The Dam Busters remake

[cully]

(bloodworm @ Feb 16 2006, 12:30 PM) Have read the thread now and it was started in2002......On central tv some 5 weeks ago a remake was being discussed so maybe unfortunatley they may have rekindled the idea....will probably have yanks, B52s and a young chick for Barnes Wallises wife

I read somewhere that David Frost was behind the idea of a remake....

[bloodworm]

(cully @ Feb 19 2006, 08:32 PM) I read somewhere that David Frost was behind the idea of a remake....

Lets hope mr Frosts idea gets a cilly reception...............

[penfold]

(bloodworm @ Feb 20 2006, 12:42 PM) Lets hope mr Frosts idea gets a cilly reception...............

We had a thread here on this a few months ago...

[bloodworm]

(penfold @ Feb 21 2006, 01:28 AM) We had a thread here on this a few months ago...

That thread was in 2002 and fully discussed the idea but some 5 - 6 weeks past a new proposal was programmed on central tv with visits to Scampton and the Dambusters pub hence the new thread.

[Jim]

(bloodworm @ Feb 21 2006, 06:25 AM) That thread was in 2002 and fully discussed the idea but some 5 - 6 weeks past a new proposal was programmed on central tv with visits to Scampton and the Dambusters pub hence the new thread.

Perhaps Spielberg could remake it, after all he usually rewrites history!!

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Actually Micheal Bay has been working on this film for sometime...

Will Smith has agreed play the part of Barnes Wallis and Natalie Portman is playing his wife.
Various members of 617 Squadron are being played by George Clooney, Denzil Washington, Orlando Bloom, the ever bloody present Colin Farrell , Joe Pesci, and Keanu Reeves. The only plane in 617 that had an all-female crew is being flown by Angelina Jolie, Nichole Kidman, Laura Dern and Kirsten Dunst, with Dame Judy Dench in a cameo role as the rear gunner (Nobby).

Ground crew and general staff have been cast and Al Pacino has been practising his cheery cockney accent by watching Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins...others lined up include, Heath Ledger, (as the batman), Brad Pitt (as the barman) and Morgan Freeman (as the vicar).

German pilots and ground crew have also been cast and include Brian Cox, Sean Connery, Gary Oldman, Joan Collins, Christian Bale, Diana Rigg, and Ade Edmonson.

Producer Jerry Bruckhiemer said "we have gone for as much authenticity as we can possibly can" "that's why we've come here to Tunisia...where this part of the desert and the sunsets, really gives you the feeling of being on Chesil beach as the Harriers drop those big drum thingys"

Of course not all remakes can be exact replicas of the first..so a new 'back-story' has been added. The scenes of the mass helicopter recce and subsequent air battle have already been filmed in Tashkent and additional principle photography is now underway in China.

Bruckheimer continues...."in the original movie, part of the bomb aiming device involved holding up two pieces of wood to act as rangefinders/sights....we have approached both Jude Law and Hugh Grant to play these, and are hopefull of a reply pretty soon"

He signed off by saying "we have had to change the name of the dog, of course, it is now called 'Skywalker', and the casting of the dog itself was causing us a few headaches too, until someone mentioned Liz Hurley, ......we have had to have the suit altered, but it is the role she was born to play"


Due to hit our screens in early '07


Threep

[Steve Crook]

(Guybrush Threepwood @ Mar 28 2006, 12:42 AM) Actually Micheal Bay has been working on this film for sometime... ... Due to hit our screens in early '07 Threep

Brilliant - if only it wasn't oh so possible given most Hollywood people's knowledge of and respect for history

Steve

[bloodworm]

