April 2009

  • Casting Decision: Reservoir Dogs

    By roskopp on 4/29/09 9:00am
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    Reservoir DogsReservoir DogsReservoir Dogs was a low budget film that took everyone by surprise. It launched the career of Quentin Tarantino. This unknown video store clerk became a world famous film director seemingly over night. He originally raised a small budget and intended to shoot the film with friends but when he managed to persuade Harvey Keitel to get onboard more money and stars were easy to come by. The budget went from $30,000 to $1.5 million.

    It is considered by many to be the finest independently made film ever. Tarantino managed to put together an outstanding ensemble cast considering the cash at his disposal. It made a modest profit at the US box office but there was virtually no promotion and so it spread by word of mouth to become a cult favourite. In the UK it was a massive hit at the cinema.

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  • Casting Decisions: TLOTR The Fellowship of the Ring

    By roskopp on 4/22/09 6:02am
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    TLOTR The Fellowship of the Ring posterThe actors and actresses who were eventually cast in the Lord of the Rings trilogy did a good job. They had three films to become ingrained as those characters but going back to the early days of production on The Fellowship of the Ring we find that there was plenty of competition for the roles. Director Peter Jackson struggled to get the cast he wanted. With the trilogy racking up a budget in excess of $300 million and with no option to change actors between films it was vitally important to get the right person for each role.

    All of the parts were hotly contested and Elijah Wood was one of the first people to be cast. He beat 150 actors to the role after sending a video tape of himself dressed as Frodo reading lines from the novel. Jake Gyllenhaal auditioned for the part and so did Dominic Monaghan who went on to play Merry.

    One of the most important parts to get right was Aragorn and according to the rumours Nicolas Cage, Daniel Day Lewis and Russell Crowe all turned the role down.

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  • Unique Productions: Fight Club

    By roskopp on 4/15/09 2:02am
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    Fight Club posterFight Club was a terrific satire on modern society, a dark comedy which provoked much controversy on release. Author Chuck Palahniuk wrote the novel and admitted that he thought the film improved on his work. It starred Ed Norton and Brad Pitt and was directed by David Fincher and although it went on to become a huge cult success the studio considered it a commercial failure at the box office. There were several obstacles to the film being made and it might have been very different.

    The novel was first picked up by a 20th Century Fox book scout but a studio reader suggested it would not make a good film. It was passed along to producers Lawrence Bender and Art Linson but they agreed with the reader and passed. Producers Josh Donen and Ross Bell worked it up and the rights were acquired by Laura Ziskin for Fox 2000 for $10,000. The first problem was that Chuck Palahniuk did not want to write the screenplay and so they had to find a writer.

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  • Troubled Productions: Apocalypse Now

    By roskopp on 4/6/09 11:04pm
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    Apocalypse Now posterIt will probably come as no surprise that Coppola’s masterpiece on the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now was a seriously troubled production. We’ve seen film makers struggle with various difficulties but this adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is surely the daddy of them all. A difficult location, terrible weather conditions, gigantic egos, a confused script and a heart attack for the lead were just some of the problems they encountered during the making of this film.

    The script was written by John Milius who was encouraged by George Lucas to write something on the Vietnam War. Coppola paid him $15,000 to write the film. Milius decided to adapt Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness but he didn’t want to direct the film himself.

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  • Casting Decisions: Forrest Gump

    By roskopp on 4/2/09 4:00am
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    Forrest Gump posterForrest Gump came out in 1994 and is a much loved romantic comedy which made almost $700 million at the box office world wide. It also won 6 Oscars including a Best Picture award, a Best Director award for Robert Zemeckis and a Best Actor award for Tom Hanks. Neither was first choice so it could have turned out very differently.

    The film is about a man named Forrest Gump who is intellectually challenged and he recounts his life story to a series of people at a bus stop. It is a sprawling piece of entertainment with a huge cast and few people expected it to be as successful as it was. In fact back in 1988 the Warner Bros. studio gave up the rights to the film in exchange for Executive Decision because they felt it had lost the commercial potential after Rain Man was released. They were wrong.

    Apparently Terry Gilliam and Barry Sonnenfeld both turned down the chance to direct the film. Robert Zemeckis was delighted to take it on and he did a tremendous job earning himself lots of plaudits and awards in the process.

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