Behold...

Marvel Studios has released the trailer footage that it showed at Comic-Con...

Personally, I love the stuff in Asgard, but I'm not quite sure when he makes it to Earth. If you remember my post, "Unfinished Business" about the Top Best Scripts Hollywood Never Made, then you'll remember that "Thor" was on that list. But this one has been vastly rewritten, so I don't know how much will be left from what I read. The one I read had Thor Odinson being cast down to our world, but it fit the film because it was set in viking times and played more like a mythological tale. Seeing cars fly by this guy that is supposed to be the God of Thunder looks a little, I dunno, hard to take? Take a look and judge for yourself.

Now, about that "Captain America" trailer footage...

A Ghost Of A Chance...

Things appear to be moving forward with the sequel another Marvel property...

David Goyer has been pretty loose with his lips lately about "Ghost Rider 2" and what the script will look like. Apparently it'll look a lot like his original script for the Hellrider. Which is a good thing. Goyer says the sequel will essentially be the original script he wrote with minor changes. One of the main ones is that there would be no need for an origin story. It's a really good script that I remember reading almost a decade ago. It's far better than the cheesy script that they wound up turning into the first film. Nicolas Cage's hammy role is quite different than Goyer's original take on the character.

Johnny Depp was rumored to be up for Johnny Blaze back then. This was years before he shot to stratospheric levels of fame playing Jack Sparrow. The tone of the script was a straight "R" and it'll probably be toned down a bit, but I wouldn't think much as most "PG-13" films would qualify with an "R" rating a decade or so ago. I think Sony has made a good move going this direction. Hopefully, this turns into the Ghost Rider film I wanted to see when I heard they were making one.

Time will tell...

Who's Looking After "The Beaver," Anyhow...

The most talked about unfilmed/unproduced script in Hollywood could be on its way to being made...

If you remember, last year I posted "The Black List" which was a gathering of the top ten scripts circulating around that had yet to be filmed. The number one on that list was a script called "The Beaver."

The Beaver is written by Kyle Killen, one of Hollywoods new "It" writers and tells the story of Walter Black, a depressed toy manufacturer. Walter loses his family and his business, then in a moment of desperation he creates a hand puppet named The Beaver. The Beaver talks to him in a chatty British accent and suddenly, Walter's personality is transformed. Through the puppet, Walter is able to do and say things he felt were never possible in the ridged structure that his life had been set up in. Everything goes well, even great at first, but then, through a twist, things turn horribly ugly as the puppet wants to take charge and refuses to let Walter move on. It's been pitched as a darly comedic "Liar Liar." Many people have been attached from Steve Carell to recently Jim Carrey (pending directorial approval). Jay Roach was originally attached to direct, but he too has moved on to something else.

Now, apparently Jodie Foster has moved into the director's chair and she has a powerful reason why. Mel Gibson. She took the script to him and he loved it and attached himself to it. Funding hasn't been approved yet for the 18-19 million dollar film (Chicken feed in this town, really). But with Gibson's box office record it shouldn't be too hard to gather the funding for this offbeat, small film even with Mel's recent history of battling his inner demons.

Developing...

The Black List...

No, it's not what you're thinking...

This is not the list of people in Hollywood that were banned from working in the industry during the 50's because of the Red Scare.

This is the list of suggestions from over 250 film executives(read: Suits), who each gave the names of their ten favorite scripts that had been read, bought or not, but hadn't been made/shown in 2008.

For those of you that found BSD's "The 5 Best Scripts Hollywood Never Made" post appealing, this is for you:

Number One: The Beaver by Kyle Killen

Walter Black, a depressed toy manufacturer, loses his family and his business. But then Walter tries on a hand puppet—a chatty British rodent called "The Beaver"—and his personality is transformed. It’s all good at first, but things turn ugly when the puppet won’t let go. It’s Like: Liar Liar fused with the horror movie Magic. Status: Steve Carell is attached to play Walter.

Number Two: The Oranges by Jay Reiss and Ian Helfer

Two New Jersey families are thrown into comic turmoil when the prodigal daughter returns for Christmas and falls in love with her parents’ best friend. It’s Like: The Graduate engaged to Meet the Parents. Status: Anthony Bregman (Thumbsucker) and MRC will produce. Julian Farino (Entourage) is negotiating to direct.

Number Three: Butter by Jason Micallef

Destiny, a black foster child, faces off against Iowa’s reigning dairy diva, the beautiful but venal Laura Pickler, in an epic butter-carving competition for the ages. It’s Like: Election swirled with Best in Show. Status: Jennifer Garner is in talks to play Laura, while DreamWorks is in early negotiations for the project.

Number Four: Big Hole by Michael Gilio

Lee, an old, grumpy ex-cowboy, loses $30,000 to a fraudulent sweepstakes company and sets out to punish those responsible. Lee’s son, the local sheriff, is charged with stopping him. It’s Like: Falling Down splattered with No Country for Old Men. Status: Project is set up with Aversano Films (Failure to Launch).

