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Here's a look at the Hughes Brothers' FROM HELL adaptation
Hey folks, Harry here, and man... I have to tell ya I'm pleased as a kid in a candy store after hours to have Don Murphy filling us in on his current slate of project. First, last week he clued us in on THE TRIPODS TRILOGIES, now he's giving us the inside story on where FROM HELL is. And it truly seems that Don here understands that comic books are indeed about more than just superheroes and funny animals (not that Hollywood has even discovered them yet), and is establishing a relationship with a comic writing god.. Alan Moore. Now if only somehow by the grace of the Almighty, Alan's comic WATCHMEN with the fantastic script by Sam Hamm were to be picked up again by Terry Gilliam. Sigh... A lost dream I know, but I can't help but to wish upon a star at least once a night. At least we have this work of Moore's being made. Well... here's Don..
FROM HELL- The true story of Jack the Ripper
Based on the 11 issue, heavily annotated comic book series by Alan Moore, the
project was bought by Touchstone for JD Productions (my old company) in 1994!
We had Terry Hayes (THE ROAD WARRIOR, DEAD CALM, FAHRENHEIT 451) work on two
drafts and the studio (basically, Disney, remember) wanted Spielberg to do it,
and there WAS interest there for a while but when it didn't happen they wanted
Mel Gibson and there WAS interest there for a while, Mel being close to Terry
and all (Australian bonding) and when that didn't happen we were told to go find
a director, and we searched, and couldn't find anyone cool and then the Hughes
Brothers, Alan and Albert, fell into our lap, and then Touchstone said GREAT,
take the project back!!!! I was so excited because I thought these talented
young guys doing a period movie was such a weird, cool idea I was psyched.
And after Touchstone, THREE places wanted to pick it up, and we settled on NEW
LINE which had made Menace 2 Society for the Brothers and Terry did an new draft
and it was great and there WAS interest from Sean Connery for a while and then
that went away, and then Premiere did a hatchet piece on New Line last year and
the only person who they attributed a (benign) quote to was Albert Hughes, but
that was enough for New Line to flip and we were homeless again, but wait, Fox
wants it, and Terry Hayes does another draft and it falls short and then Fox
starts to woo the Brothers for this MAN IN A PHONE BOOTH (just what it
says - for the whole movie!!!) but then we iron out details and we have a deal.
Sheesh, that made me tired.
Status- At Fox, Rafael Iglesias (LES MISERABLES) is rewriting, to be done in
four weeks, then we cast it and make it, unless the Phone Booth thing
gets in the way again.
STORY- Well, it's the JFK of Jack the Ripper movies with amazing historical
detail, a flawed detective that nobody expects to solve the crime, an unlikely
love story, and a conspiracy that goes all the way to Queen Victoria herself.
Chief Detective Fred Abberline has worked his way out of Whitechapel when he is
sent back in to work the Ripper case by his superiors, who are members of a
secret society and hope that, thanks to his drug habit, he'll never solve the
case. Four women have been marked for death because of secrets they know......
and Abberline finds himself madly in love with one of them. He consults the
Queen's psychics, young Aleister Crowley, fellow policemen, and the Queen's
physician Sir William Gull - who might know more about the mysterious goings on
that he admits!. You got carriage chases, dark alleys, scapels, screaming
women, secret societies, cheap sex, evil princes, widespread opium use, blood in
the gutter - all the things that make films great. And, as seems to be typical
in my films, no happiness at the end. Based on the comics series by Alan Moore
(WATCHMEN, V FOR VENDETTA), the greatest comic writer whoever lived and these
comics are his masterpiece, this film will get made if it kills me. The
publisher Kitchen Sink ran out of cash so some issues are hard to find, but a
collection is in the works.
There you go for today, Senor Knowles.
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So, "From Hell" will be the "JFK" of Jack the Ripper movies. I can't wait. "JFK" was one of the best works of fiction ever made, and with its talks of conspiracies, carriage chases, marked for death women, drugs, and the Queen herself, "From Hell," should be damned entertaining. BTW, wasn't this movie made already? It was called "Murder by Decree," and it featured much of what the writer of the article mentioned, as well as Sherlock Holmes on the trail of Bloody Jack...
