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Emmerich talks in Munich about PATRIOT!!
Alright folks, Harry here... Getting ready to go off to do a panel on the 10 best fantasy films ever (I think I'm gonna argue for a whole bunch of fantasy films.) Sounds like things are progressing well on THE PATRIOT, though the 'softening' bit of Rodat's script scares me a bit. I'm going to try to get my hands on the latest draft... What I loved about Rodat's original draft was the intensity and hardness of the battlescenes... and the punishing deaths that people faced. I hope that scenes of a river flowing red with blood and the lifeless bodies ripped open by 58 caliber mini-ball.... the bullets were so large that you could see the shells fired.. and legend, according to some American Revolution types is that you could sometimes dodge them... though this sounds a bit Keanu-esque to me. Anyway here's the report....
I hope you enjoy your stay in Minnesota. Over here in Germany, it has been a pretty busy week as well, as the Munich Film
Festival is approaching its finale. Among the highlights I saw here were David Mamets WINSLOW BOY (a marvellous
adaptation of the Terence Rattigan play featuring brilliant dialog) and Pedro Almodóvars ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, one
of the most wonderful movies I have ever seen - and I attend about 300 press screenings every year.
I also had the opportunity to interview several directors, like Risa Bramom Garcia (200 CIGARETTES), Don Roos (THE
OPPOSITE OF SEX), John Boorman (THE GENERAL) and Werner Herzog (MY BEST FIEND). In addition, I visited
the set of the new Leslie Nielsen movie 2001 - A SPACE TRAVESTY (tentative title), directed by Allan A. Goldstein. The
$40,000,000 German/American joint venture between Helkon Pictures and CinEvent is currently shooting in Munich and will
move to Montreal after 7/9/99, where it is scheduled to wrap on 9/3/99. On the set, I had the opportunity to freely move for
about six hours and to interview Nielsen, who is also serving as executive producer and co-wrote the script with Alan
Shearman.
I might elaborate on Nielsens new project later in a separate message, as the most interesting aspect of the week was an
extensive interview I conducted with German-born director and producer Roland Emmerich on late Thursday afternoon in his
Munich hotel. Emmerich was in Germany for about a week to serve as president of the jury of the International Film School
Festival here. While American moviegoers know Emmerich as the director of effects-driven genre blockbusters like
GODZILLA and ID 4, his new project, the Mel Gibson starrer PATRIOT, hits a quite different note.
My interview was published yesterday (7/2/99) on FOCUS Online, Germany's most frequented general interest website,
where I happen to edit the movie pages. You can read the entire interview right now by clicking here. However, since I
suspect that there are still a few AICN readers out there who don't understand German, I'd like to present the major facts
Emmerich submitted during the interview below:
* Despite SAVING PRIVATE RYAN writer Robert Rodat scripting the film, PATRIOT will not be an anti-war movie. It
will rather be a father-son story happening during the American Revolutionary War. Thus, while the Rodats screenplay
initially included a lot of gore and graphic violence, Emmerich has since softened those scenes. It will still be a "very tragic
movie", though.
* We already knew that Mel Gibson will play "Swamp Fox" Benjamin Martin and that Australian teen-actor Heath Ledger
(10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) will star as his adult son Gabriel (the role requires Ledger, who is 20 now, to play
Gabriel aged between 18 and 24). Now, Emmerich disclosed that Tom Wilkinson (SHAKESPEARE In LOVE) will play
General Wallace and that Jason Isaacs (ARMAGEDDON) will star as a Green Dragoons' brigadier general. In addition,
French actor Tchéky Karyo (LA FEMME NIKITA) will play a French major who is helping to train the militia.
* Emmerich and Devlin are working hard to keep the budget under $100,000,000 (including Gibson's fee). This is supposed
to be accomplished by heavily relying on digital technology. There are scenes where 50 extras will be digitally transformed
into an army of 12,000. Emmerich described PATRIOT as a "very complex project", as everything has to be built (in reality
or digitally) for the movie. Shooting will take place in South Carolina near Charlotte an well as in Charleston and its vicinity.
Only a few swamp scenes will be shot in a L.A. studio - if all goes well, principal photography begins on 9/8/99 and is
supposed to wrap a week before christmas on 12/15/99.
* The movie should hit American theatres in the late summer of 2000. Emmerich doesn't want to release it too early into the
summer because of its tragic nature.
