Lords of Dogtown Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Doc Talk: Why Remake a Documentary as a Dramatic Film?
Filed under: Documentary », Drama », Independent », Steven Spielberg », Remakes and Sequels », Columns », Cinematical Indie », War »
What constitutes a remake of a documentary? Would you consider Milk to be based on The Times of Harvey Milk? Rob Epstein, who directed the latter, was thanked in the credits of the former and his film was surely an inspiration. His footage was even lifted or recreated for parts of Gus Van Sant's dramatized version. But Milk was ultimately deemed an original work, at least as far as the Academy Awards are concerned.
If you were to argue the case that the biopic is based on the documentary, where then would you draw the line? Is Monster based on Nick Broomfield's first Aileen Wuornos film (he too is thanked)? Is part of Munich based on One Day in September? And speaking of films by Kevin Macdonald, is The Last King of Scotland at all a remake of Barbet Schroeder's General Idi Amin Dada? It does feature footage from the doc, after all.
There's no denying Cate Blanchett's segment of I'm Not There is lifted from D.A. Pennebaker's Don't Look Back, but it's easier to say the latter was merely used as reference. Frederick Wiseman meanwhile insinuates Stanley Kubrick stole much of the first half of Full Metal Jacket from his own boot camp film Basic Training, which was indeed used by Kubrick as uncredited research material. The later fiction film is considered solely based on an autobiographical novel by Gustav Hasford.
Hardwicke Throws a Wrench In It
Filed under: Action », Drama », Deals », Newsstand »
Catherine Hardwicke, former production designer and now director of a diverse set of films such as Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown and the recent The Nativity Story, is set to add a pro-environmental project to her already diverse roster of credits. According to Production Weekly, Hardwicke has signed on to direct the feature film adaptation of Edward Abbey's classic anti-establishment novel The Monkey Wrench Gang.The novel, to be adapted by William Goldman and Christian Forte, concerns George Hayduke, an ex-Green Beret who becomes angry with the way huge corporations are treating the canyons and rivers of his beloved Southwestern desert. So, with the help of a rag-tag, like-minded band of compatriots, including feminist Bonnie Abzug, outcast Mormon Seldom Seen Smith and billboard burner Doc Sarvis, he starts using the tactic of "monkey-wrenching" -- non-violent sabotage that harms machines, not people -- to try and save his precious land from being developed and destroyed.
To be honest, I can't think of too many really good dramatic pro-environmental movies so I think we definitely need one. At the moment, all that comes to mind is the so-so Medicine Man featuring Sean Connery and that really bad Steven Seagal film Fire Down Below -- two films that definitely don't represent the cause very well. Fortunately, with only a few films Catherine Hardwicke has demonstrated her talent and diversity. Plus, William Goldman is, of course, an extremely talented Oscar-winning writer. So, this combo, combined with terrific source material from Edward Abbey, should make for a potent mix.
Hardwicke takes on a different kind of Lord
Filed under: Drama », Deals », New Line », Newsstand »
As Erik reported a few weeks ago, New Line
recently bought the rights to a spec script titled Nativity, which explores the life of Mary prior to Jesus'
birth. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the screenplay "follows Mary and Joseph's life...as their
love, faith and beliefs are tested." Over the course of their travels form Nazareth to Bethlehem, the couple
interact with a slew of biblical figures, including John the Baptist and King Herod.Having bought the script, New Line immediately turned to finding a director for the project, and they've settled on a rather surprising choice: Catherine Hardwicke. Hardwicke, whose two films to this point have been the raw, controversial Thirteen (which she also wrote), and Lords of Dogtown, a movie about the skateboarding and surfing culture in 1970s Venice, California, is not exactly someone who leaps to mind when you think of the best person to make a movie about the mother of Jesus Christ. According to New Line, though, they want Hardwicke to direct the film because they think she has the ability to give it a "strong female perspective." Good for them - this movie is actually starting to sound really interesting. It's a traditional story, obviously, but it's going to be helmed by a very untraditional director, and the studio seems to be quite willing to defy expectations about how Biblical stories are supposed to be told.
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