Number Five: The Low Dweller by Brad Ingelsby

Charlie "Slim" Hendrick, a don’t-eff-with-me ex-con, returns home to find that his sweetie has moved on and his bitter brother has gambling debts. When a disfigured, dog-loving thug beats his sibling to death, Slim seeks vengeance. It’s Like: Unforgiven, only less geriatric. And much less forgiving. Status: Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way and Tony and Ridley Scott will co-produce.

Number Six: F***buddies by Liz Meriwether

Emma and Adam have the best relationship ever! They’re twentysomething pals who, you know, do it. A lot. But then Adam goes and falls in love with Emma and ruins everything. Can their perfect non-union survive? It’s Like: When Harry Met Sally… for the Juno generation. Status: Ivan Reitman’s company is developing it.

Number Seven: Winter’s Discontent by Paul Fruchbom

After the death of his wife of more than 50 years, irrepressible horndog Herb Winter sets out, at age 75, to find sexual fulfillment with another woman. Or, if possible, several. It’s Like: Superbad set in a retirement community. Status: The film is set up at Sony. No director or star is attached.

Number Eight: Broken City by Brian Tucker

The New York mayor asks private eye Billy Taggart to find out if the mayor’s wife is cheating on him. She is, with the campaign director of the mayor’s political rival, no less, who soon turns up dead. Did Billy’s investigation lead to murder? It’s Like: A modern L.A. Confidential peppered with Glengarry Glen Ross patois. Status: Being developed by the producing team behind Juno.


Number Nine: I’m With Cancer by Will Reiser

Adam, a 25-year-old single Jewish dude, is diagnosed with spinal cancer. Hilarity ensues. Seriously. It’s Like: The 40 Year-Old Virgin with chemo. Status: Seth Rogen will produce and has signed on to play Adam’s best bud.

Number Ten: Our Brand Is Crisis by Peter Straughan

A team of American political operatives moves to Bolivia to take on a flailing presidential campaign. Loosely based on the 2006 documentary of the same name. It’s Like: Primary Colors picked The Motorcycle Diaries as a running mate. Status: George Clooney’s company will produce it.


And one that was on the list(there were many more than ten, just so you know) Iron Jack happened to be an interesting read and could go on my own personal Black List were I to have one this year...

TTFN

If Adventure Had A Different Name...

When we all heard there was going to be a fourth Indy picture nobody knew what it was going to be called until Lucasfilm registered several names to control the copyright.

We could then narrow the field of what it was called and hopefully get an idea as to what the story would be about...

Those names were:


* Indiana Jones and the City of Gods
* Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds
* Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth
* Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
* Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold
* Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant


Pretty swanky names don't you think? I think that Lucas chose the least desirable of those names for the title... perhaps he was trying to tell us something?

What most people don't know is that Lucas commissioned quite a number of scripts for another Indy film before he finally decided that "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was the right one...

Ever wonder if he was right to chose IJATKOTCS instead of one of these other scripts?

I'm going to be posting a synopsis of each of these scripts that George Lucas commissioned as a possible idea for Indy 4 in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned...

Unfinished Business: The 5 Best Scripts Hollywood Never Made...

Question: "How many Development Executives does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

Answer: "Does it have to be a light bulb?"

- An old Film Industry joke about Development Executives.


Not all of the movies we see that suck started out that way. A film can take literally decades to gestate before going before cameras with the right team... or wrong team leading it. Hollywood is filled with giant egos, all wanting to take credit for something to validate a reason for having the title above their office door...

I've had quite a few people e-mail me over that past year or so whenever I talk about scripts or films. Many have asked me about other scripts I've read that I love. I thought I'd make a short list of several of the scripts I've read and put together what I believe are the best five scripts that Hollywood hasn't filmed. Granted, this is based on my own personal taste and if you don't like my taste you may not like these scripts. I originally thought I'd do a top ten list, but felt that it might be too many in one post. I'll instead focus on these five. If there's enough interest I'll add to the list with another five.

So without further ado...


Captain Blood - Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh

PITCH: Think "Gladiator" set in the age of pirating. A swashbuckling epic that took the great 1935 film by director Michael Curtiz starring Errol Flynn into a much more gritty realization. Unlike "Pirates," there are no cursed, ghost pirates or giant, mythic sea creatures... only cursed men and high seas action. A doctor named Peter Blood is sold into slavery and put to work in Port Royal. Spanish pirates attack the unprepared Port Royal, Blood and other prisoners escape while the pirates attack is happening and take their galleon with them. The Pirates are quickly captured by the British. They set a path for a prisoner island filled with many more like themselves and then begin a pirating career on the open ocean that leads Blood back toward justice and redemption against the man responsible for his fate.

