Movies and Films
This is the forum for Movie and Film discussions. Again, our topic is naval warfare in WWII for the most part.
Re: An 'Allies'Das Boot ?
Posted by:
cate
()
Date: October 24, 2002 04:54PM
<HTML>This sounds to me like it has possibilities. And for once it would be a movie that doesn't rest for its dramatic dynamic on a conflict between a blinkered CO and his second in command. With the exception of the arrogant token villain, which is a minor part, these officers work together and regard each other with a refreshing respect.
Wolfie, I don't know. I think MCE might be right, he wouldn't want to reprise WWII naval warfare again, and after A Perfect Storm he's also had a go at surface vessels pitted against the might of nature and the elements, which would have to figure prominently in HMS Ulysses. The idea of producing it might appeal to him though. Alternative directors? I'm still having a ponder.
Io is right about production companies, but independent ones do exist, and increasingly dierectors with 'industry clout' are turning towards setting up their own production companies to bring the kind of films they want to make to the screen.
I think the biggest difficulty here would be that in order to follow the book this would have to be a predominantly British project, which doesn't spell great box office in the US which is where big budget films must either stand or fall to recoup the investment.
But assuming that could be overcome ( other than by turning it into another U571 and ditching the British involvement altogether) there is great potential with the script and casting.
Script - I'd start at the end with the young scots doctor (has to be Ewan McGregor) giving his account of the voyage at the admiralty. The film would then wind up back there as he goes off to Henley to visit his friends girlfriend.
It is pretty unremittingly gloomy. You might have trouble making the sub plot about the character (sorry, I can't remember his name, long time since I read it) who's brother is killed, loses his mother & sister in an air raid, and then is forced to launch the torpedo attack on the tanker skippered by his own father all in the space of a few days, work for example. It might be laying it on a bit thick for modern audiences. But as you say, it doesn't have to follow the book that faithfully.
It would have some cracking parts for the actors though. A suitably tubercular Capt. Valery, (Jonathan Price?) white maned 'old Socrates' (Derek Jacobi? maybe not butch enough....), the admiral who loses the will to live when his strategy turns out to be so flawed, the young officer who shoots himself, the 'kapok kid', the villainous and incompetent no 1, (poor old Rupert Everett?), and the cold blooded Starr. And plenty more. Enough there to keep the likes of Charles Dance, Kenneth Branagh, Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Jermy Irons, Robert Carlyle, the Fiennes Bros Inc. Tim Roth, Daniel Day-Lewis and any other male actor from the British Isles who's ever done a hands turn in the international film industry busy.
Anyone think of how we could squeeze in some American involvement without detracting from the focus on the Ulysses too much?
The star of this movie would have to be the 'Lucky' ship herself and the arctic weather. The iced up decks, driving snow, spray that turns to razor sharp ice as it hits the face, the storm, the circling Kondors. And enough action and excitement for at least three films.
BTW, what aspects of the story would you change for the screen Barry?
Rgds
Cate</HTML>
Wolfie, I don't know. I think MCE might be right, he wouldn't want to reprise WWII naval warfare again, and after A Perfect Storm he's also had a go at surface vessels pitted against the might of nature and the elements, which would have to figure prominently in HMS Ulysses. The idea of producing it might appeal to him though. Alternative directors? I'm still having a ponder.
Io is right about production companies, but independent ones do exist, and increasingly dierectors with 'industry clout' are turning towards setting up their own production companies to bring the kind of films they want to make to the screen.
I think the biggest difficulty here would be that in order to follow the book this would have to be a predominantly British project, which doesn't spell great box office in the US which is where big budget films must either stand or fall to recoup the investment.
But assuming that could be overcome ( other than by turning it into another U571 and ditching the British involvement altogether) there is great potential with the script and casting.
Script - I'd start at the end with the young scots doctor (has to be Ewan McGregor) giving his account of the voyage at the admiralty. The film would then wind up back there as he goes off to Henley to visit his friends girlfriend.
It is pretty unremittingly gloomy. You might have trouble making the sub plot about the character (sorry, I can't remember his name, long time since I read it) who's brother is killed, loses his mother & sister in an air raid, and then is forced to launch the torpedo attack on the tanker skippered by his own father all in the space of a few days, work for example. It might be laying it on a bit thick for modern audiences. But as you say, it doesn't have to follow the book that faithfully.
It would have some cracking parts for the actors though. A suitably tubercular Capt. Valery, (Jonathan Price?) white maned 'old Socrates' (Derek Jacobi? maybe not butch enough....), the admiral who loses the will to live when his strategy turns out to be so flawed, the young officer who shoots himself, the 'kapok kid', the villainous and incompetent no 1, (poor old Rupert Everett?), and the cold blooded Starr. And plenty more. Enough there to keep the likes of Charles Dance, Kenneth Branagh, Pierce Brosnan, Liam Neeson, Jermy Irons, Robert Carlyle, the Fiennes Bros Inc. Tim Roth, Daniel Day-Lewis and any other male actor from the British Isles who's ever done a hands turn in the international film industry busy.
Anyone think of how we could squeeze in some American involvement without detracting from the focus on the Ulysses too much?
The star of this movie would have to be the 'Lucky' ship herself and the arctic weather. The iced up decks, driving snow, spray that turns to razor sharp ice as it hits the face, the storm, the circling Kondors. And enough action and excitement for at least three films.
BTW, what aspects of the story would you change for the screen Barry?
Rgds
Cate</HTML>
