OlderFri, 17 October 2008 at 7:31 am
Brad Pitt’s Futuristic Odyssey
Brad Pitt is currently teaming up with George Miller to adapt Homer’s The Odyssey.
Warner Bros reportedly plans to take a futuristic look in outer space at the great journey of Odysseus. Variety reports that the hope is that Pitt will star and Miller will direct, with Pitt’s Plan B producing.
The storyline centers on the 10-year journey home of Greek general Odysseus following the fall of Troy.
Odysseus was the king of Ithaca and devised the Trojan Horse which aided the Greeks’ razing of Troy in the Homeric poem The Iliad.
George Miller directing the film may be contingent on whether Justice League, which he was set to direct, falls through or not.
WHAT DO YOU THINK of Brad Pitt in a futuristic version of The Odyssey?
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102 Comments
Sounds fun!
Mythology is interesting, I’m not sure how they’ll get an outspace theme to it. I wonder if the screen play is done already…
It’s not possible to criticize Brad these days eh?
No, thanks, but please no. Not another film with Brad “The Saint” Pitt.
This sounds like a good one, Go Brad!!
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6031025&page=1
Entire article at link.
Wal-Mart, Private Sector Moved Faster After Katrina Than FEMA
“Brad Pitt has done more for this community than anyone,” Rahim said.
Brad Pitt is doing more than the government of the United States?
“I would say 10 times more than the government,” Rahim said.
Pitt founded non-profit group called Make it Right, which aims to build new, energy-efficient homes in the Ninth Ward. Some people doubted that Pitt would follow through, but with few delays, homes started going up. The first homes were finished this summer.
If Brad Pitt and Harry Connick, Jr. can work to build dozens of new homes, why does it take government so long to follow through on its plans? The New Orleans mayor said he has made it easier for people to rebuild their homes, making permits available online at kiosks throughout the city.
gorgeous poppa pitt!hello jps on board!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101601136.html
Changeling - October 24
Angelina Jolie stars in director Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling.” Jolie plays a mother on a quest to find her kidnapped son.
i dont know, brad.. sounds kind weird… ?
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117994206.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
Paramount pushes ‘Soloist’ bow
Downey Jr./Foxx drama moved to March 2009
By ANNE THOMPSON, TATIANA SIEGEL
Brad Pitt joins WB for ‘Odyssey’
Columbia pitches ‘Moneyball’ to Pitt
Paramount Pictures is pulling the awards-season plug on “The Soloist.”
Studio is moving the Jamie Foxx-Robert Downey Jr. starrer from Nov. 21 to March 13, dashing any hopes for Academy Awards accolades for ‘08.
DreamWorks, which produced the film, had high hopes for “The Soloist” as a contender in multiple Oscar categories, including the acting heats, particularly Downey’s performance.
Directed by “Atonement” helmer Joe Wright, “Soloist” is based on a series of L.A. Times columns by Steve Lopez about a homeless schizophrenic musician’s dreams of playing at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
DreamWorks declined comment, but insiders said brass are very disappointed by the move while conceding that it might benefit the film’s box office prospects due to the competitive field of year-end films.
U.K.’s Working Title, also a producer on “Soloist,” and helmer Wright were also taken off guard. Paramount risks tainting the movie’s profile with this move, which the industry and media will read as a vote of no-confidence. It had built positive buzz during long-lead screenings.
Steve Zaillian’s “All the King’s Men” bowed to disappointing box office after Columbia Pictures moved it from 2005 to 2006.
TV spots for “The Soloist” have already aired nationally and were committed going forward, though Par said it can pull the spots back or roll them over. “Soloist” trailers had been placed in front of “Eagle Eye.”
“We decided it’s a commercial movie that will play well in the spring, and we’ll give it an aggressive wide release then,” Par vice chairman Rob Moore said.
Studio also moved Ed Zwick’s “Defiance,” a Holocaust drama starring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber, to a 2009 wide release. The film, which was scheduled to open Dec. 12, will still get an Oscar qualifying run by bowing Dec. 31. But Paramount will release the Vantage title wide on Jan. 16.
Both “The Soloist” and “Defiance” were booked into the AFI Fest next month.
