steven knight Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio Remaking 'The Third Man'?
Filed under: Classics », Drama », Independent », Thrillers », Noir », Mystery & Suspense », RumorMonger », Scripts », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
An intriguing remake rumor has popped up on CHUD. Devin Faraci is reporting that longtime friends Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio might star in a remake of Carol Reed's classic thriller The Third Man. Canal Plus is said to be shopping around the project, which includes a screenplay penned by Steven Knight. The details are scarce (and it may not happen at all), so it's not known whether this would be a straight up-remake or a rewrite, or who Maguire or DiCaprio would be playing. But the idea is enough to undoubtedly cause reactions of anger and panic around film fans, but think about this calmly. It's not as though Maguire, DiCaprio, or Knight are untalented slouches, and it's the kind of story that could be given a modern rewrite and stand on its own feet. I would actually love to see this rewritten, and set in Iraq or Afghanistan. I'd love to see it set it in years immediately preceding the Soviet Union, putting Harry Lime and Holly Martins in the dangerous, free-for-all Yeltsin economy. (Faraci suggests making it sci-fi, which would be very brave and very awesome.)
The Third Man is one of those stories like Dashiell Hammet's Red Harvest that is flexible enough to work in another adaptation and lose nothing of its original power. I'm very curious to see if this comes together, and in what form. DiCaprio would be the perfect actor to play the smirking Lime. I just hope they don't mimic my favorite scene. Some things are better left to Welles.
Gore Verbinski Jumps Into the World of Second Life
Filed under: Drama », Deals », Scripts »
When he's not busy with killer tadpoles wreaking havoc on the population, it looks like Gore Verbinski is going to chill out with some RPG action. Variety reports that Universal and Verbinski are teaming up to bring a 2007 Wall Street article about online role-playing to the big screen. Unlike Ben X, however, there won't be a fantasy world come to life.Alexandra Alter's article, "Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?", follows a married man who spends most of his free time on the virtual world of Second Life, creating an alternate life for himself -- one that includes a virtual spouse who is not his wife. His IRL wife feels that he is cheating, while he does not.
Verbinski plans to use this story as the basis for a film that follows how online RPGs can negatively affect people's real lives, and is prepping this as a directing vehicle. This might prove troublesome since his non-blockbuster work doesn't go over nearly as well as his pirates and rings. However, in a move that bodes particularly well for the film -- Steven Knight will pen the script, and he wields the pen behind Eastern Promises, Amazing Grace, and Dirty Pretty Things. Now I wonder: Will Gore nab Johnny Depp once again to play the lead? The real guy might be a burly biker, but Hollywood always likes to pretty things up.
Shekhar Kapur Signs to Direct 'Larklight'
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Deals », Warner Brothers », Family Films »
Since I'm not the biggest fan of 'swords and shields' styled fantasy (i.e. The Chronicles of Narnia), you'll understand why I'm kind of relieved to discover that the new crop of young fantasy flicks are going to be just a little more 'steam punk.' The Hollywood Reporter announced that Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) has signed to direct the feature film version of the youth fantasy novel Larklight for Warner Bros. Kapur will be working with Eastern Promises scribe, Steven Knight to adapt the novel for the big screen.Larklight is the first book in a series by Phillip Reeve with illustrations provided by David Wyatt. The story is set in an alternate Victorian-styled universe where since the time of Sir Isaac Newton, humanity has been relentlessly exploring the solar system. The protagonists are Arthur Mumby (called Art), his sister Myrtle and their father Edward. The three live in a rambling mansion called Larklight and in the first book of the series, the three get into a series of scrapes with giant spiders from outer space.
Grey Knows his A-B-Cs
Filed under: Drama », Deals », Universal », Scripts »
Between writing for sitcoms, co-creating Who Wants to be a Millionaire and penning the screenplays for Dirty Pretty Things and David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, British writer Steven Knight also found time to write some novels. He even adapted one of them, Alphabet City, for the screen, though nothing originally came of his early draft. Now, though, Universal has hired gangland specialist James Gray (just off We Own the Night) to rewrite and direct the movie, which is already slated to go into production next spring.Alphabet City is long out of print, so it's hard to find a reliable summary of its plot. What everyone does agree on is that it's set (shockingly) in the part of New York's Lower East Side known as Alphabet City (it's so far east that the avenues go below First, so they're given letter names, instead), and centers on a journalist who investigates gangs and drugs use there. According to Variety, the journalist goes undercover to get a look at what's really happening in the area. What's weird, though, is that a web search for the book's title brings up descriptions that suggest the journalist is either making things up, or finds the events he's writing about in his (fictional?) book coming true. So, it's either going to be a gritty story about New York City, or a movie about a writer who gets caught in a big lie and has to face the consequences.
I don't suppose any of you guys have read the book and can shed some light on the plot?
Cronenberg heads East
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Thrillers », Deals », Newsstand », Cinematical Indie »
Though it's unclear which will come first, a
film called Eastern Promises has joined the previously-discussed Map to the
Stars on David
Cronenberg's list of upcoming projects. Promises is a thriller by Steven Knight, who also wrote 2002's Dirty Pretty Things. According to
Variety, Knight's new script treads similar ground, once again visiting the "seamy underside of
life" in London, this time through the story of "a young midwife [who is] drawn into investigating the
identity of a mysterious Russian girl who dies in childbirth on Christmas Eve." When the girl turns out to be a
prostitute who was brought to the country by a sex-trafficking gang, things get a little hairy for the midwife.The film, budgeted at between $15 and $20 million, is being produced by the group behind the Oscar-nominated Pride & Prejudice. Cronenberg hopes to begin filming this fall, but since he may have to be in the US for Map to the Stars, the new project's schedule is still very much up in the air.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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