‘Hurt Locker’ Writer May Script Wikileaks Movie

Whether you feel he’s been unfairly vindicated or villainized for his actions, there’s no doubt that the now Nobel Peace Prize-nominated founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has certainly made an impact on the current political atmosphere. That’s why it’s less than surprisingly to learn that Hollywood is circling his life like a shark drawn to blood, so to speak.

Among the increasing number of in-development cinematic projects related to Assange/Wikileaks is one that actually looks to become a reality – a film scripted by Mark Boal, the man who won two Academy-Awards for his work on Katherine Bigelow’s high-octane war flick, The Hurt Locker.

Boal’s screenplay would be based off the New York Times Magazine Wikileaks article “The Boy Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” the title of which appropriately references another skillful (albeit, fictional) computer hacker – Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – whose methods would be rather controversial in real life. One of the screenwriter’s upcoming new collaborations with Bigelow, Triple Frontier, is a potential obstacle that could restrict him to handling production duties on the Wikileaks movie only.

True Grit executive producer Megan Ellison is working with Boal and Management 360 on the movie that Deadline indicates could emerge ahead of every other Wikileaks project in development – much like All the President’s Men was the eventual winner in Hollywood’s contest to turn the Watergate scandal into cinematic gold back in the 1970s.

Other prospectives in the race to bring Assange’s story to the big screen first include DreamWorks, which is eying the screen rights to the upcoming book Inside Wikileaks by the organization’s former second-in-command, Daniel Domscheit-Berg. Universal is already pulling ahead on the non-fiction side of things, as it’s set to distribute an already in-progress, non-dramatized work from the Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) about Assange.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Boal was widely praised for delivering a Hurt Locker screenplay that captured the essence and nerve-shredding nature of modern warfare without being too preachy or heavy-handed – in order words, scripting a film that generally allowed moviegoers to make up their own minds about the subject matter being examined. That’s exactly the kind of touch needed to successfully recreate the tale of Assange, who some see as a brave man who keeps the U.S. government honest by uncovering its dirty laundry – and others see as a recklessly destructive figure who ought to be imprisoned for his actions.

A film about Assange also has the potential to be an interesting character study, as the fellow has been described as brave, fearless, arrogant, and interested solely in his own benefit – not to mention the recent charges of sexual misconduct against him, which may either be legitimate or just slander. He’s a polarizing character, there’s no denying that.

Be sure to share your thoughts about a Wikileaks movie (and please, try to keep them civil) with us in the comments section below.

Source: Deadline

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Terry Rossio Will Script ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5′

Eternal life awaits those intrepid venturers who reach the Fountain of Youth – or, rather, those that headline a $1 billion + grossing ride-turned blockbuster franchise. Walt Disney Pictures certainly wants to keep one of its most popular cash-cows alive, which is why Pirates of the Caribbean 5 is already being prepped.

Disney has officially closed a deal with screenwriter Terry Rossio to pen a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean adventure, which is virtually guaranteed to see Johnny Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow… again.

Rossio has worked in collaboration with Ted Elliott on the script for the previous four POTC flicks, but he is either going solo on the fifth or merely beat Elliott to the punch with respect to signing on for another installment in the swashbuckling series. Deadline also says that POTC: On Stranger Tides helmer Rob Marshall has been approached to return for another big-budget, high-seas romp, but neither confirms or denies the rumor that Disney wants to shoots POTC 5 & 6 back-to-back.

Marshall is currently ensconced in post-production on the fourth POTC film, which is structured as a stand-alone adventure that finds Depp’s Captain Jack on a quest to locate the legendary Fountain of Youth. A full-length trailer was released last month for On Stranger Tides, which looks to feature what has become standard fare for the franchise – heavily scarred scallywags, supernatural creatures, explosive set pieces, and Sparrow tossing around witty quips left and right. It’ll be a box office hit, no doubt, but Disney is likely waiting to see exactly how popular the new POTC is before it makes plans for Part 5 and Part 6.

