Snakes On A Plane...For Reals Yo!

Hey guys, it's Donnie... I've been making alot of jokes about this flick interspersed throughout my various articles for the last few months, mostly because, well, I think it's fununy as all hell. Allow me to break it down for you...

This past spring it was announced that David R. Ellis, the guy who directed Cellular and Final Destination 2 would be filming his next project this summer. It was to star Samuel L. Motherfucking Jackson as a commercial airline pilot. During a seemingly-innocuous flight accross the Pacific Ocean, an assassin unleashes a crate full of deadly snakes as part of a plan to kill a witness in protective custody on the plane. Brilliant huh? Wait, you haven't heard the best part: The title of this Oscar favorite was...Snakes On A Plane. Now THAT'S brilliant. As soon as you hear that, you immediately know that there's something special about this particular movie. With a title like that, you know instantly that everyone making the movie is in on the joke, and perhaps they'll be able to take this completely ridiculous premise and have a whole crapload of fun with it instead of falling into the trap of trying to take itself seriously. Because how can you take yourself seriously when the name of your movie is Snakes On A Plane?

Well, shortly before or after they began production, word came down from on high that the movie had been officially retitled to Pacific Air Flight 121. BORING! Seriously, that's a Movie Of The Week title. More importantly however, is that the change in title seemed to indicate that the studio was no longer interested in having fun at the theater: They wanted to make this movie and they seemed to want people watch it sans grano salis. That's just a depressing thought, so depressing that myself and a number of other "internet journalists" (most notably those lovable boys over at CHUD) outright refused to refer to the movie as anything other than Snakes On A Plane.

Well, rejoice friends, because Samuel L. Jackson is here to remind us all why he's still The Man (Eugene Levy not included). Net movie God Mr. Beaks, who's now running his own site called COLLIDER, caught up with Big Sammy J. at a press junket this past weekend, and the following was their exchange:

Beaks: One of those films that you’re working on right now is... well, it’s called "Pacific Air 121"—

Jackson: Snakes on a Plane, man!

Beaks: Exactly.

Jackson: We’re totally changing that back. That’s the only reason I took the job: I read the title.

Beaks: Snakes on a Plane! That’s everything!

Jackson: You either want to see that, or you don’t.

Beaks: And how are those snakes? Besides being on a plane?

Jackson: Some of them are aggressive, some of them are cool. They’re interesting to watch, and interesting to interact with. It depends on what kind of snake it is. One day, it took, like, four guys to bring in this 350 lb. Burmese Python. We were all like, “Where’s that goin’?” And I watched an Albino Cobra strike airplane seats the other day. I watched it from another studio. It’s actually been a fun show. But we’re taking the name back!

Hells fucking yes. This is why we love Samuel L. Jackson. Because he knows what's up. He does cool ass shit like Afro Samurai and Snakes On A Plane, and more importantly, he knows why it's cool ass shit and will fight to keep it that way. He got more than a little shafted in Revenge Of The Sith, but it was hardly his fault. We love ya Sammy. Keep it goin.

Pacific Air Flight 121 no longer exists, but Snakes On A Plane will hit theaters on August 18, 2006.