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Well, I had wondered how on earth they were going to turn Alan Moore's 300+ page comic into a 2-hour movie. For those who haven't read _From Hell_, there is a LOT more to the story than what you just read. The full story has to do with Masonic conspiracies, the connection between sex, power, and madness, the transformation of the city of London from the Celtic Londinium to the majestic world capital of Queen Victoria's Brittania to today's smoggy metropolis, the secret power of architecture, the conception of Adolf Hitler, and the nature of reality, among other topics. But if they're playing it as "the JFK of Jack the Ripper stories" that's OK, too. That's not too far off... from a certain point of view. (Cue whiny Luke Skywalker impression.) It also has the dubious distinction of being the most heavily annotated comic book ever printed -- every issue was concluded with several pages' worth of footnotes, explaining exactly what Mr. Moore's source was for this detail and that, and which parts were authorial license, and why, and so on and so forth until you feel like he's enumerating all the hairs on his not-inconsiderable beard.
You know, now that it's finally finished I should probably re-read the whole damn thing. (There's nothing like realizing that you can't say what a book is about to make you want to re-read it.)
There will be a collection of the comic out this fall from Eddie Campbell Press. (Eddie Campbell is the artist of this particular oeuvre (sp?), as well as the marvellous self-published comic _Bacchus_; since Kitchen Sink collapsed, he's printing the collection himself.)
Oh, and by the way, I'm second, which is probably the closest I will ever get to the top of a list. Not that I really care, but it seems to be _de rigeur_ to comment on these things. -
This is the type of project that has all the ammunition to be a terrific movie. Forget John Singleton or Spike Lee, when it comes to dealing with the harsh realities that African Americans have faced in our society, nobody is more provocative than the Hughes brothers. Menace II Society and Dead Presidents are both very powerful works that both entertain with good story telling and provoke analysis with thoughtful social commentary. A project like this, though the stuff of pure paranoid fiction, could be the perfect breeding ground for the Hughes brothers groundbreaking school of film making.
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At least not if the MPAA has anything to say about it.
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Heard about this project years ago, and I only assumed it fell off the face of the Earth. It seems as if it's in quasi-capable hands. The Hughes Brothers aren't considered talented, really. But then again, Ridley Scott is busy; so you end up scraping the bottom of the barrel.
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As somebody who is utterly unfamiliar with anything but the basics of the Ripper murders, I'm slightly worried about a "JFK"-like movie. Why? Too much information crammed into a film leaves nothing but the impression that there was too much information crammed into a film. I found the shortcoming of "JFK" to be that it assumed the viewer already knew quite a bit about the events surrounding the assassination and trial. I haven't yet read "From Hell," as I have been waiting for the collection for some time, but comics afford the reader the opportunity to re-read at their leisure and absorb Moore's minute details as he so chooses. I'm not saying that the Hughes Brothers won't do this right- hopefully I'm totally wrong here- but I don't want to have to deal with a movie in which the viewer is expected to have taken a course on the subject first.
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Didn't the Hughes Bros make a film on pimps or are they going to do so. I heard news about this. Maybe the pimp film was a cable film. Anyone care to comment?
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Harry -- Hope you're not too hug over (you sounded very wasted yesterday). But even more, I hope you had fun. :)
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First off, it is readily apparant as to why Mr. Murphy is a "producer" and not a writer, seeing as his entire letter consisted of nothing but a ghastly collection of ridiculous run-on sentences. I wonder, since Mr. Murphy seems to not have any knowledge or skill involving the English language, how he could be expected to bring a project, any project, whether it be "From Hell" or that stupid Jap anime movie he has in development with his ex-partner Jane "I made my bed now I have to fucking sleep in it" Hamsher, to the screen with any bit of authority. In fact, I will go as far as to say that any filmmaker that would recklessly believe that this kind of doofus could actually follow through with anything even remotely resembling edgy material ought to have his or her head checked. You'd be better off hawking your wares outside the Starbucks across from CAA...
