C'mon ...not only did he win best director for American Beauty, which was well deserved, but Road To Perdition is an incredible film as well.
i thought road was so-so.
great cinematography though
don't think he's very good... road to perdition was not very good at all... now american beauty was a good movie, but his direction isn't anything special
Road to Perdition was very lack luster to me. I thought it was good, but I expected much more. Something about it was sort of bland, like doing math problems.
Quote from: Duck SauceSomething about it was sort of bland, like doing math problems.
Yeah it really could've used a technicolor musical sequence.
Road to Perdition was great, and I'll tell you why: Math is cool.
Quote from: TenseAndSoberC'mon ...not only did he win best director for American Beauty, which was well deserved
well deserved? PTA wasn't even nominated in 1999 which he totally deserved to get for MAGNOLIA.
fuck the oscars....
I think Sam Mendes is incredible. Your first two films are American Beauty and Road to Perdition.
I loved Perdition, I loved the graphic novel it is based on, I loved the performances, the cinematography, the score...everything. I think that as time goes on, it will be respected more.
I'd like to see Mendes' 3rd film before I make any more claims about him.
We'll drag this conversation out of the archives and dust it off...
On the old PTA boards, I mentioned that in my opinion Sam Mendes was only a mediocre director, even though American Beauty was amazing.
I think the genius of American Beauty was all Alan Ball, not Mendes.
And because RtP was just a so-so movie, that further strengthens my reasoning.
so the ball/mendes combo was just happened on? i guess i could agree with that. i don't think he should have waited as long as he did to make his next movie, though.
got bitten by the pressure bug
Quote from: Xixax
... in my opinion Sam Mendes [is] only a mediocre director, even though American Beauty was amazing.
I think the genius of American Beauty was all Alan Ball, not Mendes.
And because RtP was just a so-so movie, that further strengthens my reasoning.
i agree completely, and i will go as far as saying that road to perdition was a bad movie.
I am taking the minority here by saying Mendes is of talent and the only things that have set him back has been inefficent writing.
American Beauty is a very good film, but the writing is so specific on every single meaning that multiple viewings have revealed nothing at all and only make the film drag on more and more for me. The film was saved by the acting and the wise direction of Mendes that did not try to overplay the material, but show what was written for him. Still, there is an uncreativity when writing about examples that are obvious on first viewing.
Road to Perditon was a hollowless movie of writing. It was a remake of the style and look of The Godfather. The thing is though, there is wonderful cinematogprahy and arranged shots that bring out such a beauty that it makes the hollowness of the story kinda hard to catch right away.
~rougerum
The great cinematography in his movies is due to Conrad Hall - a genius among cinematographers. The man's work is amazing, to say the least. He's a competent enough director, can keep the story going, gets good performances out of his actors, and even if I didn't like Road to Perdition, he still made American Beauty work.
Sure. He's not BAD by any means. I don't dislike his mediocre style as much as I dislike the mediocre style of, say, Sam Raimi (yes, Evil Dead fans. I said Sam Raimi).
Mendes is perfectly fine.
My point is that he is just that... Perfectly fine. Just OK. Average in most every sense.
I was on your side Xaxy, until you said some shit about Raimi.
Anyway, I think Mendes is above average, but just slightly. I have a feeling the man is going to take a turn much like Durabondt... make a brilliant film, followed by a mediocre film in the same vein as the first then just lose it and make crap.
Ball's Beauty script was great, but I do think that what Mendes did with it made it better than it was originally written as. The whole courtroom flashback idea is cliched.
Six Feet Under is a great show though and I think that shows that Ball can be a great writer.
Quote from: RegularKarateI was on your side Xaxy, until you said some shit about Raimi.
Nothing personal. It's Friday, and my coworkers are all out sick and I didn't have anybody to pick a fight with today.
The way I think about Mendes is that he is an average director who can pick better than average projects.
alan ball is a true talent. six feet under is the best show on tv and american beauty was a terrific script. american beauty is written kind of like a play though, its all about the characters, it didnt have that much scope to it, which is why mendes did it so well. it has the freedom to open up, to push the smaller moments into greatness.
road to perdition was an above average script, but it had a lot of scope to it, which is why i dont think it was very good. mendes bit off more than he could chew, the result is a dragging, unclimactic and ultimately unmoving story. it looks beautiful (though i liked the 'Beauty' photography a lot more), but thats mostly conrad. mendes should do something with less sweep. maybe direct an episode of six feet under.
Quote from: Duck SauceSomething about it was sort of bland, like doing math problems.
Long live differential equations! 8)
i totally think sam mendes is fantastic. theres was everything special witht he direction in american beauty IS something special, and we must remember that f it wasnt for sam american beauty, the script would be entirly different. i loved road to perdition, and true the cinematography was amazing, the late great conrad hall, but lets not go and pretend that sam just had conrad figure out how to shoot things and layed back and made money, sam should get credit just for inventing the shots in the first place. i cant wait to c wut he does next.
