Director Shawn Levy who is known for his family centric comedies such as the Night At The Museum movies and Cheaper By The Dozen has come on board to helm Real Steel. Real Steel is not a sequel to Shaquille O’Neal’s film hit Steel, hence Shaq is not anticipated to be in this film. Levy’s film however, is a futuristic sci-fi actioner about robotic boxing of all things. Steven Spielberg is executive producing and has obviously okayed having Levy as director. Levy is replacing Peter Berg (Hancock) who was ready to go with the film it appeared, until he officially decided to adapt the board game Battleship for the big screen. Levy told Heat Vision Blog:
“Steven’s passion for this project was absolutely infectious and I’m so excited to bring this story to life,” Levy said. “In a movie filled with these mechanical warriors, at its core ‘Real Steel’ is an incredibly human story.
A bit more on the storyline:
…the “Steel” story line takes place in a near future where human boxing has been outlawed, and heavy, humanoid robots slug it out in the ring instead. Into this world step a father and his estranged teenage son, who train an extraordinary fighter.
The news is a bit surprising to many it seems, because Levy is known for his family friendly fare and this had potential to be a darker actioner, but that would help to explain why Spielberg likes him so, since Steven is essentially known for the same thing (meaning his films are supposed to be fun for all the family typically). If Spielberg trusts his vision, does that mean we should too? I’ve yet to see a Levy film so I can’t say for sure. Those with thoughts, hit us with ‘em below.
That last time Steven Spielberg and Michael Crichton were paired together, it resulted in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (you’d think the title would be reversed), not one of Spielberg’s better entries. However, their first collabo was an unmitigated monster. A dinosaur to be exact. 1993′s Jurassic Park become one of the biggest hits in the history of cinema and finally brought big, lumbering dinosaurs realistically to the big-screen. Today, DreamWorks has purchased the rights to Crichton’s final novel (the author died last year), “Pirate Latitudes,” for Spielberg to produce and possibly direct, if he so chooses. David Koepp (Ghost Town) will pen the adaptation.
“Pirate Latitudes,” set in 1665, revolves around a daring plan to infiltrate Port Royal, one of the world’s richest and most notorious cities, and raid a Spanish galleon filled with treasure. It’ll be publsihed in November.
Spielberg’s name has been thrown about a lot lately with Matt Helm (producer), the Harvey remake and Halo (false rumor). The remake of Harvey is the only film Spielberg had his eye on directing of those three, once finished with The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, but the announcement of this project could put that in jeopardy, should he decided to direct the film. Seeing Jurassic Park for the first time is one of my fondest memories of early age movie-going and I’m sure the magic will continue with this next collaboration. I say, “bring it on.” What about you?
March 7, 1999 was the day the world lost Stanley Kubrick. At least we lost the director in his physical form, which only a privileged few were allowed to see and greet anyway. He had a reputation for being a recluse, but in actuality, he just wanted to keep his life private. It didn’t stop the endless debates over his films, nor did it stop a countless number of biographies on his life and analysis over his contribution to cinema. His blanket of influence spread so vast, I never saw one of his films in the theater during its initial release, but he’s become one of my favorite directors (side-by-side with Alfred Hitchcock). Now, it appears, he’s back.
Although he died before its release, the last film Kubrick put his directorial flourish on was Eyes Wide Shut. It seemed to be misunderstood upon its release, but like almost all of his films, has garnered more and more affection over time. One of the unfinished projects he’d be laboring over for decades was an adaptation of a short story about a Pinocchio-like boy who dreams of becoming real, titled “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” by Brian Aldiss. He had been tinkering with the film in script form with numerous screenwriters and novelists and never quite got it to feel right. He did robotic tests with director Chris Cunningham. The film likely would have been his next if he had lived, but sadly all he ended up with was a mammoth-sized treatment. Before he died, he had discussed the film with Steven Spielberg and told him the story might be better suited for his sensibilities anyway. Based on Kubrick’s treatment, Spielberg wrote a script by himself for the first time since Close Encounters of the Third Kind and in 2001, that film became A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.
A.I. has had its share of detractors just the same. Some feel it an unlikely representation of what Kubrick would have brought to the table, and indeed Spielberg has said it was as much his movie as it was Kubrick’s. One individual has even created a fan edit of the film to adhere to Kubrick’s sensibilities and vision through interviews and research (more information can be found here). Sadly, A.I. was not the only project of Kubrick’s to go unmade by the master. He had a long list of projects he did hours upon hours of research for, only to end up with nothing. One of those unmade films was as adaptation of a book by Terry Southern (Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove writing partner), called Blue Movie, about an A-list director making a big budget pornographic film. That project was the topic of our April Fool’s Day post earlier this year. Another unrealized project was a film to be called The Aryan Papers.
