Tony Scott

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'Deja Vu' all over again with Scott
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Tony Scott is returning to direct Walt Disney Studios' "Deja Vu," now that it appears the project will be able to film in New Orleans as originally planned.

The action thriller is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Denzel Washington. But its future had been in doubt since Scott left the project this month after its key location, New Orleans, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
 
At the time, Scott cited logistical and scheduling reasons in withdrawing from the project. Sources familiar with the director's position said Scott was adamant about shooting in the city for creative reasons -- in part because the script called for a dock and ferry in key scenes.

With Scott gone, even Washington's involvement had begun to look tenuous because the actor signed on in part because of his desire to work with the man who directed him in "Crimson Tide" and "Man on Fire."

But sources said Scott reconsidered when he learned that the city's dock was being repaired and would, along with parts of the city, be ready for a winter shoot.

The governor's Office of Film and Television in Harahan, La., has been working closely with the producers during the past few weeks to keep the movie in the state, convincing them of the feasibility of a shoot. The movie is considered important to the state's film industry because its $80 million-plus budget would stimulate the economy, its complex action sequences would help showcase what local crews can accomplish and New Orleans' prominence in the plot could serve as a boost in restoring tourism.

If the plan goes through, "Deja Vu" would be the first film to shoot in New Orleans post-Katrina.

By shooting in Louisiana, Disney also could take advantage of the state's generous tax incentives.

With CAA-repped Scott back in, the movie's preproduction is getting back on track. The studio said it hopes to begin shooting in New Orleans in late January or early February, and sources said that the production is in the early stages of checking out housing and hotels.

The screenplay by Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii centers on an FBI agent who travels back in time to save a woman from a murder and falls in love with her in the process.

[polkablues]

The screenplay by Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii centers on an FBI agent who travels back in time to save a woman from a murder and falls in love with her in the process.

And his best friend is a talking pie.

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Tony Scott is returning to direct Walt Disney Studios' "Deja Vu," now that it appears the project will be able to film in New Orleans as originally planned Domino tanked at the box office and Scott's offers started to dry up this week.

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Helmer Talks Warriors Remake
Exclusive: "In the cards very soon," says Tony Scott.

Walter Hill's 1979 The Warriors remains a classic almost 30 years after its tale of gang warfare first unfolded on the screen. The film has found renewed interest in the past couple of years as well, via toys and videogames and a director's cut DVD, but perhaps most interesting of all is the longstanding talk of director Tony Scott's remaking the film for a modern audience. Now the helmer is telling IGN Movies that the remake might finally be getting underway.

"The Warriors is in the cards very soon," says Scott, whose film Déjà Vu will be seeing release next week. His Warriors will relocate the action from the streets of New York to those of Los Angeles. "I'm creating a journey from Long Beach to Santa Monica, to Venice, so I'm going to create this sort of little fictionalized journey, but it's going to be a lot tougher and I'll use a lot of the real world, the real gangs, the real people in the movie. That's why I call it Kingdom of Heaven, my brother's [Ridley Scott's] movie, in terms of scale, versus [the original] The Warriors."

Everyone remembers the story of The Warriors. As the gangs of New York rally in an attempt to make peace, the revered gangleader Cyrus is shot and killed, with the underdog gang the Warriors falsely accused of the crime. As the group tries to make it back to their home ground of Coney Island, every type of gang - from Baseball Furies to Lizzies - struggles to take them out. And as beloved as those unique gangs are by fans of the original film, Scott says that he plans on basing his gangs more in the real world.

"I'm going to do my own gangs from today, because [the original's] were really knock-offs from Kubrick's movie A Clockwork Orange," he says. "I'll do my own version but it's still that same journey, so therefore I'm paying homage to the movie. I'm not copying it. I'm not going to do what they did on Psycho, which is a frame-by-frame remake, which would be boring... God, I couldn't imagine that. I'd rather shoot myself than spend a year of my life doing that."

He's already done his research into the real gangs of L.A., in fact, and even utilized them a bit in his film Domino.

"I've met all the heads of all the different gangs, so I've already educated myself," says Scott. "They all said, 'Listen dude, if you get this on we'll sign a treaty and we'll all stand on the Long Beach Bridge. There'll be 150,000 members there. It'll look like the L.A. Marathon.' In Domino there was a little bit of that with the 18th Street Gang. The guy that Keira [Knightley] lap-dances with is the second-in-command of 240,000 members. And he was great! The culture and the music and the world has changed so much today, so it is such a wild world out here and all these young [people], from the Cambodians to the Vietnamese to the Crips and the Bloods and the 18th Street Gang, the cultural differences and the music has such a broad range. So I'm going to bring all that to the movie."

