Brett Ratner

Started by Spike, June 13, 2003, 04:09:31 PM

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MacGuffin

Brett Ratner Directing Josiah's Canon
Source: Variety

Brett Ratner has committed to direct Josiah's Canon for 20th Century Fox. The bank caper film could start shooting as early as next summer in New York and on location in Europe. Ratner will film after completing his current project, After the Sunset, starring Pierce Brosnan.

Originally written by scribe Jeff King with a most recent draft by Phil Alden Robinson, "Canon" is a dramatic heist story about a Holocaust survivor who leads the world's foremost team of bank robbers. The criminal mastermind sets his sights on an supposedly impenetrable bank in Switzerland, which holds special appeal: It purportedly houses gelt deposited by Jews prior to the Holocaust.

Ratner is also attached to helm the action-comedy Traces for New Line, though no start date has been specified for that Cedric the Entertainer project.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Gamblour.

A Holocaust survivor turned robber...sounds sickeningly bad.
WWPTAD?

Ravi

Quote from: Gamblor du JourA Holocaust survivor turned robber...sounds sickeningly bad.

How can a Brett Ratner film be bad?  It's not possible.

Alethia

mans a true genius, he is

way better than that pt barnum or whatever the shit

modage

Brett Ratner interviews Michael Jackson in the new issue of Interview.  it doesnt get much weirder than that.

"Michael and I have shared many a day, week, and month together.  Our relationship is based on our love of films.  We have watched many films together and our personal favorite that we enjoy most is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!"
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Pubrick

Quote from: themodernage02Brett Ratner interviews Michael Jackson in the new issue of Interview.  it doesnt get much weirder than that.

"Michael and I have shared many a day, week, and month together.  Our relationship is based on our love of films.  We have watched many films together and our personal favorite that we enjoy most is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!"
hahahahaha................................... baahahha.

poor mj.
under the paving stones.

Just Withnail

Quote from: themodernage02Brett Ratner interviews Michael Jackson in the new issue of Interview.  it doesnt get much weirder than that.

"Michael and I have shared many a day, week, and month together.  Our relationship is based on our love of films.  We have watched many films together and our personal favorite that we enjoy most is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!"

That's the funniest thing I've read in...probably forever.

MacGuffin

SET VISIT: AFTER THE SUNSET
Source: CHUD

I'd never met Ratner, the helmer of the first two Rush Hour movies (a third is on the way - "I think it's going to happen next," Ratner enthused.  "I'm really excited."), Red Dragon, Money Talks and Family Man, but I'd heard he had a bigger-than-life personality and judging from the fact that Chris Tucker made the leap from Money Talks to Rush Hour and Don Cheadle (Family Man) and Ed Norton (Red Dragon) both have cameos in After the Sunset, it seems like people like working with Ratner more than once.

Having spent much of the afternoon and into the evening on one of his wild and crazy, party atmosphere-like sets, now I know why. That's not to say a movie wasn't being made, but you cannot deny that not only did everybody look like they were having fun, visitors showed up right and left (including Serena Williams), stars set to cameo for an hour stayed for three (Shaq) and people just seemed to be really enjoying making this movie.

Where was this fun set?  The Great Western Forum, longtime home of the Los Angeles Lakers (who are now housed in the Staples Center), down in Inglewood.  While no, Pierce Brosnan, who plays Max Burdette and his co-stars, Salma Hayek (his wife, Lola) and Woody Harrelson (who plays a dogged FBI agent looking to bust Brosnan) weren't on set, we instead got Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton ("Gary's a great guy, but I'd never met him," Ratner enthused.  "I knew Shaq and knowing Shaq kind of brings you into the Lakers world.") and Karl Malone of the Lakers, Chris Penn as a rowdy drunk in the audience and a crowd of 575 screaming extras playing Laker and Clipper fans.  After the Sunset actually begins in Los Angeles with the scene we were seeing being shot (though we were there on Day 55 of 63 - most of the movie was shot over the winter in the Bahamas), a sequence where Brosnan goes after a big diamond in the midst of a Lakers game at Staples (the GWF was doubling for Staples).  The crew (many action sequences shot by second unit director Conrad Palmisano – a longtime stunt coordinator who has done second unit and stunts on movies like Peter Pan, First Blood, Lethal Weapon 4 and Rush Hour 2) had used five cameras to shoot the Lakers vs. Clippers game on January 17th at the Staples Center and now they were shooting close-ups with cameras on the court as well as action going on in the crowd ("Koppelman and Levien, who I brought in to re-write the script - they wrote Rounders - they're major Lakers fans," Ratner said).