* I remember a story on AICN stating that Elijah Wood was considered to play Gibson's son Gabriel. I asked Emmerich
about it and he confirmed talking to Elijah, who he thinks is a great actor. However, Elijah, who turned 18 on 1/28/99, still
looks younger than he actually is, making it difficult for him to convincingly play a 24-year-old. That's why Emmerich
ultimately turned to Heath Ledger, who he thinks is not only a very good actor but also looks like a young Mel Gibson.
We also talked about the status of the sequels to GODZILLA and ID 4: Both projects are being developed and are currently
in the scripting phase. If the GODZILLA 2 script turns out well, Emmerich will probably not only produce but also direct. In
addition to that, Emmerich and Devlin think they have a cute idea for an ID 4 sequel, starring Will Smith and the other
principal actors who survived the first movie.
I also asked Emmerich why the so-called ID 4 "director's cut" (released on laserdisc exactly 1 year ago) was worse than the
film we saw in the theatres. Emmerich replied that this "expanded version" was in no way a "director's cut" but rather a means
for the studio (Fox) to generate extra money. The real ID 4 director's cut is the movie we saw in the theatres in 1996 - this is
Emmerichs approved version and the studio didn't change a single frame after Emmerich finally submitted it. Emmerich said
that it was actually him who made the theatrical cut even shorter and more compact than the studio originally wanted it to be.
Emmerich also acknowledged that he enjoys the privilege of Final Cut since GODZILLA.
Talking about George Lucas, Emmerich said that he shared Lucas' views of the digital future of the cinema and that he was
glad that Lucas is using his enormous power to push studios and theatres into the right direction. Emmerich said that the
reported tensions between him and Lucas were pure fiction and that he had never really met him except for shaking his hand
a couple of times. Refering to the "Plot Does Matter" scandal, Emmerich stated that Lucas had not been involved in the affair
and that Lucas, after learning what had happened, called Dean Devlin and apologized. However, Emmerich thinks of
Centropolis Effects as a very serious competitor to ILM. Currently, Emmerichs company is producing about half of the
effects for END OF DAYS and the digital cats for STUART LITTLE.
Concerning Hollywood and the Internet, Emmerich said that the Internet won't change the Hollywood system and that pirate
copies of films would rather threaten smaller movies than big ones. Emmerich stated that the losses George Lucas would
suffer due to internet copies of TPM are "probably around 0.001 percent" and that Lucas, being "the control freak he
probably is", considered Internet pirating a pebble in his shoe he wanted to get rid of. Emmerich depicted the Internet as a
great tool for indy filmmakers to directly reach an audience of millions and also painted a bright future of kids being able to
produce their own movies in their parent's garages using digital cameras and a graphic computer.
Well Harry, that's it for today, as I have to hurry now and rush to the closing ceremony of the Munich Film Festival. Please
excuse my incompetent English, but this is as good as it gets for somebody from a tiny village at the edge of the alps who has
never lived outside of Bavaria.
Take care!
Rico
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I thought it might of made a debut at the Munich Film Festival. If you have not seen any of Korine's work besides Kids, please give it a look. His film Gummo, which he wrote and directed, was so original and brilliant. Also, he has wrote a book called Crack up At the Race Riots and let me just say that you have read nothing like it.
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Charlotte is in North Carolina. They will be filming in Georgetown, SC, which is about an hour south of Charleston.
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Thankyou, finally the truth has revealed itself :)
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I think Emmerich's probably right about the effects of the Internet on the film industry. I, too, am concerned about the softening of the violence -- but he might be concerned about a potential NC-17 rating in the current political climate. In general, though, I'm totally excited about this project -- sounds to me like "Braveheart" meets "ID4". Regardless of the relative merits of "ID4", both films appealed to the same fundamental American values -- and with tremendous success. I think this film will combine the best elements of each (and maybe Gibson will offer Emmerich a few directing tips).
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Wasn't there a point when both Emmerich, and Devlin thought the consideration of a sequel to ID4 was an insult? That they would "never make a sequel to ID4. It's not the type of film you make a sequel to." And this was the supposed reason they now loathe 20th Century Fox - Because they pressured them to make another. Now, their dignity is so lost, that they have actually come up with an idea for it? Was I the only one to notice that it was a remake of "War of the worlds" that they refused to acknowledge? If they said ID4 was never intended to have a second movie, then why can't they stick to it? Seems like Hollywood has done something smart for a change - Make a remake, but don't say it's a remake, otherwise, people will hate it for not being the original.
