Cool News
Peter Berg Directing HERCULES As Well As DUNE??
I am – Hercules!!
“Hancock” director Peter Berg, who created “Friday Night Lights” (which features an obnoxious Texas guy in a wheelchair named “Herc”), now plans to direct Universal's “Hercules: The Thracian Wars” from a screenplay by somebody named Ryan Condal.
It’s based on a five-issue Radical comic book series by Steve Moore ("Tom Strong's Terrific Tales"). (Radical is the same publisher behind “Caliber,” which is being developed as a directorial effort for John Woo.)
Berg is also developing a remake of "Dune" for Paramount.
Read all of Variety’s story on the matter here.
"That boulder is too large. I could lift a smaller one."
Bill Murray in "Il Returno de Hercules":
The inspiration for my pseudonym
Bill Murray in "Il Returno de Hercules":
The inspiration for my pseudonym
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+ Expand All
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BEST FILM EVER
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maybe this will be too
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piven accidentally kills a hooker by slamming her head into a coat hook in it.
by crom!
excelsior!
'bout it! 'bout it! -
What comic books HAVEN'T been optioned into films yet? Even the ones that came out like last week? Ohhhh, right, just 95% of the titles at DC. Get on the ball, assholes. Mr. Berg: Fuck up Dune and I will fart in your general direction. Third time better be the charm. Christ, we get a beautiful-looking Lynch adaptation that's an inaccurate narrative mess and a fairly faithful TV adaptation that was duller than watching Grandma's vacation slides. Make it work...and if it takes two or three movies to get the first book right, just go ahead and break it up. Trying to cram Dune into 150 minutes is like trying to fit Oprah into Halle Berry's Catwoman suit.
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Take the far better narrative of the mini-series and the stellar production design of the movie then actuall have a scrip that can contain the saga into a 150 min movie successfully...i hope he can
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When is Y: The Last Man going into production anyways???
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Jul 23, 2008 12:45:30 AM CDT
I'd rather see a movie of AICN's Hercules than this garbage!
by dogmatic
I mean...a movie about a parapelegic double amputee what loves him his TV shows....yeah I'd rather watch that than this drivel.
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I like Peter Berg...when he's doing intimate little reality-based stories. That's what his style is best suited to, while it just seems out of place in all this big-budget blockbuster stuff. Who is it that keeps thinking he'd be a good fit for these?!
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Is that one in development yet? Jesus H. Totem balls.
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...but he DOES know how to direct action. THE RUNDOWN, while being a cheesy piece of Hollywood popcorn, DID sport some bad ass fight and shootout sequences...
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Bill Murray in THE RETURN OF HERCULES. (Though Lou Ferrigno heavin' that bear in the 1980s Cannon iteration was pretty special, too.)
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they shold just bring the show back, drop RIFFTRAX and sit down and riff on all the new stuff coming out of Hollywood. the 70s are back man! bad movies and all! =0)
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Wonder who would win in a fight - Hercules, Christan Bale or his mother? It's pretty obvious that with Bale's mother being a part-time clown, he must have thought she was The Joker, and his natural instincts kicked in. You would have thought that Bats seing his mother murdered in font of him might have stopped the unfortunate events around the UK premier of The Dark Knight.
BTW, let's hope that some of the spirit of Luigi Cozzi's Hercules movies gets into the new project, as good ol' Lou was ideally cast, making the films a lot of fun. -
The Kingdom was fucking balls to the wall
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When did Berg become the directing "IT" boy? I really liked FNL and thought The Kingdom was good. But why is he trying to make Dune again? It's been filmed at least 2Xs with mediocre results.
