Stone Directing Willis & Tatum in Pinkville

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=36678

Source: Variety
August 28, 2007


Oliver Stone is closing a deal with United Artists to finance Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai massacre that he would direct. The film would be distributed through MGM.

Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum will star. Mikko Alanne wrote the script.

Variety says the UA commitment could be finalized this week, putting the picture into production by early next year, with a budget of roughly $40 million.

It marks the fourth time Stone has directed a film set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, following Oscar winner Platoon, Heaven & Earth and Born on the Fourth of July.

Willis will play Army Gen. William R. Peers, who supervised the investigation into the massacre by U.S. soldiers of as many as 500 My Lai villagers, most of them unarmed women, children and elderly.

Tatum will play Hugh Thompson, a helicopter pilot who, upon realizing what was happening below, put a stop to the killing by placing his craft between gunmen and the few villagers who were left, and telling his two shipmates to fire on the soldiers if they shot any more people. They airlifted the survivors and reported the carnage to superiors.

Pinkville is the description on a military map for the region where My Lai is.

This sounds great

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/819/819424p1.html

Stone Talks Pinkville
The director on why he's revisiting the Vietnam War.


by Stax
US, September 12, 2007 - Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone has opened up about why he is planning to revisit the Vietnam War in his next directing effort Pinkville, a drama about the My Lai massacre.

"Why now? Because of Iraq. That's a major reason. I had no intention of making a fourth Vietnam movie at all. But this last year — you know my feelings about the Iraq war of course — I think the time has unfortunately come back around to remember events like My Lai," Stone told Time.com.

He continued, "Why My Lai? Because it's a great story. I was [serving] in Vietnam at the time, and it really made an impression, and I think it changed the course of the war to a large degree. Americans were shocked, as well as the Vietnamese. You have to take into account that many Vietnamese villagers were neutral. It turned many neutral villagers against us. It was an interesting turning point."

To Stone, Pinkville is unlike his three other Vietnam films -- Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven and Earth -- because it's not a personal story for him.

"My Lai is more like World Trade Center in that it's outside my own personal whatnot, it's outside me and it's an event of historical proportions," the filmmaker explained. "But it seems that there's so many similar things [between Vietnam and Iraq]. Sometimes the best way to reflect on something is through parallel history. Patton came out during Vietnam; Little Big Man came out during Vietnam; M*A*S*H* came out during Vietnam. They were all about other wars. Sometimes you can tell more about a war now by paralleling a previous war."

Mikko Alanne scripted Pinkville, which reportedly begins filming next year.

 

[DocHoliday]

Can't wait! Although I think he has really lost steam since JFK. I really hope this one is a grandslam!!

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=38737

Harrelson in Stone's Pinkville
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
October 25, 2007


Woody Harrelson is re-teaming with Oliver Stone in the director's Vietnam War drama Pinkville for United Artists.

Harrelson joins Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum, who already have been cast in the mystery drama based on the infamous 1968 My Lai Massacre, in which upward of 500 people -- mostly women, children and the elderly -- were killed by U.S. soldiers. The massacre ended up being a turning point in the war.

Harrelson will play Col. Henderson, the conflicted officer in charge of the task force that committed the massacre.

Mikko Alanne wrote the script. Production is set to begin next year, with MGM distributing.

Willis will portray William R. Peers, the real-life Army general who investigated the incident. Tatum will play Hugh Thompson Jr., an Army helicopter pilot who aided the villagers and later testified against the soldiers.

Michael Pena, who appeared in Stone's World Trade Center, also has been cast.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.latinoreview.com/news/pitt-set-to-join-pinkville-3310

Pitt Set To Join Pinkville


Date: November 13, 2007

By: Ryan 'The Rican with the Irish name' McLelland
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Oliver Stone is eying Michael Pitt to play Lt. William Calley, the Army officer who was found guilty of ordering the 1968 My Lai Massacre, in his upcoming Vietnam War drama "Pinkville."

As an actor, Pitt is no stranger to the political turmoil of 1968; he appeared in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Dreamers," set against the '68 student riots in Paris.

Although United Artists, which is producing the film, and the actor's reps -- UTA, Carolyn Anthony and attorney James Adams -- have begun discussions, it's unclear how far the talks have progressed.

In other castings on the film, Toby Jones has been set to play Lt. Andre Feher, the chief warrant officer who tries to convince Army Gen. William Peers (Bruce Willis) that U.S. soldiers were responsible for the atrocities committed at My Lai.

Willis, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson already are cast in the investigative thriller written by Mikko Alanne. Production is set to begin in December.

 

[Darkly Dexter]

Bruce Willis (Conservative republican) and Oliver Stone (liberal leftist) doing together a Vietnam War drama?

Interesting.

 

[Sebastos]

It is interesting. But, I still look forward to this.