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Big news from JMS by late June or so
- Thread starter hypatia
- Start date
AnlaShokGrey
Regular
I wonder if they'll change the title - there's currently a US film in post-production, slated for 2007 distribution, with the title "Changeling."
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Er, no, not really. JMS has generally been very cautious about his announcements and even his hints. If anything the fans have gone overboard on hyping every stray word of his. JMS announces things when contracts are signed and money has changed hands, not before. But, as noted above, he doesn't have total control over these things and the fact that a script gets sold doesn't mean the movie gets made - or that a series necessarily follows from a pilot.
But Universal shelled out to buy the script for Imagine entertaiment because Ron Howard expressed an interest ought to tell you something.
Regards,
Joe
Sindatur
Regular
Er, no, not really. JMS has generally been very cautious about his announcements and even his hints. If anything the fans have gone overboard on hyping every stray word of his. JMS announces things when contracts are signed and money has changed hands, not before. But, as noted above, he doesn't have total control over these things and the fact that a script gets sold doesn't mean the movie gets made - or that a series necessarily follows from a pilot.
But Universal shelled out to buy the script for Imagine entertaiment because Ron Howard expressed an interest ought to tell you something.
Regards,
Joe
Plus JMS specifically said "Folks are talking as if it's a sure thing this is gonna be made, but, it ain't a sure thing" (paraphrased)
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
There can still be many a slip and all that, Warner Bros. bought any number of Superman scripts in the past couple of decades, always with the intention of filming them. But things are certainly looking very good for JMS. The mere fact that Imagine bought (not optioned) an original screenplay of his because Ron Howard was interested and might direct it (and will probably produce it even if he doesn't) definitely puts JMS on the radar screens of a lot of people who would not have been aware of him.
I note a few facts, without drawing any conclusions or making any suggestions:
If Howard makes the film, the script needs either no rewrites or JMS does the rewrites on time and to order for Howard, he moves way up on the Hollywood fod chain. Moreso if the film itself does well. (Though most of Hollywood will give all the credit Howard and the cast. Everybody in the business knows that films only flop because of their scripts, they never succeed because of them.)
Rance Howard, who played Sheridan's father, is Ron Howard's real father. Wonder if giving the old man a job back in the day helped JMS in this deal?. Ron Howard does have a reputation for being loyal to his cast and crewmembers, and rewarding loyatly from them. Maybe he learned that from his dad.
One of Ron's filmmaking mentors is George Lucas. Hmmm....
Regards,
Joe
I note a few facts, without drawing any conclusions or making any suggestions:
If Howard makes the film, the script needs either no rewrites or JMS does the rewrites on time and to order for Howard, he moves way up on the Hollywood fod chain. Moreso if the film itself does well. (Though most of Hollywood will give all the credit Howard and the cast. Everybody in the business knows that films only flop because of their scripts, they never succeed because of them.
) Rance Howard, who played Sheridan's father, is Ron Howard's real father. Wonder if giving the old man a job back in the day helped JMS in this deal?
. Ron Howard does have a reputation for being loyal to his cast and crewmembers, and rewarding loyatly from them. Maybe he learned that from his dad. One of Ron's filmmaking mentors is George Lucas. Hmmm....
Regards,
Joe
GaribaldisHair
Regular
Am I the only person on this board even slightly concerned that JMS has drawn a parallel between himself and Akiva Goldsman ... purveyor of such SF classics as Batman & Robin and Lost In Space?
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Am I the only person on this board even slightly concerned that JMS has drawn a parallel between himself and Akiva Goldsman ... purveyor of such SF classics as Batman & Robin and Lost In Space?
No.
As a matter of fact, I mentioned my concerns to JMS on the moderated newsgroup. (He has not chosen to respond so far):jmsa...@aol.com wrote:
> It is, without question, the biggest deal I've ever made
Congratulations. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy. As
for the Akiva Goldsman comparison - it is always hard to tell when an
writer just goes off the rails with a script and when a perfectly good
piece of writing is destroyed by the studio, the director and/or the
actors. But here's hoping your future scripts are handled by honorable
and honest people, and therefore come out like the Akiva Goldsman of
Cinderella Man, A Beautiful Mind and Practical Magic (an
underrated little charmer) and not the Akiva Goldsman of Lost in
Space and Batman & Robin.
