United Artists near deal for 'Pinkville'
Oliver Stone drama stars Bruce Willis
Source: Variety
Oliver Stone is heading back to Vietnam.
He is closing a deal with United Artists to finance "Pinkville," a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre that he would direct. Pic would be distributed through MGM.
Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum will star. Mikko Alanne wrote the script.
A UA commitment could be finalized this week, putting the picture into production by early next year, with a budget of roughly $40 million.
It marks the fourth time Stone has directed a film set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, following Oscar winner "Platoon," "Heaven & Earth" and "Born on the Fourth of July." "Pinkville" also reunites the director with Tom Cruise, who starred in "Born on the Fourth of July" and who, with partner Paula Wagner, is now a co-owner of UA.
Willis will play Army Gen. William R. Peers, who supervised the investigation into the massacre by U.S. soldiers of as many as 500 My Lai villagers, most of them unarmed women, children and elderly.
Tatum will play Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot who, upon realizing what was happening below, put a stop to the killing by placing his craft between gunmen and the few villagers who were left, and telling his two shipmates to fire on the soldiers if they shot any more people. They airlifted the survivors and reported the carnage to superiors.
Pinkville is the description on a military map for the region where My Lai is.
Stone had been expected to follow "World Trade Center" with a drama about the CIA's attempt to catch Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan after 9/11.
Instead, he will tackle "Pinkville," which is set up as a mystery but explores the themes of barbarism and heroism. Thompson was initially excoriated for his actions, while Peers' revelation of one of the most atrocious acts in U.S. military history (and subsequent military cover-up) helped galvanize opposition to the war.
Alanne, who wrote and directed the 1997 docu "Voice of Dissent" about the LAPD and the murder of Sen. Robert Kennedy, most recently scripted "Notorious," about the killings of rappers Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur
Fucking eh! My favorite actor with my favorite director. Willis has talent. The problem is he does too many trendy films.
I've been waiting for this pairing as well. Years ago, Stone attended a party hosted by Kevin Costner. At the end of the party he thanked Costner for the treat of meeting Bruce Willis. Stone said Willis was "our generation's Humphrey Bogart."
When Willis heard this, he campaigned on camera for Stone to cast him in a film sometime. Finally.
More information on the project:
Filming will begin this October in Thailand.
The boxer Fernando Vargas has a role.
Jawbreaker has officially been shelved. Stone said the more he reads the less he thinks the invasion of Afghanistan was a success so a film about Special Forces operations seems dumb to make.
Stone also confirmed he is working on a project about George W. Bush. He speaks here:
"Sure, I would. But I would do it lighter than Nixon. We are working on something and I hope it works. You can't be too depressed about something like that or you can't make it. You have to keep some sense of humour about Bush...but the joke is on us."
Information found here: http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2145389,00.html
Writer influenced by Oliver Stone tapped for 'Pinkville'
Mikko Alanne takes on a dark chapter in American history, the My Lai massacre.
Source: Los Angeles Times
No one polarizes moviegoers quite like Oliver Stone. But he may have found a true kindred spirit in Mikko Alanne, the 34-year-old screenwriter of Stone's next war drama, "Pinkville," about the investigation into one of the darkest moments in the Vietnam War: the slaughter of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai by American soldiers in 1968.
As a teenager in Finland, Alanne was already a history junkie when he had his filmmaking fires stoked in a Helsinki theater by Stone's controversial "JFK."
"It really reshaped my thinking about what kind of films could be made and what they could do," Alanne says. "The whole idea that you could, through film, illuminate a hidden side of history and uncover the forgotten heroes and villains of the story -- that hooked me. I entered film school as a very serious political filmmaker."
After acquiring a film and sociology degree at Ithaca College on a Fulbright scholarship, Alanne sent Stone a documentary he had made called "Voice of Dissent," about the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy. That got him hired as a researcher for the Oscar-winning director, and from 1997 to 1999 Alanne worked on several unrealized historical projects, including "Memphis," Stone's planned retelling of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Alanne first broached My Lai with Stone then, and by 2001 he brought Stone a take that would focus on key figures such as the lead investigator, Gen. William R. Peers, and heroic helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson. Stone hired him to write a full-length screenplay, which Alanne finally did earlier this year with the massacre's 40th anniversary approaching.