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I really REALLY hope they don't fuck up Dune this time. I hope they really give it the treatment it deserves. I hope Berg loves Dune as much as what's his face loved the Lord of the Rings. This is probably the only chance in our lifetimes to see one of the best fantasy novels and one of the worst live action movies brought properly to fruitiion. If this doesn't get the proper reboot and backlash against the Sylvester & made for TV versions it deserves we're missing out on possibly the most important political commentary to our time and the coolest character arcs in a science fantasy book ever... I think two movies would do it justice, 3 and you risk too much of this "precedent setting actor dying before the 3rd one comes out" crap
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I want to see a film version of the comic book adaptation - as drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz - of the original "Dune" movie. All two issues of it.
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Or be sweet like The Kingdom? Berg needs to slow down and focus on one movie. Also needs to remake Hancock.
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I loved the 80s version as a kid. I should revisit it. What's the definitive version available? Anyone?
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because he's a stright forward director who can dabble successfully in just about any genre thrown at him, dark comedy, check VERY BAD THINGS, buddy action comedy, check THE RUNDOWN, sports movie check FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, stright forward actioneer check THE KINGDOM, Will Smith summer/comic book movie check HANCOCKREally I think the only 2 he's had a "personal" connection too were VERY BAD THIGNS (he's first) and FNL (his cousin was the dude that wrote the book), so he's been given various movies in all sorts of genres and made them work, made them money and I'm assuming works his budgets pretty good because I've never heard of any of his movies going over budget. I think in a lot of ways he's alot like Robert Wise in that he works in a lot of different genres, successfully
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Sorry, I get terribly motion sick from watching movies from the likes of Peter Berg who love to run around with the camera hand-held. What happened to the days of artfully composed shots, letting people take in the beauty of the filmed image? Hopefully, directors like Chris Nolan will inspire a revival of good cinematography, and help do away with all this trendy, high-contrast, grainy looking, shaky-cam, nausea-inducing shit.
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... if there's a Hercules story on film that deals with the 12 trials (or was it 10?) as punishment for the slaughter of his wife and child? I remember reading some old myths in the Edith Hamilton collection and really being absorbed by that particular story. I think he even wrestles death early on. Hercules on film just always seemed to be a one-note superhero; and not the human with a God-like ego. His living between those two worlds could be portrayed with some resonance.
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Inspired.
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than there is in Jackson's Lord of the Rings. The new Dune will be a franchise-friendly action movie. At least Lynch was treating the material with respect and delving into its themes, moods and textures. There will be none of that in Berg's version.
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Do all the people saying The Dark Knight is the best film ever realise how stupid they sound?
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12 Labors
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is a bit like watching a very long trailer? That's how they make films these days, no? I mean, everyone LOVES trailers, so why not make the actual film in the style of a trailer. Like The Golden Compass.
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Couldn't have asked for a better source.
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"I get the feeling Hancock was a rushed, compromised picture designed around its stars name and a release date, rather than an actual film." - This applies to 90% of today's 'blockbusters'.
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that Hercules was featured in comic books from Dell, Charlton, Marvel, DC, Acclaim and Topps? Yep, it's true. Now guess how many of them Bob Layton drew, and for who. That's right, DC and Marvel.The more you know..., the sooner your brain fills up, leaving no room for the important stuff.
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one of the 2 or 3 best superhero/comic book movies released this month. It's true. I read it in the internets.
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I fell asleep in the middle, just after she was revealed to be superhuman too and then I woke up when they died in the Hospital full of rain!?Anyone fill me in on WTF!?
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I just wonder whether he's got the kind of creative ego that might be required to make Dune with any flair. Saying that Peter Jackson did direct The Frighteners, which was like Robert Zemeckis light, right before LOTR.
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[claps]
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...and yet are praising CHRISTOPER NOLAN?! Batman Begins had HORRIBLE use of shakey-cam. Dark Knight was *slightly* better, yet Nolan is hardly one to keep his camera steady.
