http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/14958/singer-develops-excalibur-remake

1 question...

Why can't the "new generation" just watch the old movies?

They can. It is just that "old generation" producers are out of ideas

As long as they keep the look and feel of the original. Same sword, same heavy plate, same dirty realism, same realistic combat...

Quote:

[the original was]...to be the stuff of future memory. The [original] was a brief beginning: a fair time that cannot be forgotten. And, because it will not be forgotten, that fair time may come again. [apparently] ...[a remake] to [deface]defend what was, and the dream[s] of what could [have] be [been]. It is a dream I have....

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Look, we all know that (a) the cast will all be 18 years old (apart from Merlin, who will be played by Sir Anthony Hopkins in a wig), (b) Madonna will sing the theme tune, (c) the director they finally use will have a name like McBooty or P-Wee, (d) it will end with a battle of 1,000,000 computer-generated chaps in identical armour, (e) the bad guy will be a virtual-reality recreation of a dead actor (possibly Humphrey Bogart) and (f) there will be seven car-chases in it.

I'm looking forward to it!

I once read that the first cut of John Boorman's Excalibur was 4 hours long (which got reduced to 160 then 140 minutes)... That I would like to see!

Actually, the first draft of the screenplay would have given a 4 hours long movie.
Then, as the studio was reluctant, Boorman and another writer made some adjustments and came with the story we know.


source: "Boorman, un visionnaire en son temps", Michel Ciment

Any scripts to Excalibur around?

Cromulus: This is supposedly an early draft of the Boorman/Pallenberg screenplay:
http://www.dandalf.com/excaliburscreenplay.pdf


Falconetti: I assume the other (uncredited) writer who helped Boorman shape the final draft was Neil Jordan (who also directed a 50 minutes long "making of" documentary during the shooting of Excalibur). (*)

I never heard Boorman's audio commentary, but, in it, he allegedly refers to a much longer cut of the movie that he was forced to reduce due to studio interference.


(*) At one point, a "making of" was indeed planned to be on the Excalibur DVD. Here is the original press release from Warner that states: "October DVD titles have several exciting added features. "Excalibur" has a 30-minute featurette, "The Making of Excalibur" and a running commentary by director John Boorman" (source) We only got the commentary...

Ah yes, thanks Mighty. I had read that one a while back but had forgotten it.

The sword being held in the air and lighting or electricity in the sky or air effect seems present in that script-- which was similar to Frazetta and the Conan movie concepts. When I get the chance, I'll re-read that entire script again.

Boorman was attached or approached to CONAN during the 70's and even Lord of the Rings right? I forget now as its been a while.

The USA released DVD is very bare-bones and lackluster really.

I know Boorman was one of the possible choices before the producers finally hired Milius. I suppose they thought about by because of "Zardoz"?

Also Ralph Bakshi was one of the possible choices besides Boorman to direct Conan. What I don't know is if Boorman was one of the possible choices to direct LOTR before Bakshi...

...because you meant the animated movie, don't you?

Boorman worked on a LOTR (live action) movie project *before* Bakshi, and before doing Excalibur or even Zardoz.

Here are some links of interest regarding Boorman's planned LOTR:

http://dir.salon.com/story/people/conv/2001/04/02/boorman/index2.html

http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/C/Janet.B.Croft-1/three_rings_for_hollywood.htm

http://forums.theonering.com/viewtopic.php?t=51271&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=12786

I love how the first two links contradict one another and he shits on poor Ralph in the process and boasts:

Quote:

He wrote back, saying, "I'm so relieved, because I had this nightmare of it being an animated film." And of course, that's what happened. But he was dead by the time an animated film was made.

Source: http://dir.salon.com/story/people/conv/2001/04/02/boorman/index2.html

Quote:

To put it bluntly, Boorman’s script has only the vaguest connection to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Considering Tolkien’s appalled reaction to the much lesser liberties taken by Zimmerman, it is unlikely he would have appreciated Boorman’s script at all.

Also this was basically the same thing with Excalibur:

Quote:

With his collaborator Rospo Pallenberg, he condensed the work into a single two and a half hour script which he felt was “fresh and cinematic, yet carried the spirit of Tolkien” (Boorman 20).

Source: http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/C/Janet.B.Croft-1/three_rings_for_hollywood.htm

Perhaps the "huge" scripts or trilogy stories is like CONAN, just exaggerations by the writers/directors. Milius and Stone are guilty of the propagandizing the grandiose of their own work as well.

*The sneakers part was funny, it wouldve been like the movie poster idea via Stone's Conan or the Archeological crap supposedly by Milius.

Still according to Boorman, Pallenberg's main contribution was to reorganize Excalibur chronologically.
They collaborated in the 60's on LOTR so he asked him to join.
Boorman draft was going back and forth in time between Percival and Merlin.
No mention was made about Neil Jordan.

The only way to "remake" this is to simply re-market this. Maybe dub over merlin's cooky voice....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOqlV4Le9Tk

'nuff said.