"I feel like it's mostly a forgotten event," Alanne says. "And while it's a very dark chapter in American history, and it's probably the darkest hour of the Vietnam War, I also wanted to shine a light on the few heroes that exist in that story that tried to do the right thing and paid very steep costs in their lives."
Though Alanne declines to discuss the story's details, its potential political effect or Stone's motives, it's easy to imagine why a provocateur like Stone would want to follow up the patriotic "World Trade Center" with a muddier exploration like "Pinkville." The Vietnam War veteran has directed three other films about the war, "Heaven & Earth," "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Platoon," which won the Oscar for best picture and garnered Stone a nomination for his screenplay.
Stone's antiwar politics recently led him to contribute an ad to MoveOn.org's VideoVets project advocating the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. And he bypassed his planned film about the CIA's search for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan to readdress an event like My Lai in the context of Abu Ghraib and the alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians by Marines in Haditha in 2005.
The director is trying to get the film into production early next year, which would open up the tempting possibility of a release during the home stretch of the crucial 2008 presidential election campaign.
Oliver Stone Goes Back to War
Source: Time.com
Oliver Stone honestly thought he was finished with the Vietnam War. With Best Director Oscars for Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and with 1993's Heaven & Earth to round out his Vietnam trilogy, the director had moved on to more current topics. Last year's World Trade Center centered around rescue workers on 9/11. Any Given Sunday (1999) was set on American football fields, not battlegrounds. So what was the 61-year-old filmmaker doing sitting in an airport lounge in Danang this week, watching himself lighting incense during a temple visit on local television news? Researching another Vietnam movie, of course. His latest project, Pinkville, focuses on the investigation into the 1968 My Lai massacre, in which U.S. troops slaughtered as many as 500 unarmed Vietnamese villagers. He spoke to TIME Vietnam correspondent Kay Johnson about parallels between Vietnam and the Iraq conflict, his old Yale classmate George W. Bush and why he won't be making the Great Iraq War Movie.
After 15 years since Heaven & Earth, why another Vietnam movie? Why now?
Why now? Because of Iraq. That's a major reason. I had no intention of making a fourth Vietnam movie at all. But this last year — you know my feelings about the Iraq war of course — I think the time has unfortunately come back around to remember events like My Lai.
Why My Lai? Because it's a great story. I was [serving] in Vietnam at the time, and it really made an impression, and I think it changed the course of the war to a large degree. Americans were shocked, as well as the Vietnamese. You have to take into account that many Vietnamese villagers were neutral. It turned many neutral villagers against us. It was an interesting turning point.
As a veteran yourself, do you understand how it could have been easy for soldiers to cross that line?
Not easy, but I can understand it. I mean, you saw a bit of it in Platoon. Not on this scale. But that's part of what the movie shows, visualizes, dramatizes — the peer pressure, the tension. [My Lai] happened. It's a fact. It's history. I'm not seeking to denigrate the average soldier. There was a breakdown in that division and there was a breakdown from the top. And I think it had a lot to do with the war policy, which was basically body counts, kill ratios, search and destroy, free-fire zones — these concepts, when they are allowed to grow, grow out of hand. And they got out of hand in many cases. My Lai is one of them.
The Vietnam War was obviously a formative experience for you; you've made three movies about it.
I don't consider this next movie like the other Vietnam ones, because they were all personal, those stories. There's me in Platoon. There's [Vietnam veteran] Ron Kovic in Born on the Fourth of July. And in Heaven & Earth, there's Le Ly Hayslip [the Vietnamese woman whose life is dramatized in the film, and who accompanied Stone on his trip to Danang]. All three were personal stories.