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Man, I love that movie. As far as film for entertainment, it is one of my favourites. (Even if the dead cowboy having sex with the mummified queen was a little over the top for my tastes.) One of the more thrilling films I've seen that's from my generation. Jackson also had recently completed "Heavenly Creatures;" and that's one for the books. One of the most personal films from a genre director. I mean, shit, for a creative person to challange and question the benefits of the imagination in thier own medium is risky and brave to even voice that opinion. A distrubing film, and not merely for the horrendous murder. It leaves you with an empty feeling because you just confronted an element of life you wished did not exist. I hate that ending; it is a loathable thing. But I admire Jackson for exhibiting the courage to portray that true story in all its complexity and horror.
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And Zemeckis' thrillers are quite bland to me.
Movies about wonder, he's got that down pat. But "What Lies Beneath" was manipulative, unkind, and pointless. Just waxy entertainment. (Even if skilled.) -
Wonder and Adventure. I had forgotten about "Romancing the Stone." And his hand with some Spielberg action.
TroutMaskReplicant, did you mean in terms of effects heavy entertainment? I just realized I probably did read your post well enough. Sorry. -
and I think it's rubbed off on me. Or maybe that's why I'm attracted to movies in the first place? Questions questions.
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Berg was great in that classic "Shocker". No More Mr. Nice Guy...
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kwisatzhaderach: "Do all the people saying The Dark Knight is the best film ever realise how stupid they sound?"
Yeah, do people saying David Lynch's Dune is "art" and "At least Lynch was treating the material with respect" realise how stupid they sound?
I love Lynch but his Dune was a pile of wank, it was Lynch being wierd for the sake of it...'cos leather clad dwarves electrocuting cows, indoors, with cattle prods is EXACTLY what you would see on a desert planet! Harkonnen controlled or not!
And explaing to me exactly how, in the book Thufir Hawat is poisioned by the Harkonnen's and fed the antidote in his daily meals, thus making him a prisoner whiles in Lynch's movie he has to get the antidote by milking a rat gaffer taped to the side of a shaved cat in a cage is "treating the material with respect" and not just Lynch being a twat for the sake of it???? -
Berg is really blossoming these days into quite a director. As others have pointed out, he's versatile, does action well, and seems to really enjoy the process of directing. He's not a mail it in and hope for the best guy.
"Hancock," whether you liked it or not, elevated Berg to the Hollywood A-list of directors. I'm happy for Berg, because now he'll get his demands met for "Dune," maybe "Hercules," and the one I'm really looking forward to, the "Virtuality" pilot. Holy fucking shit, did Ron Moore pull that one out of thin air. "Peter Berg directing" will now be used in trailers and tv spots for the show. Good publicity. I really it's good.
And, of course, "Dune." Berg has been into this story for a while, so I'm hopeful he's planning something big and dramatic. It would be great to see actual desert vistas instead of CG-ed shots, no Lynch-ian vocal power bolts, and other flourishes that Berg could manifest on a big budget. -
if you are gonna make DUNE -or any other property for that matter- start with a decent scipt, flim it, THEN look at its length- a movie can be MORE than 90 mins and still be a hit, if you got s movie that tells a great story DON'T chop it up for time reasons...hell you could even break it up into 2 or 3 parts if needed
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A trilogy is stretching things a bit, but splitting into two 150-minute movies allows for enough backstory and characterization to avoid cramming. Make the rise of the Fremen a little more dramatic and you can end part 1 with either Paul's acceptance into the Fremen, the reunion with Gurney Halleck (coinciding with a turn of the tide in the Fremen uprising,) or go the cliffhanger route and end it with him comatose from the Water of Life. And Duke Leto has to be as badass as Jurgen Prochnow, not like the William Hurt-Bot from the Sci-Fi version. It'd be tough to get him aboard, but Daniel Day-Lewis would be an awesome Leto.
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Billmurray at his best . . .
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Gawd that's a funny sketch.
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http://www.jibjab.com/view/215359
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Bad idea, McVamp. Bad idea to make a "Dune" trilogy or even a duology. The best idea is to simply make one long film.
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This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!
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You gotta chop off huge chunks of detail. However, if you made a 3-hour theatrical cut and then threw together a 4 1/2 directors cut for DVD, I can definitely get into your logic. But I don't like that route, it allows studios and directors to deliberately half-ass theatrical releases out of cowardice, but at least we eventually get a full story.