-chad
Sweeney Todd on Helmer Sam Mendes' List
Source: Variety
American Beauty director Sam Mendes wants to direct Sweeney Todd. Early talks are under way to set the Stephen Sondheim musical with Mendes at DreamWorks, where Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald will produce.
Variety says Mendes and DreamWorks' Parkes wooed Sondheim in Chicago when he was prepping his musical "Bounce." But Mendes has been working out a take with the composer as he was preparing to direct the Broadway revival of Sondheim's "Gypsy."
Though films have been made of such Sondheim musicals "West Side Story," "Gypsy" and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," Sondheim has been protective about Sweeney Todd since the Tim Burton project fell apart at Warner Bros. several years ago.
A shame the Burton version didn't go ahead (isn't that the case with all of his really cool potential projects?). I'm down with Mendes giving it a shot, though.
You know his ancesters (great grandparents or something) lived in the same island as I do (Madeira) before they emigrated to America.
There was a huge artitcle in a magazine when american beauty came out.
Mendes is a portuguese name.
you people and your word 'average'. c'mon now! there's way better way to characterize mendes as a filmmaker than average! christ! i like mendes work because i think he works well the moods of the story. the music, the colors, the lights, the costumes... etc. (basically mise en scne) everything seems meticulously calculated to evoke a feeling from the story. thats a thing i really like about these theatre directors coming over to film because they really are less concerned with style and more concerned with the story. you people and your style. style is organic and comes out of the story. he definetly has a knack with portraying the subtleties of characters lives, which i like. go mendes, you rock!
I thought American Beauty was pretty interesting right up until that schlocky, cop-out of an ending. I didnt think the direction was very notable though.
Road To Perdition was just plain bad. Nice cinematography though.
road to perdition is the kind of movie you watch on mute.
both of the films hes made are better than 90% films out there -- an accomplished theater force -- quite a brillaint guy -- to say he "sucks" are the words of a angst ridden teen -- hes far from sucking -- hes easily made one of the most auspicious debuts with american bueaty and road to perdition was a work of art -- a flawed script yes, but quite an impressive movie nonetheless -- tell me a film in the last year that has been of such quality from a filmmaking standpoint.
i love american beauty but i LOVE road to perdition.
Quote from: cowboykurtisboth of the films hes made are better than 90% films out there -- an accomplished theater force -- quite a brillaint guy -- to say he "sucks" are the words of a angst ridden teen -- hes far from sucking -- hes easily made one of the most auspicious debuts with american bueaty and road to perdition was a work of art -- a flawed script yes, but quite an impressive movie nonetheless -- tell me a film in the last year that has been of such quality from a filmmaking standpoint.
I really like Mendes. He knows directing and he also knows film. He reminds me of Visconti.
I think Mendes is a great director, he really knows his stuff. I couldn't even begin to explain how much I loved Road To Perdition, and American Beauty, somewhat less, but great movie all the same. But lots of the credit has to go to Alan Ball, the man is a genious, and I am a big fan of Conrad L. Hall, I think he's a great DP.
Quote from: cowboykurtis...hes easily made one of the most auspicious debuts with american bueaty...
I would definitely agree (even if it's a quote from spielberg and not your own words).
I think American Beauty was great because Mendes made some very wise decisions on how and what story to tell. If you read the original script it was an entirely different film. I thought the original story was ok but nothing more than that. Sam definitely knows how to tell a story but is a mediocre director at best.
The actors were really responsible for the power that the film has as well as the late Conrad Hall who was simply one of the best cinematographers.
Road to Perdition was a weak film in many ways. I'll take a second order differential equation any day over this film :wink: . Like Victor said, Mendes and Alan Ball bit off a little more than they could chew.
Quote from: Pastor ParsleyIf you read the original script it was an entirely different film.
...no it wasn't. I've read the script. Unless, of course, you're talking about something other than the shooting script, but from what I can tell, the version Alan Ball wrote is what was published, give or take a shot or two. That's beside the point, though. American Beauty was one of those films I first loved. So while my opinion of it has diminished as I've found other great films, I still think it's great. And Road to Perdition was ... interesting ... yeah, that's the ticket.
Quote from: OnomatopoeiaQuote from: Pastor ParsleyIf you read the original script it was an entirely different film.
...no it wasn't. I've read the script. Unless, of course, you're talking about something other than the shooting script, but from what I can tell, the version Alan Ball wrote is what was published, give or take a shot or two.
It was different. The parts I remember: It had a bookending court trail. Also, Jane leaving Angela to walk Ricky home and the funeral procession passes them was originally them passing a car crash while Angela drives Ricky and Jane home.
http://scifiscripts.name2host.com/msol/A_B.html
Oh, right. Wow, thanks for the reminder. Come to think of it, I think there was something, too, on the special features of the DVD about a trial where Ricky and Jane are prosecuted for Lester's murder. I assume that's the one Mac's mentioned.