My Lai is more like World Trade Center in that it's outside my own personal whatnot, it's outside me and it's an event of historical proportions. But it seems that there's so many similar things [between Vietnam and Iraq]. Sometimes the best way to reflect on something is through parallel history. Patton came out during Vietnam; Little Big Man came out during Vietnam; M*A*S*H* came out during Vietnam. They were all about other wars. Sometimes you can tell more about a war now by paralleling a previous war.
Speaking of parallels, President Bush recently made the case that the lessons from the aftermath of the Vietnam withdrawal is reason to stay in Iraq. Any thoughts?
Now that's despicable. The man went to Yale, but he never went to class. Obviously he didn't learn history. Anyone who knows anything about Vietnam would know that it was not the American withdrawal that precipitated chaos in this area. It was quite the opposite. It was the American invasion that precipitated the chaos. I don't think he was a good student. I was in the same class with him at Yale — '68. I left, he stayed. But he didn't learn his lessons.
You've been to Cuba, you've interviewed Castro, so you seem to have no personal problem with socialism. What do you think about the communist-run system here in Vietnam now?
I don't know enough about it here. I'm not a fan of socialism. I never was. I made that clear and told people when the Castro documentary came out. I believe in a fair market, but the market sometimes has excesses. And Cuba, economically, is not an example for the rest of the world.
Do you think you'll make an Iraq movie eventually?
It's a good subject, but you know, it's another generation's war. I think it could be told better by someone who has really lived it like I lived Vietnam. But I'm interested in the politics of what happened behind it. That fascinates me. Right now the surge — it resembles a lot of the Vietnam stuff because we always heard that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. That was a very consistent quote: "It's changing, it's getting better, [another] six months, another 100,000 troops." We heard that again and again and I think any Vietnam veteran or person of my age from that era will tell you that it's very similar. False hope.
the freer the market the freer the people
Cast in Stone: Harrelson to 'Pinkville'
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Woody Harrelson is reteaming with Oliver Stone in the director's Vietnam War drama "Pinkville" for United Artists.
Harrelson joins Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum, who already have been cast in the mystery drama based on the infamous 1968 My Lai Massacre, in which upward of 500 people -- mostly women, children and the elderly -- were killed by U.S. soldiers. The massacre ended up being a turning point in the war.
Harrelson will play Col. Henderson, the conflicted officer in charge of the task force that committed the massacre.
Mikko Alanne wrote the script. Production is set to begin next year, with MGM distributing.
Willis will portray William R. Peers, the real-life Army general who investigated the incident. Tatum will play Hugh Thompson Jr., an Army helicopter pilot who aided the villagers and later testified against the soldiers.
Michael Pena, who appeared in Stone's "World Trade Center" and plays an Army Ranger in Afghanistan in Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs," also has been cast.
Stone is no stranger to films set against the backdrop of Vietnam. "Pinkville" -- the title refers to a military description on the My Lai region -- accompanies the director's "Platoon," "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Heaven and Earth," all of which centered on the war.
Harrelson starred in Stone's "Natural Born Killers." His more recent credits include "A Prairie Home Companion" and "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio." He is repped by CAA, Tracy Harshman and attorney Steve Burkow.
Xzibit going to war for Stone, 'Pinkville'
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Rapper and "Pimp My Ride" star Xzibit has joined the cast of Oliver Stone's "Pinkville." United Artists is distributing.
Xzibit, whose real name is Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, joins Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson in the drama about the 1968 My Lai Massacre, in which more than 500 people -- mostly women, children and the elderly -- were killed by U.S. soldiers. Mikko Alanne wrote the script.
Xzibit will play a soldier who is convinced he carried out his orders in a moral way.
Production is set to begin next year.
Xzibit, who just signed with Paradigm, is shooting "American Inquisition" with Alfre Woodard, Anthony Mackie, Charles Dutton and Tim Blake Nelson. His credits include "Gridiron Gang," "Derailed" and "XXX: State of the Union."
As a rapper, he has sold more than 3 million records, including the platinum selling "Restless," which sold more than 2 million.
The Vine: Pitt targeted for 'Pinkville'
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Oliver Stone is eying Michael Pitt to play Lt. William Calley, the Army officer who was found guilty of ordering the 1968 My Lai Massacre, in his upcoming Vietnam War drama "Pinkville."