Additionally, Scott says that he hardly recognizes the film as a remake. He sees the tale of the Warriors as a simplistic story - "It's 10 little Indians at point B and they have to get back to point A" - that he is just adapting with a modern spin.

"I love the movie," he says of the original. "And what I've done is make it contemporary, and I'm going to shoot it contemporary by shooting it here. The original Warriors was New York in the '70s, and everything went upwards, everything went vertically. And now I'm making it a contemporary thing and doing it in L.A., so everything is horizontal. So my vision of The Warriors is Los Angeles in 2007 and the gangs, instead of being 30, are going to be 3,000 or 5,000."

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Exclusive: Warriors Update
Tony Scott talks gang warfare...
Source: Empire Online

Having already revealed to Empire that his version of the 1979 cult-smash The Warriors is going to be a definite reinvention rather than a simple remake, Tony Scott's passion for the project is most definitely on the rise.

Speaking at the London premiere of his latest action extravaganza Deja Vu, the helmer talked exclusively to Empire about what we can expect from his version of the gangland classic: "I'm going to make it my vision" stated Scott, "It's going to be The Warriors meets Kingdom Of Heaven. It's a very simplistic story – that's the connection. I'm going to shoot it in L.A and all the gang members have said, if I get it on, they'll sign a treaty for the duration of the shoot."

Visibly excited at the prospect of creating, what will undoubtedly become, one of the movie's key sequences, Scott reiterated his desire "to have 50,000 gang members on Long Beach...you just can't substitute those gang members with extras. I haven't met with the heads [of the gangs]", he revealed. "In those situations you meet with the second in command. Touching these worlds is exciting for me, because I don't really understand how they function and who these guys are. In the right environment, they're sweethearts, but hit them in the wrong environment..."

The Warriors is set to hit screens in 2008.

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Scott fights for rights to Dollard
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Tony Scott is setting his sights to bring the story of Hollywood agent-turned-pro-war documentary filmmaker Pat Dollard to the big screen.

Scott, via his production banner Scott Free Prods., has dipped into its discretionary fund to option the Vanity Fair article "Pat Dollard's War on Hollywood" as well as to option Dollard's life rights. Dollard and the article's author, Evan Wright, will write the screenplay.

The article portrayed Dollard, who nurtured the career of a then-unknown Steven Soderbergh, as the stereotypical Hollywood agent with a drug-fueled lifestyle and a collection of ex-wives. Dollard chucked the "Entourage"-esque world, embedding himself with Marines in Iraq, where he joined patrols and survived several bombings. Dollard went from wearing Armani suits to combat gear, hair styled in a Mohawk and the word "die" shaved into his chest hair.

The article described his attempt to sell the documentary, titled "Young Americans," as well as his making a concurrent docu, an incoherent porn filmed by a rehab sidekick, which echoed "Auto Focus," a film that Dollard produced.

The material fits into Scott's oeuvre, as he often focuses on off-kilter characters like Hollywood model-turned-bounty hunter Domino Harvey, whose life was depicted in his film "Domino." He most recently directed "Deja Vu." Scott is repped by CAA.

Wright wrote the book "Generation Kill," also about the Iraq War, which is being adapted into a miniseries for HBO. He is repped by ICM and attorney Alex Kohner of Barnes Morris Klein.

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Tony Scott Directs Numb3rs Premiere

Feature film director/producer Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Déjà Vu) makes his network television directing debut, helming the season premiere of "Numb3rs," to be broadcast Friday, Sept. 28 (10:00-11:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Scott's episode will serve as a template that freshens up the production values of the show for the fourth season. It picks up where last season's finale left off, with the discovery that Agent Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) was a mole within the FBI. Now Agent Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and the rest of his team, including his mathematician brother, Charlie (David Krumholtz), must deal with the repercussions.

Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, David W. Zucker, Ken Sanzel, Don McGill, Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton are executive producers of "Numb3rs," which was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton. "Numb3rs" is produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Scott Free for CBS. "Numb3rs" airs Fridays at 10:00 PM (ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

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'Pelham' on Track
Denzel Washington and Tony Scott are expected to reteam for the fourth time on a remake of 1974's subway thriller ''The Taking of Pelham One Two Three''
Source: Entertainment Weekly

It could be déjà vu all over again (and again) for Denzel Washington and Tony Scott. EW.com has learned that Washington is in negotiations to star in a Scott-directed remake of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three for Sony. (The studio declined to comment.) Based on the 1974 movie starring Walter Matthau, Pelham would feature Washington as a cop who must stop a hijacked subway car. The movie would mark the fourth pairing of Washington and Scott. Their previous collaborations include the kidnapping drama Man on Fire, the submarine thriller Crimson Tide, and last year's Déjà Vu, about a ferry boat explosion. Now, with this subway movie on track, we're dying to see which mode of transportation they tackle next. Air Force Two, perhaps?

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Tony Scott to direct Don Aronow film
Lerner script follows cigarette boat inventor
Source: Variety

Fox 2000 and director Tony Scott are teaming on a feature about Don Aronow, the inventor of the cigarette boat.

Scott intends to helm the film from a script Michael A.M. Lerner is penning. Scott Free will produce.

Aronow was a self-made millionaire businessman and powerboat racing's world champ for 10 straight years. His cigarette boat became a favorite of Colombian drug smugglers looking to import their product into Miami in the 1980s. Aronow got a $20 million contract to build boats for U.S. Customs agents to catch the smugglers. He was eventually gunned down in 1987 in a mob-style hit in Miami.

Lerner teamed with partners Jeff Shapiro and Alan Hecht to option rights of Aronow's surviving son, Michael. Shapiro and Hecht will be exec producers.

Scott will first direct Denzel Washington in a remake of "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" for Columbia Pictures.

Lerner is a former Newsweek correspondent who wrote and directed the indie feature "Deadlines," based on his experiences covering war in Lebanon.

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Travolta boards 'Pelham' remake
Actor to play Washington's foil in Scott film
Source: Variety

John Travolta is boarding "The Taking of Pelham 123," negotiating to join Denzel Washington in the Tony Scott-directed remake at Columbia.

Travolta will play the leader of a quartet that hijacks a Gotham subway train and threatens to kill the passengers unless a ransom is paid. The role was originated in the 1974 film by Robert Shaw. Washington plays the chief detective of security for the subway, a role originated by Walter Matthau in the Joseph Sargent-directed drama.

David Koepp wrote the script and Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal and Steve Tisch are producing through Escape Artists. Tony Scott is also producing through his Scott Free banner. The film rolls into production early next year.

Scott heavily courted Travolta to make "Pelham" his first action role in years. Travolta is coming off a drag turn as Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray" and is currently re-teaming with "Wild Hogs" helmer Walt Becker in "Old Dogs."

Travolta last played the figurative heavy in "The Punisher" in 2004.

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Tony Scott boards 'Unstoppable'
Director hitches on to Fox thriller
Source: Variety

Tony Scott has boarded the Fox thriller "Unstoppable," intending to make it the next film he directs.

That puts "Unstoppable" on an express track toward production. Scott is working with screenwriter Mark Bomback to get the picture in shape to be shot later this year.

The drama involves an unmanned runaway train that is carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. An engineer and his conductor find themselves in a race against time.

Julie Yorn is producing, and Scott will board the project as a producer as well.

Scott most recently completed "The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3," the Columbia Pictures drama that will be released June 12.

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Washington in talks for 'Unstoppable'
Actor may star in Tony Scott-directed thriller
Source: Variety

Denzel Washington is negotiating to star in drama "Unstoppable," the Tony Scott-directed that 20th Century Fox has on track for a fall production start.

Washington would play an experienced engineer who jumps in a locomotive with a young conductor to chase down a runaway train carrying a cargo of toxic chemicals. Mark Bomback wrote the script, which is loosely inspired by a true event.

Julie Yorn is producing "Unstoppable" with Scott.

The drama would reunite Washington and Scott for their fifth film together. Aside from "Crimson Tide," "Man on Fire" and "Deja Vu," the duo just completed another train-based thriller, "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," which Columbia Pictures releases June 12.

Washington has been filming "The Book of Eli" for Alcon Entertainment and Silver Pictures, with Allen and Albert Hughes directing the post-apocalyptic thriller that Warner Bros. releases in early 2010.

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Tony Scott Talks Up 'The Warriors'
Source: MTV

News like this makes me smile my big, gaping fanboy smile. "The Warriors" is a modern classic, the tale of a gang making their way from the Bronx to Coney Island while a city full of rivals hunts them. There's so much about the original film that's memorable, from iconic lines like "Can you diiiiiig iiiiiiit?" to the memorable opening credits sequence.

Now we have Tony Scott speaking with Rotten Tomatoes about his coming remake. Or whatever it is. "I'm not doing a straight remake," he told RT. "I love the original 'Warriors' and I'm using the same basic story. It's really still 10 guys stuck at point B and they need to get back to point A. But I'm going to set it in Los Angeles and it's going to be a kind of study of gang culture in LA today."

