Future Spielberg

Started by MacGuffin, July 18, 2006, 11:39:28 AM

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MacGuffin

SpielbergFilms interviews Steven Spielberg

On Saturday, July 15, I had the honor of attending the Chicago International Film Festival's (CIFF) Tribute to Steven Spielberg. Mr. Spielberg was in Chicago to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the CIFF for his three decades of incomparable work as a filmmaker. Through the kindness of DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg, SpielbergFilms was able to attend the pre-event red carpet, and then the event itself in which one of Mr. Spielberg's closest friends presented him with the CIFF's Gold Hugo award.

I compiled pages of notes while I was waiting for the red carpet activities to begin —personal observations, anticipatory thoughts of the potential of finally meeting Mr. Spielberg after nearly 30 years of admiring his work, funny asides on some of the chaos the media brings on their heels to events such as these. For the sake of brevity and focus on what follows below, I'll keep the majority of these items stored away for another day.

Two quick personal memories to begin, however.

First, while I was wandering around the press area set up within the lovely Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers, I noticed an oddly shaped little statue resting on a windowsill. At first, it almost looked like a religious statue, so I wandered over to see what such a malapropos effigy would be doing sitting in the hotel.

Right as it dawned on me that I was looking at Mr. Spielberg's Gold Hugo, Monique from PMK/HBH (the public relations firm who organized the event for the Fest) walked up beside me and said she was just coming to retrieve old Hugo. Kindly, she let me hold the award and asked if I'd like to read the inscription written to Mr. Spielberg. Apart from ever holding his three Oscars, it was pretty neat.

Next, despite my hope of always presenting myself as professionally as possible on SpielbergFilms, I'm going to get personal if you'll grant me a moment. I was waiting in the press area for a good hour, hour-and-a-half before the event began, and my anticipation at finally seeing Mr. Spielberg in person, let alone potentially meeting him was overwhelming. I felt like the poor sap in all the war films that loses it in the foxhole right before the battle commences. Would I run out into the fray prematurely, madly, only to be shot down?

Of course not. But I had to keep drying my hands and calming my racing mind just the same.

And then, Monique destroyed that Zen state I'd been struggling for by rushing out to the red carpet with an excited, "Mr. Spielberg is coming, Mr. Spielberg is coming!"

The room burst into a din of sound, popping flashbulbs and activity.

I was positioned at the last spot on the carpet so I was able to get a view of Mr. Spielberg working his way through the various media. (When I first met with Monique, she was embarrassed to tell me I was at the end of the line, but having never been on a press line I didn't see anything bad with this, plus I was told Mr. Spielberg wanted me there so I could wander freely throughout the event. Can you beat that?) From my vantage, it was incredible to see Mr. Spielberg at work. We've all seen the edited sound bites and read what information reporters bring back from such events, but seeing a view apart from what the camera captures was telling. You're unlikely to come across many who know how to address the press better than Steven Spielberg (what with over 30 years in the industry), and I was watching a master as he talked with CBS' Bill Zwecker in the most friendly, animated way.

During his walk down the press line, I could also see writers and photographers pushing and jockeying out of their assigned stations and into a throng intent on getting the best images and tidbits of information they could from Mr. Spielberg. Through it all, he remained incredibly focused on the individual reporter he was addressing, grace and calm in an absolute hurricane.

Eventually, the moment drew near as Mr. Spielberg rounded the bend and talked with a friendly journalist from the Tribune's Metromix.com that I'd been talking with for the last hour. The journalist asked Mr. Spielberg one great, serious question and one really funny, intentionally silly question (about whether Spielberg would want to battle dinosaurs, aliens or sharks).

Then, the eye of the storm fell upon me. Thirty years of living and breathing the wondrous, horrifying, inspiring, and transcendent images that Steven Spielberg has given us all came to a pinnacle for me as I was introduced to Mr. Spielberg as Steven from SpielbergFilms.com.

Awalt: Hi, sir. I'm pleased to finally meet you! I'm Steven.

Spielberg: Wow. SpielbergFilms.com. How are you? Wow. You got my letter?

Awalt: I'm good. I did, thank you so much.

Spielberg: We finally meet!

