No Courtroom Dramas Here (Film News - 19/06/10)

A day late on the movie news, very poor show, and I don't even have an adequate excuse - I do have a feeble one though ... I was cleaning the house in the morning, then I had a rehearsal in the afternoon and then went for a few cast bonding drinks and by the time I got home I was only good for sticking a pizza in the oven and watching repeats of "QI". Anyway it's been as action packed a news week as last weeks was feeble and forgettable. We've got vague rumours, casting news and stories of films in the can that we previously knew nothing about. SO much in fact that the story I was going to lead with back in the first half of week I've effectively dropped, it ties in with this week's title and the odd litigation cases surrounding the still unseen Black Water Transit and the James Ivory's latest City of your Final Destination both of which still look exceedingly unlikely to hit UK cinemas.

Legends

I'm going to start with positive proof of my theory from a few weeks ago that fairy tales are the new big idea in Hollywood with the news that the graphic novel Legends is being adapted for the big screen. The story takes those classic Grimm characters - Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretal etc. - and reinvents them as mercenaries and serial killers having to work together to defeat an unkown foe.


The cover art looks suitably kiddie friendly.

I have very serious doubts about whether this sort of idea can actually work - partly because this sounds like The League of Extraordinary Gentleman in a medievil forest - but also because I can't imagine how the studios will market the projects. They will have to be kids films - will many adults want to see films with children's character protagonists? - and therefore there will be artificial limits put on the 'darkness' of the film adapatations (I question this because young children love being terrified so a certain amount of thrills will probably work in it's favour). This combination will probably make for the worst possible result; a film that tries so desperately to subvert the genre yet panders to test screening opinions of what children want to see.


Read on for lost wizards, some mush for Father's day, housebreaking, animals at war, Albanian blood feuds and two more scripts that Ridley Scott's read.



Oz: the Great and Powerful

With Sam Mendes seeming to be undecided about his next project the Wizard of Oz origin story has had to pass to new hands and it's now to be directed by Sam Raimi. It's probably a much better choice in terms of the look and feel of the project, Raimi has proved time and time again that he knows how to handle the action pieces that should fill at least the first half of this extravaganza.

Tom's Dad

Perfectly timed so I could mention it on Father's Day is Patrick Demsey's (left)latest vehicle, where he will play a 1960's vaudeville star who's career is stuttering to a halt when his young son comes looking for him. No idea when or if this will kick off, but I imagine the response to Sofia Coppola's Somewhere wich appears to use familiar territory will be a big decider.

Trespass

Joel Schumacher to direct Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman in a blend of Panic Room and Funny Games. It's either going to be brilliant or appalling and I can't wait to find out which one.

War Horse

Steven Spielberg must be serious about making War Horse his next project (book cover on the right) as not only is there a US release date pencilled in for next August, but he's also gone and announced a full international cast. RSC and National alumi Jeremy Irvine takes the lead (th boy who owns the horse, not the horse itself) and will be joined by a host of quality actors including Emily Watson, Stephen Graham, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan and Niels Arestrup. It's definitely moving up my list of films to look out for with that sort of cast.

Joshua Marston's Untitled Albanian Picture

Joshua Marston burst onto the American indie scene in 2004 with his sublime drug mule portrait Maria Full of Grace. Since then he's been working mainly in television with a well received segment in New York, I Love You being his only foray back into the cinemas (not that I'd know it still hasn't been released over here!) Apparently he's not just been working out what to do next. In a complete surprise he's just wrapped filming an Albanian set drama with a mostly non-professional cast. It's about a family that get dragged into a blood feud casusing all the men to put themselves under house arrest and the women must become predominant breadwinners. Based on cultural events that still affect communities in Eastern Europe the film will explore the shift in the relationship between the family, concentrating on how the power shifts to the women in this situation. Sounds challenging but certainly worth the wait.

Forever War/Yet another Ridley Scott untitled project

So Sir Ridley has two Alien prequels, the Monopoly film, Huxley's Brave New World, a one film version of Red Riding, The Passage and a Gucci family biopic all on his shelf. You'd think he'd stop reading things, wouldn't you? Apparently not, in an interview during the LA Times sponsored Hero Complex film festival (you honestly couldn't have made that up) he announced he was also working on a big screen adaptation of Joe Haldeman’s Forever War - a seminal Sci-Fi novel and anti-war (especially Vietnam) treatise - and that Larry McMurtry (Hud, Brokeback Mountain) has a Western in it's final stages of writing for him. Both of these sound like films that should be seen but honestly Ridley give some of these projects up - there are plenty of qualified and capabl directors out there who could do these stories (all 9 of them) justice.


Two book covers and one graphic novel cover in one article, you can tell I'm still a bit hung over.

Ronald Neame 1911-2010

I just want to close with a brief memory of British director Ronald Neame, who passed away on Wednesday aged 99. His filmography includes diverse and substantial critical and commercial hits such as Tunes of Glory, The Poseidon Adventure and, my personal favourite, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.