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Ridley Scott Bringing David Peace's RED RIDING To America?
Beaks here...
Everybody's crazy 'bout condensing critically-acclaimed British TV miniseries!
After writing up the new trailer for Martin Campbell's EDGE OF DARKNESS update, I clicked over to Variety to find that Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steve Zaillian are in talks with Columbia to streamline Channel 4's five-hour adaptation of David Peace's four RED RIDING novels (NINETEEN SEVENTY-FOUR, NINETEEN SEVENTY-SEVEN, NINETEEN EIGHTY and NINETEEN EIGHTY-THREE). The narrative is a mostly fictionalized account of the Yorkshire Ripper murders that also delves into the murky morass of police corruption. I haven't watched the series nor read the books, but I've heard they're well worth checking out. I just hope Columbia's plans to Americanize the story doesn't put the kibosh on IFC Films' plans to release the trilogy theatrically this year.
The Channel 4 series was written by Tony Grisoni (best known for collaborating with Terry Gilliam on FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and TIDELAND) and starred the immensely talented likes of Sean Bean, Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Rebecca Hall and Mark Addy. Julian Jarrold directed the first installment, James "MAN ON WIRE" Marsh helmed the second, while Anand Tucker called the shots on the third.
After writing up the new trailer for Martin Campbell's EDGE OF DARKNESS update, I clicked over to Variety to find that Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steve Zaillian are in talks with Columbia to streamline Channel 4's five-hour adaptation of David Peace's four RED RIDING novels (NINETEEN SEVENTY-FOUR, NINETEEN SEVENTY-SEVEN, NINETEEN EIGHTY and NINETEEN EIGHTY-THREE). The narrative is a mostly fictionalized account of the Yorkshire Ripper murders that also delves into the murky morass of police corruption. I haven't watched the series nor read the books, but I've heard they're well worth checking out. I just hope Columbia's plans to Americanize the story doesn't put the kibosh on IFC Films' plans to release the trilogy theatrically this year.
The Channel 4 series was written by Tony Grisoni (best known for collaborating with Terry Gilliam on FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS and TIDELAND) and starred the immensely talented likes of Sean Bean, Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine, Rebecca Hall and Mark Addy. Julian Jarrold directed the first installment, James "MAN ON WIRE" Marsh helmed the second, while Anand Tucker called the shots on the third.
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idk...
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After watching the "Edge of Darkness" trailer, my first thoughts were of "Red Riding". Then I refreshed & here it is being remade.
Personally, I don't see how they could possibly improve upon it (other than a bigger budget & making it look a bit more fancy.) I really, really hope people in the U.S & elsewhere get a chance to see the original first, because it's a fucking bonafide work of art. Everything about it is brilliant. -
it's already in English, or am i missing something?
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perfect the way it is.
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...and then Peace's barefaced ripping off of James Ellroy's LA Quartet will be evident for all to see.
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The TV series is ridiculously overrated - Part 1 is decent enough, but parts 2 and 3 are wretched. The films are also pointlessly 'dark' and overdirected. You long for the restrained touch of someone like Alan Clarke rather than someone with a box of red filters. The third part tries unsuccessfully to tie up all the threads and just becomes an unholy mess, with a rotten ending.
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You Yanks really need to stop taking great British work and messing it up. Just be happy with Flashforward ... lol
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Its a bloody good series, but like Life on Mars it might not travel across the pond well. Great attention to detail on the look and atmosphere in the North of UK in 70's and 80's. But I did think the ending was a bit of a wet blanket. Still, Sean Bean rocked as much as I hoped he did when I met him :)
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I don't see a condened movie being better - even with Scott on board. Must admit i haven't read the books, but the mini-series captures such a uniquely dark and pessimistic landscape and society that i can only see a movie having to be lighter and more palitable. Nor could the cast be any better.I'm looking forward to Campbell's Edge of Darkness - if only because of the continuity of Campbell having made the original mini-series. But again, i'd be very suprised if the movie's as good as the show. Mel Gibson's a talented actor, but Bob Peck turned in the performance of a lifetime with this. And again, the movie will never be allowed to be as dark and tragic as the show - the movie's loss. Shame about DeNiro dropping out too!
