MOVIE NEWS
1408
Stephen King fans are already looking forward to a movie adaptation of his
recentl novel Cell, as reported last week on DMD, but King's short story
1408 from his anthology Everything's Eventual, is also being made. 1408
concerns a man who debunks paranormal phenomena as he investigates Room 1408
of a haunted hotel...
John Cusack (right) is already cast as the lead, Lane Meyer, with the script
written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood).
DIRTY DOZEN - THE REMAKE
Screenwiter Scott Rosenberg (Con Air) has been tasked to pen a remake of
classic WWII action movie The Dirty Dozen. The original film concerned a
platoon of war criminals given a reprise from their fates by accepting a
dangerous mission. No word on who will star in the 00's update, but I'm
guessing Mickey Rourke and Russell Crowe are high on the list...
DANIEL CRAIG INTERVIEW
James Bond Hype recently interviewed the new 007, Daniel Craig, amidst
constant speculation that he's not exactly cut-out to follow in the
illustrious footsteps of Connery, Moore and Brosnan. They also spoke with
producer Barbara Broccoli.
James Bond Hype!: Daniel, when we talked to you last April, there were
already a lot of rumors about you playing Bond, and you seemed a bit
tentative about taking on such a role. What made you change your mind?
Daniel Craig: The script really... and Barbara badgering me. I hadn't seen a
script at that point, and I was obviously giving it serious thought then.
I'd have been stupid not to. But I hadn't seen a script and the process
hadn't really gotten going. Once I sat down and read the story, I just
thought that I wanted to tell this story. I really do. I mean, I'm a big
Bond fan, and I love what he represents, and it was almost slightly annoying
to finally read it and go, 'Oh, Jesus! It's good!' And that was it, and we
were away.
JBH!:: How did you prepare yourself mentally and physically to play this
role?
Craig: Mentally, I kind of got my head around it before I got the job and
decided that this is one of those challenges in life that when they come
along, you really just have to face [them] head-on. Accepting the fact that
there's a huge amount of history and baggage that comes along with it,
saying, 'Okay, that's all there and it's all fantastic,' so all I had to do
is try and put my self into the situation and bring myself to it. That's all
I can do. Physically, I've just been in the gym four months now...
constantly.
JBH!:: And there were no worries about the physical aspects of the role? Are
you enjoying that part of making the movie?
Craig: Oh, no. I mean, it's a ride, it really is. And the God's honest
truth, we are here in the Bahamas and we've been in Prague, and we're making
a movie, and we're trying to make the best movie we can. The Bond is
certainly not secondary, but I think the better movie we make, the better
Bond movie we make. It's a simple equation.
JBH!:: Why did you go with Daniel over all the other options that were thrown
around?
Barbara Broccoli: Well, he's a phenomenal actor. I think he's the actor that
defies his generation of actors. I was a huge fan of his work, the films
he'd made, and when we decided we were going to make Casino Royale, it's
obviously a big decision who we're going to use, and he was always in the
forefront of our minds. Obviously, there was a lot of stuff in the press,
but the reality was that he was in the forefront, and it wasn't until we
were able to give him the script that we started talking, and once we did,
things moved very quickly.
Craig: It was kind of normal. That's the weird thing. There's so much
speculation going on, as there always is, but once Barbara gave me the
script and I wanted to do it, I screen-tested, because there was a new
producer on board with Sony who wanted to see if I could do it or not, and I
got the job. It's kind of that simple.
JBH!:: It must be a different kind of experience for you, so are you able to
block out all of the external pressures while you're working?
Craig: I kind of do. Of course, I'm aware of [the stuff on the internet].
The controversy is [something] I get. When I accepted the job, I understood
there would be consequences, but I can't set myself up and protecting
myself, I have to say "Okay, I'm going to accept this." Nobody knows more
than I do how important this is, and basically, I've taken on this
responsibility, and I'm going to give it my best shot, and once the film's
made, then we'll see. But judge the movie, because that's the deal. As far
as blocking it out is concerned, we're kind of doing a movie during the day.
I go to the gym at night and I get home and sleep. I get up in the morning
[and I go back to work]… that's my process at the moment.
Broccoli: But that's the reality of filmmaking. When you're making a movie,
everybody is so focused on what you're doing, you don't have the time to be
worried about the outside world. We're just trying to make a movie.
Craig: And we can't stop it. When the rumor mill gets going with a story
that's this big...
JBH!:: You mean like the thing about you getting two teeth knocked out?
JBH!:: Barbara, why did you go with Martin Campbell to direct this movie and
induct in a second new Bond?
Broccoli: Well, because he's a great filmmaker and a great storyteller, and
this story is one that is complex, but also fun. Over the years, there's
been a tradition of bringing back the directors who you work well with and
he's unbelievable.
Craig: He's relentless, but that's what those [action] sequences need.
JBH!:: This seems to be one of the first Bond movies to really get a lot of
dramatic film actors in the cast from Daniel to Jeffrey Wright, and of
course, Dame Judi Dench is back. That was sort of the approach to Batman
Begins as well, so was this a conscious decision to make a more dramatic
film?
