Peter Berg Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last March, the trades confirmed that Peter Berg was the latest director brave enough (or foolish enough) to tackle a new adaptation of Frank Herbert's legendary Dune. News has been scarce since, though just last month Berg was assuring MTV that he was still involved, and that he was trying to crunch Josh Zetumer's 200-page script into something manageable "without offending the purists." Other than some intriguing Robert Pattinson casting rumors, there hasn't been much for fans to really discuss or rant about. But an intriguing story has popped up on Pajiba. Their inside source claims that Berg has dropped out of the Dune remake, and that Paramount is scrambling for a new director.

The search is fraught with difficulty for Paramount, according to Pajiba's source. "The search, however, has run into two issues: 1) they're looking for a director who can put the movie together for under $175 million, which sounds manageable, but they don't want anything resembling the crap effects of the '84 film, and 2) they want a director who already has a preexisting passion for the novel and is enthusiastic about the project." But the search has allegedly landed on two splashy newcomers: Neil Marshall and and Neill Blomkamp. Marshall is said to be the frontrunner, championed by producer Kevin Misher. But the studio lukewarm on Marshall's resume and likes Blomkamp, who they feel has the "vision" for the film.

This is all rumor and speculation at this point, and nowhere is it stated why Berg dropped out of the remake. (A schedule conflict would be likely. Berg has one heck of a full plate.) There's also something a little too dreamy about those mentions of Blomkamp and Marshall. I'm very, very curious to see how this little rumor is played out, and if it could lead to a Dune adaptation that's palatable and faithful to Herbert.

Last year, lovers of good cinema worldwide were baffled by what seemed to be a sign of the end times, as Hasbro and Universal teamed up to develop movies from popular board games and lured directors like Ridley Scott in to helm them. Now, Variety reports that Battleship moves closer to production with director Peter Berg at the helm, and is aiming for a release date of July 1, 2011.

Berg describes Battleship as "a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle" but wouldn't name what country is supplying the enemies of the piece. He's very enthusiastic about the project, noting that he's always wanted to pit ship against ship, navy against navy. "I've been consumed with doing one of these since I tried to convince Tom Rothman at Fox to make a film about John Paul Jones, the founder of the American Navy. As a kid, I was dragged from Navy museum to museum, and spent so much time on ships, listening to my father talk about the great battles of WWII, I did my high school thesis on the Battle of Midway. When this came up, it didn't take me long to find a take for a film that is filled with raucous action-packed naval battles."

A few weeks ago, Hancock 2 went from being some enthusiastic Will Smith talk to hiring some scriptwriters to make it a reality. It was unknown if anyone but Peter Berg and Will Smith would return for a sequel, but according to Variety, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman will also be back for more strange super-heroics.

The news comes courtesy of Peter Berg, who let the news slip today while at the Toronto Film Festival. "Everybody's going to come back for a sequel." However, Sony stressed that none of the talent has been officially signed.

Berg also revealed some of the secret plot details -- and here we venture into spoiler territory for Hancock, so look away if you want. Theron and Smith will reprise their roles as "immortal gods," who lose their powers when they hang around each other for too long. Nevertheless, they must pair up to destroy a third "entity," which I'm guessing is either some kind of alien or another god. The movie will also explore their 3,000 year old home world which was only hinted at in the first film. Bateman will play the humble PR executive, though I wouldn't be surprised if he's revealed to have some kind of superpower at the end! No release date for Hancock 2 has been set, and the film is still in the early writing stage, but I bet you'll see this kick off just in time to compete with the next slate of Marvel films.

The superheroic team of Peter Berg, Will Smith, and Columbia have been bantering about a Hancock sequel since last July, so it's no surprise that it's gone and become official. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia has hired Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara to bring back the boozy immortal. Berg is expected to return as director,
though THR is mute as to whether Charlize Theron or Jason Bateman will be reprising their roles. (Given the way the last film ended, it could really go either way, couldn't it?)

