Posted on 08/31/2006 8:45:18 PM PDT by Hal1950
Another movie coming up from famous director Peter Jackson who announced that he’s gathering a team for a “Dam Busters” remake.
As a child, Peter Jackson said he was a real fan of the 1954 version of “Dam Busters”, a movie based on the book with the same name written by Paul Brickhill, which revolved around inventor Barnes Wallis and mission commander Guy Gibson. He was 12 when he watched the movie for the first time.
“I always thought that out of all the World War II true stories this is one of the most extraordinary," Jackson, a longtime aviation and war buff, told The Dominion Post.
"My parents were English and they were both involved in the war. When it comes to World War II, I'm very based in this English mindset. Mum and Dad talked about it all the time. I almost feel like I lived through World War II."
About 10 years ago, he thought about producing a remake of the movie but he was surprised to find out that Hollywood star Mel Gibson had bought the film rights, held by British broadcaster Sir David Frost, and hoped to star and direct. Jackson said his agent “came back and said that [film company] Icon had the rights and that Mel Gibson was going to direct and possibly act in it. Obviously that didn't happen".
"I'd been chasing it for a long, long time but I forgot about it for a while at that point," Jackson said.
"Then, about two years ago, my agent got back to me to say Mel Gibson had dropped out and they were looking around for suitable film-makers to take it on. That's when I jumped on board."
Speculation over a possible “Dam Busters” remake was initially sparked in May, when Jackson reportedly spent a day filming one of the last surviving Lancaster bombers that took part in the mission.
The story of one of the most daring RAF mission in the Second World War was immortalized by director Michael Anderson starring Michael Redgrave, and it recounts the true story of Britain's military developing bouncing bombs to blow up German dams.
Sir David, on board as one of the executive producers, said: "This is a dream come true. It turned out that, even before we met to discuss it, Peter and I had both been excited by the idea of a remake of The Dam Busters.
“Peter Jackson is the ideal producer, not only because of his film-making genius, but also because of his aeronautical expertise and unique understanding of the human pressures wrought by war”, he added.
Jackson said it would be "as authentic as possible and as close to the spirit of the original as possible".
"So much of it was still secret," said Jackson. "They weren't even allowed to show the bomb itself and had to create a fictionalized bomb. We also want to include a lot more about the development of the bomb. Barnes Wallis (the inventor of the bouncing bomb) had to overcome incredible bureaucratic hurdles to get the bomb taken seriously.”
"It was seen as a crackpot, vaguely nutty idea. The RAF, as were all defense departments at the time, was always being approached by eccentrics claiming they had the weapon to end the war. But he persevered.”
“There's that wonderful mentality of the British during the war - that heads-down, persevering, keep-on-plugging-away mentality which is the spirit of Dam Busters," he told Screen Daily.
"One of the things that's really important for us, which isn't in the original film, is to capture how young these pilots really were," Rivers said.
The shooting is set to start early next year with a budget of $30-40m (£16-21m) and will be directed by Christian Rivers, the animation director on King Kong who will make his directorial debut on the project, renamed “Dambusters”.
It will be backed by Hollywood's Universal Pictures and Europe's biggest film company, StudioCanal. Jackson's agent Ken Kamins and Sir David will be executive producers.
This is also one on my all-time faves. Paul Brickhill was also the author of a novel about escape from a German prison camp - I believe it was called The Vaulting Horse.
good movie
hollywood will ruin it in the remake
I have seen the History Channel program on this. It is amazing. The movie version might get me to the theater...and that doesn't happen often these days.
Yup, Hollywood will make this into an example of the war crimes of the British people.
When they destroyed the damns, thousands of "innocent civilians" were killed.
Yep, H'weird will definitely take liberal license in the remake.
Its Peter Jackson, i have a feeling it will be alright.
If I remember right, wasn't this the bomb with a surface similar to a golf ball, which allowed the bomb to skip across the water? I think there was a documentary, PBS Nova maybe, about the story. Really interesting stuff.
He is a very good director.
You have it - I never saw the PBS documentary, but the original movie is a classic.
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MEL's -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts
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Geez, Jackson, enough with the remakes already. Didn't you learn your lesson with King Kong?
"Learn his lesson"?
No, it was cylindrical, and was launched from the plane with reverse/backwards spin which allowed it to skip across the water, but then dive down when in proximity to the dam.
We need a Peter Jackson Hobbit.
Let me guess....Two guys in love with the same beautiful girl....Seen it!
That's another book, also called The Great Escape. It was a true story, only slightly altered in the movie - the American characters were fictional.
Didnt they have those round bombs?
I remember watching that on TV when I was very small.
I'd probably go see it.
The original sounds intriguing but for a remake Peter Jackson as director seems an odd fit.
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