Also on the special featurettes included, you'll see Spacey and Benning's interviews are being conducted on a courtroom set.
I have to agree, Ball was the genius behind "American Beauty", not Mendes. Mendes was choosen because he came cheap and although he did a good job, he was blessed with a great script. I still love their movie, won't knock it, one of my favorites.
Then again... I thought Ball's future was bright, maybe the brightest in Hollywood. Until I started to read Charlie Kaufman's scripts. For now "American Beauty" appears to be an effort that will never be repeated and Ball's next project is "The M Word", teaming up with the former director of 1993's timeless classic "Super Mario Bros." Enough said...
Quote from: ckad79I have to agree, Ball was the genius behind "American Beauty", not Mendes.
Don't forget the late, great Conrad Hall.
Quote from: ckad79For now "American Beauty" appears to be an effort that will never be repeated
But then there's that "Six Feet Under" thing which is so much better than "American Beauty" but that's TV so...
I need watch "6 Feet Under" more.
Quote from: hacksparrowQuote from: ckad79For now "American Beauty" appears to be an effort that will never be repeated
But then there's that "Six Feet Under" thing which is so much better than "American Beauty" but that's TV so...
There were a lot of people who made that film great. You bring up a good point. Just the red door against the rain was something else, Conrad did some of his finest work on this one.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fhome.comcast.net%2F%7Eckad79%2Famericanbeauty.jpg&hash=613a23c44c43e276505e2e23039ebad227238dc3)
Quote from: hacksparrowQuote from: ckad79I have to agree, Ball was the genius behind "American Beauty", not Mendes.
Don't forget the late, great Conrad Hall.
I haven't heard anything new about Sam Mendes since last year when that Sweeny Todd adaptation popped up, and I thought that fell through so if anyone have any new news about his next project I'd really like to know....
fuck american beauty
and that faggity plastic bag
if you got Guts
i say climb the agrocrag
get to the apex
find my jizzy latex
i done fuck them tits you suck
so go watch the matrix
peaces
i think Mendes did a pretty good job on both films.
Hall did an amazing job(i hate that he's gone), but I'm pretty sure most of the visual things were from Mendes' head.......doesn't he storyboard every single shot?
we'll see how Mendes does without him on his next film.
i really like how Mendes uses sound though.
the sound for the gun down in RtP is really good.
and the finale of RtP.....you see the boy in the reflection........all is bleached white..........too white......then BANG........and you see the boy run away
Hall worked on part of Panic Room.....and while that has the same look......it doesn't have all of the symbolism in the frame that Mendes puts there........he must get it from his theater work.......and he's banging Kate man.
Quote from: motherfuckerfuck american beauty
and that faggity plastic bag
if you got Guts
i say climb the agrocrag
get to the apex
find my jizzy latex
i done fuck them tits you suck
so go watch the matrix
peaces
why?
Quote from: motherfuckerfuck american beauty
and that faggity plastic bag
if you got Guts
i say climb the agrocrag
get to the apex
find my jizzy latex
i done fuck them tits you suck
so go watch the matrix
peaces
What a mook... :roll:
I really don't think I could say anything about Mendes until I see some of his work without the help of Conrad Hall.
Sam Mendes to Direct Universal's Jarhead
Source: Variety
Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) is set to helm Jarhead, a Universal drama based on Anthony Swofford's Persian Gulf War memoir, reports Variety. Cast Away screenwriter William Broyles wrote the script for the film, which begins shooting in the fall.
Drawing on his own experiences as a Marine grunt in Vietnam, Broyles wrote a script that studio and producers felt captured Swofford's voice and vivid descriptions of war, says the trade. While Mendes has no background in soldiering, he liked the world enough to commit after reading the script and doing some work on it with Broyles.
"This is equal parts black humor, honesty, rage, lyricism, profanity and the mixture of machismo jarhead culture. With the exception of 'Three Kings,' this is a war that has been overlooked but which has a burning relevance to what is happening right now in the Middle East," Mendes said.
The production will start casting and scouting locations right away, with the deserts of the Southwest a possible destination, after they made a convincing backdrop for Three Kings.
To tackle Jarhead, Mendes will have to postpone film adaptations of Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd and Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner.
I like how Mendes seems to be looking for different genres as he builds up his career in movies. I'm curious to see how this is going to be now that sadly he won't be able to use Conrad Hall anymore :( But I absolutely trust Mendes.
yeah, this looks good.
Trio Set for 'Jarhead' Boot Camp
Jake Gyllenhaal , Jamie Foxx and Lucas Black are in various states of enlistment for "Jarhead," a coming-of-age tale about a platoon of U.S. Marines during the Gulf War .
The Universal Pictures project, based on Anthony Swofford's 2003 Scribner memoir of the same name, will be directed by Sam Mendes ("American Beauty").
Gyllenhaal is set to star as Swofford while Black is in final negotiations. Foxx is expected to sign up soon.