Awalt: Yeah, we finally...I've been wanting to meet you since 1978, so...

Spielberg: Oh my god. Well your website's really, really good.

Awalt: Thank you.

Spielberg: As I said in my letter, it's a great way to find out what the heck's going on out there. You're there first. I don't know how you do it!

Awalt: I'm hoping I don't get a lot of things wrong for you, since it's important to me to convey to your fans what you're doing and not get things wrong. There's so much on the Internet that's wrong about your work, like that rumor that you were going to do 'Angels and Demons.'

Spielberg: Oh yeah, I read that on your website, and I didn't even know I was doing it until I read your website, and then you debunked it in the same breath! Which I appreciate. Thank you. No one's ever approached me to do 'Angels and Demons,' and if they did, I would say no.

Awalt: Why's that?

Spielberg: Because it's not my genre, not my thing!

Awalt: Thrillers though, you're phenomenal with thrillers! Okay, I'm going to have to ask you some questions that I know if I don't ask, my readers will kill me.

Spielberg: Go ahead.

Awalt: Is 'Indiana Jones' going to be the 'sweet dessert after the bitter herbs' of 'Munich' that you'd mentioned in the one interview?

Spielberg: Well you know, George and I have been promising it for a lot of years now, but I'm making every attempt to keep my promise. I just want to make sure that the fanbase is given the best 'Indiana Jones' anybody could possibly make, and until I can assure myself that at least I'm trying to make the best 'Indiana Jones' film of all time, the development will continue. The process of developing the script will continue, and it continues right now with David Koepp writing the script.

Awalt: That was a surprising turn!

Spielberg: Well David Koepp is a great closer. And he's done some great projects for me, you know all of them. And I feel that if anybody can do it and pull this together, David can.

Awalt: The Darabont screenplay. You've probably read some of the controversy.

Spielberg: It's a wonderful screenplay!

Awalt: That's what I've heard you thought of it.

Spielberg: I liked it a lot.

Awalt: Are you going to use any parts of it in the final version of the film?

Spielberg: I am not.

Awalt: Will it ever see the light of day?

Spielberg: Someday... [hesitates] No, I don't think it will. Darabont wrote a wonderful screenplay and Frank's a very close friend of mine and we're collaborating on a number of things, but sadly 'Indy 4' will not be one of them.

Awalt: Understandable. Online, there's been talk about Breck Eisner on 'Jurassic Park IV.'

Spielberg: That's not true. Joe Johnston is standing by.

Awalt: First dibs on it?

Spielberg: First dibs on it, and Joe is my go-to 'Jurassic' guy now.

Awalt: There's been talk about Joe Johnston that says he took the negative flack about 'Jurassic Park III,' and said in public that any faults with the film are his faults. There was talk that you didn't care for the film, but it was profitable, and I've never heard you badmouth it in public, and I doubt you would, but...

Spielberg: Oh no, I don't feel that way at all! I think the film is witty and clever, and I think Joe did an amazing job putting together those battles. And I think those battles Joe put together... I was jealous of the spinosaurus attack on the airplane! That scene where the spinosaurus attacks the airplane and the passengers inside the airplane was every bit as good as I thought the main road attack in 'Jurassic Park' was. So I'm a huge fan of Joe's, and he's the right guy to do the fourth one.

Awalt: That's perfect! That's great to hear. 'Lincoln.' How viable is it still?

Spielberg: It's viable. The script's being written, and hopefully sometime in September/October of '07 I'll have the chance to start that. I can't guarantee that, it's just, once again, like 'Indy 4,' that script is in process.

Awalt: Could it go before 'Indy 4'?

Spielberg: I don't know, you know, everything's in process right now.

Awalt: And the studio, you're having some massive changes there?

Spielberg: Well the massive changes were accomplished once Stacey Snider [the new CEO of DreamWorks] came on board.

Awalt: Came on early too, right?

Spielberg: Well, no, came on when her contract allowed her to come on. Universal allowed her to come on, and she came on right at the legal moment she was allowed to.

Awalt: So it was a smooth switchover then?

