Cool News
Clive Owen to walk in Bogart, Powell & Mitchum's shoes as Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe!!!
Hey folks, Harry here - most of us geeks love classic film noir. Walking into a vintage bookstore and tearing through the scent of aged paper - finding first editions of books written by a genius like Raymond Chandler is heaven. Hell, as I look up from this screen is the original one sheet for Alfred Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN - and there in the Screen Play credits is... You guessed it Raymond Chandler.
On the other side - most of us geeks are in love with an actor by the name of Clive Owen. The first time I discovered Clive, I was aboard a cruise ship off the coast on Venezuela on the Floating Film Festival watching CROUPIER and thinking, Bond, James Bond. Since then, we saw him in those BMW short film series called, THE HIRE - flicks like THE BOURNE IDENTIFY, CLOSER and SIN CITY. This year he's hit us with the INSIDE MAN and his amazing performance in one of the films of the year... CHILDREN OF MEN. I'm dying to see him next in SHOOT 'EM UP. However, Variety announced today something... far more exciting.
Clive Owen has convinced Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment to option the Raymond Chandler series of hard-nosed mystery novels featuring Philip Marlowe. Dick Powell played him first in my favorite film noir of all time, MURDER, MY SWEET (aka Farewell My Lovely) - then two years later Bogie played him in THE BIG SLEEP. Then the next year, Robert Montgomery played him in LADY IN THE LAKE. For 25 years the character slept, till Robert Altman cast Elliot Gould in THE LONG GOODBYE. Then in 75 and 78 - Robert Mitchum played Philip in FAREWELL MY LOVELY and THE BIG SLEEP.
According to the Variety story - Universal and Clive seem intent on keeping the character in his original period and setting... with Clive chewing and spitting out the hardboiled narration. I CAN NOT FRIGGIN WAIT!
Will they attempt to start at the beginning - or work on the novels that haven't been adapted - or use some of the short stories. We'll see - right now they're looking for directors and writers. This is definitely some damn cool news!
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but i wish it was the other marlowe
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whom I hold above Shakespeare in some respects.
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Any ideas as to who should direct?
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I can totally see Owen doing this. Mike Hodges (Croupier) did great stuff with him before. How about him to direct?
What story/book are they going to use? Farewell, My Lovely has been done perfectly, but I never really went for Bogie as Marlowe in the Big Sleep. I am not going to talk about ALtman's ass-raping of The Long Goodbye (I am loathe to speak ill of the recently departed, but I was never a fan of Altman's, to put it mildly). How about The Little Sister? The plot was muddled as hell, but there were some really good moments that would be very good cinema in that mess. I have always thought that Chandler was a better short story writer than novelist. Anyway, if this is treated with the respect it deserves, it could be something special. -
A movie series I can get excited about. This is the best news of all time!For directorial duties, I nominate Stephen Frears. See The Grifters for what he can do with noir.
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Why not reunite Frears with Donald E. Westlake? He's still alive, right?
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He played Marlowe as well. And he defeated the almighty Bruce Lee by... ducking out of the way! Hmm.
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I am STOKED for this.
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BRAINS! Get it, cause he's dead?
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Etc.
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This is much better news than if Clive had been cast as Bond. He's much more hard bitten badass than pretty boy.
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Yeah, yeah...Shoot 'Em Up is going to be awesome. But Kapur directing Owen with Blanchett and Rush again...sounds badass if Kapur keeps the intrigue level high again.
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If we can't have Owen as Bond, then Marlowe is a great alternative. So looking forward to this. I thought that a Marlowe tv series is on its way though...?
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Philip fucking Marlowe!?
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Wait'll I tell the missus. Maybe I should wake her up for this news. Hmm, 3:53 a.m. Maybe it can wait a couple hours.
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Clive Owen to walk in Bogart, Powell, Mitchum and GOULD's shoes? Ah, I see the problem.
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Better than Bourne Superfacy
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he'd still be smokin'.
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Sony has updated the spiderman 3 site with shit loads of new images. Really cool stuff I think. spiderman3.sonypictures.com
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In the TV show Marlowe. Actually maybe you should, it was pretty poor. Dunno about this either. I don't really rate Owen much as an actor, although he really surprised me in Children of Men. Will it be the same expressionless face/monotonous voice we've seen in so many of his movies (especially Sin City)? I suspect it will be
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I need a flash ad blocker.
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Hollywood finally is going to the real Grade A source material. ANd I'm not going to cry about the classics being redone but they better do them in set in the past. Why don't I worry about remakes? Because you can't remake Dick Powell!! Dick Powell is the original badass, mack daddy detective modern hero!! No one will ever touch Dick Powell!! That's why the called him Dick!! Best film noir character after Harry Lime!!! Cheers!
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Mike Hammer isn't fit to hand Phillip Marlowe towels in a restroom. Big props to James Garner too, not for "Marlowe" (which is pretty bad except for a topless Rita Moreno) but for The Rockford Files, which could have been called Marlowe in the 70's.
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Solid actor, solid material...don't screw it up with a crappy director!
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and ready to destroy another mystery adaptation!
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just watched The Long Goodbye last night actually. "That was someone I love. You I don't even like."
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No one has mentioned Clive Owen as Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight?
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All real film noir is.