Regards,
Joe
"Arnold Schwazeneggar spoke at a gathering of the gay and lesbian Log Cabin Repulbicans last night. The event marked the first time Arnold has appeared before a mostly homosexual audience since the premier of Batman & Robin" - David Letterman
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Except that being propelled to the "A" list precisely is a measure of success, and therefore part of the comparison JMS was making. And, as I noted, very good films as well as very bad ones have been made from Goldsman scripts - and it is often hard to tell from the finished product how good or bad the screenplay was. (Since directors routinely re-write scripts, actors ad lib and films can be entirely remade in post-produciton. Listen to Barry Sonnenfeld's commentary track on Men in Black sometime to find out how little the finished film may have in common with what was written and even what was shot.)
Regards,
Joe
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Exactly, that's one of the very good things about Howard being interested in the script.
As for Goldsman:
Writer Filmogrpahy:
1. I Am Legend (2007) (pre-production)
2. The Da Vinci Code (2006) (screenplay)
3. Cinderella Man (2005) (screenplay)
4. I, Robot (2004) (screenplay)
5. A Beautiful Mind (2001) (written by)
6. Practical Magic (1998) (screenplay)
7. Lost in Space (1998) (written by)
8. Batman & Robin (1997) (written by)
9. A Time to Kill (1996) (screenplay)
10. Batman Forever (1995) (screenplay)
11. Silent Fall (1994) (written by)
12. The Client (1994) (screenplay)
It does seem that most of his better scripts were adapted from other works, but doing a good adaptation is a talent all its own. Notice that three of them were for Ron Howard.
Goldsman is now also a producer, and is listed as such on the upcoming remake of I am Legend, the Richard Matheson non-supernatural vampire story previously filmed with Charleton Heston as The Omega Man and with Vincent Price as The Last Man on EarthRegards,
Joe
Shaal Mayan
Regular
WOW Not something I am interested in but good for him. :beer:
Joseph DeMartino
Moderator
Just to stir the pot a bit -
on page 14 of the Volume 8 of the scripts series, JMS mentions a recent meeting at Warner Bros. about the possible future of the B5 universe. He doesn't put much emphasis on it, and allows how such meetings have taken place a number of times since the show went out of production, and that nothing concrete has come of any of them. But he does say that this meeting might have a little more going for it. For one thing they flew a WB exec from New York in for the meeting, one who had been involved with B5 and PTEN in the old days. For another he got to point out to the WB brass that they were still taling about B5 all these years later, not Kung Fu: The Legend Continues or Time Traxx or any of the other old PTEN shows, and that B5, not the others, that had grossed over half-a-billion dollars in worldwide DVD sales.
And all of that was before the news about The Changeling had been made public. (Although it is impossible to know what might have been going around the industry grapevine at the time.)
I find all of this ... Interesting. That's all I'll say, just ... interesting.
Regards,
Joe
on page 14 of the Volume 8 of the scripts series, JMS mentions a recent meeting at Warner Bros. about the possible future of the B5 universe. He doesn't put much emphasis on it, and allows how such meetings have taken place a number of times since the show went out of production, and that nothing concrete has come of any of them. But he does say that this meeting might have a little more going for it. For one thing they flew a WB exec from New York in for the meeting, one who had been involved with B5 and PTEN in the old days. For another he got to point out to the WB brass that they were still taling about B5 all these years later, not Kung Fu: The Legend Continues or Time Traxx or any of the other old PTEN shows, and that B5, not the others, that had grossed over half-a-billion dollars in worldwide DVD sales.
And all of that was before the news about The Changeling had been made public. (Although it is impossible to know what might have been going around the industry grapevine at the time.)
I find all of this ... Interesting. That's all I'll say, just ... interesting.
Regards,
Joe
A_M_Swallow
Regular
I smell new Babylon 5 episodes straight to DVD, cutting the middle men out. No tv studios messing this one up or taking all the profits. They may release the episodes for download.
Les_Greenhalgh
Member
WB have just started a new straight to DVD division. In the podcasts from Charlotte (now removed) what JMS hints at does seem to very much tie in with a straight to DVD release B5 some-thing-or-other. I would say more, but as JMS clearly didn't want the postcasts up, I think those of us that have heard it need keep our lips sealed for a bit longer.
Personally if this were all it turned out to be, I would be a bit disappointed. I would like to see JMS do something on a bit larger scale, e.g. Telepath War mini series.
Personally if this were all it turned out to be, I would be a bit disappointed. I would like to see JMS do something on a bit larger scale, e.g. Telepath War mini series.
AnlaShokGrey
Regular
I'm not jumping up and down over this news. As much as I'd love to have new Babylon 5, I'm not really eager to have new Babylon 5 without G'Kar. And, honestly, it sticks in my craw just a little that it took WB this long to grok the moneymaking potential of original-cast B5. Just late enough that Andreas won't get to benefit from it.