Also cast as members of the platoon are Laz Alonso ("Eyes"), Brian Geraghty ("Art School Confidential"), Jacob Vargas ("Traffic") and Evan Jones ("8 Mile").
An early December start date is being eyed, with shooting to take place in Los Angeles and El Centro, Calif., the latter doubling for Saudi Arabia. The actors are expected to undergo boot camp training in November.
Gyllenhaal, who starred in "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Donnie Darko," will next appear in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" and "Proof." Foxx plays the title role of Ray Charles in Universal's biopic "Ray," which opens Oct. 29.
Black starred in "Friday Night Lights" and appeared in "Cold Mountain."
fuck this, i want sweeney todd :(
Quote from: Pedro the Alpacafuck this, i want sweeney todd :(
Me too, gosh darn it. (sorry, trying to cut down on the cursing). But this looks pretty awseome too.
Quote from: flagpolespecialQuote from: TictacbkI really don't think I could say anything about Mendes until I see some of his work without the help of Conrad Hall.
hmmm. he'll just enlist the help of someone like roger deakins and his next movie will look just as good.
I just started thinking about how good Road to Perdition was and (I look forward to watching it again) and then I started thinking about the greatness of Conrad Hall and just looked to see who his "replacement" on 'Jarhead' will be and it
IS Roger Deakins! A fine choice. Two great Brits working on this...a little National pride for once.
I agree with you on your comments about the knowledge Mendes demonstrates in the AB commentary. I look forward to watching that again too and just loving the craft like I do with Punch Drunk Love. I hope the parodies and jokes made about the 'floating bag' scene arent too present in my mind because that was so powerful the very first time I watched it.
DiCaprio, Winslet to star in 'Road'
Duo together again for 'Revolutionary'
Source: Variety
Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are teaming for the first time since "Titanic" to star in DreamWorks' "Revolutionary Road."
Sam Mendes will direct the pic, based on the acclaimed 1961 novel by Richard Yates about post-war disillusionment.
John N. Hart, Scott Rudin, Bobby Cohen and Mendes, who's married to Winslet, will produce in association with BBC Films.
Yates' heart-rending and bleak tome, celebrated for its storytelling style, follows a seemingly happy suburban couple with two children in the mid-1950s who find themselves caught between their true desires and the pressure to conform -- with explosive consequences.
Mendes begins lensing this summer from an adapted screenplay by scribe Justin Haythe, said DreamWorks chair-CEO Stacey Snider.
Paramount Pictures has worldwide rights.
Winslet and DiCaprio have each worked continuously since 1997's "Titanic," but never together. "Road" marks the first time that Mendes has directed either star.
DiCaprio most recently starred in "Blood Diamond" and "The Departed," both from Warner Bros. "Road" marks his second DreamWorks project after Steven Spielberg's 2002 "Catch Me if You Can."
Winslet also had a busy 2006, starring in "Little Children," a story about modern-day suburban angst, "The Holiday" and "All the King's Men."
Mendes has longtime ties to DreamWorks, having directed his first film, "American Beauty," there. He also directed "Road to Perdition" for the studio and is producing two DreamWorks films that will be released later this year, "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "The Kite Runner."
Prettiest movie of 2007 (so far).
Mendes to direct mini-Middlemarch
Source: Guardian Unlimited
Having already boiled much of the English literary canon down to TV serials, Andrew Davies is setting his sights on an even more ambitious project. The adapter of choice for both ITV and the BBC is now turning to Hollywood, and a film version of Middlemarch.
This will be the first film version of George Eliot's 19th century masterpiece, which is perhaps understandable, since the book is one of the longest in English. It features a complex weave of interconnected stories focused on idealistic young heroine Dorothea Brooke.
Sam Mendes, making his first film set in his native England, will direct. Mendes, who is married to Kate Winslet and whose other films include American Beauty and Jarhead, has yet to announce casting decisions.
His producing partner, Pippa Harris, told Variety: "Sam's first film was for an American studio, so he started off in a slightly different place than other British directors. But he's as determined to tell stories about England as he is about America."
Mendes will take on the project after completing his upcoming film, Revolutionary Road, based on the Richard Yates novel and starring the director's wife, Kate Winslet, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio.
Davies has written numerous TV versions of novels by the likes of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. He has already abbreviated Middlemarch to a 375-minute serial for the BBC but a mainstream film is unlikely to permit more than a third of that time.
It seems a daring feat, but Tolstoy's even longer War and Peace has already been filmed several times. After that, Middlemarch should be a stroll in the country estate.
Bates hits DW's 'Road' for Mendes
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Kathy Bates has signed on to reteam with her "Titanic" co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Sam Mendes' "Revolutionary Road" for DreamWorks.
David Harbour, Michael Shannon and Zoe Kazan also are boarding the 1950s-set drama, which revolves around a suburban Connecticut couple whose relationship deteriorates into an endless cycle of squabbling, jealousy and recriminations.