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The office worked. Same with Pop Idol. Just because of the failures to copy Fawlty Towers, Doctor Who, Cracker, Dear John, one foot in the grave, George and Mildred, Red Dwarf, Coupling, James Band (though Remo Williams ROCKS), Not the Nine o'clock News, Men Behaving Badly, On the buses, Wild at Heart, Upstaris/Downstairs, and Spitting Image doesn't mean they won't get it right this time.
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but yeah awesome telly on the whole.
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...And i definately hope you're joking that Pop Idol = great telly.... Or that the U.S. Office is by any means on a level with the U.K. Office!BTW, Remo did rock - i'm looking forward to hating the remake.
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Greatest crime series ever. No fuckin debate.
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I was a staunch UK Office fan, and watched the first couple of US Office eps and thought it was awful! Just confirmed what I expected of typical US TV crapping over UK shows.BUTAfter pestering from a friend I watched season 2 and, wow, it was brilliant! Once everyone found their own characters and the plot moved away away from the UK versions it worked. I am now completley won over and am eagerly awaiting Season 6. The cast, the writing is all fantastic, and Steve Carell is a genius. I now say that the US version is FAR SUPERIOR to the UK edition. I never imagined I would ever say that 2 years ago. So please don't dismiss it, give it a try.
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...I'll give season 2 a go. Thanks for the tip.
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Ridley, instead of adapting it for big $$$, why not just go to Channel 4 with an idea for a new project? It's not like you need to pay the bills any more. You might find low/no budget filmmaking quite a thrill!
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must see tv and exceptional, couldn't take your eyes off it...10/10. I also like the wire but it is a very different beast, 5 series vs 3 episodes...
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I don't think it would transfer well, or be of any interest to Americans. It's rather particular to a small part of Britain. Half of the references aren't understood outside Leeds and the 5 towns, nevermind the rest of Yorkshire or England.
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It gets worse...
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The brits took 4 books and fucked it up with 3 episodes. Yeah that made sense! Ridley scott couldnt screw it up any worse.
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They did this samw treatment to State of Play, the Russel Crowe movie that came out earlier this year. It was an absolutely fantastic 6-hour miniseries on BBC. It didn't work perfeectly, because lets face it, taking something from 6 to 2 hours, some things are gonna be lost. But the movie was still really, really good, IMO. Not as good as the series, but still very worth watching. Too bad only about 13 people nationwide actually saw it. Hope this one turns out just as good.
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....bloody well make it this one!
Sean Bean is unbelievably good in this, I was actually shocked at how good he is, please seek out this TV Trilogy (from a quartet of books).
Each part has a life of its own, consistently dark, I'm suprsised HBO havent picked this up to air! -
Oct 15, 2009 9:34:34 AM CDT
Do you guys really get paid to copy and paste news from Variety.
by osiris3657
all week and then watch movies for free on the weekend? Some people have it easy
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It's good TV, but the relentless overdirection (rain, fliters, smoky rooms, 70s tropes a go go) and pantomime villainy with matching dialogue (especially of the police - yes, Carter and Clarke, I'm looking at you) has it teetering on Northern cliché. Great point about the echoes of Ellroy, but Peace has a right to carve out some stylistic and literary territory of his own around a "truthful" centre, just as James did. And the books are very compelling. The mini-series has GREAT moments in #1 and #2 and Bean and Considine and Addy do wonderful work, but everyone's labouring within a poorly structured trio of screenplays and the producers' or individual directors' conception of a Grim Yorkie theme-park, complete with cobbles, whippets and shabby housing estates. Oh, and rain. As a complete piece of drama, it doesn't add up, but it is unimaginable without Yorkshire, that's the stage, the whole world - so I don't see what Ridley can add or (more likely) subtract to make it work Stateside.
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I mean, really.
