Angela Workman ("Bronte," "War Bride") will adapt Diane Ackerman's acclaimed historical novel "The Zookeeper's Wife" for Scion Films reports Variety.
The true story follows the harrowing plight of zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who, during the German invasion of Poland during World War II, turned the Warsaw zoo into a safe haven for persecuted Jews.
The Zabinskis kept hundreds of Jews hidden away in animal cages and inside their own private home, testing both their strength and will. No director or actors are currently attached.
Mike Tollin, Kim Zubick, Diane Miller-Levin, Robbie Rowe-Tollin, Jeff Abberley and Julia Blackman will produce.
The true story follows the harrowing plight of zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski, who, during the German invasion of Poland during World War II, turned the Warsaw zoo into a safe haven for persecuted Jews.
The Zabinskis kept hundreds of Jews hidden away in animal cages and inside their own private home, testing both their strength and will. No director or actors are currently attached.
Mike Tollin, Kim Zubick, Diane Miller-Levin, Robbie Rowe-Tollin, Jeff Abberley and Julia Blackman will produce.
- 9/23/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
LONDON -- David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises will open this year's 51st annual London Film Festival, organizers said Tuesday.
The London-set thriller, written by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), reunites Cronenberg with his History of Violence star Viggo Mortensen and also stars Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
The plot centers on mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized Russian crime families. The movie is produced by Paul Webster and Robert Lantos, co-produced by Tracey Seaward and executive produced by Stephen Garret, David Thompson, Jeff Abberley and Julia Blackman.
Pathe will release the film in the U.K. in the fall.
"It's hugely exciting that a director who has consistently thrilled and challenged us throughout his career has made a film in our city," festival artistic director Sandra Hebron said. "This gripping, powerfully directed and acted story of lives colliding in contemporary London is the perfect opener for our festival."
Cronenberg said he couldn't wait to be in London, "the scene of the crime" to share his movie.
The London-set thriller, written by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), reunites Cronenberg with his History of Violence star Viggo Mortensen and also stars Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
The plot centers on mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized Russian crime families. The movie is produced by Paul Webster and Robert Lantos, co-produced by Tracey Seaward and executive produced by Stephen Garret, David Thompson, Jeff Abberley and Julia Blackman.
Pathe will release the film in the U.K. in the fall.
"It's hugely exciting that a director who has consistently thrilled and challenged us throughout his career has made a film in our city," festival artistic director Sandra Hebron said. "This gripping, powerfully directed and acted story of lives colliding in contemporary London is the perfect opener for our festival."
Cronenberg said he couldn't wait to be in London, "the scene of the crime" to share his movie.
The film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical theater powerhouse "The Phantom of the Opera" still contains its memorable lyrics and score, but this "Phantom" is a pale -- dare we say ghostly? -- copy of the original coup de theatre directed by Harold Prince. Part of the problem can be laid to miscasting and an overindulgence in set design. But the element of camp, which admittedly lurked in the wings of the stage musical, explodes into full view here before unforgiving cameras.
A Baz Luhrmann might have found a way to make the film version hip and relevant to younger audiences. But Webber clearly maintained a tight grip on his baby as producer and screenplay collaborator with director Joel Schumacher, so little rethinking of the stage show went into the filmization. Consequently, audiences for the musical skew older, with little to attract young males.
The story from Gaston Leroux's 1911 pulp horror novel tells of a disfigured musical genius who haunts the catacombs of a Paris opera house. He secretly mentors a young female singer, whom he adores, but a hideous face behind a half mask forces him to hide both himself and his love from the woman.
The film opens strongly with a black-and-white prologue in 1919, where the aging Vicompte Raoul de Chagny buys an old music box at auction in a decaying theater. As an organ strikes the Phantom's theme, the movie then flashes back in brilliant color to that theater in full swing in 1870 where singers, costumers, set builders and the ballet corps ready the next grand production.