The Aryan Papers was a film Kubrick was developing in the early 1990s, based on the novel “Wartime Lies,” by Louis Begley. The story revolves around a Jewish-Polish woman and her nephew who had to pretend to be Catholics to escape persecution from the Nazi regime during WWII. Ironically enough, the project was scrapped when Kubrick became aware of another Holocaust-themed film in production, that of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List.
Now, speaking at the Edinburgh Festival, Kubrick’s brother-in-law and producer, Jan Harlan, is calling for The Aryan Papers‘ resurrection. Harlan called out Warner Bros, who still owns the rights to the novel, saying the time has come to start it again. He suggested Ang Lee as a director worthy of stepping into Kubrick’s shoes. Harlan also said he’d be happy to rejoin the project. At the moment Warner Bros said it was unable to confirm if it had plans to start the project anew.
Kubrick’s script is already in existence and although it’s a subject which frankly has been done to death, I’ve been yearning for another piece of Kubrick to come along for a long time. The Ang Lee suggestion seems a bit odd to me, though. A bigger name that could fit the bill is someone like Paul Thomas Anderson (though I doubt he’s want to tackle the subject) or someone like Sexy Beast‘s Jonathan Glazer, who I believe has some Kubrickian tendencies.
What do you think of the possibility of a resurrection of The Aryan Papers? If you like the idea, who would you like to see direct?
Steven Spielberg’s been a busy man lately. At least in the news. You’d think he’d have flashed his crotch or been stuck in a weight battle, but I assure you tabloid coverage isn’t the case. First, he was rumored to perhaps be interested in directing a spy film, Matt Helm. It turned out he was only interested in producing. Then, he turned his sights toward directing a remake of the 1950s Jimmy Stewart film, Harvey. Now, IESB is reporting he’s eying video game adaptation, Halo.
Halo, based on the popular X-BOX franchise has had a tumultuous time coming to the big screen. It was first announced a few years ago to be produced by Peter Jackson to serve as the debut for director Neill Blomkamp (District 9). The film fell apart mainly due to budgetary concerns and perhaps hesitation in giving the project to a first time director. Blomkamp created some Halo shorts to show off his filmmaking prowess, but it didn’t amount to anything in the end and the project was essentially dead.
Enter writer Stuart Beattie (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Collateral), who has recently finished a draft of the script entitled Halo The Fall of Reach. Reportedly, Spielberg has fallen in love with the script and wants to make it a huge tentpole film for DreamWorks since they’ve separated with Paramount and now work under the Disney label.
Spielberg is an avid player of video games as evidenced in a GQ article about Shia LaBeouf last year when LaBeouf said he was to go skeet shooting with Spielberg and found the director in the midst of playing Bio-Shock (to be adapted into a film by Gore Verbinski). Spielberg is in the middle of directing The Adventures of Tintin for release in 2011 and now with the Harvey remake to his name, it appears he has little time to step behind the camera on this one. I’d imagine he’ll be more inclined to serve as producer. With his newfound relationship with Peter Jackson and the impending release of District 9, could Spielberg merely be throwing his weight behind the project still working as a Jackson/Blomkamp vehicle? My guess would be yes and we should be all the better for it.
Does Spielberg’s potential involvement make you less, more or just as excited for a Halo movie?
One of the biggest box office successes from just a few years ago that seems to have vanished from the map for whatever reason was the 2005 Steven Spielberg/Tom Cruise collabo, War of the Worlds. It’s not out on Blu-ray, nor is it seemingly even being worked on. I thought the movie was pretty damn cool, even if there were a few things in it that kind of nag at me. That being said, it contained what was easily my favorite scene from any film that year, the tripod attack. The sound of the phasers. The Saving Private Ryan-like visuals set in an urban environment. It was all so beautiful to me and still is.
The story revolves around Ray Ferrier (Cruise), who is in charge of looking after his two children while their mother goes on a trip with her new husband. That’s when the war of the worlds between humans and an alien race gets it on.
This scene takes place fairly early in the film. A large mass of ominous clouds have just shot razor-like lightning beams toward the earth. The lightning worked as an electromagnetic pulse, knocking out all battery-operated objects. I’m never a stickler for such things, but the video camera somehow being operable in this scene really troubles me. However, it’s full of great action, aurally and visually. The clip could probably have been cut two minutes earlier, but oh well. All the better. Enjoy.