What we saw being shot the most was a quick race to the basket by Gary Payton, who commits an offensive foul and immediately starts yelling at the referee about it, as does Shaquille O'Neal and Karl Malone.  Shaq is suited up in the movie (albeit on the bench), but Malone - currently on the disabled list for the Lakers - was outfitted in all black on the bench.  

On top of the Lakers being mad at the call, suddenly in the audience, a drunken fellow in a Karl Malone jersey, handlebar mustache and black cowboy hat starts yelling at the ref as well, coming out into the aisle (spilling his popcorn on someone in front of him - though the actor, Chris Penn, suggested later to Brett to spill tobacco juice on him, a truly inspired gross-out note) and getting even more abusive.  Finally, security guards have to restrain him and take him away.  In the movie, this "diversion" causes the FBI agents - including Harrelson - who have been watching Brosnan to momentarily look away, which is all the time Brosnan needs to get away - a getaway that eventually finds him and his girl in, used guessed it, the Bahamas.

Naturally, shooting this took many an hour and we followed around the cameras and tucked ourselves behind the video monitors watching as Ratner, his D.P. (Oscar-nominated cinematographer Dante Spinotti who has shot films like The Insider, L.A. Confidential, Heat and many others) and producers such as Beau Flynn (whose lovely wife, actress Marley Shelton showed up later to hang out - my very first on-set interview was with Shelton on the set of Valentine up in Vancouver) and other execs stared at three different monitors as each take rolled.  After every take, Ratner would leap up and race over to the various actors calling out changes and then race back in a hurry to get the next shots off as Shaquille O'Neal - who showed up as a favor to Ratner (when Ratner was doing Superman, Shaq would call him up as Shaq is a big Superman fan - "He kept calling me up every day begging to be in the movie!" Ratner enthused) - had to get going.  So, understandably, we in the tiny assembled press corps hung out a bit waiting to get a few moments of Ratner's time as, well, a movie was being made and Shaq, Payton and Malone had to be shot out as quick as possible.

Which, of course, meant we got to see a lot of the basketball action going on, watched Payton improv various insults at the ref, and got to see Shaq even, in a funny improv moment, shoot the finger on camera at the ref.  It was a big lark of a day filled with basketball, multiple cameras, and watching Chris Penn improv similarly derogatory insult lines at the ref from the bleachers ("You're as blind as a snake!" he proclaimed in a thick hick accent).

After Shaq was finally shot out and took off, we got a few minutes to chat with Ratner himself as the crew was setting up for a reverse angle and the extras were moved to be in the background for that.

S.J.R.: So, can you give us a set-up of what we're seeing today?

Ratner: We're seeing the scene that's the opening of the movie where Pierce Brosnan is creating...the whole way he works is that he sets up a diversion, he sets up an alibi and this is his alibi.  Chris Penn is part of his team here and he's not really a hick, he's Irish - in the movie, his character is an Irish guy.  And he's setting up a diversion so that during the heist, he can say he was here at the game.  So, this is the scene we're shooting and we're just capturing a real game.

S.J.R.: When did After the Sunset first come onto your radar?

Ratner: After the Sunset came...I don't remember!  I had a three-picture deal at New Line and I owed them one more picture.  Toby Emmerich came to me and said, 'I want to show you this script.  There was another director on it and he left and we really want to make this movie with you,' and I said, 'Okay, I'll read it.'  And I loved it and I'm here.  That's how it happened, basically.   Oh, and Rush Hour wasn't ready.  I was hoping to do Rush Hour next, but the script wasn't ready, so I said that I'd go do this.