(Guybrush Threepwood @ Mar 28 2006, 12:42 AM) Actually Micheal Bay has been working on this film for sometime... Will Smith has agreed play the part of Barnes Wallis and Natalie Portman is playing his wife. Various members of 617 Squadron are being played by George Clooney, Denzil Washington, Orlando Bloom, the ever bloody present Colin Farrell , Joe Pesci, and Keanu Reeves. The only plane in 617 that had an all-female crew is being flown by Angelina Jolie, Nichole Kidman, Laura Dern and Kirsten Dunst, with Dame Judy Dench in a cameo role as the rear gunner (Nobby). Ground crew and general staff have been cast and Al Pacino has been practising his cheery cockney accent by watching Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins...others lined up include, Heath Ledger, (as the batman), Brad Pitt (as the barman) and Morgan Freeman (as the vicar). German pilots and ground crew have also been cast and include Brian Cox, Sean Connery, Gary Oldman, Joan Collins, Christian Bale, Diana Rigg, and Ade Edmonson. Producer Jerry Bruckhiemer said "we have gone for as much authenticity as we can possibly can" "that's why we've come here to Tunisia...where this part of the desert and the sunsets, really gives you the feeling of being on Chesil beach as the Harriers drop those big drum thingys" Of course not all remakes can be exact replicas of the first..so a new 'back-story' has been added. The scenes of the mass helicopter recce and subsequent air battle have already been filmed in Tashkent and additional principle photography is now underway in China. Bruckheimer continues...."in the original movie, part of the bomb aiming device involved holding up two pieces of wood to act as rangefinders/sights....we have approached both Jude Law and Hugh Grant to play these, and are hopefull of a reply pretty soon" He signed off by saying "we have had to change the name of the dog, of course, it is now called 'Skywalker', and the casting of the dog itself was causing us a few headaches too, until someone mentioned Liz Hurley, ......we have had to have the suit altered, but it is the role she was born to play" Due to hit our screens in early '07 Threep

And yesterday i was asking what has happend to subtle british comedy !!!Brilliant.
Hope Liz enjoys the role of the dog, but i suppose she is used to being on all 4s

C/U Thw Worm

[David Brent]

(Guybrush Threepwood @ Mar 27 2006, 11:42 PM) Actually Micheal Bay has been working on this film for sometime... Will Smith has agreed play the part of Barnes Wallis and Natalie Portman is playing his wife. Various members of 617 Squadron are being played by George Clooney, Denzil Washington, Orlando Bloom, the ever bloody present Colin Farrell , Joe Pesci, and Keanu Reeves. The only plane in 617 that had an all-female crew is being flown by Angelina Jolie, Nichole Kidman, Laura Dern and Kirsten Dunst, with Dame Judy Dench in a cameo role as the rear gunner (Nobby). Due to hit our screens in early '07 Threep

Great piece, as usual, Guybrush.

But why should Michael Bay have to fork out all that money for that cast?
He should employ the cast of Stella Street instead.
At least Mrs. Huggett would be authentic for that period.

Dave.

[Johnny Rico]

Nice One! Liked the Bit about two Bits of wood ( Jude Law and Hugh Grant )

Perhaps they could incorporate the Carling Black Label Advert as Michael Bay could see it as authentic WW2 footage.

[bloodworm]

The mail on Sunday reports that Peter Jackson is working on a £100 million remake of this classic film. He will have to work with Sir David Frost who last year bought the rights to Paul Brickhills book about operation chastise. It is intended to keep Eric Coates theme music but a problem exists as to the name of Gibbies dog. surely he was called NIGGER as was the code word for the breaching of the Mohne dam. The only problem I have is that they are doing it in the firts place.....

C/U The Worm

[theuofc]

(bloodworm @ May 8 2006, 08:16 AM) The mail on Sunday reports that Peter Jackson is working on a £100 million remake of this classic film. He will have to work with Sir David Frost who last year bought the rights to Paul Brickhills book about operation chastise. It is intended to keep Eric Coates theme music but a problem exists as to the name of Gibbies dog. surely he was called NIGGER as was the code word for the breaching of the Mohne dam. The only problem I have is that they are doing it in the firts place..... C/U The Worm

Hi, CA,

Can Jackson and Frost make the new Dam Busters "better" as they hope? I wonder whom they will cast in the major roles especially Gibson. Here's an article from the New Zealand Herald (actually from The Mail) on the remake.

Barbara

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.c...jectID=10380795

thanks to Jim of Cinema Britain:

New Zealand Herald
08 May 2006

Peter Jackson reportedly working on Dam Busters remake


New Zealand film director Peter Jackson is set to film a remake of the World
War 2 film "The Dam Busters," with a budget of almost $300 million dollars, according to a British Sunday newspaper. [The Mail]

The Mail on Sunday yesterday reported Jackson would work on the estimated £100 million movie ($293.5 million) alongside Sir David Frost - who last year bought the rights to Paul Brickhill's 1951 book about 617 Squadron's daring low-level bombing of German dams.