As an actor, Pitt is no stranger to the political turmoil of 1968; he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers," set against the '68 student riots in Paris.
Although United Artists, which is producing the film, and the actor's reps -- UTA, Carolyn Anthony and attorney James Adams -- have begun discussions, it's unclear how far the talks have progressed.
In other castings on the film, Toby Jones has been set to play Lt. Andre Feher, the chief warrant officer who tries to convince Army Gen. William Peers (Bruce Willis) that U.S. soldiers were responsible for the atrocities committed at My Lai.
Willis, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson already are cast in the investigative thriller written by Mikko Alanne. Production is set to begin in December, with MGM distributing. Jones, who next appears in MGM's Stephen King adaptation "The Mist" and in "Frost/Nixon" for Universal, played Truman Capote in 2006's "Infamous."
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 13, 2007, 02:35:38 AM
The Vine: Pitt targeted for 'Pinkville'
Source: Variety
Oliver Stone is eying Michael Pitt to play Lt. William Calley, the Army officer who was found guilty of ordering the 1968 My Lai Massacre, in his upcoming Vietnam War drama "Pinkville."
As an actor, Pitt is no stranger to the political turmoil of 1968; he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers," set against the '68 student riots in Paris.
Although United Artists, which is producing the film, and the actor's reps -- UTA, Carolyn Anthony and attorney James Adams -- have begun discussions, it's unclear how far the talks have progressed.
In other castings on the film, Toby Jones has been set to play Lt. Andre Feher, the chief warrant officer who tries to convince Army Gen. William Peers (Bruce Willis) that U.S. soldiers were responsible for the atrocities committed at My Lai.
Willis, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson already are cast in the investigative thriller written by Mikko Alanne. Production is set to begin in December, with MGM distributing. Jones, who next appears in MGM's Stephen King adaptation "The Mist" and in "Frost/Nixon" for Universal, played Truman Capote in 2006's "Infamous."
Oh man. Michael Pitt? This is the crucial role, too. Pitt physically resembles Calley the best of any actor mentioned as a potential. Calley was a weakling and also an officer in charge. When he ordered the Mai Lai Massacre the idea is he did it out of pure incompetence. Michael Pitt's most dramatic offerings has been playing weak characters who were easily intimidated.
Pitt fits all the easy qualifications of the role, but I hope his performance isn't just a regurgitation of his basic talent. Will he be able to go deeper with it? A lot of this film will depend on the legitimacy of Pitt playing the disgraced, weak officer. I guess if any actor will be able to challenge Pitt to meet the requirements, it's Oliver Stone.
The news I'm waiting for is the confirmation of Robert Richardson as cinematographer. IMDB says its so, but who knows. I don't take much stock in a cinematographer making a film, but Richardson and Stone have an excellent history. Richardson has done well with both handling and challenging Stone. Plus my favorite films of Stone's have Richardson's involvement.
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on November 13, 2007, 03:07:41 AMThe news I'm waiting for is the confirmation of Robert Richardson as cinematographer. IMDB says its so, but who knows. I don't take much stock in a cinematographer making a film, but Richardson and Stone have an excellent history. Richardson has done well with both handling and challenging Stone. Plus my favorite films of Stone's have Richardson's involvement.
yeah i was really pumped when i saw this too. they make a lethal combination and are one of my favorite director/dp teams. i thought they had a falling out after u-turn but maybe they made amends? or maybe their falling out wasn't a fall out at all?
UA Postpones Production of Stone's Pinkville
Source: ComingSoon
United Artists announced today that as a result of the writers' strike, it is postponing production of the Oliver Stone project Pinkville starring Bruce Willis. The studio said that because of the ongoing labor action by the Writers Guild of America, neither Stone nor screenwriter Mikko Alanne, both of whom are members of the WGA, can work on the script revisions needed to get the film ready for production. Stone, Allane, and Willis are all completely supportive of this decision.
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 17, 2007, 12:18:30 AM
Stone, Allane, and Willis are all completely supportive of this decision.