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to star as the Yorkshire murderer. http://sickpicks.blogspot.com/
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Really really bad. It was hyped as a masterpiece before it was even shown and it is total cack. Honestly, you would be better off watching 3 episodes of the fucking bill than that shit. Such a shame to see Sean Bean wasted on yet another crappy project.
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Paddy Considine made the second episode tolerable.
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Oct 15, 2009 4:57:25 PM CDT
NO ALIEN?? .....................NooOooOoOoo!!!!
by _koala______not_a_bear_
No Alien?? This is tradgic news, but behold the magic of the internets & the factual falsifications of brethren stories made up by the masses of hopeful alien fans to spread hope & then failed disappointment to the rest of the world. Pffft, as if fox would actually do something smart & hire Ridley Scott for another Alien. HA-HA-HA (belly laugh) HA-HA
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Yes, this project makes PERFECT sense. So, when are the English going to remake 'Summer of Sam'? No wonder the world hates us.
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Clever tripartite structure, great directorial style and a strong cast, but i gotta say the story was ultimately a little hollow.
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Boxcutter is right - the whole thing is relentlessly overdirected and hyperstylised. I live in Yorkshire and the version of 1970's Leeds is utter bollocks. Death squads? Fuck off. The plot is overcomplicated and (paradoxically) actually doesn't add up to very much at all - it's a wet fart of an ending.
Having said that, it is entertainly stylish, and some of the performances are tremendous. Bean is great, as are David Morrissey, Warren Clarke and Paddy Considine. Sean Harris is piss-freezingly scary.
This is less the fault of the series makers than David Peace, but I have a problem with the books and the storyline. I've read interviews with Peace where he talks about how he regards it as a big responsibility to represent the "truth" of brutal crimes such as the Ripper murders, but the books are pure fantasy. None of it rings true and some of it is just ludicrous. I'd have more respect for him if he just said, "yeah, I just wanted to write a super-violent, noirish murder thriller series to entertain people, and I've used the Ripper murders because they're great source material". -
If that was his goal, he could've churned out some MOR James Patterson crap. Peace is probably the best crime writer working today.
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That's the only question anyone should be concerned with regarding Ridley Scott.
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Haven't seen it in years, so what better way to take in its 30th anniversary than the very theater where it premiered. Still fucking genius and it made my wife jump off the seat several times. Wish Ridley would return to sci-fi...
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but US audiences ro studios who think whats good for US audiences will want a lighter show with more of a happier endings to the trilogy. So I dont see how its going to work all amerincanised.
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Oct 16, 2009 4:17:30 AM CDT
The Quartet is haunting and brilliant, the films are very differ
by cameron1
Although visually they tell the "story" far better than the screenplay (http://tinyurl.com/yzmmysc) which is hampered by Channel 4 not giving them enough budget to make the second book and the fact they barely anything that happens in the novels is spelt out for the reader. When reading the fourth book you realise you're going to have to go back through the first three to piece things together. I can see the Ellroy influence (in the first two books especially) but the Quartet becomes something altogether different in their occult and prophetic atmosphere. Peace wants to present the emotional truth of the crimes as well as the specific brutalities not a straight account of the events and he's careful to show this is a fictional history, for example - the Ripper in this is not named Peter Sutcliffe but one the pseudonyms he used with the police. I'd say they capture a specific and horrific culture of greed, misogyny and corruption that started to grow in the 70's in the UK and was solidified with the defeat of the Miner's Strike which Peace has covered with his 5th novel "GB84".
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Can't remember the last time I heard of any young girls in the west riding being found with fucking swans wings stitched onto their back. That was a ludicrously twisted "serial killer signature" that crops up all the time in series and movies like this but never actually occurs in reality. And how fucking stupid was that, anyway? Young girls' bodies are found with swans wings stitched onto them. Hmmm, there's a big house up the road designed in the shape of a SWAN with SWAN pictures and sculptures all over it. Wonder if he's got anything to do with it?
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and the first book is the weakest precisely for shit like that, but the rest of the series makes up for the schlocky aspects of the first one.
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