The newspaper said Jackson was a self-confessed war buff who had a lifelong interest in British military history after being inspired by a childhood
visit to London's Imperial War Museum.

Jackson owns replicas of two World War 1 fighters and a tank and spent
£50,000 ($146,700) of his own money restoring the only film of Anzac troops at Gallipoli, the newspaper reported.

Jackson recently spent a day filming one of the last surviving Lancaster
bombers in preparation for the remake of the much-loved 1954 black-and-white film, which starred Richard Todd as Wing Commander Guy Gibson and Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis, who invented the bouncing bomb.

A source quoted in the paper said Jackson, 44, had met a group of RAF
veterans in New Zealand who restored the plane.

"It was clear just how much he knew about warplanes. We believe the footage is to help his special effects team.

"Peter has been in contact with the old crewmen, who are well into their
80s. I believe he is helping to create a memorial to the New Zealand airmen who flew bombers, including those who died in the Dam Busters mission," the unnamed source was quoted in the newspaper.

Codenamed Operation Chastise, the 1943 raid is one of the most famous
military operations. Gibson hand-picked crews from other Lancaster squadrons to fly at low level to destroy three heavily protected dams in the industrial Ruhr Valley.

The Mohne and Eder dams were breached using Wallis's extraordinary bouncing bomb. To be effective, the revolving mine had to be released while flying at precisely 220mph, 60ft above the water and 425 yards from a dam.

Jackson was reported to be sending his assistant Matt Dravitski to the
annual Dam Busters reunion this month at Petwood Hotel, near Lincoln, which had been 617 Squadron's wartime mess.

Of the 19 Lancasters that took off from nearby RAF Scampton on May 16, 1943, eight failed to return and 56 airmen were killed.

The newspaper said one question remained - What to call Gibson's beloved but now controversially-named dog, Nigger.

Sir David Frost said, "The word Nigger is not ideal for the modern world. But
the real challenge is to make the film as good as, or better than, the
original."

The famous theme music by Eric Coates would stay. Sir David said it would be crazy to change it.

[Marky B]

I think Peter Jackson will direct the film with some respect and I think more than likely will cast (I hope) British actors,but as there were Australians and New Zealanders on the mission,no doubt he will employ local (to him) talent. I am still not sure if we need a remake ( I haven't seen his King Kong yet) of what is one of the most famous films in not only British history but cinema history,however in Jackson's hands I feel a bit assured of a capable job. Apparently,he is going to keep the theme music,but is admittedly having a problem with the name of the dog and as I wrote under the thread of War Stories,I wonder how he will employ the services of Andy Serkis.
Ta Ta
Marky B

[penfold]

(Marky B @ May 8 2006, 11:51 AM I think Peter Jackson will direct the film with some respect and I think more than likely will cast (I hope) British actors,but as there were Australians and New Zealanders on the mission,no doubt he will employ local (to him) talent. I am still not sure if we need a remake ( I haven't seen his King Kong yet) of what is one of the most famous films in not only British history but cinema history,however in Jackson's hands I feel a bit assured of a capable job. Apparently,he is going to keep the theme music,but is admittedly having a problem with the name of the dog and as I wrote under the thread of War Stories,I wonder how he will employ the services of Andy Serkis. Ta Ta Marky B

I think the answer to the problem of Guy's dog is relatively simple...you don't mention his name...and yes, I do know his name was the codeword for the Mohne Dam being breached...just tap it out in Morse, that's all you need do...and let the guys at Scampton celebrate from there.
Re. the casting, I just hope they cast men the right age...they almost always cast actors far too old; Gibson led the raid at the age of 24 for heavens sake....his 174th sortie...

[Marky B]

(penfold @ May 8 2006, I think the answer to the problem of Guy's dog is relatively simple...you don't mention his name...and yes, I do know his name was the codeword for the Mohne Dam being breached...just tap it out in Morse, that's all you need do...and let the guys at Scampton celebrate from there. Re. the casting, I just hope they cast men the right age...they almost always cast actors far too old; Gibson led the raid at the age of 24 for heavens sake....his 174th sortie...

Problem sorted,Penfold - well done. I am surprised that it was Gibson's 174th sortie at the age of only 24. The youth of today - they haven't lived (me included - when I was 24).
Ta Ta
Marky B