# What happened to the Dieter movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 10, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690 "2000-11-10T19:14:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/1 "2000-11-10T19:14:21Z")
Connor’s signature reminded me - wasn’t Mike Meyer going to make a movie featuring his artsy German TV show host, Dieter? I LOVED that character! I haven’t heard anything more for awhile. What’s the scoop? And would you like to touch my monkey? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/2 "2000-11-10T19:52:59Z")
For those of you in a mad scramble to find me: ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/3 "2000-11-10T20:20:17Z")
Last I heard, Meyers backed out because the script sucked big time. He & production company where suing each other over it, nothing got resolved, project was scrapped. I don’t know what became of the lawsuits though. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/4 "2000-11-10T20:32:00Z")
Gee, I can’t possibly imagine how a movie based that skit could possibly be bad… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/5 "2000-11-10T20:36:03Z")
On. Based ON that skit. Why am I so stupid?!? ::pounds fist on forehead:: ---
**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/6 "2000-11-10T20:36:37Z")
Isn’t Rereshing to finally see a SNL alum willing to forgo spinning their Barely-funny-enough-for-a-ten-minute-skit character into a feature length film? So whats the list look like now? The Ladies Man Superstar Night at the Roxbury It’s Pat Waynes World (there were 2, right?) Am I missing any? ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/7 "2000-11-10T20:42:54Z")
Several. Blues Brothers, Stuart Smalley, Coneheads, etc… ---
**Author:** ![inoci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@inoci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inoci)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/8 "2000-11-10T20:46:30Z")
Her are a couple more: Stuart Saves his Family (Was that the name of it?) The Coneheads I do like it when characters from the show appear as cameos in movies. The dad in So I Married an axe Murderer was in a few SNL sketches. That was a good movie, but then Meyers tends to choose his projects very carefully it seems. Especially after Wayne’s World(2). ---
**Author:** ![Foaming\_Pipe\_Snake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Foaming\_Pipe\_Snake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foaming_Pipe_Snake)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/9 "2000-11-10T20:52:34Z")
Gad, that Stuart Smalley movie. Ugh! I saw **Stuart Saves his Parents** on a cross country flight. For about half an hour I watched this trainwreck of a film thinking to myself “geez, this is supposed to be a comedy, isn’t it? Maybe the first twenty minutes are setting us up for a big joke.” Yep, the joke was on us alright. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Zero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Saint\_Zero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Zero)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/10 "2000-11-10T20:55:16Z")
As I recalled, Myers had a fit of Sanity, and used a clause in the contract to get out of the deal. Universal, unwilling to save face and eager to embarras themselves with Yet Another Unfunny SNL Skit On The Movie Screen, sued him for $20 million, hoping to force him to make a awful movie. He refused. If I recall the ending, Someone stepped in to arbitrate a amicable ending to the mess, with Deiter going to the wastecan and Myers doing another movie for them in the future. ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/11 "2000-11-11T00:27:15Z")
SNL skits turned into movies: Stuart Smalley sucks beyond explanation. The Pat skit was awesome. The movie wasn’t. BTW, whatever happened to Julia Sweeney? Never liked Dieter. Wayne’s World was a huge pile of dogshit, as is everything Mike Myers does. An exception must be made for Austin Powers, which was hilarious. Coneheads: don’t have to watch it to know it sucks. ## Still waiting for a **Chris Rock / Adam Sandler** movie. That could potentially dethrone Scary Movie as the best comedy EVER. **Yoda** or **Yogurt**? A dilemma for the ages. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/12 "2000-11-11T04:40:05Z")
A somewhat unusual tale. Mike Meyer was hired to perform in a movie based on his Dieter character and as one of the clauses of his contract had script approval. The studio presumedly didn’t think this would be an issue, because Meyer was also hired to write the script. But as it turned out, Meyer the actor decided that Meyer the screenwriter wasn’t capable of producing an adequate script for the project and withdrew from the deal. The studio which hadn’t anticipated this (although to be fair, who would have?) had already proceeded with a sizable amount of financial commitment to the picture and sued Meyer for pulling out. Meyer countersued, pointing out that he had not violated his contract and it wasn’t his fault if the studio had jumped the gun. Eventually, third parties negotiated a settlement. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/13 "2000-11-11T05:32:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quasar \* > **An exception must be made for Austin Powers, which was hilarious.** Too bad that wasn’t based on a SNL skit, so it is disqualified. As for Chris Rock, he is hilarious but I can’t think of one of his skits that I would want to see a whole movie about. ---
**Author:** ![Ankh\_Too](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Ankh\_Too](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ankh_Too)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/14 "2000-11-11T06:52:18Z")
[Coming Attractions](http://corona.bc.ca/films/) has one of the most extensive collections of news about new movies. Their page on [Dieter](http://www.corona.bc.ca/films/details/sprockets.html) details the whole sordid history of the movie, including the final settlement as reported by Reuters: > [@](#): > > \*\*Part of the deal consists of Myers writing his next original character based comedy as a co-production for DreamWorks and Universal with Imagine Entertainment producing. Unfortunately, a spokeswoman for the studio revealed the new project will take the place of Dieter which has effectively been shelved. \*\* I don’t share their editorial enthusiasm for a movie based on Sprockets, but they’re one fo the beter resources around for this sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2000, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-the-dieter-movie/40690/15 "2000-11-11T07:23:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by quasar \* > \*\*SNL skits turned into movies: > > Coneheads: don’t have to watch it to know it sucks. > > ## Still waiting for a **Chris Rock / Adam Sandler** movie. That could potentially dethrone Scary Movie as the best comedy EVER. > > **Yoda** or **Yogurt**? A dilemma for the ages. > \*\* Coneheads was actually pretty amusing. It had one or two clunky spots but was well worth the rental.