DavidSeltzer Tagged Articles at Cinematical
J. J. Abrams Will Produce an Earthquake
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Deals », Universal »
The creator of Lost plans to shake things up again on the big screen. J. J. Abrams will produce a disaster movie featuring an earthquake for Universal Pictures, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It will not, however, be a remake of the 1974 Charlton Heston-starring Earthquake (pictured), which was directed by Mark Robson and released by Universal.
That movie led with an hour of soap opera before unleashing its monster quake upon Los Angeles. Coming three years after a real-life quake rocked the city and featuring Sensurround at selected theaters (imagine a sub-woofer under your seat turned up really really loud -- I thought it was a tremendous boon for cinema at the time), Earthquake is one movie that could be remade without much complaint. Trust me -- I've seen it five times.
Instead, Abrams is working with David Seltzer (The Omen and Lucas but also the abysmal Six Weeks, Table for Five and Punchline) to craft a completely unrelated yet still rockin' disaster. As is Abrams' wont, no plot details are being revealed, though THR says "relationships will be at the core of the project." We don't even know which city will be destroyed! But I'm guessing we'll wonder who will live and who will die, Cloverfield-style.
Abrams is, of course, finishing up his Starlost Star Trek remake, which is due out in May 2009. (And did you see those character posters?) Right now he only plans to produce the new earthquake movie.
Another Shot of Seltzer
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », 20th Century Fox », Remakes and Sequels »
If you've paid any attention to the advertising for The Omen, which opens on 6/6/06, you might have noticed that sole screenwriting credit is given to David Seltzer, writer of the 1976 version. And now Mr. Seltzer can add the new-fangled Omen to his filmography -- which only seems right, since the remake is a VERY (some say slavishly) faithful adaptation of the original.But what of screenwriter Dan McDermott, who was given the job of adapting the original screenplay for a modern setting and a younger cast? Well, it seems that the Writers Guild decided that, since the re-do was so damn similar to the original film, Mr. McDermott should not receive a writing credit, thereby giving full credit to David Seltzer ... despite the fact that he didn't pen syllable one for the remake.
Now, I don't know a whole lot about how the WGA figures out who gets what credit -- although I do find it an absolutely fascinating topic of conversation (mainly because it's all kept so mysterious!) -- but wouldn't it seem right for McDermott and Seltzer to share co-writing credit, while the original author gets the extra (and well-deserved) "based on an original screenplay by..." credit?
(Postscript: Just got back from seeing the remake, and ... forget everything I said. Not only does Mr. McDermott NOT deserve a screenwriting credit -- he should be thrilled his name's not attached to this thing.)
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