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Sony Imageworks is/was (I don't know if it's even still around) a great FX studio that's basically been screwed over so that Centropolis can have all the glory. Centropolis has produced one film, really--Godzilla--and rumour has it that the FX they did was very poor before Imageworks saved their ass at the last moment (and of course the FX in Godzilla were nothing to write home about anyway). A seriosu competitor to ILM? Sorry Roland, I really think Lucas was just being polite...
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i want to see what a revolutionary war battle was REALLY like... i've already seen the cleaned up PG version a million times before...
but...since i have never seen a good movie that emmerich was involved in, i doubt ill get what i want.. -
a 'cute" idea for a sequel? how about trying for a good idea, and maybe an original one.
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Uh, I believe Emmerich is wrong on saying piracy of big movies is less than piracy of small movies. Okay, can any of you people tell me if Clerks is available on the internet or Barbarella or even Fly Away Home? Okay, what about the Rodney Dangerfield movie, "Ladybugs"? Alright, what about City of Lost Children? Emmerich, have you even looked on the internet? More big movies such as The Matrix and Phantom Menace are present on FTP sites more than practically any lower budget movies on the WWW! I mean, there's full length feature porn movies, Transformers: The Movie (yes, there is). But smaller movies?
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Well, maybe I didn't think hard enough in the last post I made about smaller movies being threatened more than bigger movies. However, what's the odds of someone making bootleg copies of independent films versus mainstream films?
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NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! ABSOLUELY NOT! Godzilla friggin sucks! It's the worst of the series, because of that damn plot and the overdone special effects + hype. I mean, are Emmerich and Devlin in the business to be artistic? It sure doesn't look like it. I mean, their version of Godzilla looks like a friggin old ass geyser or something. Also, name one cool thing that Godzilla did? HE DIDN'T TEAR DOWN OR STOMP ON BUILDINGS! HE DIDN'T PICK WOMEN OR CARS UP IN HIS HANDS! HE DIDN'T BREATHE FLAME! HE RAN, BUT DESTROYED BUILDINGS BY ACCIDENT! WHAT A RETARD! IT'S LIKE PUTTING T-REX IN GODZILLA'S FRIGGIN FLESH + SKIN, RUNNING LOOSE! I KNOW THAT EMMERICH AND DEVLIN WANTED TO PUT MORE CHARACTER AND A DIFFERENT TAKE ON GODZILLA, WELL GUYS, LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING... THAT DOESN'T APPEAL TO THE AUDIENCE! WE WANT TO SEE A BAD ASS MOFO TEAR AND DESTROY!!!! NONE OF THIS JURASSIC PARK STYLE! IF YOU WANT TO MAKE GODZILLA 2, DO IT THE CAMPY WAY, THE WAY GODZILLA MOVIES HAVE BEEN DONE BEFORE!
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does anyone know the url of where i can find the script
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Emmerich didn't use the word "cute" in his interview, as there's actually no completely fitting translation for this word in German. He said: "We have an idea", and the way he said it suggested to me that he liked it and thought of it as something special/original/good/fresh (whatever), so I simply chose "cute" in my quickly compiled mail to Harry to characterize Emmrichs positive feelings when he talked about it. If you really have nothing better to do than to pick on single words Emmerich might have used during his interview, you have to read the complete original transcript on http://focus.de/D/DF/DFU/DFU05/DFU0514/dfu0514.htm - it's 3 pages long and contains a lot of additional facts and statements.
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Emerick directs a plot driven film! Woa! Perhaps we can now get to see what he is REALLY capapablr of, as he is an excellent director. Fingers crossed!
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i have better things to do right now, cutie, maybe ill read it later. if i read it will it make me more likely to belive he actually DOES have an original idea?
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or is this Rico guy kind of arrogant??? obviously well-connected and well-educated, but enormously pretentious none-the-less. laters
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Francis Marion was! The Patriot script I've seen is about Marion but it's a mutilation of the real history so it's probably best that they've since changed the characters' names. Marion did not have a son named Gabriel; that was his nephew. Marion was an "Indian fighter" and a slave holder who married his cousin after the war; I'm sure that's not who Mel will be playing! (He also probably doesn't want to play a guy named Francis Marion; not macho enough for an alleged homophobe like him?) This movie could either be relatively cool or it could be "Revolution 2." With Emmerich directing, I think you must increase the cheese factor considerably. I just wish people would get the Marion/Martin story straight.
