Butler's Script Sale of the Week...
March 19th, 2001
Another pretty active week. James Ellroy's first stab at an original screenplay 77 is definitely one to watch. New Line's real time car chase project sounds interesting, but there was a really bad Charlie Sheen movie (THE CHASE, 1994) that tried to do the same thing a few years ago. Well, with Ted Demme (LIFE, 1999) attached to direct it couldn't be that bad, could it? I'll also be keeping an eye on A&R, CHEMICAL PINK, and Clint Eastwood's MYSTIC RIVER.
My pick this week is DreamWork's acquisition of the rights to Doris Kearns
Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln biography.
Spielberg himself is set to produce and chances are pretty good that he'll direct as well. But that's not why this is my pick of the week. It's my pick because the project looks set to knock down years of liberal historians' deification of Lincoln.
The soon to be published biography by Goodwin, which charts Lincoln's years in the White House, is said to portray Licoln and his wife Mary Todd as an even more dysfunctional couple than good ol' Bill and Hill. Lincoln, over six feet tall, awkward, and introverted was said to be almost the complete opposite to Todd, barely five feet tall, charming, and outgoing. They fought about almost everything and in the weaning days of the Lincoln presidency barely even spoke to one another.
Even more controversial may be the book's portrayal of Lincoln as a manic-depressive racist. He apparently believed blacks to be "morally inferior" and once mused that they should be packed up and sent back to Africa "where they will not cause us any more problems." His intention when going to war was never to free the slaves, he was simply trying to keep the nation together.
Will Spielberg soften Goodwin's image of Lincoln? It'll be interesting to see. After all, he did gloss over the fact in AMISTAD (1997) that his freed slave hero went on to become a slave trader himself. Then again, maybe Steve's gunning for that Oscar he didn't get for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998). The Academy certainly seems to like revisionist history (DANCES WITH WOLVES, 1990 and UNFORGIVEN, 1992).
Regardless, Spielberg has a lot of work to do before he can get to the Lincoln biopic. He has to finish A.I. and is commited to the Tom Cruise sci-fi flick MINORITY REPORT. Word is, however, that battle scenes for Lincoln may be shot as early as this fall.
Me? I'm still waiting for the spliff smoking, slave shagging, big screen biopic of Tommy Jefferson ...
-- Edward Butler
(Source: The Sunday Times )
My pick this week is DreamWork's acquisition of the rights to Doris Kearns
Goodwin's Abraham Lincoln biography.
Spielberg himself is set to produce and chances are pretty good that he'll direct as well. But that's not why this is my pick of the week. It's my pick because the project looks set to knock down years of liberal historians' deification of Lincoln.
The soon to be published biography by Goodwin, which charts Lincoln's years in the White House, is said to portray Licoln and his wife Mary Todd as an even more dysfunctional couple than good ol' Bill and Hill. Lincoln, over six feet tall, awkward, and introverted was said to be almost the complete opposite to Todd, barely five feet tall, charming, and outgoing. They fought about almost everything and in the weaning days of the Lincoln presidency barely even spoke to one another.
Even more controversial may be the book's portrayal of Lincoln as a manic-depressive racist. He apparently believed blacks to be "morally inferior" and once mused that they should be packed up and sent back to Africa "where they will not cause us any more problems." His intention when going to war was never to free the slaves, he was simply trying to keep the nation together.
Will Spielberg soften Goodwin's image of Lincoln? It'll be interesting to see. After all, he did gloss over the fact in AMISTAD (1997) that his freed slave hero went on to become a slave trader himself. Then again, maybe Steve's gunning for that Oscar he didn't get for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998). The Academy certainly seems to like revisionist history (DANCES WITH WOLVES, 1990 and UNFORGIVEN, 1992).
Regardless, Spielberg has a lot of work to do before he can get to the Lincoln biopic. He has to finish A.I. and is commited to the Tom Cruise sci-fi flick MINORITY REPORT. Word is, however, that battle scenes for Lincoln may be shot as early as this fall.
Me? I'm still waiting for the spliff smoking, slave shagging, big screen biopic of Tommy Jefferson ...
-- Edward Butler
(Source: The Sunday Times )
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