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HERCULES!
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...Alan Smithee thing and took his name OFF the credits of Dune, he was so embarassed by it. I'll admit he didn't cause the plethora of problem with that mess of a film... that'd the mad Italian Dino DeLaurentiis. Still... let's face it, the movie blew... I mean, it had Sting in it ferchrissakes, not to mentioned sandworm effects that were just a guy's arm wearing a sandworm puppet sticking up through the bottom of a sandbox. Even for the 80's, that shit was lame.
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....would be nearly impossible, in that adapting the novel faithfully to the screen would (I think) be a pretty boring movie (Like Lynch's-"blasphemy!" I know...I know...). Dune the novel is really just a complex, strange, surreal, political drama that just happens to be set in a sci-fi universe. I don't see how anyone could make a movie that would satisfy the hardcore fan-base and still be successful in the mass market. (But maybe I'm wrong)
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Some books (comic books included) are just not meant to be adapted to the big screen!
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he'll always be the dude from Shocker in my mind. maybe he should direct the remake thats floating around, hell Mitch Pileggi still looks good so he could play Horace again.
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the "unfilmable" Watchmen, is reason enough for the suits to think Dune can be done right this time.
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mish-mash of Dune, like the chopped up version that Universal aired of Brazil?
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the single most poorly delivered line of dialog in movie history:
"All I see is an Atreides I want to Kill!!"
God that was bad. I defy anyone to come up with a worse line than that. -
Lynch considers the theatrical cut as close as he's going to a director's cut. The extended cut of the movie that was made for television, while containing a huge amount of deleted scenes and extra narration(plus a kinda weird illustrated introduction that tells the history of the universe that is), is really a mess to watch. It is very poorly edited, toned down on the Harkonnen weirdo factor, and really, really, really long (that isn't a detractor for me, but it is for some). All in all, I watch the theatrical cut to enjoy the story and vision of Lynch, and I watch the extended cut to see the copious amounts of cut scenes and the truly strange introduction. The US release of the extended cut has the theatrical cut included as well as some neat featurettes about the making of the film.
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Just don't think he's that special.
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... don't let a flashy trailer sell you something it didn't show. Same goes for Dune, if you'd make a faithful adaptation of Herbert's novel you'd get a movie that would be branded pretentious and boring. And besides, Berg is hardly a capable director for such material, the guy is like Bret Ratner, only difference is that the Rat knows hes a hack.
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...before we declare the filming of the "unfilmable" a success.
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Hollywood should have made a movie based on the TV show long ago.
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are thinking that anything nowadays can be fixed with enough CGI imagery to dazzle the eye.
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Lynch's Dune kicked all kinds of ass. Wankery or not, some of the best set designs, costumes, music, and cast all in one flick. MY BROTHER IS COMING FOR YOU, BARON!!!
Any word on casting? -
Quite the diverse list there. Let me add a director whose earlier work I really admired, Quest For Fire's Jean Jacques Annuad.
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and let Jodorowsky finally shoot his version of Dune.
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If you know who she is then you know what I'm saying. Bring me her sex!
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Jul 24, 2008 3:08:49 AM CDT
So basically it will be a steaming pile of shit.
by allpowerfulwizardofoz
Awesome. I wonder who's going to destroy the remake of Clash of The Titans? Another movie that does not need to be remade. Just clean up the original and give it to me on bluray.
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He needs to be designed like this http://www.goodbrush.com/cpg1418/albums/finished_sketches/baron002.jpg I've never seen a more acurate painting of him.
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He forgot about sticking to the story. All that crap about weirding modules? The Sci Fi version is good but not great, and they were far truer to the source material. James Mcavoy was a great Duke Leto II, but the rest of the cast left a lot to be desired. Berg had better get this right. I really love Dune, and it's yet to be adapted properly.
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"Honest to blog?"Pay up, suckah.
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