While the plot is being kept under wraps, Smith already gave a few hints last winter. Smith says that the Hancock universe was "full of unexplored characters" and that we would meet them in a sequel. He certainly was a character with a long history, and a whole "last son of Krypton" thing going (I'm trying not to spoil anything), so I could see a sequel venturing into some kind of Phantom Zone territory. Or maybe they'll go downright Biblical with his immortal lineage. Who knows! It's too early to know!

When I last reported on a return to Hancock, a lot of you were intrigued by the idea of a prequel exploring his illustrious and godlike past than a sequel starring a reformed and purposeful hero. I guess all hope of a true origin story is shot, but maybe they will cater to your comments, and fill it full of flashback sequences! After all, Smith has The Last Pharaoh on his slate, so they'll have plenty of ancient sets and costumes available!

Of all the stupid ideas in all the world, why do they have to raid my precious memories of childhood board games? Who is holding their breath waiting to see Ridley Scott's Monopoly, or Michael Bay's Ouija Board? How about the latest marketing move, an adaptation of Battleship? Writers have been signed, and Peter Berg is in talks to direct a film version of the game, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The idea, apparently, is "to make an epic naval action adventure." Of course, with tens of millions of dollars at stake in development, production, and marketing costs, no one wants to just make an original naval action adventure. They want a movie with a built-in tag line -- "You sunk my battleship!" -- and consumer familiarity so that everyone will know what the movie is about. The last epic naval adventure was Peter Weir's Master and Commander, but I guess it's cheaper to license board games than novels.

Peter Berg has proven with Hancock and The Kingdom that he can handle action scenes, but he's also got (possibly) Hercules: The Thracian Wars and Dune on his plate of potential projects, so who knows when he could fit this one in. First they have to get a workable script. Here's my idea: robots! Yeah, robots can pilot the ships, and humans can control the ships from thousands of miles away, and the plot involves the conquest of ocean territories to secure the bad guy's conquest of the free world. (Obviously, this is why I'm not a highly-paid screenwriter.) What are your ideas for making an epic out of a board game?

Yesterday I shared the news that Roland "Irwin Allen Part 2" Emmerich had been tapped to direct an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation. Near the end of the article I opined that either Ridley Scott or Peter Berg would have been my choice to direct this film. Now, obviously the man who directed A L I E N and Blade Runner would be a great choice for an Asimov adaptation, but Peter Berg? Did I actually THINK about that choice? Readers didn't seem to think so:

"Peter Berg? Are you smoking crack?" / "Berg has done NOTHING good, so I can't see the reasoning/logic behind that choice AT ALL." / "How do you go from Sir Scott to Peter Berg?" / "Peter Berg? F off."

So yeah. Obviously I have no problem with people disagreeing with me, but here's the thing: In my opinion, Peter Berg has yet to make a sub-par film. Yep, seriously. Very Bad Things? Love the audacity. The Rundown? A perfect weekend time-waster. Friday Night Lights? One of the most unexpectedly fine football flicks I've ever seen. The Kingdom? Plain old excellent. Hancock? Well, I simply loved it.

So yeah: I'll stick to that request. Sure, Berg has yet to do a sci-fi flick, but I bet he'd do a fine job of it. Feel free to abuse me further. I can take it.

Superhero movies are like Lay's potato chips (it is Lay's, isn't it?) -- you can never have just one. JoBlo caught up with Will Smith during his press rounds for Seven Pounds, and asked him if we would ever see any more of his reformed superhero, Hancock. The answer? "Definitely."

In fact, Smith is uninterested in ever playing another superhero because there's enough franchise potential in this one. He told JoBlo that there's plenty of unexplored characters in Hancock's universe that would be ripe for a sequel -- and that we'll find out who they are in an eventual sequel. It's not expected for a few years, which is puzzling. It did well at the box office, but it wasn't particularly memorable. In two or three years, will anyone actually remember Hancock enough to flock to a sequel? Won't their brains be overloaded with all those Marvel and DC movies? Shouldn't Peter Berg and Smith while the iron is relatively hot?