S.J.R.: How'd the shoot in the Bahamas go?  I heard there was a lot of rain...

Ratner: Ah, the rain was crazy!  I wanted it to be better, but it was out of your control - certain things are out of your control.  You go with it - if it rains then, 'Hey, it's a rain scene!'  So, we made it work.  But it was beautiful shooting there.  It was fun being away on an island.  Everyone bonds and it's a great cast of characters.  Pierce Brosnan is the complete opposite of Woody Harrelson.  Salma Hayek, Don Cheadle - such a great [cast].  Then we come to L.A. and get guys like Chris Penn.  We've got a lot of interesting characters in this movie.

S.J.R.: Will you talk a little about the character Pierce plays?  Obviously, it has a little something in common with the thief he played in Thomas Crown, so will you talk about how this is different and what he's been like to work with?

Ratner: I was excited about doing this because I'm a huge fan of Bond.  I wanted to do a Bond movie so bad.  I did it really mainly not only because Toby asked me and I loved the script, but because Pierce Brosnan - when I was doing Rush Hour 2 - flew to Vegas to ask me to do Bond.  I wanted to do the next Bond - Bond 20.  He said, 'The only problem is, I have no say in it!'  I said, 'So, why are you here?'  He said, 'Because I just would love for you to do it.'  I never forgot that and when I read the script, I thought, 'Wow, this is such an interesting choice for Pierce because it's something he's never done before.'  It still has elements of who he's played in other movies because he's a diamond thief, but it's got a tremendous amount of humor, it's got a tremendous amount of heart.  It's a really smart film.  It's not just about the action.  There's actually not a lot of action in the film.  It's more what I would say a 'caper' film.  It's really about the relationship between the characters.  Hopefully, you even forget about the diamond getting stolen and you care more about the relationships between the characters and what happens to them.  My favorite director is Hal Ashby.  I love movies where you care about the characters, you care about the relationships between the characters and everybody has a specific purpose.  It's not just flat.

S.J.R.: We've seen a lot of heist movies lately - one after another - by saying this is a character piece, how will this differ from those?

Ratner: It is different.  The Italian Job has huge action in it.  This doesn't have a lot of action in it at all.  It's more of a character-driven movie, which made it interesting for me because just do a big action heist was not something I was excited about doing.  Toby's pitch was that this movie starts where the jewel thief retires.  Usually they end on the beach.  This one starts on the beach, so it's an interesting twist.  I like to challenge myself to do different types of movies.  After I did Rush Hour, all I got offered were movies like Rush Hour - buddy-comedies.  I was like, 'I want to try something different!' so that's why I did The Family Man and then that's why I did Red Dragon and that's why I'm doing this.  It's more of a challenge for me.  Can I do a movie like this and get the tone right?  If it's too broad, you don't care about the characters.  If it's too serious, it's just a dramatic film and you don't care.

S.J.R.: Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek don't seem the most likely of pairings - what are they like together on screen?

Ratner: They have incredible chemistry.  I was shocked.  

S.J.R.: Were they attached to the picture before you came on?

Ratner: They were actually.  I've only done that on one movie, which was Money Talks where I was hired a week before the movie started shooting.  This movie, I was hired eight weeks before the movie started shooting.  I didn't actually develop it, but I did change the script completely.  Once I came on, I completely changed the script.

S.J.R.: Did you already know [Hayek] because of working with Norton?

Ratner: Yes, Salma and I are very good friends because I did a movie with Edward when they were a couple.  And I knew her years before that, so she called me and said, 'You've gotta do the movie!  You've gotta do the movie!'  

S.J.R.: Will you talk about the casting of Woody Harrelson?  We've seen him do a lot of comedy and other bits here and there, but as this is a character role, why Harrelson?

Ratner: He's just a great actor.  He's just awesome.  I love working with him.  He can do anything.  He can do comedy, he can do drama.  He's just one of those actors who is just such a unique individual and he's the opposite of Pierce Brosnan.  They could not be from two further places in the world.  They're just completely opposite.

S.J.R.: So, who has more comedy - Woody or Pierce?

