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Posts tagged as “Behind the Scenes”

Pippin my studio: The Weinstein way of dealing with problems

Pippin my studio: The Weinstein way of dealing with problems

You’ve probably heard by now about the Weinstein Company kind of being on the verge of bankruptcy (even though it’s starting to get back up following Inglourious Basterds’ success). If you don’t know what the hell I’m on about, then check out right now this in-depth look from the New York Times’ David Segal on why “Weinsteins Struggle to Regain Their Touch.” It’s eye-opening (take a look at the studio’s market share).

All done catching up?

Anyway, the Weinstein brothers still haven’t found the perfect equilibrium between filmmaking, and, let’s just call it “mogulamania”. Case in point with their acquisitions in 2006 of A Small World (Millionaire Facebook) and the Halston fashion brand while making, you know, movies. Go figure the correlation here.
But don’t feel too bad for the studio. It has found its way back on top.

Indeed, it looks like what is going to save the company is neither a Kevin Smith nor a Quentin Tarantino film.
How awesome is that:

From the producers of The Crow 3: Salvation and The Punisher 2: War Zone comes another revolutionary take on an American classic.
The Weinstein Company is proud to present to the world Pippin the Hunchback, the Musical: The Movie.

Yup, one of Harvey Weinstein’s passion project (for real) is none other than a movie adaptation of the popular 1970 Broadway musical Pippin.
And I’m dead serious about that.


First things first: I’m not talking about The Lord of the Rings’ Pippin. Let’s be honest, who would want to see a play based on this character?


I’m here blabbering about a musical with a story loosely based on (read: a fictitious account of) Pippin the Hunchback’s life. What is so exceptional about Pippin (aka Pepin) is that he is the eldest son of Charlemagne. That’s a fascinating subject for a musical, wouldn’t you say? There was even a 1981 television movie directed by David Sheelhan. Perhaps this will allow William Katt to leave his work on Alien vs. Hunter and reprise for a third time the role of, you guessed it, Pippin.

Regarding the Weinstein Company, well basically the story goes that following the 2003 success of Chicago, Miramax (then-owned by the Weinsteins) bought the same year the rights for a potential movie adaptation of Pippin. The rest is History (extremely clever pun intended).

In any case, even though the brothers have had the property for some time now, it seems like the project is back on track as they’re currently looking for a writer. That and, as I said, it’s Harvey’s love baby, so he’s “never gonna give [it] up” (insert Rickroll comment).
This looks like the greatest segue to success, ever.

For all you Weinstein Company lovers, don’t panic.
If that’s not enough to revitalize the dying studio, they have another ace to play: a revival of Knight Rider (yes, that Knight Rider) through a movie (seemingly written by Bruce Feirstein, screenwriter of all the Pierce Brosnan/James Bond movies).

Gives a whole new meaning to the expression “crash and burn.”

Hindsight

It’s a news dawn, it’s a news day:

– MTV has had its shair of dumb moves, most of which involving non-music programming, but this time a new low has been reached.
The network is preparing a US version of Skins.
Yup, we’re talking about the “trashy” UK series.
But how the hell can the project “break new territory” as MTV says if you can’t even say fuck (let alone show nudity nor rebelious acts)?

– Steven Spielberg/Robert Rodat’s still-untitled alien invasion pilot for TNT has begun shooting in Toronto under the helm of Carl Franklin.
As you might recall, E.R.‘s Noah Wyle is the star of the pilo.
However, there’s still not much news on the rest of the cast nor the basic premise of the show.

– Don Cheadle has lined up a producing gig for March to Madness, an upcoming FX show (yup, another one).
The pilot is being written by Joel Silverman and shot by Pete Segal.
The show centers “around a corrupt college basketball program that cheats its way to the “March Madness” NCAA basketball tournament. Project will be told through the eyes of the college coach, whose idealistic approach to the job has slowly been eroded by the compromises he’s forced to make.”

– In case you haven’t done so already, check out Chris Nolan’s awesome Inception teaser.
I’m hoping the movie will allow Joseph Gordon-Levitt to garner some well-deserved attention.

– Also, io9 has a week dedicated to TV as well as two guest bloggers: The Sarah Connor Chronicles‘ Josh Friedman and Day One‘s Jesse Alexander.
Both have posted great posts.
Josh talks about why he needs therapy to work through TV, and Jesse blogs on why Space: Above and Beyond “blazed new trails.”
Two great reads.

– Oh, and you should check out this neat parallel between Titanic and Avatar‘s lukewarm receptions pre-release.
History likes to repeat itself.

Identity Crisis

What is going on with all those brand renaming themselves?
Gatorade changes to G, Pizza Hutt to The Hutt, RadioShack to The Shack, and now Cartoon Network, who freshly announced a slate of non-cartoon shows, is also considering a name change?

There are even whispers inside the channel’s Burbank animation studios that the network might drop “Cartoon” from its name.
[…]Rob Sorcher, a veteran cable programming executive who joined Cartoon Network last year after a stint at AMC, where he spearheaded that network’s push toward original dramas and was involved in the development of “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad.”
[…]Although they are committed to their approach, they disagree on the fate of Cartoon Network’s name. [Sorcher] said he expects “we will have to deal with this down the line.”

Please don’t do this.

Side-note with some movie stuff:
Remember Outland, the SF/western 1981 movie with Sean Connery?
Well, it’s getting a remake with Shoot ‘Em Up‘s Michael Davis set to helm the project.
Who’s the guy writing the script? That would be Chad St. John.
You might recall that John also wrote SOTW6‘s The Days Before (notice how FlashForward is also on there, kinda funny considering the two scripts’ stories).
Anyway, I loved the Days Before script so I’m wondering what Chad will be able to pull for this Outland remake.
Incidentally, the current issue of Script Magazine has a piece on Chad St. John.

There’s also this other Dirty Dancing remake currently planned by Lionsgate.
What is interesting is that this time the writer is Julia Dahl. If you don’t know her, she was The West Wing‘s executive story editor from 2001 to 2002, and wrote two of the show’s 3rd season episodes.

Moving back to TV territory…
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences lost its longtime PR agency, the Lippin Group, due to the recent debacles surrounding this year’s Emmycast.

ABC is moving on a haunted-hotel series entitled Clive Barker’s Hotel from two original Saw writers, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton. I’m not here talking about the original movie, rather the latest four instalments (Saw IV throguh Saw VII).
Charlie’s Angels/Terminator Salvation’s McG might also be set to direct the pilot if the project comes to fruition.

And finally, some more great news for Caprica (remember, the Battlestar Galactica spin-off).
James Marsters is joining the cast for a “seizable arc” in at least three episodes of the show’s first season.
He will play “a dangerous terrorist leader by the name of Barnabus Greeley. Driven by desires both moralistic and carnal, Barnabus is as lethal as he is unpredictable.”

There’s also this new FlashForward poster that I just find plain awful.
The faux-embossed character pictures are kitschy, the “flash-forward” ball is badly done and made out of basically the same fifteen pictures used over and over again, and the sea reminds me of some 1990 photography background.
See for yourselves:


My eyes are bleeding…