STATUS: Dead and buried. This was in development before Disney or anyone else thought about turning "Pirates of the Caribbean" into a film. The movie was to star a very career hot, at the time, Alec Baldwin. It went through various revisions and Frank Darabond did the later versions. Not a bad person to do a rewrite of your work, if you ask me. With the box office bomb "Cutthroat Island" in the mid 90's, pirate movies became "persona non grata" and the film languished for a while before Suits had it walk the plank...


Nevaland - Screenplay by Kevin Lewis & Troy Scott

PITCH: Think of "Peter Pan" meets "Romeo & Juliet"(the Leonardo Decaprio film version) with the action from "The Fast and the Furious" thrown in. This modern day retelling of the classic story by J. M. Barrie is set in contemporary New York during Christmas time. It's an enchanting love story about a young girl named Wendy from the New York burrows that meets a young, edgy party bad-boy named Peter who is on the run from some gang members working for a night club owner with one hand, one hook and a vendetta against him. He takes Wendy into his world which involves nightclubs, wild chases and a romantic night filled with romance and adventure on the island of Manhattan. Get it? As Long Island is a motiff for Neverland? A truly great read. A clever reinvention that's fast, fresh and perfect for todays market.

STATUS: Development Hell. I particularly loved the cast that was attached or rumored to be with this script. Samuel L. Jackson was connected with the Hook/Nightclub Owner character and if you've read the script he would've been dead-on. There was talk of Hayden Christensen as the Peter character, Rosario Dawson as the daughter of a rival nightclub owner named Lily, and Rachel Lee Cook for a punker pal of Pete's nicknamed Tink. Oh well...


Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula - Screenplay by Michael B. Valle

PITCH: Think literally Sherlock Holmes meets Dracula. Everything that "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" got wrong, this script got right. It takes two classic characters from the turn of the century, that occupied a similar place and has them meet. Taking place in 1891, it involves a great deal of characters from both books and has Holmes investigating a series of murders as Dracula has made it back to London. Holmes, a man of absolute logic has to come to grip with the fact that the criminal he's hunting doesn't correspond to his "elementary" view of the facts. Many of the characters that populate the novels of each book are here... including that "Napoleon of Crime, Professor Moriarty" as well. I love, love, love this script. There is not a day goes by when I go to a theater that I don't wish I was setting down to watch this on the silver screen.

STATUS: Dead. But like Dracula, I pray it rises from the dead. I just don't hope some fool does a unneeded rewrite like happened on "I Am Legend" that winds up taking a great script and turning it into a good one. Chris Columbus was at one time attached to direct this. It languished for the last four or five years before dropping off the buzz meter. Sigh...


Smoke and Mirrors - Screenplay by Lee Batchler & Janet Scott Batchler

PITCH: Think "Raiders of the Lost Ark" meets "Lawrence of Arabia" meets "Casablanca." Nice huh? It's a deeply rich, action/romance that involves a famous French magician Jean Robert Houdin(a real person, btw) who is enlisted by his government to go the French colony of Algeria to expose a local shaman that is terrifying people with his magic. He takes his young, lovely wife with him and encounters a handsome French Legionnaire that has a fancy for his wife. If you'd like to read more about the film/script check out this article I wrote last year called: Development Hell: Disney Style.

STATUS: Dead. Worse that dead, really. Dead and gone... It was a script designed to star Sean Connery. If you've read it, you'll understand that only a few people could do this roll. With Connery retired it's harder to find someone with his charisma that could fill this roll. It was on the verge of being made in the mid to late 90's and then fell back into oblivion and hasn't been seen or heard from since...


Thor - Screenplay by Mark Protosevich

PITCH: Think "Conan" meets "The 13th Warrior" set in the world of "Lord of the Rings." Wow... pretty cool, huh? The adaption of the Marvel Comics character throws away the version where he's a mild, normal man who's a disabled doctor that becomes the Mighty Thor after finding a stick and follows closer to Walt Simonson's take on the hot-headed Norse god(comic book geeks will know what I'm talking about here). In this story which takes place in an unnamed world populated by Norsemen, Thor and his brethren do battle with the Ice Giants. His brother Loki discovers a long lost secret and plots the downfall of his brother, clearing the way for his plot to seize Asgard. Primal, Macho action here. Young boys will be eating this up...

STATUS: Languishing. Marvel Comics still hasn't decided to greenlite the film. Matthew Vaughn is attached to direct it and is waiting to hear from the Marvel Suits. It is truly an epic film and will take an epic budget. I pray that they don't decide to go for a rewrite like they did with a fabulous "Fantastic Four" script by Michael France and Chris Columbus in favor of the sitcom style mediocrity that the final film turned out to be. Will it get made as is? Or will the tinkering of development executives destroy what would be a huge blockbuster for Marvel? Only the gods know...