Ratner: Pierce is somewhat straighter - he's the straight man.  In a comedy, there always has to be one - Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.  So yeah, Pierce is more of a straight man, but the comedy comes from the situation, not jokes like a broad comedy where there's one-liners.  You might see jokes in the trailer, but the truth is, that's not what the movie is.  It's really about the relationships.  It's definitely a movie you will laugh at and you'll really care about the characters.  It's funny as hell, but based on the situations, not because of the jokes.

S.J.R.: After working on Superman for so long, did you feel any frustrations coming off of that or did you just want to put it behind you and go right into the next project?

Ratner: I just like to pick my projects with some thought.  I don't like to rush into things.  I like to think it out because each movie, hopefully, lasts forever, so I put a lot of thought into it.  I wish I was making Superman.  It would've been cool.

S.J.R.: It's obviously something still of a miasma over there - do you still care or do you just put it behind you?

Ratner: Superman?  I don't...once I'm off a movie, I'm off a movie.  I'm not worried about the politics of that movie.  It's not my business.  It's Warner Brothers' business.

Following After the Sunset, Ratner has a number of projects lined up as a director, but also as a producer with his Rat Entertainment production company.  These include, "A movie called Josiah's Canon, which is a bank robbery film," explained Ratner.  "Money Talks 2, I'm producing with Chris Tucker.  I'm producing a film called Santa's Slay that my assistant is directing - David Steinem.  It's a $5 million movie.  I'm doing a TV show based on my life called Be Chai [S.J.R. Note: Could be B.Chi or Beechai - not certain, actually] for Fox, which is cool.  Samurai Jack, I'm developing."

S.J.R.: Rat obviously has a number of projects lined up not only for you to direct, but also to produce.  Was this always the plan for you?

Ratner: Yeah.  I get more joy out of producing movies. [S.J.R. Note: At this moment, a partner of Ratner's came up and started listing other projects Ratner was taking on] I'm doing Hong Kong Phooey with Alcon and Warner Brothers.  The Photograph at Lions Gate.  I have as much joy producing...I mean, my assistant is now directing a movie.  He has his own assistant.  He was my assistant a few months ago.  I enjoy helping filmmakers make their dreams come true, really.  I get more joy out of being on the set of a film I'm producing than I do directing.  Even though I love directing and I'll never stop directing, it's so much fun when I don't have to actually direct.

S.J.R.: What makes it a 'Brett Ratner movie' - directing versus producing?

Ratner: Because I can only direct one film a year, that's the problem.  If I could direct five a year, believe me, if anybody would be doing it, it would be me.  I produce movies that I love the subject matter of.  If a writer/director is really passionate about something, I'll try to help that person get their vision on the big screen.  Making movies is my passion.  It's the only thing I know how to do.

S.J.R.: Will you be going into horror? [A Rat Entertainment, a giant framed poster of Rosemary's Baby greets visitors]

Ratner: Yeah, my assistant is directing a horror film.

S.J.R.: That's Santa's Slay? [S.J.R. Note: I didn't know the spelling at the time and thought it was "sleigh"]

Ratner: Yeah, Santa's Slay - S-L-A-Y.  Santa is the son of Satan.  

S.J.R.: When you took on this project, you mentioned you brought on new writers.  What kind of direction did you take it in?  What makes this a 'Brett Ratner movie?'

Ratner: By putting more heart into it.  By making it funnier.  Making it a little hipper, not corny.  
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

modage

Quote from: MacGuffinRatner: Yeah, my assistant is directing a horror film.

S.J.R.: That's Santa's Slay? [S.J.R. Note: I didn't know the spelling at the time and thought it was "sleigh"]

Ratner: Yeah, Santa's Slay - S-L-A-Y.  Santa is the son of Satan.
they stole that from Ernest Saves Christmas,  theres a movie inside the movie called Santa's Christmas Slay that involves that same misunderstanding as a gag.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Chris Tucker Eyes Money Talks 2 & Rush Hour 3
Source: Variety

New Line has begun to develop Money Talks 2 for Chris Tucker. Variety says if Tucker does that film and Rush Hour 3, his sequel price is $20 million against 20% of gross for each film.