Spielberg: It was a very smooth switchover thanks to Ron Meyer, who is CEO of Universal, who really made this happen for us, and I really appreciate that.

Awalt: You said you'd been going after [Snider] for something like 12 years...

Spielberg: Well actually I tried to hire her a couple of times when she was at TriStar, when she was at Sony and she always said no, and then she went to Universal.

Awalt: [laughs] She said no to you?

Spielberg: That's because Universal was a bigger challenge for her. We were just starting DreamWorks. It was a very small cottage...it was a boutique, and Stacey felt she wanted a bigger challenge and Universal gave her ten years of great training and now she's taking all of that know-how, and she's applying that to DreamWorks at Viacom.

Awalt: For a while we covered your production works, but I wanted to focus more specifically on your work as director, but I should still ask: 'Transformers.' How excited are you about that?

Spielberg: Well the dailies are fantastic.

Awalt: Any effects work, or just physical so far?

Spielberg: I have seen no effects work so far. I've only seen the scenes with the characters and a lot of the action, we call them plates, but it's plates with first team characters running around and hiding and fighting and it's pretty amazing what Michael Bay's doing with the camera, and with the performances.

Awalt: That's great. Now, the 'wormhole project,' that's what we've been calling it on the site [laughs].

Spielberg: Oh, is that wormhole? It's called 'Interstellar.' That's the name. It's a detailed treatment by Dr. Kip Thorne, and I'm working with Lynda Obst, who's the producer, and Kip Thorne on this project.

Awalt: What appealed to you... I know it was just in a treatment state when you signed on to it and without a finished screenplay you said, 'I'm on it'?

Spielberg: It was a concept that blew my mind and it was not foreign to me. My father, who was on one of the original teams at RCA that developed the very first commercial computer, my dad is sort of an amateur astrophysicist.

Awalt: I heard you took him with you to CalTech.

Spielberg: I took him with me to what I guess you'd call the roundtable, with some of the foremost computer physicists and astrophysicists, and behavioral psychologists from around this country and it really appealed to me based on all of my dad's influence, with all of the reading I've done over the years. You know I produced the Stephen Hawking documentary with Errol Morris a number of years ago.

Awalt: I didn't know that! What's the name of it?

Spielberg: Yeah. 'Brief History of Time,' you know. [Spielberg took no final credit on the finished film.]

Awalt: Oh yeah! I didn't know you were on that! How did I miss that?

Spielberg: Yeah, Kathy Kennedy and I executive produced it a number of years ago. I got a chance to spend a day with Stephen Hawking, which was one of the most illuminating days of my life.

Awalt: So undoubtedly 'Interstellar' is going to be a more cerebral science fiction, or science fact I should say?

Spielberg: It's going to... I don't want to categorize it yet, 'cause I'm just at the beginning of the process.

Awalt: Some people say '2001'...would you? I see that online a lot...

Spielberg: I don't see it as '2001.'

Awalt: That's kind of putting it in a shoebox before anyone even knows what it is.

Spielberg: That's right.

Awalt: Well that's exciting. Well... [offers hand to shake]

Spielberg: It was great talking to you!

Awalt: Phenomenal finally meeting you.

Spielberg: I finally met you! Good luck. Keep that going. Keep the site going! It's really good...

Awalt: Thank you very much; it's an honor to do it. Thank you. Thank you for everything.

[Next, the PR reps bring Roy Scheider over while Mr. Spielberg is still standing with me. They ask if I would like to talk to Mr. Scheider. Would I like to talk to Roy Scheider?]

Awalt: I would love to talk to Mr. Scheider. Hi, sir, what an honor to meet you.

Spielberg [to Scheider]: Be nice to this guy. He has a website on all of my movies. It's brilliant!

Awalt [to Spielberg]: Thank you, sir.

[Spielberg departs and leaves me to talk with Mr. Scheider.]

Awalt: I'm excited about 'The Shark is Still Working,' everything you've been doing with the guys.

Scheider: Oh yes! You know those guys?

Awalt: Yeah, I know them, and I'm in the documentary briefly with you... [Nervous laughter on my behalf since I am but a gnat on a god's beard and this, this is Amity's Chief Brody I'm talking with after all!]