The first two are duh's, but Willis willing to wait is good news. I'm just worried about others involved in the production. Mainly Robert Richardson. He's someone most likely on demand and can't sit around. I hope the new set of talks go well.
Damnit!
Variety just reported Willis is joining a film set to start production in February. The rumor is he has dropped out of Pinkville. Either he has dropped out or Stone already forsees a much later production start for Pinkville and has Willis lined up to start filming then. Considering the number of projects Willis has coming up, who knows. I hope Stone and Willis agreed on a future time table. I'm worried.
recently there was a story in the news about a man who hired someone to kill his wife. she heard a knock at the door one nite and asked who it was, a man answered, "bruce willis". bemused, she opened the door and got shot in the stomach. she didn't die. her husband was arrested.
bruce willis was not caught.
I found more reason for concern. This is a blog that reported the news of the delay but didn't project a happy affair between Willis and Stone. Willis could be on his way out...
Oliver Stone's Pic Another Strike Casualty
Source: http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/
There's more to the United Artists announcement on Friday night that the studio has postponed production on Oliver Stone's Pinkville about the 1968 My Lai massacre because of the writers strike. Both Stone and scribe Mikko Alanne are WGA members and couldn't make the revisions on a script which I'm told "needed a lot of work. UA didn't want them to cross the line and neither did they," an insider explains. That caused a lot of sturm und drang between Stone and star Bruce Willis, and I heard the two had strong words Thursday and Friday. Also, the cast and crew had been hired and a start date in Thailand set for December 10 for what was going to be a 3-month shoot. Some of the crew were already there and now the Thai government is being notified, sets struck, hotels reservations cancelled, etc. Talk about money out the window for a fledgling studio that's part of a troubled major. This is the latest of a rash of films in retreat because of the strike despite careful planning by the major studios.
In real news,
Behr & Gigandet Enter "Pinkville"
Source: Dark Horizons
By Garth Franklin
Monday November 19th 2007 1:25am
Jason Behr and Cam Gigandet have joined Oliver Stone's Vietnam War investigative thriller "Pinkville" for United Artists reports Reuters.
The story is based on the 1968 My Lai massacre that took place during the Vietnam War. Behr will play Lt. Stephen Brooks, the commanding officer in charge of the GIs at My Lai. Gigandet will play Fred Widmar, a soldier who is wracked with guilt and shame after witnessing the slaughter that day.
The pair join Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, Woody Harrelson, Michael Pena, Xzibit and Toby Jones who've already been cast whilst Michael Pitt is being sought for the part of the infamous Lt. Calley, who was found guilty of ordering the massacre.
The project was postponed yesterday due to the writers strike.
I'll talk to myself, cbrad or Pubes (considering he may be to rescue himself from that last joke), but word is:
FILM CANCELLED
Producers pulling out. Official annoucement coming soon.
Quote from: The Gold Trumpet on November 22, 2007, 05:01:07 PM
Pubes (considering he may be to rescue himself from that last joke),
it wasn't a joke. (http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22747647-2,00.html)
Film is back on. Below is an official casting call for extras. Looks like Bruce Willis is back on board and the film is a go with United Artists coming to a tentative deal with the Writer's Strike. I'm still worried because reviews of the script said it felt like a bad first draft, but Stone said 8 drafts have been written so I'm not sure which draft was even reviewed. I do know Stone and company will be doing heavy rewriting while filming, as they always do.
Oliver Stone movie need extras
Reply to: job-540893532@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-01-16, 10:24PM ICT
Oliver Stone Movie
starring Bruce Willis (Die Hard)
we're looking for extras to play American soldiers in a foreign movie
shooting on 17-1-2008 until 30-3-2008
3 hours outside of BKK shooting in an army camp.
good food is promised
max 12.5 hours work straight on location and extra payment in case of extra hours
Black, Arab, White, Hispanic 17-40 are all welcome
please send us your name, family name, phone number, photos, age, height, weight and nationality
Location: outside BKK
Compensation: 1500-2000 baht