Sharky

Have found on the internet a still from the remake of the dambusters film.
You can definately see Peter Jackson's influences.


The New Dambusters

Steve Crook

:rolleyes:

Freddy

B)

Freddy

mike ellery

why do people always associate the "PETWOOD HOTEL" WITH THE DAMBUSTERS? this was the officers mess, if people took the time to visit "THE BLUE BELL INN" at tattershall thorpe, they would find a pub that was frequented by all the lower ranks of bomber command with loads of photo's and memorabillia on the walls, ceilings signed by the likes of norman jackson etc. the dambuster pub at scampton seems to get more recognition too but it was not even in existence during the war. 617 squadron was at thorpe camp, next door to the blue bell from right after the dams raid until the end of the war, along with 627, 97 and other squandrons based at raf coningsby and woodhall spa

Marky B

Going back to the Tom Cruise take on the Battle of Britain,it seems the plan has been shelved due to Paramount Pictures parting of the ways with The Cruise. If the film is to go ahead,The Cruise will have to find the money himself and probably have to find another director,as Micahel Mann has suffered a critical bruising over his film Miami Vice. So now there is a window available,should not the British film industry perhaps look into making a movie about the conflict...one not tainted by political correctness.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I once shot an elephant in my pyjamas - how he got in my pyjamas,I'll never know

DB7

Peter Jackson to film Dam Busters

Jackson will produce the movie, with King Kong animator Christian Rivers in the director's chair.

Jackson said it would be "as authentic as possible and as close to the spirit of the original as possible".

The 1954 film told the true story of how Britain developed bouncing bombs to destroy German dams in World War II.


Mel Gibson was going to direct and possibly act in it
Peter Jackson
Jackson says he first saw the film as a child and "really loved it".

"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.

Based on a book by Paul Brickhill, the original film starred Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis, who developed the bomb, and Richard Todd as Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who led the RAF bombing mission.

Jackson asked his agent to inquire about the possibility of remaking the film at the same time as he was securing the rights to the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the 1990s.

Richard Todd pictured in 1974
Richard Todd starred as Wing Commander Gibson in the original
"He came back and said that [film company] Icon had the rights and that Mel Gibson was going to direct and possibly act in it," Jackson said.

"Obviously that didn't happen."

The remake is set to use details of the bombing mission which were still classified at the time the original film was made by director Michael Anderson.

"So much of it was still secret," said Jackson. "They weren't even allowed to show the bomb itself and had to create a fictionalised bomb."

The project is due to start filming next year, with a budget of $30-40m (£16-21m).

Television presenter Sir David Frost will be an executive producer on the movie as he owns the rights to the book.

Jackson's next project as director will be an adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel The Lovely Bones.

brianl

Thought you might like to read the following article which appeared in the Wellington (New Zealand) Dominion Post this morning.
Regards
BrianL

T H E D O M I N I O N P O S T S T O R Y



$76m Dambusters comes to Wellington

01 September 2006 By TOM CARDY

First there was King Kong and now another childhood dream is about to come true for film-maker Peter Jackson – a $76 million new version of the classic film The Dam Busters.