Scheider: Oh, oh my goodness!

Awalt: I'm friends with the producers, and they've just had so many wonderful things to say about you.

Scheider: Oh good, thank you. Hopefully they'll have a sale. I think they will.

Awalt: Oh, if Universal doesn't buy it...

Scheider: Oh, I think they will... I thought it was terrific!

Awalt: Did you see a cut?

Scheider: I narrated it. I did the narration.

Awalt: Yeah, they told me, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone yet and so I didn't want to mention it. But yeah, it's phenomenal. They couldn't have picked anyone better to narrate it...

Scheider: Thank you, thank you.

Awalt: ... You're the voice of 'Jaws.'

Scheider: [laughs] I love it!
"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


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MacGuffin

Zhang Yimou and Spielberg Join Hands to Shoot "Journey to the West"   
Source: Cinematical

Zhang Yimou and Steven Spielberg, the two most well-known international directors, are inclined to join hands to shoot Journey to the West, a classic Chinese fantasy novel written by Wu Cheng¡'en.

Zhang Weiping, the producer of Zhang¡'s new flick, The City of Golden Armor, told Sina.com that shooting Journey to the West is just a plan. Everything has yet to be decided. We have been longing for a chance for them to co-direct a blockbuster. And Spielberg has shown his interest and intention to do so.

As for the expected shooting schedule, Zhang Weiping added: Zhang Yimou is the director of the 2008 Olympics and Spielberg is the artistic consultant. They both have to make full preparations for the Games. Zhang Yimou will not direct any other films until after the 2008 Olympics.

Journey to the West was written during the Ming Dynasty. It tells of the adventure of a Tang Dynasty (618-907) Buddhist priest named San Zang (a real historical person) and his three disciples the Monkey King, the pig and Friar Sand as they travel west in search of Buddhist texts.
"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


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MacGuffin

Spielberg Rep Plays Down Zhang Story

Steven Spielberg's offices have played down recent reports of a possible collaboration with famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou on a screen version of the classic Chinese novel, "Journey to the West."

"There does not appear to be anything to it," an unidentified Spielberg spokesman was quoted as saying on the Spielberg fan site SpielbergFilms.com Tuesday.

But the spokesman added, "It's not impossible that something vaguely might have been said which was interpreted that way."

The reports surfaced as it was announced in April Spielberg had signed on as a consultant to Zhang in designing the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Zhang's business partner Zhang Weiping was quoted as saying last Monday that Zhang Yimou and Spielberg have expressed an interest in working together, and that a possible project would be "Journey to the West."

"Zhang Yimou and Spielberg are good friends ... We've always wanted to find an opportunity to work with Mr. Spielberg on a major production. Spielberg and Zhang Yimou have expressed the intention to work together in their conversation," Zhang Weiping was quoted as saying on the Chinese news Web site, Sina.com.

Zhang Weiping reportedly said "Journey to the West," about a monk whose pilgrimage to India to obtain Buddhist texts is helped by three protectors, including a monkey, is an ideal project for Zhang Yimou and Spielberg because it would combine Spielberg's expertise in science fiction and Zhang Yimou's understanding of Chinese culture.

Zhang Yimou's recent credits include "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers."

However, Zhang Weiping was later quoted in the Beijing Yule Xingbao newspaper as saying that 'Journey to the West' was just an example of the scale of project they would collaborate on.

A spokeswoman for Zhang Yimou's production company, New Picture Film Co., said Tuesday Zhang Yimou and Spielberg intend to work together but just haven't settled on a project.

The spokeswoman, Guo Na, said filming will start after the 2008 Olympics.

"We hope it's a science fiction film," she said.

SpielbergFilms.com paraphrased the Spielberg spokesman as saying, "the director's next project in general hasn't been decided upon, let alone future collaborations over two years away."
"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


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MacGuffin

Spielberg calls for responsible TV

Steven Spielberg urged TV networks to be mindful of what they show on the air because of the effect it might have on children, and said programs like "CSI" and "Heroes" were too gruesome.

"Today we are needing to be as responsible as we can possibly be, not just thinking of our own children but our friends' and neighbors' children," Spielberg told an audience Monday at the International Emmys board of directors meeting here.