The film gains further momentum when the brilliant and beautiful Emmy Rossum comes onscreen as the young chorus girl Christine Daae. A classically trained singer who made a dazzling debut in the underrated "Songcatcher" in 2000, Rossum has a crystal-pure voice that conveys the soft innocence of the Phantom's beloved. She also handles the mood shifts well, confused when caught in a romantic tug of war between the Phantom and her lover, Raoul, then later finding the backbone to stand up to her mentor.
Alas, the movie stumbles badly with the appearance of Scottish actor Gerard Butler as the Phantom. The role, so memorably created by Michael Crawford onstage, usually falls to an older actor since the Phantom has supposedly been Christine's "angel of music" since childhood. Yet Butler is nearly the same age as Patrick Wilson, who plays Christine's childhood friend Raoul. The change possibly reflects a misguided notion that a younger Phantom will attract a younger crowd, but it throws off the dynamics of the romantic triangle. Much more damaging is the fact Butler is not a trained singer. He manages to get by but lacks the vocal range and richness to do justice to some of the show's finest songs.
The role of Raoul is always problematic. Webber and Schumacher invent a ludicrous sword fight between Raoul and the Phantom in a graveyard so his character is a little less wimpy than onstage. Nevertheless, Wilson struggles, as do all Raouls, to give the character color or dimension.
Minnie Driver, as the opera's impossible diva, is terrific fun, hamming things up in a fake Italian accent and raging ego. Miranda Richardson is suitably grave and levelheaded as the ballet mistress who knows more than she pretends.
Simon Callow and Ciaran Hinds give comic zest to the theater's two new managers, but the roles have always been the show's weakest as they require vaudevillian turns at odds with the musical's often horrific tone.
What the film most damagingly lacks though is a sense of mystery and danger. When the Phantom magically transports Christine through the bowels of the opera to his lair, Schumacher has cinematographer John Mathieson light the passages so brightly -- the better to show off all those expensive sets, apparently -- it feels more like a fun frolic than a journey into the heart of darkness. There is even a horse standing by to help out. What on earth is a horse doing down there?
Similarly, in the scene where Christine visits her father's grave to sing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," Schumacher has Rossum traipse miles through a grotesque set of towering, campy headstones and monuments before she finally arrives at a sarcophagus befitting an emperor. The only trouble is, her father was a poor violinist.
In the story's one major change, the famous scene in which the Phantom causes a chandelier to crash during a performance has been moved to the end to put more "wow" into the climax. Fine, only the audience now has no idea until the end how far this mad genius will go to claim his love from his rival. Except when Rossum is onscreen, this "Phantom" is but a hallow visual effects show.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Odyssey Entertainment A Really Useful Films/Scion Films production
Credits:
Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriters: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher
Based on the novel by: Gaston Leroux
Producer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Executive producers: Austin Shaw, Paul Hitchcock, Louise Goodsill, Ralph Kamp, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman, Keith Cousins
Director of photography: John Mathieson
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Charles Hart
Additional lyrics: Richard Stilgoe
Choreographer: Peter Darling
Costumes: Alexandra Byrne
Visual effects supervisor: Nathan McGuinness
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Cast:
Phantom: Gerard Butler
Christine: Emmy Rossum
Raoul: Patrick Wilson
Mme. Giry: Miranda Richardson
Andrew: Simon Callow
Firmin: Ciaran Hinds
Carlotta: Minnie Driver
Buquet: Kevin R. McNally
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 140 minutes...
A Baz Luhrmann might have found a way to make the film version hip and relevant to younger audiences. But Webber clearly maintained a tight grip on his baby as producer and screenplay collaborator with director Joel Schumacher, so little rethinking of the stage show went into the filmization. Consequently, audiences for the musical skew older, with little to attract young males.
The story from Gaston Leroux's 1911 pulp horror novel tells of a disfigured musical genius who haunts the catacombs of a Paris opera house. He secretly mentors a young female singer, whom he adores, but a hideous face behind a half mask forces him to hide both himself and his love from the woman.