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"That stupid Jap anime movie"? That's really good. You've really raised my hopes for people today. How would you feel if I called every Western ever made "that stupid Yankee cowboy shit"? Watch your mouth, mister. People are listening. Words have meanings and consequences.
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You are talking about the "Mighty Atom" movie, right? otherwise known as "Astroboy" to the Western world... If that's what you meant by the "Jap" anime project then let me tell you this... your ignorance and prejudice far otweight Murphy's synthax problems. Sadly, but truly cinematic talent sometimes doesn't require writing skills, a handful of the top filmmakers in the last 30 years are not quite literate and yet manage to create interesting films. Murphy seems to be involved with interesting projects and his past films NBK, PERMANENT MIDNINGHT and APT PUPIL are both eclectic and edgy. For an "insider" (you sure pose as one) you truly seem to ignore the amount of hard work and balls it take to produce a movie in today's Hollywood.
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"readily apparant"?? for a perfect man you sure spell like shit.
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I thought Daniel Day-Lewis was involved with this project, at one point. Whatever happened to that prospect? This project seemed to be right up his alley.
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I reread WATCHMEN not long ago, having not read it for many years, and it struck me at how 80s the whole story was. Still brilliant, but very much a product of it's time. Even Moore himself is writing more "fun" comics now. All the Cold War and angst stuff in WATCHMEN I don't think would play over if the movie were made today. -
The Hughes brothers made a documentary, American Pimp, which got a good response at a film festival (Sundance?) earlier this year. No release date has been announced.
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This has major potential, providing they don't fuck it up, like just about every other comic book committed to celluloid. I hope they take note from David Lynch's The Elephant Man and film it in black and white. In fact, they could drag up John Hurt to reprise his role as the trunked one for the cameo appearance that takes place in the book.
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I don't think The Watchmen has dated at all. Yes it is set in the 80's and the whole story has a different look and feel to it now in hindsight, but as a picture of how people felt during the pre-soviet-breakup days it is still brilliant.
You only have to look at Crimson Tide to see that an 80's cold-war movie can still be valid (and enjoyable) today.
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I only caught the first couple of "From Hell" issues. Seemed pretty cool, if a bit arcane. Say, has anyone else considered how much an animated adaption of the Alan Moore "Swamp Thing" issues would rule? I'm talking a limited series on cable perhaps. If done well, it would easily make the shitty "Spawn" series look like the hackneyed piece of shit that it is. I suppose you'd need Warner Bros. in on that, though, since they've got the "DC Universe" rights. Ah, I can dream, though.
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Yeah, the Watchmen was a product of the Cold War climate in the eighties. So was the Dark Knight Returns. Both involve World War III (or a scheme to prevent it).
Harry says he dreams about the Watchmen film being made, but the best Alan Moore project never to be made, in my opinion, is the "80-page giant" conclusion to the 1963 series - where the "classic" sixties-style super-heroes battle it out with the nineties-style dark-vigilante, long-overcoat brigade. -
Um. Did anyone else who's read the original _From Hell_ notice the bit about "Abberline's drug habit" in the film synopsis? I don't recall any such thing in the original series, unless _I_ was on crack, or something. This has me worried, since it smacks of the standard "dumb-down to simplest cause" approach so prevalent in Hollywood movies. >> Also, if that synopsis is anything to go by, it sounds like the story focuses on Abberline. Which makes more dramatic sense, I guess, even if the original series is more about the psychology of Sir William Gull, and the birth of the 20th century. >> In any case, if this bit of buzz is anything to go by, I think I'll resign myself to the production of another damn Ripper movie, as opposed to a faithful adaptation of Moore's (quite possibly unadaptable anyway) work.
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Jack the Ripper has always fascinated me. I don't know why. Maybe because he was never caught, that the true identity of the Ripper is still unknown. This could make a creepy movie. For the definitive film on the Ripper, though (for now), check out the 1988 miniseries with Michael Caine. P.S. I could be wrong, but wasn't the Hughes' brothers last movie DEAD PRESIDENTS?
