The WAR OF THE WORLDS movie, for those of you interested - 2003-07-28 11:39 PM
At some point in the last few years, you guys have probably heard about plans to do a new film version of The War of the Worlds. But what you haven’t heard about is some of the political wrangling around the project. So you’ll indulge me, I’d like to take this moment to fill you in on the shenanigans surrounding this film.
In 1995, Starlog columnist-turned-screenwriter Peter Briggs wrote a WotW screenplay for Paramount (which has owned the film/TV rights for decades, and made the 1953 George Pal movie version) on spec, which took place in the book’s original Victorian England setting and implemented an alternate ending Wells had written in which the narrator hero went after the tripods with dynamite in the hopes of taking a few of them with him. (Briggs felt this ending was more cinematic than the one Wells eventually used.) Anyway, Paramount picked up the script and got Kenneth Branagh and Brian Blessed attached to make the film…but the project got derailed when Jeff Wayne, who cooked up a WotW disco musical album back in 1978 (which is still in print), kept buying up the non-cinematic European rights to the book and loudly demanded that any film version of the story be an adaptation of his musical. (That’s right, folks, WotW, after 105 years, still isn’t public domain). Since Paramount couldn’t move forward on the film without Wayne’s consent, Branagh and Blessed quit the project in disgust. Briggs, for his part, was (a) angry over Wayne’s selfishness and (b) incredulous over the idea of a WotW musical. (He claims to have asked his agent, "Tap-dancing Martians?!?!?!") Hallmark Entertainment then expressed interest in turning Briggs’ script into a TV miniseries, but a combination of Paramount’s ownership of the film/TV rights and Wayne’s refusal to budge scuttled that. Enter Tom Cruise, who liked the Briggs script and wanted to make it one of his next films. Again, he was made aware of Wayne’s blockade, and he was incensed. However, last summer, Cruise somehow managed to get Wayne off Paramount’s back, and WotW is now being planned as a film under the Cruise-Wagner production company. Furthermore, after Minority Report, Steven Spielberg threw his hat in the ring as a possible director (which was reported by Variety). However, the Wayne incident seems to have scuttled Briggs’ script, and there has been no forward movement on the project despite Cruise and Spielberg’s reported involvement.
Oddly enough, in early 2001, a low-budget, direct-to-video outfit called Pendragon Pictures (www.pendragonpictures.com) announced they would make their own WotW movie. Pendragon’s writer-director Timothy Hines, a Troma veteran, publicized his version of WotW thru AICN, claiming he had $40 million to make the film, that it would be released in 2003, and that it would be set in a modern-day Seattle that "would be reduced to a Victorian society in terms of technology." He even offered AICN’s Harry Knowles a "gruesome death" cameo. However, several things scuttled this plan:
1. Universal Studios offered to distribute the film, but backed out when Hines revealed he planned to shoot the film at NC-17 levels for "gore and bizarre nudity," with the idea of editing it down to a R. (To be honest, this makes no sense, as the book itself consists of little more than laser disintegrations, nerve gassings, and charred skeletal remains. The scene where the aliens feed off human blood intravenously hardly screams "bloodbath." The only potentially gruesome moment is when a tripod is destroyed by artillery fire and its Martian pilot blows up with it, and even that could be handled on film without gore or excessive bloodshed. At worst, the book is a PG-13 on the order of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.)
2. The events of 9/11 pushed the film back at least a year, as Pendragon decided to back off on their "modern-day Seattle" idea and go back to the 1898 England setting of the book.
3. Hines has become the target of several lawsuits, most of them due to his cheating his crew members out of their pay. (One such crew member, a model FX supervisor who worked on Alien and offered to work on WotW, wound up spending a year away from his family working for Hines and not getting paid at all. He took his case to AICN and posted updates on his pending lawsuit in the Talkback sections.) Even worse, he apparently made the rounds claiming he’d signed Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, and Charlize Theron to be in the film…which is going to be a non-union shoot. Needless to say, he was lying, and the SAG’s been on the lookout for him. The lawsuits against Hines and Pendragon may end up calling into question whether he ever had any film rights to the book, or if he even had the $40 million to make the film.
At any rate, Hines hasn’t given up, and late last year he claimed to AICN that Paramount acknowledged Pendragon had "certain rights" to make a WotW movie, and said that if Cruise’s intention is to make a period version of the story, "then we may have common ground on which to talk." (I swear to God, I am not making this up.)