Then again, we are talking Smith. He's the King of Summer. The iron is always hot. Audiences will probably flock to see him whether or not they remember the original film or not. Let's turn it over to you guys -- are you up for a Hancock sequel? Do you see the unexplored characters and potential that could keep Hancock competing with Marvel and DC for years to come? Or was he just a summer one-shot?

Back in 2006, Erik posted about the tragic death of Nick Papac -- a 25-year-old assistant propmaster who was then working on The Kingdom. While he was driving a motorized cart on a closed stretch of highway in Arizona which was used for shooting, it accidentally collided with an SUV that happened to be carrying director Peter Berg. Papac was thrown from the cart, and pronounced dead later at the local hospital.

Now the AP/Yahoo reports that Papac's parents are suing Berg, a driver, and the production company asking for an unspecified amount that includes funeral costs, lost earnings, and medical expenses. (Papac's father, Michael, is a longtime propmaster who has worked on films like Die Hard and Iron Man.)

It seems like a fairly reasonable request, and I have to say that I'm surprised it has gotten to this stage. Perhaps things will become clear as the lawsuit continues. Papac's lawyer stated that the lawsuit is still in the early stages, so specifics could not be given.

When you've made a very modern tale of a troubled man struggling to live with his super powers, what's left but to tackle a mythical yet tormented Greek hero? Peter Berg, who directed Will Smith to box office success in Hancock, will reboot one ot the original superheroes, Hercules, according to Variety.

Hercules: The Thracian Wars, a five-issue comic book series by Steve Moore issued in May by Radical Publishing, will provide the source material. Ryan Condal, recently tapped to adapt Warren Ellis' comic mini-series/graphic novel Ocean, will write the script; Berg will direct and co-produce.

The plot synopsis for the series describes Hercules as a "tormented soul ... neither god nor man." When the King of Thrace hires him "to train his men to become the greatest army of all time," Herc and his buddies are prompted to consider whey they have such a ruthless, bloodthirsty reputation. Berg intends to stay true to the "conflicts and redemption" in Moore's character-driven comic book series.

When another project about Hercules was announced last year, Christopher Campbell questioned if there had ever been a decent Hercules movie. (He ran down most of them.) So, three questions: (1) Is the comic book any good? (2) Is Berg the right director to reboot Herc? (3) Who could play the muscular Greek hero without making people laugh at him?

Okay, so we went through something similar with Frank Darabont's unused draft of the latest Indiana Jones installment, which managed to be a bit better (read: Mutt-less) compared to the still entertaining end result. Now, it appears that the original draft for Hancock -- long titled Tonight, He Comes -- has popped up by way of Jeff Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere (read it here). Oh, and if it's authentic, it happens to be missing the next-to-last page.

I've found the behind-the-scenes hearsay -- conveniently summed up in this NY Times piece -- on this film to be fairly fascinating. First, as scripted by Vy Vincent Ngo, Tonight had made the rounds as a reportedly hard-R superhero drama that capitalized on the somewhat sexual nature of the title. However, it seems once Will Smith was brought on board, Sony saw fit to tame things down considerably.

Even as recently as April, the MPAA had twice handed them an R instead of the sought-after PG-13, and now the finished result runs a choppy 92 minutes -- distinctly shorter than indicated in AICN test screening reports which made particular mention of a subplot involving statutory rape. Of course, as Wells brings up, it's hard to ignore the involvement of producer/screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, whose recent work on Smith's last hit, I Am Legend, had a similarly slapdash second half at the compromise of the original material.

I've yet to get more than a couple of pages into this thing, but do you guys think this is the real deal, and if so, do you guys think that this is the real film compared to what's on thousands of screens this week?