Now this looks interesting. This is the film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play called Coriolanus, which was based on the Roman general Gaius Marcius Coriolanus. Beethoven even wrote a piece called the Coriolan Overture. Although with this film, the setting is in modern times. (they also filmed it in Serbia, and used Serbian soldiers as extras)
Now the key here is can a modern film version of this play, resonate with today’s audience? Who knows, but it will be interesting to check out. –Matt
Wow, this is unexpected? It is also cool to see Ridley Scott do another Africa/conflict type film. Blackhawk Down was an outstanding war film, and Scott really hit the mark with that one
The other story about this, according to Mann’s twitter, is that he is talking with folks about doing a first person shooter game! Erik Prince has some competition in the gaming world I see? lol Although I do not know if the game will be part of this movie, but even if it isn’t, it will still benefit from a movie.
Also, I kind of think that Gerard is not exactly the best choice of casting for Simon Mann. He doesn’t look like him, or even talk like him. But Gerard brings the star power, as does Ridley Scott, and I am sure Mann’s book fired up the imagination of both guys. The question is, can a studio sell a mercenary film about a failed coup attempt?
The other question I have is if Ridley Scott and the writers will listen to what others might have to say about Mann and his book? Because I am sure there are folks out there who disagree with what was said in the book, and would be very interested in making sure that all sides of this thing are fairly represented. It would also make for a more interesting movie if it had all of those perspectives. Who knows, and chalk up another film that we will track. –Matt
Edit: 11/18/2011– Simon Mann just confirmed in a tweet that the video game is part of the movie deal.
Ridley Scott and Gerard Butler Team Up for Fact-Based Mercenary Pic
by Dave Trumbore
November 17th, 2011
Although director Ridley Scott is currently busy with the production of Alien-pseudo-prequel, Prometheus, that doesn’t stop him from taking on new projects. Especially when that project stars Gerard Butler (300) as a former British Army officer who puts together a group of mercenaries to attempt a coup against an African nation’s government. Scott is attached to direct and produce the thriller based on the real-life exploits of Simon Mann. The script, written by Robert Edwards (The Bomb in My Garden) will follow Mann through the failed coup, his imprisonment and eventual pardoning.
“I am sure whoever plays me will do fine, but front-runners could be Danny DeVito or Queen Latifah,” he said.-Captain Richards said in interview.
This is cool and hopefully this makes it all the way into the can and onto the big screen. It should make it with all of the players involved, but you never know. From the little bits I am hearing, the crew is heading to New Orleans to film, and they have been looking for Somalis to play pirates in the movie. No word on when this thing will come out, and I will let you know when the trailer comes out. –Matt
Edit: 11/18/2011- I forgot to mention that this is not the first group to look at producing and filming this thing. Kevin Spacey expressed interest back when this first came out.
Paul Greengrass Offered Somali Pirate Pic By Sony Pictures, Talks Starting
By MIKE FLEMING
Wednesday June 8, 2011
UPDATE: I’ve learned that Memphis won’t be an impediment to Paul Greengrass directing this Somali pirate movie, so I expect this to move quickly and that this will be the director’s next film.
EARLIER: Director Paul Greengrass and Sony Pictures have moved a step closer to the filmmaker coming aboard to steer the Sony Pictures’ Somali pirate drama to star Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips. Greengrass was among a short list of directors for the gig but I’m told Sony Pictures has just offered him the picture and talks are about to begin. Phillips was the skipper of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama who gave himself up as a hostage to Somali pirates to keep his crew from having to leave the ship with them. After three days of being held hostage alone with the armed pirates in a small lifeboat, Phillips was saved by Navy SEALs who staged a dramatic rescue that left the captain unharmed, three captors dead and another in custody. The film is based on Phillips’ memoir A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, which was published last year by Hyperion. Sony Pictures’ The Social Network team of Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca, Dana Brunetti and Kevin Spacey are producing. Hanks signed on in March after sparking to a script written by Billy Ray. Elizabeth Cantillon is supervising for Sony Pictures.
There is a funny story on how I stumbled upon this series. I was at the project funding website called Kickstarter, and for fun I put ‘private military’ into their search engine to see what would come up. Low and behold, someone actually put together a project or comedy about the administrative side of a private military company. (I also looked up Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and all sorts of projects popped up for those.)
Now of course the folks that put together this series really trumped up the PMC with tons of stereotypes, to include anything that would give it some corporate evilness. But what makes it funny is to watch the admin folks go through all of the ridiculous policies or deal with the leadership of the company, and this is something that many folks in multiple industries can identify with to include ours. It is what makes The Office so popular, and this show takes the viewer into the administrative world of a PMC. Check it out. –Matt
NON-ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL Episode 1: Corporate Solutions from grammar school on Vimeo.
Suzanne, I am puzzled here. Why would you even let a director with such a horrid background in movie making, even touch your book? Renny is the director of Cutthroat Island, which actually holds the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest box office flop of all time. It was made for $96 million, and it only made $10 million! It was so bad that it damaged Jena Davis’ career and bankrupted the production company.
So hey, if you want your good name attached to such a director and project, that is your call. I hope they paid well. lol On the flip side, perhaps the intent is to take their money, knowing that Hollywood would not look favorable upon the project and it will never give it any traction? Or you want Renny to make a horrible movie about your subject matter? Who knows, but interesting none the less. –Matt
CraveOnline: Well, I guess my last question is what do you have coming up next?
Renny Harlin: Well, I just directed an episode of Burn Notice in Miami. I love that series, and I wanted to go do an episode of that and get a little experience in TV, and I had a really good time doing that. And on the movie side I have several things that I’m putting together. I have a big movie that is based on a book that I optioned called Master of War. I guess I’m just making movies that have “war” in the title, but it’s based on a book that tells the story of Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, and it’s a very interesting story of a guy who put an army together from scratch and became a giant player in the whole business of war. So that’s another sort of reality-based movie that I’m very excited about and I also have a couple other things, but I have to see how the casting and everything comes together.
Link to interview here.Master of War, By Suzanne Simons
Interview with Suzanne Simons about her book.
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