Justin Haythe adapted Richard Yates' acclaimed 1961 novel, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
Bates will play Mrs. Givings, who sells the couple their home and introduces them to the town. Harbour will play Shep Campbell, a neighbor. Shannon will play the son of Bates' character. And Kazan will play Maureen, secretary of DiCaprio's character, with whom she embarks on an affair.
Scott Rudin, John Hart, Bobby Cohen and Mendes are producing the film, which begins shooting outside New York in June. David Thompson, Henry Fernaine and Marion Rosenberg are executive producing.
Quote from: MacGuffin on April 24, 2007, 01:03:18 AM
...and Zoe Kazan also are boarding the 1950s-set drama, ...
Kazan will play Maureen, secretary of DiCaprio's character, with whom she embarks on an affair.
granddaughter of elia.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.broadway.com%2Fsite_images%2F538607.jpg&hash=a91c32e8959480219dd5336a8b954d98cbf67007)
my age, currently naked on broadway (http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=538609)
Sam Mendes shifts to comedy
Director to helm Eggers/Vida's 'Place'
Source: Variety
Sam Mendes will next direct an untitled contemporary comedy for Focus Features in March.
The low-budget project, previously titled "This Must Be the Place," is based on an original screenplay by husband-and-wife team Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, best known as novelists and magazine editors.
It follows a young couple's journey around the U.S. as they search for somewhere to put down roots and raise the baby they are expecting. No casting has yet been confirmed.
Pic is being produced by Ed Saxon and co-financed by Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf's Big Beach ("Little Miss Sunshine"). Mendes will get a producing credit through his own Neal Street Prods. Focus will co-finance and distribute worldwide.
This movie will be the first Mendes has made for a studio specialty division.
Mendes is finishing "Revolutionary Road" for DreamWorks, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Pic is due for release at the end of 2008.
Mendes originally intended his next directing project to be his first British movie, an adaptation of George Eliot's 19th century masterpiece "Middlemarch," which Andrew Davies is writing for Neal Street.
But after so much heavy-duty drama, Mendes decided instead that it was time to flex his comedic muscles with "This Must Be the Place."
Eggers wrote the novel "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" and runs the publishing house McSweeney's. Vida edits the magazine "The Believer" and has written novels including "Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name."
"This Must Be the Place" will be their first produced screenplay, although Eggers is also collaborating with Spike Jonze on "Where the Wild Things Are" and is adapting his own recent book "What Is the What."
named after the Talking Heads song: Naive Melody (This Must Be the Place)?
Krasinksi, Rudolph join Mendes film
Cheryl Hines to co-star in untitled Focus comedy
Source: Variety
John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph will star in Sam Mendes' untitled relationship comedy for Focus Features.
Cheryl Hines has signed on to co-star.
Film follows an expectant couple (Krasinski, Rudolph) as they travel the country in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family.
Author Dave Eggers penned the screenplay with his wife, editor-novelist Vendela Vida.
Shooting is scheduled to start in April in Connecticut.
Ed Saxon is producing alongside Big Beach's Marc Turtletaub and Peter Saraf.
Krasinski will next be seen opposite George Clooney in the period sports comedy "Leatherheads," which opens April 4. He made his feature directorial debut with the upcoming indie "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men," which he adapted from David Foster Wallace's novel.
Film credits for Rudolph, a long-running cast member of "Saturday Night Live," include "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Idiocracy." She and Krasinski previously teamed for voice work in "Shrek the Third."
Hines ("Curb Your Enthusiasm") recently wrapped her feature directorial debut with the indie "Serious Moonlight," from a screenplay penned by the late Adrienne Shelly. Her upcoming film acting credits include "Henry Poole Is Here" and the animated "Space Chimps."
Maya Rudolph: future Xixax award winner for Best Actress. Why? Because we love the father of her child.
Quote from: ElPandaRoyal on March 08, 2008, 05:17:37 PM
Maya Rudolph: future Xixax award winner for Best Actress. Why? Because we love the father of her child want to be her.
Columbia signs on for 'Preacher' feature
Sam Mendes to direct adaptation of Vertigo title
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Columbia Pictures has picked up the rights to "Preacher," the popular 1990s Vertigo series, for an adaptation to be directed by Sam Mendes.
Neal Moritz and his Original Films banner are producing with Kickstart Prods.' Jason Netter.
Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, "Preacher," which ran from 1995-2000, told the story of a down-and-out Texas preacher possessed by Genesis, a supernatural entity conceived by the unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon.
Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God -- who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven -- and hold him accountable for his negligence.
Getting a "Preacher" project off the ground has long been a favorite among the comic book literati in town, though none has been blessed to see completion. The project was previously set up as a one-hour series at HBO but was put into turnaround. Mark Steven Howard wrote a pilot which Howard Deutch was attached to direct.
A previous movie version, to have been produced by Kevin Smith's View Askew, among others, got to the casting stage, with James Marsden attached for the title role and a reported budget of $25 million.
The new "Preacher" has no writers on board, though Mendes will lead the search while putting the finishing touches on his drama "Revolutionary Road, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and due Dec. 26.
