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Yesterday afternoon EW.com's Christine Spines ran a quote from Steven Speilberg's spokesperson Marvin Levy that the long-gestating Lincoln movie, despite being recently put into turnaround by Paramount, is "alive and well and continues in active development."
That would presumably mean in development at Disney, the new home of DreamWorks. And the "later this year" means that Disney has committed to fund and distribute the film...right? Levy wasn't specific. "Everyone is proceeding with great enthusiasm," he declared. "The script is still being revised by Tony Kushner and our plans are now to shoot the picture later this year."
Well and good, but shooting later this year presumably means it'll be released in '10, so the "possibly finished and released by Christmas '09" scenario stated by Kushner on 2.9 at Harvard is obviously out the window.
Secondly, Levy is a traditional spokesman dedicated (naturally) to putting a robust and positive spin on everything his boss is up to in a generically general p.r. way. He's never going to divulge what's really going on. Not in a particular way, I mean.
If you were to take him literally about Kushner "still" revising the script, for instance, you might wonder if further changes have been requested by Disney production execs because they want the reported $50 million budget trimmed even further? It's not worth getting into because all Levy really cares about is conveying positivism.
All good scriptwriters are always revising their scripts and all good directors are always pushing for this to be done, but Kushner has been re-writing and honing the Lincoln script since forever. He said during his 2.9 Harvard discussion that the film will cover the last two months of Lincoln's life, or roughly February 15th to April 15th, 1865 -- the day of his death.
As I wrote earlier this month, "If any attention is to be paid to the Civil War during the last 60 days of Lincoln's term, possible inclusions would be (a) the Union victory at the Battle of Five Forks on April 1st, which forced Gen. Robert E. Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond, the Confederate capital, (b) a subsequent rebel loss at Sayler's Creek, and (c) Lee's surrender on April 9, 1865, in the village of Appomattox Court House.
When I spoke to Liam Neeson (who will most likely play Lincoln) in the summer of '05, he said he understood that the film would span the full arc of Lincoln's time in the White House, beginning in March 1861."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 25, 2009 at 6:53 AM
comment #1
Breedlove
says ...
I'm torn about the film dealing only with the last 2 months of Lincoln's life, or even just his tenure in the White House. What happened to it being based on 'Team of Rivals'? That was a fascinating book, and there is so much rich material to be mined from the earlier parts of his life and his coming of age as a politician. I would love to see this film be a enough of a commercial sucess that they could go back and do a prequel or even a trilogy of films. If anyone in the history of this country deserves it, it's Lincoln. I think the commercial prospects for this movie are quite good. There is a huge Lincoln industry out there...seems like a new book comes out every week. People can't get enough of the guy.
Posted by Breedlove
at February 25, 2009 8:11 AM
comment #2
gradystiles
says ...
I don't get why you're so obsessed with this movie.
Posted by gradystiles
at February 25, 2009 8:33 AM
comment #3
Floyd Thursby
says ...
Regarding Liam, why is TAKEN such a huge hit?
Posted by Floyd Thursby
at February 25, 2009 8:44 AM
comment #4
markj
says ...
Floyd Thursby: Yeah, it's strange. It died here in the UK and is out on DVD already.
It may be because its a traditional action revenge thriller and there hasn't been one of those for a while. Perhaps audiences want a return to CG-free action movies? I know I do.
Posted by markj
at February 25, 2009 12:33 PM
comment #5
Alexander
says ...
There are probably two men in Hollywood who could shoot and release this film by Christmas. One is named Clint Eastwood, and the other is named Steven Spielberg. And Spielberg has made some rather ambitious films (War of the Worlds, Munich) on shockingly short schedules. Schindler's List and Catch Me If You Can were also shot very quickly.
Considering that many people have simply assumed this would be a huge, CGI-laden film with Civil War battle scenes, I would contend that this could just as easily be many scenes like the Israeli cabinet meeting in Munich, over and over. In other words, this could be a surprisingly insular, closed-off, possibly even claustrophobic picture--a "talk-fest." That sounds like a bunch of negatives, but it could be compelling cinema, as written by Kushner and directed by Spielberg. And if the film is largely characterized by these interior scenes of people arguing and scheming, well, I suspect Spielberg could shoot it in July, August and September and have the film out by Christmas.
Of course, this may just be wishful thinking, but there are reasons to believe this may still be made and released in 2009.
Posted by Alexander
at February 25, 2009 12:34 PM
comment #6
actionman
says ...
It's amazing to me that Taken has caught on the way it has. Completely average in almost every area. The fight scenes were solid but nowhere near as visceral as in District B-13, Morels previous movie. Taken also has some of the WORST dialogue in recent memory. And some of the laziest, most predictable plotting in an actioner in quite some time.
I think it's doing well because people just want to see a Bauer-lite revenge flick that clocks in under 90 mins and isn't demanding in the slightest.
Also, I believe that Taken did close to $100 million in international theatrical grosses already, as it was released throughout the world last year.
It's a tremendous success for Neeson, Besson, Morel, but as a movie, it's about as ** as it gets.
Posted by actionman
at February 25, 2009 1:36 PM
comment #7
George Prager
says ...
Something tells me that the movie that Spielberg's Lincoln would most resemble is Frank Capra's screenplay for THE BEST MAN.
Posted by George Prager
at February 25, 2009 2:10 PM
comment #8
D.Z.
says ...
actionman: People buy into Besson's stuff solely because of the French settings. It doesn't matter if they're solely knock-offs of 80s Hollywood action films, as long as they have a pretty background. I swear, though, the guy's the Simon West of Europe.
Posted by D.Z.
at February 25, 2009 5:17 PM
comment #9
Gaydos
says ...
For the record #1: Jeff, how many years was Tarantino dicking around with the Iglooious Buskers screenplay?
For the record #2: I must have groused somewhere in print at some point over those many many years that it was starting to sound like a Tarantino pipe (of some sort) dream. And voila! Rolling with the Pittman!
It's called the movie biz! Steven is the hardest working man in showbiz. Put away the stopwatch and relax!
Posted by Gaydos
at February 25, 2009 7:17 PM
comment #10
Bob Violence
says ...
People buy into Besson's stuff solely because of the French settings.
How can anyone not be carried away by the luscious Gallic backdrops of Unleashed?
Posted by Bob Violence
at February 25, 2009 8:35 PM
comment #11
D.Z.
says ...
Bob: Unleashed was one of the few Besson-related flicks I could stand; but I credit it more to Yuen Wo Ping than anyone else.
Posted by D.Z.
at February 26, 2009 6:22 PM
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