Spielberg decried on-air promotions for television shows like "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" that showed "blood and people being dissected." He also said that when his favorite TV show of the new season, NBC's "Heroes," showed someone cut in half in the 9 p.m. hour, he sent his younger children out of the room.

"I'm a parent who is very concerned," he said.

Spielberg said that the TV landscape was much more "homogenized" 20 years ago, even seven or eight years ago. One of his shows, "ER," wouldn't have been on the air 20 years ago because of its graphic depictions.

Two of Spielberg's movies, "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," have generated controversy during their television airings with uncut language and graphic depictions. But Spielberg has also made a famous edit to the DVD release of "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," where a government agent wielded a gun in the original film and then held a walkie-talkie in the DVD.

In a free-ranging hour of interview with former NBC News correspondent Garrick Utley and questions from the audience, Spielberg said iPod video may be all the rage but count his films out from tailoring his films to fit the small screen.

"That's one medium where I have to draw the line," he said. "We'll shoot for television and the movies and let there be a wide gap" between that and the small 3-inch screen. He also said that he felt that people are social animals who will choose to go out to a movie rather than watch a show on widescreen.

"I don't think movie theaters will ever go away," Spielberg said.

But the producer-director who got his start in TV directing Joan Crawford for a 1969 episode of Rod Serling's "Night Gallery" isn't lacking for work on screens of any kind. He's developing a 10- or 11-hour miniseries about the U.S. war against Japan in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, part of the 20% of his time that he estimated he worked on TV projects compared with 80% for films.

He called working on miniseries "the most fun I have" and especially liked the ability to develop characters. He pointed to HBO's "Band of Brothers," which developed characters over hours rather than the eight to 10 minutes that he said was available in a two-hour feature film.

Another project is "On the Lot," a Mark Burnett-Spielberg TV series that will choose one of 16 aspiring filmmakers for a development deal with DreamWorks, Spielberg's studio. It will air on Fox. And of course there's another film coming in the "Indiana Jones" series, which Spielberg was relatively mum about.

"There's still life in the series," Spielberg said.
"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


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MacGuffin

Spielberg takes development role in Fox TV projects
Burns, Turlington, Gemmill lead hour-longs
Source: Variety

Steven Spielberg is devoting more attention to TV this season, taking an active role in the development of two projects set up at Fox.

Ed Burns and wife Christy Turling-ton are attached to write a drama set in the fashion world and based on an idea of Spielberg's; second project, from scribe Scott Gemmill, is an actioner focused on time travel.

Both hourlong entries come from 20th Century Fox TV, as well as Spielberg's DreamWorks TV label. DreamWorks TV toppers Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank are exec producers as well.

Falvey and Frank note Spielberg's TV resume is lengthier than most believe. Series such as "ER," "Boomtown" and "Animaniacs" have carried a Spielberg imprint; he also has been behind countless longform projects, from "Band of Brothers" to "Into the West."

Most recently, Spielberg an-nounced last week that he and DreamWorks TV would team with TNT to produce a six-hour miniseries based on Stephen King-Peter Straub novel "The Talisman".

"He's always been very involved with our business," Frank said. "He started in TV, loves the medium and appreciates that there are certain stories that are right for TV and certain stories right for film."

DreamWorks TV has a first-look deal with NBC Universal, but Spielberg is not included in that pact.

Spielberg came up with the concept for the untitled Burns project after attending New York's fashion week. Storyline revolves around five twenty-somethings with fashion jobs such as photographer, designer, makeup artist and model.

Spielberg specifically sought out Burns (who appeared in his "Saving Private Ryan") and Turlington -- close friends of his -- to handle the project.

"There's a phenomenal partnership here in terms of this project," Falvey said. "Ed brings real character and a relatability to it, while (Turlington's) experience as a model is invaluable. She brings this expertise and insider's knowledge to it."

Burns and Turlington will exec produce with Falvey and Frank. If the show goes to pilot, Burns is aboard to direct.

Burns' TV credits include NBC laffer "The Fighting Fitzgeralds."

As for the Gemmill project, time-travel drama has a romantic storyline at its core.