Moves save the studio some $60 million-$70 million in prints and advert
Excellent. Personal opinion here, but I believe much of Brad’s “on-fired–ness” has been directly motivated by sharing life with someone who gets him. JMHO
jpf
http://www.makeitrightnola.org
Good Morning and thanks for the new thread about BP’s potential latest project. I am looking forward to all of BP and AJ upcoming projects including Changeling and the Benjamin Button Movie. BP is busy producing movies and babies(with the help of AJ). A futuristic Odyssey sounds like an interesting concept. However, with all good films, the script is the thing. Happy TGIF!!!. Thanks for all the updates Just Jared.
http://skinindex.com/archives/2005/08/back_in_time_br.php
10/04/2008 - Brad Pitt - 46th New York Film Festival - “Changeling” Premiere - Outside Arrivals - Ziegfeld Theater at 141 West 54th Street - New York City, NY, USA © Wild1 / PR Photos
By April MacIntyre Oct 13, 2008, 16:44 GMT
In the world of filmmaking, states and countries act as individual entities trying to draw film production to spur local economies, and offer jobs to area craftspeople and film-specific vendors.
In this competition, many states have dangled enticing tax breaks and credits to producers to sweeten the deal, as Louisiana has done aggressively.
The state boasts a vibrant film and television community with many established production hubs, sound stages and post-houses established over the years in the Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans area.
The current economic crisis has turned the spotlight on these fat giveaways to Hollywood and foreign producers, illuminating just what the cost is to the local taxpayer and just how the states manage to do this. By getting the taxpayers to shore up the difference, these incentives are now causing some problems for local film commissions.
The New York Times reporter Michael Cieply uncovered exactly how much Brad Pitt’s latest big film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” has cost the Bayou State: $27,117,737, to be exact.
Pitt maintains a home with Angelina Jolie in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and has spearheaded a home development plan to help rebuild the devastated ninth ward of the city. Last year Pitt took advantage of a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative by announcing a new 150-Home Sustainable Community in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward. Pitt partnered with real-estate developer and philanthropist Steve Bing as part of his “Make It Right” project.
Pitt pledged to match $5 million in contributions to the project. Bing has pledged to match $5 million in contributions as well, for a total of $10 million in matching funds for the home building.
Despite the do-gooding efforts of the star, Cieply writes that outrage at paying rich peoples’ bills has hit a nerve with John Q. Public, and in turn, various state legislators who want to reign in the give-away party.
“One of the most shocking bills has come due in Louisiana, where residents are financing a hefty share of Brad Pitt’s next movie…As the number of movies made under these plans multiplied in recent years, the state money turned into a welcome rescue plan for Hollywood at a time when private investors were fleeing the movies. But the glamour business has not always been kind to those who pick up the costs, and states are moving to rein in their largess that has allowed producers to be reimbursed for all manner of expenditures, whether the salaries of stars, the rental of studio space or meals for the crew.”
Cieply reports that the politically checkered state of Louisiana’s former film commissioner is now due in court in January and facing 15 years in federal prison for accepting bribes to inflate film budgets netting higher production subsidies.
Over 40 states have followed Louisiana’s lead, such as locational favorites North Carolina, Michigan, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which Cieply reports has recently tightened their lenient tax credit menu offered to filmmakers. Critics of the incentives programs cite that the jobs created by fostering a less expensive production location makes up for the lost tax revenues.
Question of the day: How do you feel about large tax incentives for outside production companies to come and work in your state? Do the temporary jobs that are created warrant the loss of tax revenues for your state?
http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/10/17/brad-pitts-double-bill-the-odyssey-and-moneyball/
rad Pitt’s Double Bill: The Odyssey and Moneyball
October 17, 2008
by Alex Billington
Brad Pitt’s Double Bill: The Odyssey and Moneyball
Two major casting announcements for Brad Pitt tonight, both being interesting projects based on literature. The first, an outer space adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey”; the second, Steve Zaillian’s adaptation of Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game”. Given I went through the American education system myself and was forced to read “The Odyssey”, I know that almost everyone is familiar with that story, but what is Moneyball all about? The book is a baseball and business management combo that tells the story of Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, and his team’s modernized, statistics-heavy approach to running the organization ??.