While comic book movies might seem as common as Joker Halloween costumes, CAA-repped Mendes directed one of this century's early comic adaptations, 2002's "Road to Perdition."
Moritz and Netter are working adapting another Ennis comic book, "The Boys," which also is set up Columbia.
Sam Mendes Talks Preacher
Exclusive: Director on comic book movie
Empire recently sat down with Sam Mendes for a nice chat, during which we asked the Brit director about the state of play on Mendes' next movie, a just-announced adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's controversial but brilliant comic book, Preacher.
So, Sam, what's the skinny?
"I'd love to make Preacher," he smiles. "But there's no script."
But... but... the Internet told us that...
"This is a typical Variety announcement," Mendes added. "'Mendes to direct Preacher' – I wish! Basically they should have written, 'Mendes in development with Preacher'. What I'm doing is, I've gotta find a script. I've just got to get it written."
Nevertheless, Mendes did go into some detail about his attraction to the project, which in pure thumbnail terms, is about a rebellious preacher called Jesse Custer and his quest to find God and make him accountable for crimes against humanity.
"It's brilliant, it's an incredible twisted vision," he said of the 66-issue story. "There's so much of it you couldn't possibly fit it all into one movie. It's just about what you keep and what you leave out, and how you structure the story. But just to have that toy set again, being able to paint on a big canvas and to say 'I am gonna do crazy crane shots and massive action sequences again because I want to,' it's exciting.."
Understandably, given the fledgling status of the project, Mendes isn't too keen to talk about specifics, but we did ask him about one casting issue – namely, the frequent appearances of John Wayne, whose ghost acts as a counsel to Jesse throughout.
"That's an interesting one, I wonder what the John Wayne estate's gonna say about that," teased Mendes. "We'll see, we'll have to get them on side..."
That would be so awesome.
Opening on June 5th in limited release is Away We Go, a contemporary comedy directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes from an original screenplay by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The movie follows the journey of an expectant couple (John Krasinski of "The Office" and Maya Rudolph of "Saturday Night Live"), as they travel the U.S. in search of a place to put down roots and raise a family. Rounding out the cast are Jeff Daniels, Carmen Ejogo, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Hamilton, Allison Janney, Melanie Lynskey, Chris Messina, Catherine O'Hara, and Paul Schneider. Away We Go is produced and co-financed with Focus by Big Beach.
2009 = the year of Eggers.
Was Revolutionary Road filmed like American Beauty/and Road to Perdition - in regards to cinematography/stylized shots?
I knew Conrad Hall passed, but I wondered if he's still creating that look.
The scenes I saw from it during the Globes looked like he had.
I mean, it's not as overt. There are those slow doorway push-ins, but nothing crazy like his pans left to right over the course of several shots. The film is beautiful, but it's definitely Deakins.
oops.
I just remembered that I never saw Jarhead.
:yabbse-grin:
John August to pen 'Preacher' film
Sam Mendes directing comic book adaptation
Source: Variety
"Big Fish" scribe John August has been tapped to adapt the supernatural graphic novel "Preacher" for Columbia.
Sam Mendes will direct the pic, which centers on the preacher of a Texas town who is struggling to get by and is driven only by his strong moral sense. When the city is decimated by an otherworldly force, he embarks on a journey across the country to take on the evil.
Critically lauded graphic novel was created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon. The 75-issue "Preacher" series, which ran from 1995-2000, nabbed four Eisner Awards.
Sony-based Neal Moritz, who last year produced "Made of Honor," "Prom Night" and "Vantage Point" for the studio, is producing "Preacher" through his Original Film banner alongside Kickstart Prods.' Jason Netter. Ken Levin and Ori Marmur exec produce.
August, who is a frequent collaborator of Tim Burton, is currently writing "Dark Shadows" for Warner Bros. He made his directorial debut on 2007 drama "The Nines," which he also penned.
God, I hope this movie gets made. But everyone involved so far is way too proper for the material. It needs someone with an edge and Sam Mendes and John August are the complete opposite of someone with an edge.
Potential spoilers....
Either way, to get the full effect of the story, it needs to be done as a trilogy with the first film following the first 4 issues introducing the main characters that will pull the story along, Genesis, Jesse, Cassidy, Tulip, Saint of Killers, Sheriff Root and Arseface. It should end with Jesse using the word to stop everyone from killing eachother then Saint Of Killers telling him, "I'm going to kill you." and Jesse saying, "Well, maybe, but not today." then him and Tulip ride off into the sunset.
The second film should follow issues 5-7. This storyline would be awesome. The one with the serial killer plotline. It's very early Andrew Kevin Walker'ish, but with humor.
The last film should follow the backstory after Jesse gets captured by his grand mother and the good ole boys and it shows his backstory. Growing up in that religious fanatic house with his grandmother after his father is murdered.
This could be so awesome if it's done right.
did you just spoil anything...?
Not really. I'll edit just in case.