According to Gemmill, Spielberg had expressed an interest in working on a TV project with time-travel themes; 20th tapped Gemmill, who has a deal at the studio, to come up with the concept.

"The mechanics of (a time-travel storyline) can be difficult, but there are a lot of possibilities -- and we're on the same wavelength," Gemmill said.

Untitled show will revolve around two young American physicists in WWII who discover a way to pinch time and travel to the future. They wind up hopping between 2007 and the 1940s in order to aid the war effort -- but in the process begin to upset the space-time continuum.

Along the way, one of the physi-cists also enlists a woman in 2007 to help him adjust to culture shock, and the two develop a relationship.

Gemmill "did his homework and nailed the concept, finding a way to create serialized storylines and self-contained episodes," Frank said.

Having exec produced "Back to the Future" and its sequels, Spielberg's also at work on a documentary on time travel.

Gemmill's also a familiar name to Spielberg, having spent several years (including a lengthy stint as exec producer) on "ER," which Spielberg's Amblin Television shingle produces.

Gemmill will exec produce with Falvey and Frank. Spielberg reserves the right to add his name as an exec producer to both projects, but he won't make that decision until later.
"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


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MacGuffin



Stolen painting found in Spielberg's collection
The director, a major collector of works by Rockwell, contacts the FBI. An agent calls the movie mogul an 'unknowing victim.'
Source: Los Angeles Times

A Norman Rockwell painting stolen from a Missouri gallery 34 years ago was recovered and authenticated Friday in the collection of movie mogul Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg's spokesman, Marvin Levy, said the director's staff contacted the FBI several weeks ago after seeing a bulletin from the agency's Art Crime Team seeking clues about the theft of the "Russian Schoolroom" oil painting.

"The second anybody said, 'I think we have that painting,' [our] office got a hold of the FBI," Levy said.

Special Agent Chris Calarco of the FBI's Art Crime Team and Jessica Todd Smith, curator of American art for the Huntington Library, inspected the painting Friday afternoon at Spielberg's offices on the Universal Studios lot. The filmmaker was not present.

"He's an absolutely unknowing victim in this," Calarco said of Spielberg.

Calarco declined to speculate on the painting's value, but two sources close to the investigation said it is worth between $700,000 and $1 million.

The painting, depicting schoolchildren in a classroom looking at a bust of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, was stolen during an exhibit at a small art gallery in Clayton, Mo., in June 1973.

According to the FBI, its whereabouts were unknown until 1988, when it was sold at an auction in New Orleans for about $70,000.

Spielberg bought the painting from an art dealer in 1989 for an undisclosed sum, Calarco said.

The director is a high-profile Rockwell collector who helped found the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.

As of last fall, he was listed as the museum's third vice president and a member of its board of trustees.

"He's certainly one of the collectors of Rockwell," said Levy, who wasn't sure how many Rockwell paintings Spielberg owns or where he kept "Russian Schoolroom." "We have a few in our office on the Universal lot."

The probe into the original theft lay dormant until 2004, when art crime investigators determined that the painting had been advertised for sale at a Norman Rockwell exhibit in New York in 1989.

Agents in the New York and Los Angeles field offices began putting out bulletins in art circles and tracking down known Rockwell collectors.

"We were basically just about to figure it out when the Spielberg people made the connection," Calarco said.

Linda Pero, curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., said: "I think it's really wonderful."

The FBI made the Spielberg link public late Friday, after an earlier notice — published in today's Calendar section — that the painting may have been found.

For now, the painting will remain in Spielberg's possession.

"I just advised them to hold on to it. It's safe there," Calarco said.
"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


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Pubrick

Quote from: MacGuffin on March 03, 2007, 11:07:31 AM
The painting, depicting schoolchildren in a classroom looking at a bust of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin,

except that one cheeky little malchik!
under the paving stones.

polkablues

Quote from: Pubrick on March 03, 2007, 09:37:25 PM
Quote from: MacGuffin on March 03, 2007, 11:07:31 AM
The painting, depicting schoolchildren in a classroom looking at a bust of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin,

except that one cheeky little malchik!