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I love Chandler, love his books, and I'm a fan of Owen... but I'm just not convinced. I just can't help but think Marlowe should be American, I can't see Owen pulling it off, no matter how good his accent is. It would be like an American Bond, just wrong.
If this goes ahead then I wish them luck and I'll keep an eye out for it. I agree that Gould was the best Marlowe so far, but of course they chose a very different approach, with a contemporary interpretation. -
He was awesome in Sin City. This is sweet.
I hope it is in Black and White...but that might be too stylized. -
That was scary. Clive Owen, I couldn't be happier. Perfect match.
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I'd suggest the modern day Raymond Chandler... Robert B. Parker, to atleast take a spin through a draft for a script. Parker's Spenser novels are what Philip Marlowe stories would be, if they were being written today. As for director, I like the suggestion of Stephen Frears... or maybe even Alan Parker, or better yet, Peter Weir.
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I love me some noir. This should be awesome.The Big Sleep is my favorite, but I need to re-watch Murder, My Sweet.
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They are thinking about going further back in time and have it take place in the Wild West. Could be movie magic.
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Would make a awesome Harvey Dent/Two Face.
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Tough, wisecracking and the stories were true to the books. I'm sure Clive Owen will be just as good.
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Clive Owen sounds like a good fit for a Marlowe series...how about Ridley Scott as director? He's already done Film Noir of the future (Blade Runner), now hows about some Noir of the past?
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In the past couple of years, I've been reading the Marlowe novels and really like them. I also started thinking that is was about time someone brought back Marlowe to the movies, and we can finally have a full-blown, unedited movie versions of these novels. I do fear some Hollywood producer rewrites, but they can't be as bad as Bogart's The Big Sleep actually cramming a musical number in there! There's even an occasional swear and I recall some nudity. I have noted, though, the the plots are all almost too complicated, but the novels are more about character and style. The idea that Owen wanted them made as a fan gives me a good feeling that they'll stay close to the source material. Owen's also pretty close to the right age, and he's got that good-looking but tough thing down. I wouldn't doubt his "Sin City" experience got him thinking he'd like to play one of the characters who inspired the film's tone.
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Didn't I hear that a network was making a Philip Marlowe TV series, which was unfortunately to be set in modern times? Could that screw up the deal with questions about who has rights to the books and/or characters?
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The Big Sleep is too big of a classic and I imagine they will get all kinds of shit for attempting to top Hawks and Bogie. The good thing about trying The Long Goodbye is that everyone knows Altman's version wasn't a straight, faithful one, and a real period adaptation hasn't been done yet on the big screen. Great opportunity, and it happens to be my favorite novel of Chandler's as well. Farewell, My Lovely would be nice too, but it has been done twice before.
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...his turn in Sin City. Seems like a good fit for the actor. I'll be curious to see how it shakes out.
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Clive Owen is not professor slughorn, but IS marlowe, sort of...
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It was a little spotty in Sin City.
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to the cinema.Congrats of getting the film you long forPS feel free to bitch like a mad dog when little snippets are released about the film later on such as casting the Waylan Brothers etc etc
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Now the producer needs to hire a great director for Owen; remember, Michael Winner ruined "The Big Sleep" in the seventies, making a really dull film; we have a ton of great directors to choose from right now; I just hope Universal is smart enough to choose wisely... big hope...
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After hearing that Chandler inspired a ton of awesome movies (parts of From Dusk till Dawn, Sin City, Brick, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...) I started reading the Marlowe novels. I was literally reading Farewell My Lovely not two hours ago, and I've been picturing Clive Owen as Marlowe. This kind of just made my day.
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...and he has a constant shmuck look on his face. Clooney would have been the better pick IMO.
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This is the most exciting news I've seen on this site in months. I personally can't wait.
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Did he have Keanu Reeves' accent coach?
We also would have accepted "Kevin Costner's" or "Harrison Ford's" accent coach. -
He is one of the few actors today who could do Marlowe.
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humor, or doesn't come across that way. It needs more of a smart ass for the part. Vince Vaughn taking it very seriously actually might be kind of interesting. The Big Sleep is one of my favorite books.
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this. Marlowe is all about how he reacts to everything around him; the supporting characters and the plots are nothing to get too excited about. It's Marlowe who has to carry it. Bogart was just too dry for the part. Owen's kind of dry, or I bet he will be weirdly animated to compensate. It has to be someone naturally funny and likeable with a very big personality.
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incredibley dull, sounds like he's selling insurance most of the time. I can appreciate the whole Chandler thing is about terse and laconic gumshoes who don't emote too much, but tonally I just don't see Owen as a decent fit, not with the august legacy of the likes of Bogart and Mitchum.
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Yep. That’s cool.
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Count Me In. That's the best movie news I've heard this week.
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Harrison Ford back in his Indy days woulda made a perfect Marlowe. I'm just sayin'...
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My personal fav of Chandlers. It has boxing, babes and (as Harry would put it) badasses. Namely one badass; the one Owen would play and gee-golly-goodness he would play it very nice like. I think that Owen, is in fact, Chandler reincarnated; the two have such an obvious thematic connection it's just stupid that this did not happen sooner. I guess Owen had to get that pesky credibility and bankable asset thing over with before he could start to "convince" others to fork out some cash. Goddamn systems of logic! Pee and Poo in your mouth, I do.
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