The studio is looking to hire a writer and has already begun courting Charlie Sheen to return as Tucker's co-star. Brett Ratner, who directed the original 1997 Money Talks before twice re-teaming with Tucker on the "Rush Hour" films, might direct the Money Talks sequel.

The sequel development is surprising, adds the trade, because Tucker hasn't acted in three years, since Rush Hour 2 was released in 2001. New Line is about to hire John Rogers (Catwoman) to do a rewrite on Rush Hour 3 to set the film in a single location and bring the budget down to an acceptable level.

Ratner, who just finished the New Line's After the Sunset, had expected to do Rush Hour 3 as his next movie, with a fall start eyed. The budget complexities also have him eyeing Josiah's Canon at Fox.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

grand theft sparrow

They should call it 2 Money 2 Talks.  No one's ever done anything like that before.

And I thought Chris Tucker was doing charity work in Africa or something?

SoNowThen

Quote from: themodernage02
Quote from: MacGuffinRatner: Yeah, my assistant is directing a horror film.

S.J.R.: That's Santa's Slay? [S.J.R. Note: I didn't know the spelling at the time and thought it was "sleigh"]

Ratner: Yeah, Santa's Slay - S-L-A-Y.  Santa is the son of Satan.
they stole that from Ernest Saves Christmas,  theres a movie inside the movie called Santa's Christmas Slay that involves that same misunderstanding as a gag.

Which, btw, is shooting in my town right now. Oh yeah. That's the high quality of production we get here in Alberta...
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

modage

maybe they should just save money and film them both at the same time as Rush Hour III: Money Talks Too.  it could star charlie sheen AND jackie chan and chris tucker could be the comic center of it all!
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: themodernage02maybe they should just save money and film them both at the same time as Rush Hour III: Money Talks Too.  it could star charlie sheen AND jackie chan and chris tucker could be the comic center of it all!

Anything that has Charlie Sheen and Jackie Chan in the same movie is pure brilliance in my book.

Best idea ever.

MacGuffin

Production Starts on Bill Goldberg's Santa Slay
Source: MDP Worldwide Entertainment

MDP Worldwide Entertainment, Inc. announced today that principal photography is underway on its new film, Santa's Slay. MDP is co-producing Santa's Slay along with Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour" series). Santa's Slay is an action infused horror-comedy that casts everyone's favorite holiday figure, Santa, in an entirely new and sinister light.

WWE wrestling star Bill Goldberg (Looney Tunes: Back in Action) plays the devilish Santa Claus, alongside up-and-coming young stars Douglas Smith (State's Evidence, Sleepover) and Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), and veteran character actors Robert Culp, Saul Rubinek, and Dave Thomas. This edgy horror comedy marks the directorial debut of David Steiman, who also wrote the original screenplay. The film is currently shooting on location in Alberta, Canada.

"MDP Worldwide is very excited to be working with Brett Ratner," stated Sammy Lee, Vice Chairman of the Board for MDP Worldwide. "Brett has an incredible track record for choosing great projects with strong commercial appeal, and we expect our collaboration on Santa's Slay to result in a film that will be innovative, edgy, and perfectly aimed at the tastes of today's moviegoers."

"Santa's Slay is one of the most innovative, freshest scripts I've read in the horror genre," said Brett Ratner. "It contains mythology, suspense, and humor. There is no one better than David Steiman, the creative mind behind Santa's Slay, to bring this exciting project to the screen."

In Santa's Slay, Santa Claus (Goldberg) turns out to actually be the son of Satan, and not the harmless old fellow we know and love. Santa's bad side has only been kept in check because of an ancient pact with an angel. Now, on Christmas Eve, the truce expires, and Santa is suddenly free to wreak mayhem. Teenager Nicholas Yuleson (Smith) discovers the terrifying truth about Santa from his grandfather (Culp), and it's up to him to stop Santa's deadly rampage in their small town of Hell. With the help of his spunky girlfriend Mac (de Ravin), Nicholas must take on Santa and his Viking Hell Deer, in order to try to restore peace on Earth for another thousand years.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks