Yup, this movie is exactly about what the title would indicate.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been cast in Atari as Nolan Bushnell, the creator of the of the Atari gaming system back in the days when I was young and my parents wouldn’t get me one.
It’s being written by Brian Hecker and Craig Sherman who hope the film will play with elements from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” and “Tucker.”
If you are curious how a movie about the guy who gave us Atari could be interesting, here is the background on Bushnell from The Hollywood Reporter:
Bushnell was an engineering student, puzzle-lover and game enthusiast (chess, Go, early computer games) who went from fixing broken pinball machines to launching Atari Corp., a video game manufacturer, in the early ’70s. Its first product was a little game called Pong that transfixed kids in suburban rec rooms across the country and led to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of video game sales. Within a few years, he sold the company to Warner Communications for $28 million.
During the next three decades, Bushnell started many other tech ventures and also created Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theaters.
Yeah, I still don’t see anything there. I find it hard to believe that this guy is having a movie made about him, but if DiCaprio signed on for it, I’d think it would HAVE to be good.
What do you think? Sound interesting?
I was going to say the same thing… the script must be interesting if Leo agreed.
I've got five bucks says this movie never gets made.
Way to toss down the big bucks
No reason to get all crazy. I still work for a living.
Oh – I don't know if I would equate DeCrapio attached to a film equals good script. He has done a few good movies, but he is not great.
A few good movies? He's a pretty darn good actor these days and most of the
ones he chooses to do have been pretty awesome.
Titanic, Blood Diamond, The Departed, The Aviator…just off the top of my
head.
The Departed, The Aviator, and Catch Me If You Can are the only ones I thought he did a good job in. I could stand the others – especially Titantic.
Could or couldn't stand?
He was fantastic in Blood Diamond, the first time I saw him in a movie and didn't think that was Leo on the screen.
He was also in Gangs of New York, which was great, and the Romeo and Juliet film with Claire Daines which was superb.
Couldn't…
Have you lost your mind? Well, I haven't seen Gangs yet, but the other two – no. And I had totally blocked Romeo and Juliet from memory – ugh, that was a tragedy in more ways than one. That is probably my least favorite movie he has done. Brutal.
Well, I'll give you that Romeo and Juliet may not be for everyone, but to bag on Titanic as “not a good movie” is worthy of losing your mind as well
It was entirely too ostentatious for me – very over the top and I felt it forced itself to be an epic rather than just be a good movie. I know it won all kinds of awards, but so did Milli Vanilli…
I liked it being all epic, I mean, it was a HUGE event in our history and it really brought to life what it must have been like to have been there and lost loved ones.
I think you mean the UK's history – it was a built in Ireland and ported in UK and on a voyage from there to New York.
Yes, it was an epic and that was actually the problem that I had with it. I thought it was too long and too over-the-top. I thought the movie could have been told on a smaller scale. To me, it seemed nothing more than a movie custom-built to win awards.
Okay, well semantics…but the fact is, the way it was long and drawn out, it sucked you in and made you feel the devastation that they did.
Otherwise, just watch a documentary on the thing.
You just bet $5?! What are we rich or something?!
Don't forget What's Eating Gilbert Grape. When my father saw the movie he thought it was played by an actual “slow” person. …Of course, that's not saying much…if you knew my dad…
Shh…this is money in the bank, baby! Money in the bank! A movie about
Atari? Please.
That's what you said about *Speed Racer*.
LOL
I'm sort of with the Ape on this one. Although I really enjoyed Titanic at the time, after ten years it doesn't stand up as well as it should. I didn't think it was one of Leo's better acting jobs.
I still love the movie, I think it's great
Not sure if it's DiCaprio's best performance ever, maybe just average, but I am more a fan of the movie itself than him being in it.
I think it's important to separate the movie from the actor. The actor can't make the movie, but they can do a super job on their part. DiCaprio didn't write the script nor shoot the shots, but he did a good job in his assigned role. Sometimes there's little they can do given the material. For example, how did he do in The Departed vs. Titanic? There's a big difference in those roles, though the actor is the same. The Departed just gave him a lot more to work with and really get into, plus it didn't have the cheesy elements associated with Titanic that would put some people off.
Brilliant – I had totally forgot about that movie. He actually did pretty well across from Depp.
@ RobertB – but Titanic is earlier in his career too, so he has had the time and the experience to be able to do a really good job in both Aviator and The Departed. I never understood the hype about him early on. I would say now, I think he's a solid actor, perhaps even an extremely good actor – but I don't put him in the category of great.
Ape went all old school on us with the @RobertB! Join the Disqus revolution Ape… I guess it's true what they say, you can't teach an old ape new tricks.
Anyway, I think the hype surrounding DiCaprio early in his career was pretty well justified by What's Eating Gilbert Grape (see Ana's comment above). He was absolutely fantastic in that role…one of his best still to this day.
Jason – at the time a “reply” was not showing up under his name – I think do to the nesting restriction put in place so I was not able to reply directly to him – i was going to show up under your comment as a reply to you. I was trying to help out the situation by not confusing my less evolved brethren.
I thought so.