He's dreaming of Democracy.
My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

Cody tackles DreamWorks comedy
Script based on original idea by Spielberg
Source: Variety

Steven Spielberg has another idea to bounce off Diablo Cody.

The Oscar-winning "Juno" scribe has been tapped to pen an untitled comedy script for DreamWorks that is based on an original idea by Spielberg.

Studio is keeping story details under such tight wraps that even dealmakers involved with the project were in the dark. There are no producers yet attached.

Project marks the second time the pair have collaborated. Cody wrote the pilot and is exec producing Showtime series "The United States of Tara," also based on an original idea from Spielberg.

Cody first came to the attention of Spielberg when Mandate Pictures was looking for a domestic distributor for "Juno," well before Jason Reitman was attached as the film's director. Spielberg even considered directing the teen pregnancy comedy at one point.

Cody's other credits include "Jennifer's Body," which is in production at Fox Atomic, as well as the pitch "Girly Style," which is in development at Universal.

Cody is working on "Tara," which stars Toni Collette and John Corbett.
"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


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MacGuffin

Showtime, Spielberg team on series
Show to chronicle development of B'way musical
Source: Variety

Showtime and Steven Spielberg want to put on a show about putting on a Broadway show.

DreamWorks TV and Showtime are in the early stages of developing a scripted series that will chronicle the development of an original Broadway musical, from its creative inception through its opening night. The intention is to then mount the tuner on the Main Stem after the series airs.

Producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who are well versed in adapting tuners for the big- and smallscreen, are in negotiations to join the project, as are tunesmiths Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. DreamWorks TV toppers Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank are shepherding the project with Spielberg.

Reps for Showtime and DreamWorks declined comment.

Spielberg has been developing the concept for the TV-to-legit show for years, and he's been hands-on in setting up the project at Showtime and recruiting Zadan, Meron, Shaiman and Wittman, all of whom have worked together on past projects.

Showtime was the natural home for the untitled project given that its entertainment prexy, Robert Greenblatt, is a legit buff who recently moonlighted as the producer of tuner "9 to 5." DreamWorks TV already produces Showtime's half-hour dramedy "United States of Tara," whose star, Toni Collette, earned the comedy actress trophy at Sunday's Primetime Emmy Awards.

The team is now in the process of meeting with writers to create the series, which will offer a behind-the-scenes look at every aspect of launching a tuner, from penning the songs to recruiting investors. The show will incorporate multiple points of view on the process, and it will depict the personal lives of selected key players. It's not yet been determined whether it'll be a half-hour or hourlong skein.

Shaiman and Wittman wrote the music and lyrics for the tuner adaptation of "Catch Me if You Can," Spielberg's 2002 Leonardo DiCaprio starrer, which had its tryouts in Seattle this summer and is expected to hit the Rialto this season or next. And Shaiman and Wittman worked with Zadan and Meron on the 2007 feature rendition of the musical "Hairspray."

The ambitious project will represent a logistical challenge as scripts and production of the TV series are juggled along with the development of tunes to be featured in the show and eventually on the stage. The hope is that the series would run for multiple seasons, possibly focusing on new productions or fresh iterations of the original tuner.
"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

matt35mm

A DGA talk honoring Spielberg, in the form of a conversation between Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, and James Cameron. Yes, it's an hour and 40 minutes of waxing Spielberg's car, as 1990s PTA would say, but since it's a DGA talk, they do go into the nuts and bolts of how Spielberg approaches his work and why, and they go into some good stories.

http://www.dga.org/Events/2011/08-august-2011/75th-Spielberg-Event.aspx

There's some stuff to read and you can scroll down to see video of the event. The first video shows the whole event and the other videos are just highlights from the conversation.

MacGuffin

SEAL's Osama tale film-bound
Source: Page 6

The former Navy SEAL who has written his eyewitness account of the slaying of Osama bin Laden is in talks with Steven Spielberg to turn the book into an action movie, Page Six can exclusively reveal.

The author, who uses the pseudonym Mark Owen, was "one of the first men through the door on the third floor" of bin Laden's lair in Pakistan and was there when he died, according to publisher Dutton.

The book — "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden — will be released on Sept. 11.