Depp’s performance as Sparrow in the last two POTC flicks was still fun, but naturally failed to feel as fresh or inventive as it did in The Curse of the Black Pearl. Tim Burton’s favorite star seems content to don his eccentric buccaneer gear for… however much longer the franchise continues. That could be a while, since Disney seems content to squeeze every drop of profit it can out of the series – for better or for worse.

Depp and Penelope Cruz in 'On Stranger Tides'.

One thing that On Stranger Tides has going for it is that Marshall looks to have included more staples of the classic swashbuckling adventure genre – sword duels, actors in costumes, elaborate stunts – and thus could deliver what may feel like more of an old-fashioned pirate adventure. The last two installments (Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End) threw more than their fair share of CGI into the mix and amped up the production values so much that it arguably became overwhelming. That’s not to mention the oft-criticized shared plot of those sequels, which even Rossio and Eliott have admitted was kind of a convoluted mess (and, for some, tedious to watch unfold).

Those that feel a fourth POTC is overkill are not going to be pleased with the news that a fifth and possibly even sixth installment could be on the horizon. The solution for them is pretty simple: don’t go see any more of these films and Disney will stop releasing them…eventually. Everyone else can have fun watching Jack Sparrow’s onscreen shenanigans as they like – until they too have had their fill.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will determine the future of the franchise when it hits 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D theaters around the globe on May 20th, 2011.

Source: Deadline

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‘Akira’ Movie Script Details & Review

As a huge fan of the 1988 classic anime, Akira, I, like everyone else, have mixed emotions about a live-action movie version of the story.

After reading the script for the upcoming Akira movie (which is being directed The Hughes Brothers), I questioned whether this film is a good idea, when the anime version stands on its own merit. We’ll let you guys draw your own answer to that question, but today we have some details of the Akira script to share with you.

The story has been “Americanized,” with the center of the action taking place in New Manhattan after the decimation of the city ( an incident resembling a nuclear bomb explosion), has been blamed on the work of unknown terrorists, with the  iconic shot of Akira as the sole survivor clutching his teddy bear standing solemn in the crater at ground zero.

Flash-forward to sometime in the future where protagonists Kaneda and Travis (gone is the name Tetsuo – why not just keep it? ) belong  to one of several biker gangs that control the burned out old Manhattan, while the shiny new Chinese-owned-and-invested “New Manhattan” glitters back at them like a star that cannot be touched.

The story somewhat follows the animated film but introduces a new character, Ray Arcman, who is the mad scientist that created Akira by using psychic and kinetic experiments on children including the three Espers (the elderly looking 10-year-olds from the animated film).

Asian gangsters run the underworld along with several motorcycle gangs (sadly, the “Clowns” are not in the film). Illegal drugs are still in demand and the gangs in turn  have to pay tribute to their bosses, the ”Packies” (Pakistanis).

The Colonel from 'Akira'.

Liberties are taken with some of the characters: Princess Miyako is now an elderly trash-collecting lady in Old Manhattan and the Colonel’s part doesn’t come off as strong as he did in the animated version. I cannot see Morgan Freeman playing the Colonel at all – nevermind the rumor that Zac Effron could play Kaneda.

There are also continuity problems with the script. In one scene, the Colonel sets off a claymore mine in order to block the approaching Black Ops army and is wounded. Yet, in another scene after this, when he is captured, The Colonel is able to take out two military policeman and operate a .50 caliber mini-gun in a helicopter gunship in order to save Kaneda – then he promptly disappears for the remainder of the film.

Yes, Travis (Tetsuo) does expand and morph into a ballooning human amoeba, but only for one short scene. I think we can all agree that this is one of the landmark, crucial scenes that needs to be in the film, yet it’s only a mere fragment.

Kaneda gets a Tech 9 machine pistol instead of the high-tech-looking plasma-type weapon that was used in the original anime, and on the iconic Akira poster. This is not a change that makes sense to me.

I thought the ending of the script was weak (it hints at a sequel – please),  and you just didn’t care about the characters the way you did in  Katsuhiro Otomo’s production.

The time to have made this film was in the ’80s when there was still a buzz about it. This new version is not  for all audiences and sadly, I believe it will fall in the same niche category as Watchmen did.

Akira Header Image by Hideyoshi @ DeviantART

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