Broccoli: I think it's very hard to compare other actors. I mean, they've
all done movies and they were all actors in different ways. They were all of
their time, and they all took the character in a direction that was
successful and we were very happy with it. Now, we're in a new phase and
we've got a phenomenal actor. The fact is that it would be nice to make it
sound like it's all a big hocus pocus thing, the reality is we went to
recast the role and we sat down and asked, 'Who is the best actor around for
the role?' and we said Daniel, and here he is. It's as simple as that.
JBH!:: Is it true that you're trying to make it a rougher Bond, and if so,
why keep it PG-13?
Broccoli: We're going back to the origins of the character and the story,
but we feel that even though it's rougher and more complex, we're still
making a family film. We're still making something, which is what we call
heightened reality. It's more realistic and it's not as fantastical as the
last couple [movies] have been or we've made through the series. There were
times, when the films got very fantastical like with Moonraker and things
like that. You change because you change with the times. At the moment, I
think everybody is feeling very serious about the world and they don't feel
frivolous about the world, and I think it's the right time to tell this
story and Daniel's the right actor to play him.
JBH!:: Can you talk about Bond's attitude towards women in this movie? It's
obviously changed over the course of the movies, but in the original book,
he was a bit of a sexist pig.
Broccoli: Well, it was written in 1953 and things have moved on a little bit
anyway.
Craig: Not much.
Broccoli: (laughs) Yeah, exactly!
Craig: I'm not shying away. Bond is damaged. His reason for being marked is
because of the upbringing he's had and the profession he's taken on. What we
do discover in this movie is why he becomes damaged and his relationship
with Vesper is the key to this. It really forms this character. What you'll
see is that there's a fallibility to him that sort of slides as the movie
goes on and he becomes stronger and stronger. He always takes things on the
nose, and as the movies goes on, his single-mindedness starts to come out,
and you start to understand why he's [the way he is].
JBH!:: It was mentioned by another producer that they plan on recreating the
brutal torture scene from the novel, so how are you going to prepare for
that?
Craig: We'll see. It's going to be...
JBH!:: Painful?
Craig: No, hopefully not. (laughs)
JBH!:: Do you know who'll be doing the music for the movie yet?
Broccoli: The composer is David Arnold, who is going to be composing the
score, but we have no yet chosen a person who is doing the song.
JBH!:: Some other journalist suggested that U2 might do a pretty cool theme
for it.
Broccoli: Well, they're great. You may know that Bono wrote the song for
GoldenEye but they didn't perform it, Tina Turner did.
JBH!:: What did you think of the original Casino Royale movie?
Broccoli: Well, it's a spoof. I haven't seen it in many years. At the time,
I remember being quite amused by the whole thing because it didn't really
fit into any category, but I suppose if you look at it now that we've had
the Austin Powers and whatever, it's of that genre, like a fun spy spoof.
Even at that, I don't think, to be honest, that it was a very successful
story.
JBH!:: Daniel, do you have a favorite Bond?
Craig: I mean, Sean [Connery] was always kind of like the one that sort of
everybody says, and he defined the role, so it's difficult not to like Sean
Connery, but one of the first movies I saw in the cinema was Live And Let
Die, so Roger Moore was very much in my mind. And then Pierce just took the
role somewhere else. I'm not trying to dodge the question, but each one has
their own meaning to me.
JBH!:: Why do you think that the franchise has lasted so long, longer than
any other movie character?
Broccoli: Well, I think the good will of the public has been an enormous
success, because there are people who are Bond fans who bring a lot of good
will and they want the movies to be good, they want to like them. I think
that the caliber of movies, the money's always been up on the screen, and
also the fact that the films have evolved with the times.
Craig: I think it's been faithful and so good, so when you go see it, you
get certain things that are very important for the audiences. They've always
moved on and always become different and they've always looked at the times
and like you've said, this is heightened reality.
Broccoli: My father had a very simple philosophy, which was don't short
change the public. Don't con them. Give them what they want and put the
money on the screen, and I think we've tried to do that. This film, although
it is darker and more serious, it's also going to be a fun ride.
JBH!:: Daniel, after you finish this, will you continue to do other movies in
between Bond movies?
Craig: At this particular moment, I can't really look that far ahead,
because I kind of want a holiday after this... even though we're in the
Bahamas. But yes, I've got two movies coming out this year and I've been
very busy over the past couple of years doing some interesting work, and
I've been connected to a couple smaller movies maybe, and I'm reading
scripts while I'm doing this. I like to read scripts, so it's a question of
timing.
JBH!:: Are you already working on the sequel and will that be an original
script?
Broccoli: We are. We're already thinking about it. We're in the early
stages. It's an original story, but it's going to continue part of what the
story is in this film.
JBH!:: So we won't be seeing any remakes of Dr. No or From Russia with Love
after this?
Broccoli: We don't plan to do that, but to coin a phrase, "never say never."
Casino Royale opens on 17 November.
I still say they'd be better off waiting for 7 July 2007 (07/07/007,
geddit?) but what do I know, eh?