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I liked Sam Hamm's Batman (and understand Burton pretty much butchered a lot of the script, which I haven't read, but... on-screen, I liked it) and the three-part comics story he did for Detective was good... But I rather hated his Watchmen script, and don't see how anyone who loves the book, as Harry says he does, could think that screenplay is 'brilliant'. It's not. It does a so-so job of condensing the events... but shows no understanding of what makes the book such a special piece of storytelling. It should not be considered if (and I'm not worried, 'cuz it's NOT ever gonna happen) the film project ever gets off the ground. Though Gilliam STILL says he'd like to do it (as a mini-series, with more 'room'), and... Well, I wouldn't mind seeing him try... ///// Meanwhile, I know it's 'old news', but I never really heard the reason: Why did Don Murphy and Jane Hamsher end their partnership? Jane's book gives her readers a good sense that we feel like we know them, so... Was wondering why they split up.
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Casting John Hurt to reprise the Elephant Man in "From Hell" is the best damn casting idea I've heard all year. And I hope the MPAA isn't stupid enough to muck up the title. That's all we need is the MPAA giving us "The Hughes Brothers' Foggy Streets of London" My former doctor-turned-mystery-writer Jonathan Kellerman came up with a wonderful definition of mediocracies like the MPAA: it's a bunch of C students telling the A students what they should do.
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The Hughes Bros. quasi-talented?!You,Bagman,are out of your mind!!!With just two feature films("Menace...","Dead Presidents")these two have shown the film industry that they are forces to be reckoned with...if you haven't seen these movies already then you need to rent them,and if you have...RENT THEM AGAIN anyway, because you do not know what you're talking about.
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Please forgive my inadvertent spelling error. I realize that it must have distracted you all something fierce from the content of my post. Oh well, I guess that's to be expected from people who actually look upon Natural Born Killers and it's fractured attempt at storytelling as a work of art.
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Am I the only one who thinks a V for Vendetta movie would work a whole lot better than the Watchmen?
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V for Vendetta rates second as my all time favorite comic only behind the Watchmen,and I don't ever want to see it filmed. Never mind that the physics of the story are outdated, I would just hate to this turned into some summer action movie starring Bruce Willis or Ahhnold. It's a comic. I want it to stay there. Thus endeth the rant.
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is a really cool jack the ripper movie. not long ago, i was struggling through post-saturday night revels and ended up watching a crappy made-for-cable version of the story called (imaginatively enough) 'the ripper', with patrick bergin, gabrielle anwar and various untalented supporting actors. made for three bucks and change, cast made up of barely-talented types, looked like it was shot in the back streets of some australian city (oh wait, it was). why can't we have a good ripper movie like 'time after time' or 'murder by decree' (this one's really good)? dunno if the hughes brothers have it in 'em, but they're ambitious and i like that. still, after reading 'killer instinct' i wanted to slap don murphy around a few times - he came across like a posturing, pretentious git. and as i read back over this post, i realise i do too. lesson: come up with big thoughts while drunk, do not try to express them while drunk
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I still have a few doubts about this project - but I AM very excited - at least it sounds like they respect the source material.
A couple notes to the submissions above: 1) From hell is not a 300+ pages book. According to Eddie Campbell the collected edition will a 600+ pages book.
2)It seems like a sensible solution to some of the adaptation-problems if the movie focuses more on Abberline than Gull (Jack the Ripper) - the two central Gull-chapters (the one about his childhood and youth, and the one with the "Occult" ride around London) are probably more or less unfilmable. Oh yeah, and the third "Gull-Chapter", the butchering of Mary Kelly is 35 pages of religious visions, female breasts being cut off and entrails being ripped out. It's not unfilmable, but it will certainly be unreleasable as a film in most countries.
Still, the story have so many other great aspects - it COULD be made into a very interesting movie. Anyway, if the movie gets made and doesn't work, it will at least mean that more people will discover Moore and Campbells masterpiece. -
American Pipm will be released in the winter through MGM.
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CORRECTION:
AMERICAN PIMP!
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