Following the book announcement, Fox News revealed that Mark Owen is 36-year-old recently retired SEAL Matt Bissonnette. Then special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven said Bissonnette could face prosecution for revealing sensitive and classified information that could cause US forces harm.

Meanwhile, multiple sources tell us Bissonnette has already been in talks with DreamWorks about turning his book into a movie.

One source said, "He met with HBO's Richard Plepler, and he also met with Spielberg."

Another source added, "He is still talking to DreamWorks and Spielberg," who declined to comment.

A "No Easy Day" movie would add to an already busy field of bin Laden films. "Hurt Locker" director Kathryn Bigelow is working on "Zero Dark Thirty," about the decade-long hunt for terrorist leader bin Laden, leading to his death in May 2011. The cast includes Scott Adkins, Joel Edgerton, Jessica Chastain and Taylor Kinney, with release set for Dec. 19

Meanwhile, the Weinstein Company has secured the US rights to "Code Name Geronimo," the John Stockwell-directed drama about the manhunt for the 9/11 terror-attack mastermind.

According to reports, Weinstein will put the film in theaters in early fall, a move that would beat "Zero Dark Thirty" — which was delayed after Sony decided not to put it out ahead of the presidential election.
"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

Sleepless

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks to do thirds WWII series for HBO. This one will be called "Masters of the Air" and will reportedly be based on Donald L Miller's book Masters Of The Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought The Air War Against Nazi Germany, which follows the Mighty Eighth as they carried out bombing runs in France and Germany and engaged in air to air combat.

Empire
He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

wilder

Steven Spielberg Developing Stanley Kubrick's Dream Project 'Napolean' As TV Miniseries
via The Playlist

Even though put "Ropocalypse" on hold to figure out the script, 2013 is still shaping up to be a very busy and exciting year for Steven Spielberg. He was recently named as the jury president for the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, he's producing "Jurassic Park IV" which stomps back into theaters next year, he's working with Tom Hanks on another "Band Of Brothers"-esque series for HBO, and now he's making an unrealized dream project from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, come back to life.
"I've been developing Stanley Kubrick's screenplay -- for a miniseries not for a motion picture -- about the life of Napolean. Kubrick wrote the script in 1961, a long time ago," Spielberg told French network Canal+. That's really about it. There are no details on if he'll direct or how far along into development it is, but Spielberg is working with Kubrick estate on the project.

As devotees of Kubrick know, this is probably the grandaddy of all of the helmer's unrealized projects. "Napolean" was massively researched, with literally tens of thousands of location photos, slides of imagery and endless notes and details about the historic leader that filled up boxes upon boxes upon boxes in Kubrick's archives (so much in fact, that it formed the foundation of a rather amazing book on the subject). But the movie was never to be. MGM and United Artists both balked at producing the movie, which would have required thousands of extras and more, saying it was too risky in the wake of expensive endeavors like  1968's "War And Peace" and 1970's "Waterloo" that struggled to make their money back. Kubrick would eventually tackle "Barry Lyndon," which takes place 15 years before the Napoleanic wars, but he still longed to make the movie. He even drafted screenplays, with the 1969 version available right here.

And of course, this isn't the first time Spielberg has taken a Kubrick project across the finish line. 2001's "A.I." first started as Kubrick project as far back as the 1970s, and he developed it slowly right up to the early '90s, when he then presented it to Spielberg, thinking his sensibilities would be better suited for it. Spielberg declined, but decided to tackle it after the filmmaker's passing.

But back to "Napolean," this is pretty massive and exciting news, and while we can forever wonder what Kubrick might have done, there is no doubt that given piles upon piles of research material, Spielberg and his team will have a pretty good idea of what he was aiming for. Hopefully, there will be more news to come soon. Watch below -- Spielberg talks about "Napolean" at the 9:14 mark.

jenkins

fuck that. taking the project "across the finish line." christ. sight unseen, this will obvs be to kubrick's unmade movie what the fourth clone was to keaton's character in multiplicity

i feel irrarionally pissed at spielberg for linking kubrick to this. just say "i was inspired by the unmade kubrick project" and don't fucking say you've been "developing" his screenplay when you're mutating it