The Odyssey project is setup at Warner Brothers with Happy Feet director George Miller set to adapt the screenplay and hopefully direct. Instead of telling the classic story in ancient Greek times, when it was written by Homer, the intention is to transfer it to a futuristic setting in outer space, further continuing Hollywood’s upcoming sci-fi trend. Warner Brothers doesn’t have Brad Pitt or George Miller signed and ready to go, but they’re giving this an early greenlight in hopes of securing both of them. “The Odyssey” follows the Greek hero Odysseus and his long journey home to Ithaca following the fall of Troy. If this were set in a world as stunning as Mass Effect, it could be incredible, but I fear it won’t be that great.
Moneyball is a project setup at Sony that we first mentioned way back in March. Oscar winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Mission: Impossible, American Gangster) has signed on to adapt the screenplay for David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me) to direct. I absolutely love the concept of this book and really hope it turns out well on the big screen. Producer Michael De Luca previously explained what their take is: a “dramatic depiction of that 2002 season” that is “condensed to really the beginning and end of that season that contained the 22 game winning streak.” De Luca adds: “I think there should be a mix of a sports movie but also an anti-establishment triumph of the individual in terms of the way Billy Beane went up against conventional wisdom and the bureaucracy.”
I’m clearly much more interested in Moneyball than Odyssey, especially because I’m excited to see Brad Pitt give his interpretation of Billy Beane. But that’s not to say I have visions of grandeur with an outer space “Odyssey” as well. That image on the cover of the “The Forever War” book keeps coming to mind when thinking about this. Anything sci-fi I’m usually excited by, and I’m probably the only one who will defend this idea, but that’s because I’m looking past the basics and into my imagination. I also still firmly believe that Brad Pitt is, hands down, one of the great actors of our generation and will do a great job exploring both of these projects.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008276992_detainedkids17m0.html
Microsoft set to help the littlest immigrants
With some of the biggest legal heavy hitters in the country and Angelina Jolie as a spokesperson, Microsoft today launched a new initiative to provide free legal services to illegal-immigrant children facing possible deportation.
By Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporter
Partnered with some of the nation’s legal powerhouses — and with actress Angelina Jolie as a spokesperson — Microsoft today launched an initiative to provide free legal help to hundreds of illegal-immigrant children who are on their own and facing deportation.
Through Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the Redmond company and a group of law firms in nine cities will spend about $14.5 million over the next three years on an immigration legal-defense program for children, similar to a partnership Microsoft has had with local attorneys for years.
“While there are many worthy causes and cases, we wanted to focus on children who have been separated from their families and are in particular needy circumstances,” said Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft.
“For children who have no one to speak on their behalf, a lawyer is a lifeline to protection.”
Last year, about 8,000 illegal-immigrant children with no official adult supervision were processed in immigration court. They came from all over the world — the majority from Central America — some fleeing untold horror and abuse.
Crossing illegally into the U.S., some were separated from parents or guardians. Others were smuggled in alone by coyotes, people who help immigrants cross the border illegally for a fee.
Once here, some turned to the Department of Homeland Security seeking asylum. But most were picked up by immigration authorities at U.S. borders and airports or came to the attention of immigration authorities after running afoul of the law.
About 215 of these children were in Washington state.
Okay, I am through. Happy TGIF!!!!!
He’s hot property.Thank bdj for the news
Troy goes to space!
Is this the same director of Babe and Happy Feet?
I like the way u think Darko, and agree !
No more saint piTt
By the way, he looks very old and sad…very sad :S
sounds great !!!!
cant wait
go papi
Both Moneyball and Odyssey sound like interesting projects. WTG Brad. Just one note to WB - dont publicise it like AOJJ.
Brad Pitt looks hot, I love him.
Sounds like a bomb .
Oh nee!!
He made me stop watching his films after Troy. So please…anything else, Brad. But please, hands off from The Great King of Ithaca and Homer!!
Brad looks so handsome in that pic. He looks like aged good wine. Angie is so in love with him. I just hope he does not ever disappoint her. I feel and hope he loves her as much as she loves him. Angie is so much more vocal about her love for him.
Interesting project. Wonder if it will make. Brad will have to become the bread winner as Angie reduces the number of pics she is in. Seems like being a stay at home mom fits her well. I like her so much!!!!
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