text
stringlengths
0
238k
still did not think that she would be able to afford his studio on her budget.
A meeting was arranged and Winston insisted on being given the project, saying
the Rippers would be: "the best characters we've had the opportunity to do."
[31] Winston's studio cut their usual prices in half to meet the film's
budget. [31] Eight Rippers were featured in the film: half were given
principal roles, the others were mainly in the background. Each Ripper had
articulated ears and tails which were activated by remote control, and the
background Rippers also had mechanical snouts which could be activated either
by remote control or by the movement of the actors' mouths. [32] Each Ripper's
make-up took about four hours to apply. Three technicians from Winston's
studio were required to work on each Ripper's articulations during filming; no
puppets or digital effects were used for the Rippers. [33] The main tank used
in the film is a modified M5A1 Stuart . It was purchased from the government
of Peru about 12 years prior to filming and had already been used in several
films. Among numerous modifications made for Tank Girl , the tank's 37 mm
antitank gun was covered with a modified flag pole to give the appearance of a
105 mm gun. An entire 1969 Cadillac Eldorado was added onto the tank, with the
rear section welded at the back and the fender welded to the front. [34] Post-
production [ edit ] A "naked Ripper suit" incorporating a prosthetic penis was
created for Booga and used in a filmed postcoital scene which was removed from
the final version of the film at the studio's insistence. [11] Deborah
Cartmell described the "postcoital scene" in the final version, which featured
Booga fully clothed, as "carefully edited". [35] Against Talalay's wishes, the
studio made several other edits to the film. The scene in which Kesslee
tortures Tank Girl was cut heavily on the grounds that she appeared "too ugly"
while being tortured. Also cut was a scene showing Tank Girl's bedroom, which
was shown to be decorated with dozens of dildos , and a scene in which she
places a condom on a banana before throwing it at a soldier. The role of Sub
Girl was originally intended to be larger; at least two scenes featuring the
character were cut from the film, including her appearance in the original
ending. The studio cut the original ending, a live-action scene in which it
begins to rain; the film was to have ended with Tank Girl burping. [11]
Soundtrack [ edit ] Tank Girl – Original Soundtrack Soundtrack album by
Various artists Released March 28, 1995 Recorded 1994 Genre Alternative rock
Length 41 : 58 Label Warner Bros. Records Elektra Records Producer Various
artists The film's soundtrack was assembled by Courtney Love ; [36] [37]
Graeme Revell composed the original music. [14] Love's band Hole contributed
the song "Drown Soda". Greg Graffin from Bad Religion was originally supposed
to sing the duet of "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" with Joan Jett , but due
to contractual restrictions he was replaced by Paul Westerberg from the
Replacements . Devo recorded a new version of their song " Girl U Want "
specifically for the film, as they were big fans of the comic. [38] "Girl U
Want" plays in the film's opening sequence, featuring the singing of Jula Bell
from Bulimia Banquet ; [39] this version with Bell is in the film but not on
the soundtrack album. The soundtrack featured Björk's song " Army of Me "
before it was released as a single. Because of the box-office failure of the
film, both Björk and her label decided not to use footage from the film in the
song's accompanying music video. [40] The song "Mockingbird Girl" by the
Magnificent Bastards (a side project of Scott Weiland ) was recorded
specifically for the album after Love approached Weiland asking if he would
like to contribute a song. [41] The single's cover showed the torso and thighs
of an animated character resembling Tank Girl and featured the tracks "Ripper
Sole" and "Girl U Want" from the album. In the United States, it peaked at No.
27 on the Mainstream Rock chart and No. 12 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
[42] The song "2¢" by Beowülf also appears in the film; Talalay lobbied
Restless Records to have the song included on the soundtrack but was
unsuccessful. Instead, she directed the music video for the song, which
featured both animated and live-action footage from the film. [43] The
soundtrack album was released on March 28, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records and
Elektra Records . It peaked at number 72 on the Billboard 200 . [42] The next
week, New York magazine wrote that the soundtrack was getting more attention
than the film itself. [44] However, Ron Hancock of Tower Records stated that
sales of the album were disappointing and attributed this to the financial
failure of the film. [40] Owen Gleiberman spoke favorably of the soundtrack,
[36] as did Laura Barcella writing in the book The End , describing it as a
"who's who of '90s female rock." [37] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said
the album was "much better than the film", awarding it three out of five
stars. [45] No. Title Recording artist(s) Length 1\. "Ripper Sole" Stomp! 1:42
2\. " Army of Me " Björk 3:56 3\. " Girl U Want " Devo 3:51 4\. "Mockingbird
Girl" The Magnificent Bastards 3:30 5\. " Shove " L7 3:11 6\. "Drown Soda"
Hole 3:50 7\. "Bomb" Bush 3:23 8\. "Roads" Portishead 5:04 9\. " Let's Do It,
Let's Fall in Love " Joan Jett and Paul Westerberg 2:23 10\. "Thief" Belly
3:12 11\. "Aurora" Veruca Salt 4:03 12\. "Big Gun" Ice-T 3:54 Total length:
41:58 Other songs in the film [ edit ] " B-A-B-Y " by Rachel Sweet [46] " Big
Time Sensuality " by Björk [46] " Blank Generation " by Richard Hell and the
Voidoids [46] " Disconnected " by Face to Face [47] "Shipwrecked" by Sky Cries
Mary [46] " Theme from Shaft " by Isaac Hayes [11] "2¢" by Beowülf [46] "Wild,
Wild, Thing" by Iggy Pop [46] Release [ edit ] Initial screening and box
office [ edit ] Malcolm McDowell , who portrayed the film's main villain
Kesslee, in 2011 Tank Girl premiered at the Mann Chinese Theatre on March 30,
1995. Approximately 1,500 people attended the screening, including Talalay,
Petty, Ice-T , McDowell, Watts, and several other actors from the film, as
well as Rebecca De Mornay , Lauren Tom , Brendan Fraser and Jason Simmons .
Men in W&P; costumes handed out bottles of mineral water, and girls dressed in
Liquid Silver outfits gave out Astro Pops , candy cigarettes, and Tank Girl
candy necklaces. About 400 people attended the official after-party at the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel . [48] The film opened in cinemas across the United
States the following day. [2] Tank Girl opened in 1,341 theatres in the United
States bringing in $2,018,183 in its first weekend [49] and $2,684,430 at the
end of its first week of release. By the end of its second week, Tank Girl had
made only $3,668,762. Its final gross in the United States was $4,064,495. [2]
Internationally, the film added approximately $2,000,000 to that total, [3]
against a production budget of $25 million. [2] Critical reception [ edit ]
The film holds an approval ratings of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 46
reviews. The website's critical consensus reads: "While unconventional, Tank
Girl isn't particularly clever or engaging, and none of the script's copious
one-liners have any real zing." [50] On Metacritic the film has a weighted
average score of 46 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating
"mixed or average reviews". [4] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the
film a grade B on scale of A to F. [51] Lamar Hafildason of the BBC gave the