Have you ever visited Springfield, Oregon? How about Springfield, Missouri or Springfield, Massachusetts? I’ve traveled to Springfield, Missouri and was impressed by its charming small town feel, but wonder if that will be enough to earn it the title of “The Simpsons Springfield.”
More than a dozen Springfields from Oregon to Massachusetts are competing to host the movie debut of Homer, Bart, Marge and the rest of the TV Simpson family (who live in their own fictional Springfield) this summer. Officials from 16 Springfields throughout North America have accepted an invitation from 20th Century Fox to compete for the honor of hosting the premiere screening of “The Simpsons Movie” in July.
According to the movie studio, the winner will be chosen after reviewing short film entries showcasing each community’s positive aspects and links to the TV Simpsons. This, despite the fact that Newsweek once called “The Simpsons” Springfield “America’s Crud Bucket.” Sure, the primetime animated series (now in its 18th season) has a nuclear power plant and several prisons, but it also has parks, suburban cul-de-sacs and a nifty mall much like the Oregon city where show creator Matt Groening grew up.
Soon after the series debuted Groening revealed that he chose “Springfield” because it’s one of the more common city names in the United States. Now, it’s just a matter of time before we know which Springfield is crowned as the home of the big-screen Simpsons.
That’s the good news. The bad news… the cartoon’s upcoming movie is not without controversy. According to news reports, the Mexican voice-over actors who have dubbed “The Simpsons” TV series into Spanish for 15 years are threatening to boycott the new movie if they are not hired to dub it.
Word has it that Gabriel Chavez, the voice of Homer Simpson’s boss Mr. Burns, is irate that he may not be part of the movie. Chavez told the Mexican newspaper El Universal that his union’s voice-over actors were told they could work on “The Simpsons Movie” as a condition to the end of their strike in 2005.
Chavez told the newspaper that if Mexico’s National Actors Association is not allowed to dub the film into Spanish, “there will be a boycott across Latin America of the film.”
Movie producers are reportedly not commenting on Chavez’s threat.
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