Columbia gets 'Lost In Austen'
Mendes to produce film adaptation of TV series
Source: Variety
Columbia Pictures is bringing a time-traveling Jane Austen drama to the bigscreen, with Sam Mendes aboard as producer.
Based on the Brit miniseries "Lost in Austen," film will center on Amanda, an ardent Jane Austen fan, lives in present day New York with her boyfriend, until she finds she's swapped places with Austen's fictional creation Elizabeth Bennett.
The show's original writer, Guy Andrews, is penning the screenplay.
The original four-part series starred Jemima Rooper and Gemma Arterton and aired on ITV in the U.K. in September.
Mammoth Screen, which produced the mini, will develop the movie version with Mendes' Neal Street Prods.
Andrews is exec producing alongside Mammoth Screen's Damien Timmer and Michele Buck and Neal Street's Pippa Harris.
Mendes, who most recently produced and directed "Revolutionary Road," is working with the studio on the apocalyptic comicbook adaptation "Preacher," which he is attached to helm.
Sam Mendes, Focus in 2-year pact
First-look deal includes two potential projects
Source: Variety
Focus Features has made a two-year first-look deal with Sam Mendes and Neal Street Prods., the company the helmer partners in with Pippa Harris and Caro Newling.
Deal includes the acquisition of two projects that could be potential directing vehicles for Mendes.
Mendes, Harris and Newling are producing "Butcher's Crossing," an epic adventure based on the 1960 revisionist Western novel by John Williams.
Set in 1870s America, the pic focuses on a man who forsakes his Harvard education to move to the small Kansas town of Butcher's Crossing. There, he joins the hunt for one of the last great buffalo herds.
Polsky Films' Gabe and Alan Polsky are producing with NSP.
Focus will also develop "Middlemarch," an adaptation of the George Eliot novel about changing fortunes in a provincial English community in the early 1830s. A script is in by Andrew Davies.
Mendes has not committed to his next film as a director. He formed Neal Street with Harris and Newling in 2003; the shingle most recently produced "Away We Go," Mendes' first film for Focus.
Neal Street's theater productions include "Shrek the Musical" and "Mary Stuart," and Neal Street Theatricals is participating in a trans-Atlantic producing partnership called the Bridge Project. As part of that initiative, Mendes directed a double bill of "The Winter's Tale" and "The Cherry Orchard" at BAM, which has since moved to the Old Vic.
"The range of Sam's interests and skills as a filmmaker is limitless, and he is a magnet for top talent in front of and behind the camera," said Focus CEO James Schamus.
Focus lands 'Netherland'
Mendes teams with Winfrey on film
Source: Variety
Focus Features has teamed with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Prods. and Sam Mendes' Neal Street Prods. to mount a feature adaptation of "Netherland," the Joseph O'Neill novel that Harpo optioned last year when it was published.
Christopher Hampton will write the script for a film that Mendes is eyeing as a potential directing vehicle.
Mendes and his Neal Street partner Pippa Harris will produce with Harpo's Winfrey and Kate Forte. Neal Street has a first-look deal with Focus.
"Netherland" won O'Neill the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. The novel is set in New York City, where a lonely Dutch expatriate becomes drawn to the sport of cricket and forms an unlikely bond to immigrant culture.
Hampton previously worked with Focus Features on "Atonement," earning an Oscar nomination for his script.
"We're so glad to have Christopher join our creative partnership with Harpo and Neal Street," Focus Features CEO James Schamus said. "This project's emotional power has resonated with us all."
'The Road' scribe destined for 'Crossing'
Joe Penhall to adapt John Williams' Western novel for Focus
Source: Hollwyood Reporter
Joe Penhall is following the road to "Butcher's Crossing."
The screenwriter who adapted Cormac McCarthy's novel "The Road" has been hired to adapt John Williams' 1960 Western novel for Focus Features. The project is part of a two-year, first-look deal that Focus cut with Sam Mendes, who might direct.
Set during the 1870s, the adventure tale centers on a man who drops out of Harvard and heads west to the small Kansas town of the title. There, he joins the search for a great buffalo herd.
Mendes and his Neal Street Prods. partners Pippa Harris and Caro Newling are producing with Polsky Films' Gabe and Alan Polsky.
Penhall, repped by Endeavor and the Curtis Brown Group in the U.K., also is working on the Fox 2000 adaptation "Deep Water" and an adaptation of his own play, "Landscape With Weapons," for "Road" director John Hillcoat.
He also wrote the screenplays for "Some Voices" and "Enduring Love."
Sam Mendes Off Preacher
Source: ComingSoon
As part of their latest "Seven Days With" series, Collider spoke with producer Neal Moritz, the man behind the "XXX" and "Fast and Furious" franchises and more, but also the producer behind the long-gestating adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Vertigo comic series Preacher. They discovered that director Sam Mendes is off the project, having gotten the gig to direct the 23rd "James Bond," but Moritz is trying to keep the forward motion going on the project by talking to new directors. The film's screenwriter John August is one of the filmmakers interested in directing the movie, which is intended as the first part of a series.