The original film is set in a fictional New York City which has been overrun by gangs, who have divided up each neighborhood into different territories. Scott revealed to RT that he's been speaking with local LA gangs, specifically naming the "Crips, Bloods, The 18th Street Gang [and] The Vietnamese." The response has been positive so far as Scott tells it; many gang members have seen the original and are excited about the possibility of getting involved with the remake.

As a native New Yorker, I'm not terribly pleased to hear about the change of venue but I suppose it makes sense. Los Angeles is a very different sort of location; Scott describes it as "a city which is horizontal." His vision? "I'm hoping to get a hundred thousand real gang members standing on the Vincent Thomas Bridge for one shot." The number sounds a bit large, but I like the ambition Tony!

It's not a remake, and it's certainly not a sequel. MTV's Splash Page has the exclusive there: a preview of the upcoming comic "The Warriors: Jailbreak," which is set directly after the events of the first film. It's all part of Paramount's 30th anniversary celebration for the film.

Scott has had a busy few days, as I reported late yesterday that he revealed an "Alien" prequel is in the works, with commercials director Carl Rinsch in place to direct.

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Tony Scott Sees Javier Bardem For 'Pancho Villa'

MTV's Josh Horowitz recently caught up with Hollywood superman Tony Scott to chat about the release of his upcoming remake, "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," which releases this Friday. The conversation eventually turned towards what's next for Scott, who was more than happy to drop some hints on what his next move will be.

One possibility he seemed particularly excited about would be a re-telling of Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa's story. For Scott, the biopic is going to be his "big epic" Western. And he sees only one possible candidate for the starring roll: Javier Bardem.

"I've been talking to him about it now for... about eight years," Scott told MTV. The long gestation time may suggest that we'll continue to wait while Scott gets through his current commitments to "Alien" and "The Warriors", but at least we know that Javier is interested.

Why, you may ask? Because Scott has already discussed it with him! "He [told me], 'I am Pancho Villa,'" Scott said of Bardem's response to the possibility. Unfortunately, the director stopped there, refusing to divulge any further details about his plans.

A new take on Pancho Villa would certainly be welcome; it's an incredible story that's produced some great film. HBO broadcast their own version starring Antonio Banderas in 2003, titled "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself." But there hasn't been a proper big screen take on the story since director Eugenio Martín's "Pancho Villa" (1972), which featured "Kojak" star Telly Savalas in the title role.

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'Traffic' Writer Stephen Gaghan Scripting Hunter S. Thompson Adaptation 'Hell's Angels' For Tony Scott
Source: MTV

Filmmaker Tony Scott was all over the place in his recent interview with ComingSoon. Yesterday, we reported that he's officially called a "time out" on talk of the rumored "Alien" remake. He also revealed his plans for the coming "re-tooling" of "The Warriors," along with a bunch of other interesting tidbits.

The bit that really caught my eye was the revelation that Stephen Gaghan, the Oscar-winning writer of "Traffic," is developing a script for an adaptation of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's seminal work, "Hell's Angels." It's a wild bit of non-fiction writing culled from a very specific moment in history.

Thompson essentially signed on as a de facto member of the notorious biker gang while conducting his research. The process of earning the gang's trust to the point that he let them hang around is a story unto itself. Thompson was always an outsider as far as the gang was concerned, but to varying degrees. The result in print is a marvelously up close and personal look at the violent yet surprisingly honor-driven lifestyle of the country's most notorious biker gang, a group which occupied a decidedly unique niche within '60s counter-culture.

Thompson's rascally voice is more reserved in "Angels" than what many know from his drug-addled trip to Sin City in "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas," which was itself adapted — and very successfully — for film by director Terry Gilliam. The author is less a perpetrator in the earlier work than he is an observer, letting the gang life unfold while he reports. There's occasional commentary as well, and it's equally fascinating to watch Thompson's evolution from wary outsider to sympathetic defender.

Gaghan is an interesting choice to write, almost as much as Tony Scott is to direct and/or produce. "Fear & Loathing" practically demanded Gilliam's maniacal touch. I'm not so sure I feel the same about "Angels" and its linkage with Scott/Gaghan, but I am excited nonetheless to see momentum carrying this project towards fruition.

Personally, I can only see Scott sticking to a producer's role for this one. As a director, he tends to deal in a very specific type of melodrama and spectacle. Thompson's "Hell's Angels" just doesn't seem like a project that Scott would deliver on. I'd be much better off with someone like Steven Soderbergh stepping in for this one.

"Hell's Angels" is a undoubtedly challenging adaptation, and I'm more interested in seeing it done right than anything else. Gaghan and Scott are talented filmmakers who both know their business. Here's hoping they play it straight and simply let the work speak for itself; there's too much "truth is stranger than fiction" to Thompson's experiences with the Angels lifestyle for anything less.