From Foxnews, "from FoxNews.com, Steven Spielberg says he's got David Koepp (Noooo!!!) working on Indy 4 now. Dunno bout you, but me no likey this new development. He also dishes out a very small, but undeniable, jab at George Lucas. Enjoy:
"Munich" director Steven Spielberg will take a year off from moviemaking, he told me last night at the Academy Governor’s Ball.
He deserves it: between November 2004 and October 2005 he produced and directed both "War of the Worlds" and "Munich."
(Hello! What did any of us do in that time period?)
Spielberg and his sensational knockout actress wife Kate Capshaw very happily attended the Governor’s Ball and the top top top A-list Vanity Fair party at Morton’s afterward, even though "Munich" — my personal choice for Best Picture this year — received nothing.
During my long talk with the most successful and honored film director in motion picture history, Spielberg told me a couple of things. For one, he expects that it will take two years before "Munich" makes its money back. It’s among his lowest grossing films, including "Amistad," "1941" and "Always."
“But it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I didn’t make it for the money.” He’s very happy with the finished product, also.
Right now, he does not have a project on the front burner, a big change for a man who does sometimes make two feature films in a year.
His main work in 2006 will be preparing his Abraham Lincoln film with award-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin, and acting as a producer, not director, on several other smaller projects.
I asked him about "Indiana Jones 4." What’s up?
I said: “George Lucas told me recently that there’s a script and he’s happy with the story.”
Spielberg: “George Lucas isn’t the director. I am.”
You may recall that in this space on Dec. 6, 2005, I wrote that Lucas said he had a script by Jeff Nathanson, who wrote Spielberg’s "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Terminal," as well as Bret Ratner’s "Rush Hour" movies. But even Nathanson seems to have been succeeded in the Indy sweepstakes.
“I have David Koepp on it now, and he’s my ‘closer,'” Spielberg said, using a baseball reference to the pitcher who comes in during the 9th inning and finishes up a winning ball game (New Yorkers automatically think: Mariano Rivera, Goose Gossage, Sparky Lyle, Dave Righetti).
“He wrote 'Spider-Man' and 'War of the Worlds,'” Spielberg said, “so he’ll get it done.”
Koepp ("Mission: Impossible," "Carlito’s Way," "Jurassic Park") also wrote “Zathura,” a current total bust that looks like it will lose millions for Sony, but hey, no one’s perfect."
9 comments:
Did Zathura go boom? I didn't even know.
I love certain parts of it, but Jurassic Park gets my vote for one of the worst screenplays of all time (although my complaints may be down to bad editing).
Koepp did a great job with War of the Worlds.
The business with Dakota Fanning's splinter (foreshadowing the end) was very clever, as was the name "Ray Ferrier" (What he runs from; what he is).
I liked Zathura, especially the malfunctioning robot.
I'm sorry Jordan, I'm fuzzy on both those points. Are you saying the splinter foreshadows the Martians' fatal infections? And are you saying Ray runs from rays and ferries? Is he a "ferrier" b/c of his profession or b/c he gets Dakota to Boston?
And what about Scarecrow's brain!
You're kidding, right?
Ah, actually no, I'm not. Those are my genuine attempts to crack the code of what you said. I figure it isn't really about "rays," though. I honestly don't know what you mean.
"Me and Betty, we figure it's probably rays."
Well, that's a yes to everything. I'm not 100% on "Ray" but I think "Ferrier" is brilliant because he ferries his kids.
The splinter -- I'm surprised at you! :) Like the opening shot of the mitochondria, the splinter ("When it's ready, my body will just push it out") telegraphs the theme. My first time, on opening day, I was grinning like a fiend in the audience at Spielberg's/Koepp's cleverness in getting that in there. (My Dad caught it too.)
Remember that this is the War of the WORLDS, not of the specific species; it's our ecosystem (our "world") that defeats the invaders. The last shot reverses the first: back into the cell nucleus. (Like the translucent flag shot that opens and closes Private Ryan, which is an indirect dis on Nazism by way of Leni Reifenstahl, whose "Triumph of the Will" starts and ends with a nearly-identical shot of a translucent Nazi flag flapping in the wind.
When I praise Spielberg, I am not kidding.
I love name tricks like that. Jack, the doctor who's the de facto leader of the castaways on LOST, has "Shepard" as his last name.
I forgot the "my body will push it out" line, and I missed its significance when it happened (all, uh, three times I saw the movie).
Now, about these "rays" of yours...hang on, let me knock back some of this water... BLEEAHAABGGAHHGGKKK!!!
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