I reviewed the book awhile ago, and I’ll just reiterate how unbelievably awesome it was and the fact that it’s being made into a movie is killer. But then you get a director like Scorsese and a lead actor in DiCaprio, and suddenly the project feels like it could be one of the best movies of the year.

Sadly, that year is NOT going to be 2008. As of right now, according to IMDB, the film will arrive on October 2nd, 2009.

That’s a heck of a long way off.

But we already have two photos of the production, which feature DiCaprio and Scorsese behind a chain link fence.

The photos are courtesy of The Boston Herald. Yeah, they aren’t anything spectacular, but I’m so pumped for this movie, they could have just shown the FENCE and I’d be happy.

Enjoy.

Scott remained mute on exactly what the book was and declined to name it in the interview. However, observant readers were quick to point out numerous articles that have appeared recently that clearly say that the project is an adaptation of Brave New World, the classic Aldous Huxley novel first published in 1932.

Times Online published the news way back on March 23, 2008 when they published an article discussing how the feud between Hollywood and the Huxley family has finally ended and opened up the possibility for the film. They clearly state that Leonardo DiCaprio is interested in starring as John The Savage and that Ridley Scott had already volunteered to direct. DiCaprio’s father, it turns out, was actually friends with Huxley’s widow until she passed away last December. Scott and DiCaprio just worked together on House Of Lies (which was previously known as Body Of Lies) so that’s where his connection comes in.

For those of you who skipped high school English class, in Brave New World Huxley imagines a future world where children are processed genetically in bottles rather than conceived ‘naturally’, and belong to one of five classes according to their intelligence: from perfect “Alphas” down to moronic “Epsilons”. Learning takes place by repetition teaching during sleep, but basically this consists of enforcing certain behavior patterns through suggestion. This is backed up by the legal drug ’soma’ that pacifies people through a false sense of fulfillment.

You can actually read the entire novel online if you’re so inclined.

I can certainly see why Scott and DiCaprio might be interested in this project. Personally, I always thought the similar 1984 by George Orwell was a superior novel. I guess they’d have a hard time adapting it now, though, since we’re so far past that date.

What do you think? Is Brave New World the right project to return Ridley Scott to sci-fi?

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?

The Sigma Protocol revolves around a young investment banker who discovers a secret organization that has been manipulating the global economy. When the banker tries to expose the scheme, he’s targeted for death.

Universal originally acquired the material in 2002 and had several screenplay drafts written. Marcum and Holloway, however, have their own take and are expected to work from that. The pair were also hired to write the screenplay for a Highlander remake, but are now expected to begin work on The Sigma Protocol first.

Since the success of the Jason Bourne trilogy, Ludlum’s material has become hot property. In addition to The Sigma Protocol, many of the author’s other works are now getting the royal treatment. The Chancellor Manuscript was sold to Paramount in 2005 for $4 million, with producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher developing it with Appian Way as a star vehicle for Leonardo DiCaprio. MGM and Relativity Media spent $3 million earlier this year to acquire Ludlum’s 1979 espionage thriller The Matarese Circle with Denzel Washington attached to star and 3:10 to Yuma screenwriters Michael Brandt and Derek Haas penning the adaptation.

Relativity snatched the screenplay in the hopes that Leonardo DiCaprio and Ridley Scott will be able to pencil in the project in their busy schedules. Scott and DiCaprio, who just finished working together on the Warner Bros. drama Body of Lies, have big projects on their slates, but it is believed that the plotline of The Low Dweller is done in such a way that filming could be accomplished in a quick 35-day shoot. The hope is that the two could squeeze this film in between their others.

In the film, DiCaprio would play Slim, a man released after serving years in prison for murder who wants only to follow through on his promise to marry his long-suffering girlfriend. But when he discovers his brother has been murdered after getting involved in a gambling racket, he feels obliged to avenge the murder.

First you have Leonardo DiCaprio playing Teddy, and then Mark Ruffalo as Chuck. Next up is the head physician named Dr. Cawley which will reportedly be played by Sir Ben Kingsley.

Kingsley is an amazing actor with a wide range of films in his past and from reading the book, he seems perfectly cast here to play a seemingly villainous doctor.

With the movie being directed by Martin Scorsese, this one is bound to be right up there with Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone in terms of Dennis Lehane novel-to-movie adaptations, and maybe with The Departed, Scorsese’s last huge hit.

Source: The Movie Blog
Source: Cinematical

Determined not to be outdone by Scorsese and DiCaprio, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe are making plans for another trip down the Hollywood aisle – their fifth together (Gladiator, A Good Year, American Gangster, Body Of Lies).

Reports about the rumored “Nottingham” first surfaced early this year but not much has been known about the possible film since Scott has been hard at work prepping “American Gangster” for its November 2 release. However, at recent press events for Gangster, producer Brian Grazer made several mentions of the film including a statement describing it as “the Gladiator version of Robin Hood.”

On the MTV Movies Blog Grazer said that “…it will have the same propulsion that ‘Gladiator’ had – the same adrenaline hits.” That could be one of the reasons the spec script was so highly sought after. Universal Pictures acquired the rights to Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris’s spec script only after an aggressive bidding contest with other studios such as New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., Sony, New Regency Enterprises, and DreamWorks. Other directors wanted in on the action as well. Filmmakers Bryan Singer, Sam Raimi, and Jon Turteltaub were all in contention for the directing assignment on this film at one time or another.

This version of the Robin Hood tale will be told from the Sheriff’s point of view. Scott has said that the movie centers around a familiar, yet very different set of characters, than we normally see in tales of Robin Hood and that this story begins when a legend first walks into history. Scott elaborates even further:

“Richard the Lionheart is on his return from the Crusades [when] he took an arrow in his neck and died,” Scott said of the flick’s set-up. “His brother, John, [becomes king.]”

John, known in his own life as John Lackland (because as the youngest son he didn’t get any inheritance) “was actually pretty smart,” Scott insisted. “[But] he got a bad rap because he introduced taxation. So he’s the bad guy in this.”

Meanwhile, “You’ve got the returning Nottingham who is the right hand man of Richard and witnesses Richard taking the arrow,” Scott revealed. “And so he comes back to England to carry forward Richard’s dream about England.”

The Sheriff, then, strives to do right while caught in the middle of two wrongs – on one side a corrupt and unpopular King who orders him to arrest outlaws, on the other the outlaw himself who threatens to rouse the public in popular anarchy.

It sounds like it could definitely be a really cool movie. Telling the story from the Sheriff’s point of view should change it enough to make it seem like something new while adding the same kind of production values that “Gladiator” had should certainly make it a must-see film. It would seem imperative that the casting of Robin Hood and Marion be just right (I’m guessing they won’t go with Kevin Costner). Finding suitable stars shouldn’t prove too difficult.

The challenge they will face now will be getting this film into production before the possible strikes occur next year. Scott and Crowe are both currently tied up working on “Body Of Lies” with Leonardo DiCaprio.