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Last time around the slam was that PATRIOT would be too violent. This time, the bitch is that the movie will be watered down and not gritty enough. Just goes to show ya - you can't please everybody and in trying to do so the essence of many a great movie has been lost. Here's hoping this all leads to the studios not listening to the talking heads, exit polls, audience surveys, and above ALL ELSE, the marketing people. Time for the film-makers to create their vision the way they see it and let the chips fall where they may.
BTW, in my own opinion, since the Civil War was in fact probably the most brutal and bloody war our nation fought, an accurate depiction of said would not be out of line. Of course, sticking to historical accuracy will still get the movie slammed - no matter how well done and no matter how necessary for the mood and tone of the movie the violence may be - As for the director and writer, and the actors for that matter - wouldn't it be refreshing to actually *see* the released movie before reviewing it and slamming it?
I had to laugh when people were giving "reviews" of Mel's PAYBACK based on trailers - now we are hearing judgments of drafts and rumors. Curioser and curioser --- -
Now this beats all - 'alleged homophobe'. OMG, first of all, you don't know a thing about what Mel does or does not think on the subject and secondly, WHAT has this subject have to do with the movie??? The 'official' press on the movie is that it is "loosely based on historical fact". Pay attention, people. It's a MOVIE.
BTW, I am a transexual lesbian, so don't even go there, girlfriend.
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Harry, I'm assuming that in order to take advantage of the festivities at Convergence you needed to be a registered guest at the Radisson. I putzed around the festival for a little while, and then I was told to get the hell out by some power crazy automaton because I wasn't wearing some little pass thingy. What's the Deal Harold, why was I shunned from the festival!?
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... you're writing is a lot better than his.
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which no one besides me is ---
I am becoming increasingly aware that a lot of these posts are 'plants' designed to sink the project of an artist. Back in the PAYBACK days I engaged in a lengthy conversation with a person connected in a "minor- trying-to-make-himself-a-major" way. Despite the fact that I declared myself early on to be a fan of Mel Gibson -(as in the body of his work and not his body) ( see above referance to sexual preferance.)- this person continued to slam Mel to me and whine about the positive remarks posted to AICN and Coming Attractions about PAYBACK. He TOLD me he and others were composing some negative and hurtful 'reviews' of their own and hoped they would make it to the respected Web sites "in time". My response was to alert the Web sites in question and, happily, most of these 'reviews' were not published.
Honest opinions and reviews are one thing - behind the scenes efforts to sink another artists ship plain ole suck. This seems to be what is happening again with PATRIOT.
I doubt seriously and thoroughly that if the script to PATRIOT is a stinko that Mel would be on board. yes, I know, I know, LW4 - but everyone in Hollywood knows that at times artists sign on to projects to fulfill studio committments or to fund loftier projects.
Grow up, people. -
is an openly gay man and has been out for some time. He is currently starring in AN IDEAL HUSBAND - produced by Mel Gibson's Icon Productions. Mel as homophobe just doesn't wash, Whitey, and all the rest of the folks that want to "kill the messenger". This post just confirms my previously stated suspicions about planted rumors and slams. I don't envy anyone their place in the spotlight when they have to put up with this crap.
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HAL9000, you got "kicked out" because, yes, you didn't have the "little pass thingy". CONvergence is a private party which you are welcome to join if you pay the registration fee, just like everyone who didn't get kicked out. I'm sorry if the person who noticed that you weren't registered didn't send you to the Registration Desk. Harry was a WONDERFUL guest, staying up until about 4am both nights just talking film with anyone who came into the AICN room, even missing the Closing Ceremonies because the folks he was talking to just wouldn't let him go. I was also lucky enough to be on an "Episode I" panel with Harry, and it lasted almost a half hour longer than it was scheduled (stopping only because Forrest Ackerman was up next). Thanks, Harry - you're welcome back ANYTIME! -Jeremy Stomberg, Board of Directors, CONVERGENCE 1999
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I admit I saw that crap called Godzilla; in fact, I saw a bootleg version of it, and it didn't cost me a cent, and I'm glad, because it was crap. Man, I couldn't get the stench off the VCR for weeks!