Jackson reveals today that he will produce the film, to be known as Dambusters, based on one of World War II's most daring feats when Royal Air Force bombers destroyed German dams using bouncing bombs.
Most of the US$50 million film will be shot in Wellington, where about 10 full-scale replicas of the Lancaster bombers used in the 1943 raid will be built by visual effects company Weta Workshop. Some filming is also likely in Britain.
"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."
The film will be based on the book The Dam Busters, the 1954 British film of the same name – and new information about the top-secret mission, which included two New Zealanders and an American as well as British and Canadian crews.
Jackson, 44, first saw the 1954 film, which focused on inventor Barnes Wallis and mission commander Guy Gibson, at a Wellington cinema when he was 12. He had been fascinated by the mission, but 10 years ago when he first considered remaking the film he was told Hollywood star Mel Gibson had bought the film rights, held by British broadcaster Sir David Frost, and hoped to star and direct.
"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."
In May Britain's Mail on Sunday reported plans for the film, which Jackson at the time dismissed. He said yesterday he was then still negotiating the rights to make the film, which got the green light only last week.
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.
"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," Sir David said.
Computer-generated visual effects and models will depict much of the mission. Jackson had not ruled out using working Lancasters, but the 10 replicas would not fly.
"You do have to have them on the airfield and actors walking around them. We're not going to resort to CG (computer-generated effects) for every single shot in this movie."
It was likely a British screenwriter would be hired. The cast could include A-list stars, but director Christian Rivers said they were most likely to cast actors in their 20s for the main roles. Wing Commander Gibson was only 24 and some pilots were as young as 20.
"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.
Jackson did not expect problems fitting the film in with others being made at his Wellington studios, including sci-fi epic Halo and The Lovely Bones, which he will direct.
Jackson said Halo was likely to start shooting early next year – and it was possible Halo and Dambusters could be shot about the same time. The Lovely Bones, for which he expected a draft script to be completed next week, would be filmed later.

bloodworm

$76m Dambusters comes to Wellington

01 September 2006 By TOM CARDY

First there was King Kong and now another childhood dream is about to come true for film-maker Peter Jackson – a $76 million new version of the classic film The Dam Busters.


[/quote]

Oh dear, Not what i wanted to hear, bad news indeed !!!


C/u The Worm :mad:

The one that gets away is always the biggest but not always the best !!

penfold

Not necessarily...he's making the right noises about casting (agewise, not necessarily big names) and updating the visual effects. Plus with his family background he's going to be more respectful I feel than a Hollywood version...if there's going to be a remake,it could be a lot worse...I just hope they make a sequel regarding the post-dams raid work 617 did in the precision bombing field...

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

bloodworm

Maybe i am stuck in the mud where classics are concerned. They are classics and should be left that way. The remake of "The Wicker Man" is about to hit our screens and i am willing to gamble that the simplistic plot leading to the shock ending is full of tension seeking special effects..As for TDB I and others agree (see earlier posts in this thread) that the film will automatically be changing history as the politically correct persons of this world won't allow the use of a latin word for black. Only a small detail you may say but once you change one thing you may as well change more. For me, as i said earlier, it is bad news..

C/U The Worm

The one that gets away is always the biggest but not always the best !!

penfold

Generally speaking I agree entirely...regarding the naming or otherwise of Guy's dog, we'll have to wait and see, if it was the latin word I don't think it would be a problem, but it's the extremely derogatory derivation from the Southern States; time will tell as to how it's handled.......but the 1950's film rewrote history too - all films do, however well intentioned - and I'm delighted that Jackson is looking to correct the two things that always niggle me about the original. One, the effects, even by 1950's standards, are poor for a largish budget film...look at films like Thief of Bagdad for what was possible even in the thirties.. Two, that Richard Todd, splendid performance though he gives, and his comrades, are way, way too old by ten to fifteen years....bigger details, in the scheme of things, I would suggest, than the name of a dog. Who could match Redgrave's performance though...that will be the test.
At least they're not colorizing the original...:rolleyes:

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

ChristineCB

I hope that at least one of the bombers can fall down a crevice for 9 minutes, tangling with swastika-spangled T-Rex's.

Of course, if that happens, I'm not sure what SQUADRON 633 would battle on its remake, though.

Say... didn't those pterodactyls chase the helicopter after Jurassic Park III? Boy, if Hollywood can only figure out how ol' Adolph could get some of those!

Nick Dando

Well done Christine, that made me laugh!

Perhaps we could have Hermann Goring sitting on top of the Reichstag, batting the bombers away?

Nick

Wee Sonny MacGregor

I'm with Bloodworm on this one, although I would agree that the special effects in the original were lacking.

I was surprised to learn that there was an American on the raid - the heavily decorated Wing Commander Joe McCarthy.

penfold

The former Coney Island Beachguard who joined the RCAF before America entered the war....I believe he actually commanded 617 at one stage, either just before Cheshire arrived or in a temporary absence...a real character, as one might imagine.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??