No better place to die (1 Viewer)

[dragon53]

Dale Dye, Hollywood military advisor, updated the status of his long-gestating D-Day movie about 82nd Airborne paratroopers holding a key bridge on the Merderet River:

"Hello, Fans and Followers. Sorry for the lack of updated information...but there's not a lot to say. I am still searching for the money we need to get this film made. It's an expensive project given the emphasis on the airborne and glider aspects but I will not quit until we get what's required to tell this great story on film. We keep hitting brick walls but I will continue to blast away at them. The WW II guys deserve my best efforts and they're going to get them. Stay tuned. D"

Dye was the military advisor on SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, BAND OF BROTHERS, THE PACIFIC, and others.

 

[theBaron]

I wonder if he hasn't pitched it to Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg. I would think they'd be interested in such a project.

Prost!
Brad

 

[lancer]

Isn't this the actual action that Saving Private Ryan was based on? -- Al

 

[larso]

You'd think the climate is right with the success of 'Fury'. It'd be straightforward to use the fame of 'Band of Brothers' to promote it a bit too. I haven't read the book but it does seem to have been an epic battle.

Sadly no good news on 'Forgotten Soldier' either. It apparently was set to go but the GFC hit the funding and the project fell apart. I think the 'Starship Troopers' director was lined up too. I really wanted to see that. Sigh.....

 

[lancer]

Apparently it is tough to get financing for war movies. The rumored remake (going on at least 5 years now) of All Quiet on the Western Front is on again with yet another director (the 3rd so far, I think) in place. It's the guy who directed The November Man. Supposedly in pre-production with a projected release at the end of 2015. Will believe it when I see it.:rolleyes2: -- Al

 

[dragon53]

Dye announced about 4-5 years ago that NO BETTER PLACE TO DIE was ready to start filming with a cast that included Max Martini (who appeared in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and THE UNIT) and James Madio (who was in BAND OF BROTHERS as the paratrooper who took watches from dead Germans), but the filming never started due to funding problems.
About two years ago, Dye announced filming would start in July, 2013 in Louisiana, but again funding problems came up.

Dye is real close with Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone and Tom Hanks, so I would guess that he's already consulted them about financing references.

About 4-5 years ago, Warner. Bros announced it had fast-tracked a big-budget 3D movie titled MIDWAY created by Bruce McKenna who was a writer on BAND OF BROTHERS. Apparently, Warner had second thoughts because nothing was ever said about it again and I was unable to find any updates on it since it was announced.

As poster Lancer mentioned earlier, funding for war movies is a problem in liberal Hollywood---most studios only care about one thing: $$$$$$$$$$$. I have a book about Hollywood war movies by film historian Steven Jay Rubin. The chapter on SAVING PRIVATE RYAN says every studio loved the script, but every studio rejected it because war movies weren't "in" which meant there was no $$$$$$$$ in it. Eventually, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks were told about the script and the movie was made.

Ironically, when the SAVING PRIVATE RYAN script was being shopped around in Hollywood, there were were two war movies underway in Hollywood---Bruce Willis starring as Sgt. Rock and another starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a German soldier who helps the Allies. Where are those movies now?

I'll post on another major war movie that's been long-gestating in the near future.

 

[larso]

At the time of Saving Private Ryan I read there were almost a dozen WW2 movies on the books. Hardly any actually came out, some like 'The Raid' (??) bombed (treaded on sensitive Japanese parent company toes or something). I see there's a sequel to Tarintino's film but aside from Unbroken, there's little else aside from Fury actually making it to the big screen. Doing them properly costs a lot of money, so it's a risk in terms of getting a return. Yet there's money there. The superhero films have vast budgets. But for every Fury - a reasonable success, there's probably two war bombs. It must make astute investors very wary.

 

[larso]

Here's a really interesting list of planned war movies. Some have been made but others have clearly vanished from thought. Some are really intriguing - a 10th Mtn Div one, a black tank Bn at the Bulge, with Denzel 'attached' to it. If only....

http://www.movieinsider.com/m12796/climb-to-conquer/