And now Godzilla 2? No way! Let the Japanese do it. They've been doing it for decades, better than the Centropolis idiots have.
And after the amazing realism of "Saving Private Ryan", they want to tone down the violence of "The Patriot"? Stupid! I assume they were politically correct back in the eighteenth century too. Maybe
they can get Will Smith to do a cool cameo, and a title song too!
BTW, anyone read "Cinefex" where George Lucas blasts Centropolis Godzilla, saying that they had rain in order to hide all the crap effects?
ILM has nothing to fear from any other effects house. -
Okay, so TPM wasn't that great, after 16 years of waiting, but it is definitely selling them toys, ain't it? I'm guilty myself.
Anyone got a Godzilla toy? At every Toys 'R Us I've been too, and that's in several countries all over the globe, the Godzilla toys are all relegated to the clearance bin, and no one's buying them. Man, those Godzilla lollipops must taste really nice now! -
the coolness award. I read the script for THE PATRIOT before it was written !
Let's at least see a *trailer* before we condemn the flick, shall we? -
up the dosage because you're not quite lucid yet. Gibson's been quoted in several magazines for making offensive remarks and has been taken to task by GLAAD for making them. But who cares and why do you? Are you his fucking attorney? Since you can't respect other people's talk balk comments, why the hell should the rest of respect yours? And BTW, judging from your less than stellar commentary, you should be a fine judge of cheese. Get a life.
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I think it's a shame about Elijah not playing mel's son in PATRIOT, especially since we've seen them work well together. I understand about the age thing, but I'm sure someone mentioned that Mel's character has at least a few sons in this movie! Why couldn't he be one of the other sons?? Elijah's one of the best young actors around, and this sounds like a top film. It's a shame not to have him in it, even if it is just a small role!
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I like the idea of the sequel to one of the worst sci-fi flicks of the last twenty years being called ID42, there's a certain irony in it that Douglas Adams could appreciate!
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If I had known that there was a discipline withing the legal profession known as Fucking Attorney I would certainly have chosen another profession, Whitey. Thanks for the heads up, though - the possibilities for higher education suddenly became very interesting.
For those of you who do not have a nurse standing by to wipe the drool from your face, my original point is that this is a place to discuss movies and their relative merit - not take pot shots at artists (especially based on tired old trash that has been dealt with years ago).
The poster directly above pretty much proves another point. Why would anyone *want* to see another person fail? Just move on if you don't care for the guy. -
For any of you rabid blood-n-guts fans out there, don't worry yer bloody little heads none about not seeing enough of the red stuff flow. This flick is gonna be rife with limbs being torn left and right by cannons, Militia, Dragoons, etc. I think Emmerich is playing his cards right - it's not JUST about war, like "Saving Private Ryan." Actually, it's much more along the lines of "Braveheart" in its mix of war and drama, but it seems most people's first reaction is to focus in on the violent factor, just because Robert Rodat was the writer. It's more about the early days of our nation's history, and the sacrifices made by everyone caught up in that struggle for freedom. And given the incredible lack of knowledge regarding this young nation's history, I think anything that helps people start delving more into the formation of our country is worth a look. It's interesting to note that several themes that the script delves into mirror actual events, especially ones that happened to the original signers of the Decleration of Independence.
Given that we have just celebrated the 4th, read on to discover what those signers gave up for yhe price of freedom:
Five signers were captured by the British and brutally tortured as traitors. Nine fought in the War for Independence and died from wounds or from hardships they suffered. Two lost their sons in the Continental Army. Another two had sons captured. At least a dozen of the fifty-six had their homes pillaged and burned.
What kind of men were they? Twenty-five were lawyers or jurists. Eleven were merchants. Nine were farmers or large plantation owners. One was a teacher, one a musician, and one a printer. These were men of means and education, yet they signed the Declaration of Independence, knowing full well that the penalty could be death if they were captured.
In the face of the advancing British Army, the Continental Congress fled from Philadelphia to Baltimore on December 12, 1776. It was an especially anxious time for John Hancock, the President [Continental Congress], as his wife had just given birth to a baby girl. Due to the complications stemming from the trip to Baltimore, the child lived only a few months.
William Ellery
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