Director Steven Spielberg has chosen his next project, and it is not Matt Helm as previously speculated, but rather a remake of Harvey, a 1950 movie based on a play. This is a planned contemporary adaptation, but if you are unfamiliar with the details of Harvey, allow me to fill you in. It is based on what /film describes:
…an amiable eccentric, Elwood and his six foot three and one half inch tall rabbit imaginary friend Harvey, which causes problems for his family and friends.
Yes, you read that correct, a dude who has a 6’3 1/2″ make believe rabbit for a friend. Think the opposite of Donnie Darko’s buddy. Now, for someone with the respected ouevre of Spielberg, is this something to get excited about? Let’s say, the possibility of Tom Hanks or Will Smith speaking to an imaginary rabbit? In 1950, it was Jimmy Stewart in the lead role, and the stage play was performed more than 1500 times on stage, with the play winning a Pulitzer in 1944. I know that remakes are all the rage, showing Hollywood’s almost total lack of creativity and vision in recent years, but this from a guy revered for those specific talents? Color me disappointed. I have never seen the original, so I can’t comment from that standpoint, but the man who made Minority Report will be doing what appears to be a smaller more intimate project this time through. This sounds rather “uninspiring” to me on the surface. Share your thoughts, especially if you have seen the play or original movie.
Also, just to follow up on an earlier story where it was hinted that Lindsay Lohan had a role on the table in Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming film Machete, it is being reported (by Lindsay herself initially) that she has accepted said role. She will be in the film and I consider this a strong choice for her. I can see her hopefully re-establishing herself in some way as an actress capable of maintaining the big screen in a professional manner and then maybe, in time, remaking her passion project on Marilyn Monroe which she is supposedly trying to obtain financing for. She has been shot as the famous actress on a few occasions in photos, so maybe, ust maybe LiLo can get her career back on track after living a life of tabloid fodder in the last 4-5 years or so.
The unionized non-Mexican equivalent of Senor Spielbergo, Steven Spielberg, looks to be adding another project onto his endless slate. Steven Soderberg, he is not. After DreamWorks split from Paramount and joined Disney a few months ago, DreamWorks left a bunch of projects behind as part of their settlement. Like custody for movie studios. One of those projects was Matt Helm, based on 27 novels written by Donald Hamilton. According to “Variety,” a script re-write by Paul Attanasio (Donnie Brasco) attracted Spielberg’s attention.
The project is a spy film with a hyper-descriptive plot outline concerning “a government agent whose mission is to take down enemy agents.” Boom. Bet you didn’t see that coming. Although the books were all set between WWII and the Cold War, this adaptation will take the story into the present day. As all spy films appear to be going these days, it’s said to be comparable to the Bourne franchise.
Spielberg hasn’t yet made a spy movie per se, but definitely has directed his share of action films. It’s still very much in the air as to whether this will actually happen or not, but the possibilities are there. What do you think of Spielberg going Bourne?
“What if I took a non-violent approach, like MLK?” asks Tom Gist on “What If,” about what his life would be like if certain things hadn’t occurred. It’s a great conceptual song, although that one line is the only one that applies to this story.
I’m honestly stunned this hasn’t been done before. DreamWorks just purchased the rights to make a film based on the life of who I’d imagine is easily the most famous Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. How hasn’t this been done before? We’ve had a Malcolm X biopic, courtesy of Spike Lee, but not one about Martin Luther King? His birthday is a national holiday. Pehaps it’s because he stood for non-violence. He was the Gandhi of the Civil Rights movement. Maybe somehow to make it more intriguing, they’ll mix in the Chris Rock joke about streets named after MLK are the most violent ones in America, no matter where you are.
Steven Spielberg isn’t onboard to direct the film, at least at this point, but will produce alonside Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones. At the moment, no writer or director has been announced.
Biopics are kind of hit-or-miss with me, but MLK is such an important subject, this film needs to be made. What do you think?
The news that Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are teaming up to do a motion capture antimated film (think The Polar Express or Beowulf) based on the Belgian comic strip character “Tintin” is old hat, but news of casting is newly underway. Fans of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz can rejoice, because Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are confirmed to be playing bumbling detectives Thomson and Thompson in the film, as confirmed by Aint It Cool News.
Other casting news announced is that Gollum and King Kong himself, Andy Serkis, will be grumpy Captain Haddock.
Tintin is conceived as a trilogy with the first film directed by Spielberg due for release in 2010, the second installment directed by Jackson, with the third film unknown. Conceptualization is wholly different than actualization, so it will surely depend on the box office receipts of this initial film before the studios determine they’d like to make more.
Based on a Belgian comic strip, Tintin is a young Belgian reporter. He is usually spotted with his white terrior, Snowy and will be joined by a wealth of characters. Chiefly, the two detectives Thomson and Thompson, and the brash Captain Haddock. Principal photography is slated to begin around a month from now.