The film opens strongly with a black-and-white prologue in 1919, where the aging Vicompte Raoul de Chagny buys an old music box at auction in a decaying theater. As an organ strikes the Phantom's theme, the movie then flashes back in brilliant color to that theater in full swing in 1870 where singers, costumers, set builders and the ballet corps ready the next grand production.
The film gains further momentum when the brilliant and beautiful Emmy Rossum comes onscreen as the young chorus girl Christine Daae. A classically trained singer who made a dazzling debut in the underrated "Songcatcher" in 2000, Rossum has a crystal-pure voice that conveys the soft innocence of the Phantom's beloved. She also handles the mood shifts well, confused when caught in a romantic tug of war between the Phantom and her lover, Raoul, then later finding the backbone to stand up to her mentor.
Alas, the movie stumbles badly with the appearance of Scottish actor Gerard Butler as the Phantom. The role, so memorably created by Michael Crawford onstage, usually falls to an older actor since the Phantom has supposedly been Christine's "angel of music" since childhood. Yet Butler is nearly the same age as Patrick Wilson, who plays Christine's childhood friend Raoul. The change possibly reflects a misguided notion that a younger Phantom will attract a younger crowd, but it throws off the dynamics of the romantic triangle. Much more damaging is the fact Butler is not a trained singer. He manages to get by but lacks the vocal range and richness to do justice to some of the show's finest songs.
The role of Raoul is always problematic. Webber and Schumacher invent a ludicrous sword fight between Raoul and the Phantom in a graveyard so his character is a little less wimpy than onstage. Nevertheless, Wilson struggles, as do all Raouls, to give the character color or dimension.
Minnie Driver, as the opera's impossible diva, is terrific fun, hamming things up in a fake Italian accent and raging ego. Miranda Richardson is suitably grave and levelheaded as the ballet mistress who knows more than she pretends.
Simon Callow and Ciaran Hinds give comic zest to the theater's two new managers, but the roles have always been the show's weakest as they require vaudevillian turns at odds with the musical's often horrific tone.
What the film most damagingly lacks though is a sense of mystery and danger. When the Phantom magically transports Christine through the bowels of the opera to his lair, Schumacher has cinematographer John Mathieson light the passages so brightly -- the better to show off all those expensive sets, apparently -- it feels more like a fun frolic than a journey into the heart of darkness. There is even a horse standing by to help out. What on earth is a horse doing down there?
Similarly, in the scene where Christine visits her father's grave to sing "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again," Schumacher has Rossum traipse miles through a grotesque set of towering, campy headstones and monuments before she finally arrives at a sarcophagus befitting an emperor. The only trouble is, her father was a poor violinist.
In the story's one major change, the famous scene in which the Phantom causes a chandelier to crash during a performance has been moved to the end to put more "wow" into the climax. Fine, only the audience now has no idea until the end how far this mad genius will go to claim his love from his rival. Except when Rossum is onscreen, this "Phantom" is but a hallow visual effects show.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures presents in association with Odyssey Entertainment A Really Useful Films/Scion Films production
Credits:
Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriters: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Joel Schumacher
Based on the novel by: Gaston Leroux
Producer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Executive producers: Austin Shaw, Paul Hitchcock, Louise Goodsill, Ralph Kamp, Jeff Abberley, Julia Blackman, Keith Cousins
Director of photography: John Mathieson
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics: Charles Hart
Additional lyrics: Richard Stilgoe
Choreographer: Peter Darling
Costumes: Alexandra Byrne
Visual effects supervisor: Nathan McGuinness
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Cast:
Phantom: Gerard Butler
Christine: Emmy Rossum
Raoul: Patrick Wilson
Mme. Giry: Miranda Richardson
Andrew: Simon Callow
Firmin: Ciaran Hinds
Carlotta: Minnie Driver
Buquet: Kevin R. McNally
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 140 minutes...
- 1/10/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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