The Collider story also mentions that Moritz has had a meeting with a possible director for The Boys, the movie based on the Garth Ennis/Darick Robertson comic book we previously reported on here. Previously, Collider got the scoop that Ryan Reynolds will star in Moritz's other project mentioned in that piece, the adaptation of the Dark Horse comic R.I.P.D..
Sam Mendes has probably given up on life. After losing one of the classiest pieces of ass in the world, how could you not!
Quote from: Stefen on April 09, 2010, 11:52:54 PM
Sam Mendes has probably given up on life. After losing one of the classiest pieces of ass in the world, how could you not!
not even, if anything his involvement in the next bond film signals a renewed interest in life on many fronts.
firstly, he will renew his interestin in being relevant.. his film will be guarranteed to be talked about cos someone will actually see it. he also is showing an interest in money, which he would'nt need if he gave up on life, no quite the opposite, he wants MORE out of life therefore he needs more money to satisfy his new desires. and finally the greatest sign to be gleaned from his involvement in the bond franchise is a clear and definite interest in CHICKS.. you cannot make a bond film without getitng your filthy hands all over a bond girl.
he is a cunning bastard.
Apparently in talks to direct Wizard of Oz prequel with RDJ starring as the Wizard.
http://chud.com/articles/articles/23442/1/ROBERT-DOWNEY-JR-WILL-BE-THE-WIZARD-OF-OZ/Page1.html
downey is turning into johnny depp.
Not that bad yet, but definitely going there. Pretty sad.
Sam Mendes Sweet On 'Charlie And The Chocolate Factory' And Focus Feature 'On Chesil Beach' With Carey Mulligan
By MIKE FLEMING; Deadline Hollywood
EXCLUSIVE: With James Bond postponed because of MGM's woes, Sam Mendes has firmed the next two projects he intends to direct. Following a successful reading of the first act of the stage musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in New York last week, Mendes has committed himself to direct the musical production that will shoot for a holiday 2011 premiere in London. A move to Broadway will follow.
Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will continue writing songs and David Greig will complete the book and a designer is being hired to construct the elaborate chocolate factory. While that goes on, Mendes will squeeze in a feature. I'm told he plans to direct On Chesil Beach, and that he is having discussions with Carey Mulligan to play the female lead in the Focus Features adaptation of the Ian McEwan novella. The author is scripting the drama, which takes place in the UK in 1963 and revolves around two repressed virgins in their early twenties whose attempt to consummate ends badly. Their futile attempt at lovemaking leads to doubt and recriminations. Mendes and Pippa Harris are producing.
Mendes is bullish enough that the film will happen that he has informed Disney he should no longer be considered to direct The Great and Powerful Oz. But Mendes remains committed to the Bond film and intends to direct it once the MGM ownership situation gets sorted out.
Mendes' commitment to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a boost for one of the signature projects for the Warner Bros stage arm Warner Theatricals. I'd always heard that part of the studio's motivation for the 2005 film remake was to curry favor with the estate of Roald Dahl and make the stage musical possible. Even though Dahl adapted his book into the 1971 film Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, he didn't care for the original. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is being produced by Mendes and his Neal Street Productions cohort Caro Newling, along with Kevin McCormick. Caro and Mendes formerly ran Donmar Warehouse and their recent stage productions include Red, which is nominated for 7 Tony Awards and has won the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards for Best Play.
haha why is there only a passing mention to the fucking burton travesty released only FIVE fucking years ago???
is everyone pretending it didn't happen so mendes doesn't feel like a complete FOOL for wanting to make another version?
Move over Guillermo Del Toro, there's a new career-suicide in town.
Charlie and the chocolate factory? Are they fucking kidding?
Mendes is always supposed to do stuff he never does though, so it won't get done.
Quote from: P on June 03, 2010, 02:20:17 AM
Move over Guillermo Del Toro, there's a new career-suicide in town.
Maybe you misread, this is a staged production, not a movie. All this will do is attract drama-nerds and then ruin the career of the director who decides to film the musical version (hopefully not Mendes).
Oh yeah i guess i just read what i wanted to see, i still think the whole thing is boring, no wonder winslet had to abandon ship on this dude. Rev rd is looking more real each day. At least the part about being bored to death by your once exciting husband. Leaving the bond movies i guess will be his del toro moment.
Who gives a shit about Sam Mendes anymore anyways? He hasn't even made a good movie. Road To Perdition looked great, but that was more Conrad Hall than anything. Only reason anyone paid attention to this dork is because he had a hot piece of ass wife. Now that she came to her senses and got rid of him he just needs to get lost.
Yeah, I know I called Away We Go one of the best movies of last year, but I just wanted to see Kate get dressed up for the Oscars.
GTFO, Sam Mendes. ASSHOLE!
Haha, Stef, you're just trying to impress Kate.