At any rate, the Pendragon version isn't advancing any more than the Paramount version, despite Pendragon's claims to having hired Randy Rogel as their composer. Either way, this project looks to be in development hell for a long time to come.
Thoughts?
In 1995, Starlog columnist-turned-screenwriter Peter Briggs wrote a WotW screenplay for Paramount (which has owned the film/TV rights for decades, and made the 1953 George Pal movie version) on spec, which took place in the book’s original Victorian England setting and implemented an alternate ending Wells had written in which the narrator hero went after the tripods with dynamite in the hopes of taking a few of them with him. (Briggs felt this ending was more cinematic than the one Wells eventually used.) Anyway, Paramount picked up the script and got Kenneth Branagh and Brian Blessed attached to make the film…but the project got derailed when Jeff Wayne, who cooked up a WotW disco musical album back in 1978 (which is still in print), kept buying up the non-cinematic European rights to the book and loudly demanded that any film version of the story be an adaptation of his musical. (That’s right, folks, WotW, after 105 years, still isn’t public domain). Since Paramount couldn’t move forward on the film without Wayne’s consent, Branagh and Blessed quit the project in disgust. Briggs, for his part, was (a) angry over Wayne’s selfishness and (b) incredulous over the idea of a WotW musical. (He claims to have asked his agent, "Tap-dancing Martians?!?!?!") Hallmark Entertainment then expressed interest in turning Briggs’ script into a TV miniseries, but a combination of Paramount’s ownership of the film/TV rights and Wayne’s refusal to budge scuttled that. Enter Tom Cruise, who liked the Briggs script and wanted to make it one of his next films. Again, he was made aware of Wayne’s blockade, and he was incensed. However, last summer, Cruise somehow managed to get Wayne off Paramount’s back, and WotW is now being planned as a film under the Cruise-Wagner production company. Furthermore, after Minority Report, Steven Spielberg threw his hat in the ring as a possible director (which was reported by Variety). However, the Wayne incident seems to have scuttled Briggs’ script, and there has been no forward movement on the project despite Cruise and Spielberg’s reported involvement.
Oddly enough, in early 2001, a low-budget, direct-to-video outfit called Pendragon Pictures (www.pendragonpictures.com) announced they would make their own WotW movie. Pendragon’s writer-director Timothy Hines, a Troma veteran, publicized his version of WotW thru AICN, claiming he had $40 million to make the film, that it would be released in 2003, and that it would be set in a modern-day Seattle that "would be reduced to a Victorian society in terms of technology." He even offered AICN’s Harry Knowles a "gruesome death" cameo. However, several things scuttled this plan:
1. Universal Studios offered to distribute the film, but backed out when Hines revealed he planned to shoot the film at NC-17 levels for "gore and bizarre nudity," with the idea of editing it down to a R. (To be honest, this makes no sense, as the book itself consists of little more than laser disintegrations, nerve gassings, and charred skeletal remains. The scene where the aliens feed off human blood intravenously hardly screams "bloodbath." The only potentially gruesome moment is when a tripod is destroyed by artillery fire and its Martian pilot blows up with it, and even that could be handled on film without gore or excessive bloodshed. At worst, the book is a PG-13 on the order of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.)
2. The events of 9/11 pushed the film back at least a year, as Pendragon decided to back off on their "modern-day Seattle" idea and go back to the 1898 England setting of the book.
3. Hines has become the target of several lawsuits, most of them due to his cheating his crew members out of their pay. (One such crew member, a model FX supervisor who worked on Alien and offered to work on WotW, wound up spending a year away from his family working for Hines and not getting paid at all. He took his case to AICN and posted updates on his pending lawsuit in the Talkback sections.) Even worse, he apparently made the rounds claiming he’d signed Matthew McConaughey, Michael Caine, and Charlize Theron to be in the film…which is going to be a non-union shoot. Needless to say, he was lying, and the SAG’s been on the lookout for him. The lawsuits against Hines and Pendragon may end up calling into question whether he ever had any film rights to the book, or if he even had the $40 million to make the film.
At any rate, Hines hasn’t given up, and late last year he claimed to AICN that Paramount acknowledged Pendragon had "certain rights" to make a WotW movie, and said that if Cruise’s intention is to make a period version of the story, "then we may have common ground on which to talk." (I swear to God, I am not making this up.)
At any rate, the Pendragon version isn't advancing any more than the Paramount version, despite Pendragon's claims to having hired Randy Rogel as their composer. Either way, this project looks to be in development hell for a long time to come.
Thoughts?