
"We didn't want to do a boring press release," says writer and producer James Brooks. "We wanted to do something special to show the Simpsons would be in actual theaters, with fancy glass counters."
But that's about as much as the show's brain trust is willing to reveal about the film, which has a finished screenplay and began voice recordings this month.
The creators say that they are even considering dummy scripts to throw Internet spies off the track.
"If I open my mouth, I'm a dead man," says writer-producer Al Jean. "All I can say is that it will be animated. We've decided not to do a live action Simpsons using children."
But Jean promises that "99% of the characters that the fans love will be in the movie. You might not see barfly No. 3, but everyone else is going to be in it."
With the exception of Phil Hartman, who played a number of characters, including the beloved incompetent lawyer Lionel Hutz, until he was shot to death in 1998.
"We'd never bring back his characters," Jean says. "He'll always be the one and only voice for them."
The film likely likely be rated PG-13 for language slightly coarser than you're used to on the TV show, the executives say. But don't expect much different in the way of tone or humor that's made the Simpsons a hit.
"We didn't become a success with violence and nudity," Brooks says. "Well, maybe some bare butts."
