Peter Jackson producing Dam Busters remake

[Bat Brain]

Peter Jackson to film Dam Busters

The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson is to remake classic British war film The Dam Busters, he has told film industry trade paper Screen Daily.

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.

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.

"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.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5301998.stm

 

[Gamma Ray]

This man has to stop re-making movies! Do something original, please!

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

Good, more remakes. Do we get a 3 hour movie, with many re-releases of extended versions to follow? God I hope so.

 

[Darth Elektra]

it all sounds good if you ask me.

 

[OtepApe]

Jackson as producer and the fact they are going to be using the details of the bombings sounds great to me. Although I highly enjoyed the original.

 

[Darth Elektra]

Well PJ hasnt let us down yet, LOTR's were great films, and King Kong was a great film aswell. Im looking forward to Halo and this.

 

[OtepApe]

I agree, he's given us some outstanding movies. I am not a fan of the Halo games, but I will chek the movie out due to his invlovment.

 

[Cyrusbales]

Jackson isn't a very good director as it is! And why remake such a classic film? What next, a 3 hour casablanca? Perhaps nosferatu? Hell, why not do metropolis while we're there!

Peter jackson should have stuck to kitsch B-movies!

 

[Bat Brain]

A bit more info in the press release:

UNIVERSAL CITY, CA, August 31, 2006 — Production will soon begin on DAMBUSTERS, an inspirational story of heroism and one of the most daring missions in aeronautic military history, it was announced today by Universal Pictures and StudioCanal.

Christian Rivers will direct the film, which is inspired by actual events and based on the book The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill and the 1955 Associated British Picture Corporation motion picture. The WingNut Films production is produced by Jan Blenkin, Carolynne Cunningham and Peter Jackson, with Sir David Frost and Ken Kamins serving as executive producers.

A Universal Pictures presentation in association with StudioCanal, DAMBUSTERS chronicles the story of Operation Chastise, a top-secret Royal Air Force bombing mission designed to strike a decisive blow against the seemingly invincible Nazi war machine at the height of its aggression.

In March 1943, a group of airmen drawn from across the ranks of the RAF were assembled and trained for an unprecedented and potentially deadly assignment whose complete nature was not revealed to them. This largely hand-picked group, known as 617 Squadron—including pilots from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA—were led by Wing Cmdr. Guy Gibson. They had only seven weeks to train with exercises that imitated, but never revealed, their ultimate intent: to fly deep within well-armed Germany at tree top level and destroy three dams that were essential to the Nazi steel industry. A revolutionary “bouncing” bomb that could skip across water had been developed by a visionary scientist, Barnes Wallis, but to be effective, the bomb had to be dropped from a terrifyingly close range and at very low altitude. In specially-modified Lancaster aircraft, the airmen trained for a single mission, the likes of which had never been undertaken and whose potential for success was small.

“This is one of the most remarkable true stories to come out of World War II,” stated Jackson. “When Michael Anderson made his thrilling version of this story in 1955, many details of the dams raid were still a closely guarded secret. It has since been declassified by the British Government, making the dynamics of the story and the people involved even more intriguing. That, combined with our ability to harness state-of-the-art computer generated visual effects, will enable us to bring the events of these desperate days of 1943 to life in a very visceral way. This is an astonishing story that continues to be revered in British Commonwealth history, and our hope is to make their exploits known to more of the world and extend their legacy to a generation that might not otherwise recognize their inspiration and sacrifice.”

“Peter Jackson is the ideal producer for a remake of DAMBUSTERS,” said Sir David Frost. “Not only because of his film-making genius, but also because of his aeronautical expertise and his unique understanding of the human pressures wrought by war.”

DAMBUSTERS marks the feature film directorial debut of Christian Rivers, who has worked with Jackson for over 17 years—first as a storyboard artist while still at school, then as an animator, pre-vis supervisor, second unit director—culminating in his work as animation director on Jackson’s King Kong, which won him a 2006 Academy Award® for Best Visual Effects (an honor Rivers shared with Joe Letteri, Brian Van’t Hul and Richard Taylor).

“The bravery of these young pilots, some of whom were only 20 years old, inspired the whole Allied world not just to resist, but to strike back against Nazi Germany,” said Rivers. “I grew up with the Dambusters mythology as part of my heritage. I remember seeing it for the first time on television in England with my grandfather. I’ll never forget marveling at the image of the bouncing bomb punching across the water. This is one of the most revered stories of British ingenuity and heroism. We intend to be true to the values of the era in which these events took place.”

