Cuz they look the same from the trailer. I was waiting for the guy from Robocop to forbid one of the kids from becoming an actor.
I saw the longer trailer in the theatre a while back, and I thought the same thing. I might see it anyway, because I like Kevin Kline, but yeah, it’s definitely being billed as a copy of Dead Poet’s Society. Whether it actually is… that remains to be seen. Wouldn’t be the first movie for which the trailers leave completely the wrong impression.
From what I’ve seen and read, while they both take place at boy’s schools and are about the relationship between a teacher and his students, while DPS was more about the way the relationsip affected the students, The Emperor’s Club is more about the way it affected the teacher.
Now, that’s not fair. “The Emperor’s Club” doesn’t just rip off “Dead Poets Society.”
It rips off “Dead Poets Society” AND “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”
I agree with with RickJay. Let’s give credit to ALL the movies “The Emperor’s Club” rips off.
Don’t forget Goodbye Mr Chips, if you want to go back a ways.
How about To Sir with Love?
I’ve given this matter some thought (stop the presses!) and I think Kline plays a gay teacher. That would explain why none of the trailers really say what the essential conflict of the movie is, AND why the kids’ parents depicted object to him so strongly.
And when the school sacks him the kids will all stand on their desks with red noses on.
I think there is a little of Mr. Holland’s Opus mixed in as some of the shots of Klein show him older. So I think we get to see his whole career as a teacher and not just one great term.
I’ve been meaning to read the short story, but haven’t gotten around to it. But, what I have picked up is that:
Kevin Kline plays a classics teacher/headmaster at a boys school who has always acted according to a rigid code of ethics. He’s faced with a choice/crisis, and acts unethically, because he believes his choice will accomplish a greater good. Thirty years later, he looks back on the decision he made and wonders if he did the right thing.
It looks REMARKABLY similar, and not as good. You would think they would try to make it look different in the trailers, but I guess they are hoping fans of Dead Poets will go see it because it looks just like it.
…whereas it’s likely to have the opposite effect, at least in my opinion. If I see it, it’ll mostly be for Kevin Kline.
Goodbye, Mr. Holland’s Dead Opus Society
Yea i was pretty sickedned by the trailer’s resemblance to DPS. And “Club” is way too close too “Society.”
Alive but Depressed Poet’s Cabal
The Emperor’s New Group
so many possibilities.