The Oscar®-winning artists at Weta Digital, Ltd. and Weta Workshop, Ltd. will create the visual effects and miniatures necessary to fully realize DAMBUSTERS for the motion picture screen.

Source http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24356

 

[Flexo]

Peter Jackson hasn't let me down yet. Even though he's just a producer, I'll give this a chance.

 

[JLBats]

Jackson isn't a very good director as it is! And why remake such a classic film? What next, a 3 hour casablanca? Perhaps nosferatu? Hell, why not do metropolis while we're there!

Peter jackson should have stuck to kitsch B-movies!

Dude, he's just producing it.

Calm down.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Ive never seen the original but at least it sounds like they have something new to add to it and with modern tech the battle can be brought to life with even more realism,the budget is fairly small though for this type of film

 

[C. Lee]

I liked the original...and I always look forward to a well produced WWII movie with todays technologies...it sounds good to me.

 

[Mentok]

I never watched the old film... I have seen a bunch of documentaries on the 617th Squadron and on the Bouncing Bombs.

 

[ervann]

Where Is My Evangelion!?!

 

[Mentok]

'Shelved for the forseeable future'

 

[Cyrusbales]

Dude, he's just producing it.

Calm down.

But how many times have films been ruined by producers? If he's producing it, he gets the final say-so, so this is worrying, but still, WHY REMAKE THIS FILM ANYWAY!!!

 

[chesslover]

Who ya gonna call?...

 

[BloodyWolverine]

Why is there so many Peter Jackson haters out there. LO.T.R is box office history for no one has ever made three films at once before. Rings was an amazing trilogy and likely will never be out done in the world of Fantasy. No matter what movie may pass it. King Kong was a great film to. Kong looked like a big gorilla and not a cgi creation to me.

Let him produce a while and rest up some so we can get the Hobbit one day. TV series or movie.

 

[Cinemaman]

Jackson made one of the greatest trilogies ever and one of the best blockbusters'05, so I am waiting for this new project.

 

[SolidSnakeMGS]

Why is there so many Peter Jackson haters out there. LO.T.R is box office history for no one has ever made three films at once before. Rings was an amazing trilogy and likely will never be out done in the world of Fantasy. No matter what movie may pass it. King Kong was a great film to. Kong looked like a big gorilla and not a cgi creation to me.

I don't like to stir up a hornet's nest, but everyone treats Jackson like he's a Scorsese or a Spielberg -- which he isn't even close -- without realizing it takes TIME and WORK to get to their level, not adapting books and remakes.

I thought the LOTR trilogy was supremely overrated. They were pretty dull lifeless epics with the occasional bright spot and waaaay to much dependence on CGI. I kinda think any director could have done what Jackson did, he was merely the lucky one to be chosen. Plus the books already had a huge following so getting those people into theaters wasn't a challenge.

King Kong was overlong, and not even close to the original. In short, it was a pointless remake. I labored to get through it.

Jackson needs to actually challenge himself now.

Go ahead and flame me. I am use to it, but it is my opinion.

 

[xwolverine2]

id be more imterested if he were DIRECTING a movie

 

[Cyrusbales]

I don't like to stir up a hornet's nest, but everyone treats Jackson like he's a Scorsese or a Spielberg -- which he isn't even close -- without realizing it takes TIME and WORK to get to their level, not adapting books and remakes.

I thought the LOTR trilogy was supremely overrated. They were pretty dull lifeless epics with the occasional bright spot and waaaay to much dependence on CGI. I kinda think any director could have done what Jackson did, he was merely the lucky one to be chosen. Plus the books already had a huge following so getting those people into theaters wasn't a challenge.

King Kong was overlong, and not even close to the original. In short, it was a pointless remake. I labored to get through it.

Jackson needs to actually challenge himself now.

Go ahead and flame me. I am use to it, but it is my opinion.

Spot on! except Spielberg isn't as good anymore and I don't like scorsese, but Jackson is overrated! End of story.

 

[chesslover]

...Dam Busters!

 

[JLBats]

Spot on! except Spielberg isn't as good anymore and I don't like scorsese, but Jackson is overrated! End of story.

"Except for almost everything you said, I agree with you"