Posted on 07/18/2009 6:20:56 AM PDT by Artemis Webb
LONDON — Russell Crowe is in the early stages of negotiations to reprise the role of Jack Aubrey as a British sea captain in a new movie version from the Master & Commander series of novels.
Crowe told The Associated Press on Friday that a script based mostly on the eleventh novel of Patrick O'Brian's 20-novel series, The Reverse of the Medal, had been written, but that discussions were at a very early stage.
(snip)
The AubreyMaturin novels consists of 20 books and one partly written before his death in 2000 by O'Brian, all set during the Napoleonic Wars.
The 2003 movie Master and Commander took material from several of the novels. The Reverse of the Medal, published in 1986, sees Aubrey in the Caribbean in his ship HMS Surprise, where he meets his illegitimate son Samuel Panda, a Catholic priest born from an illicit liaison.
Crowe gave no indication of when filming could start...
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
ping?
I’m guessing the first film was pretty good, no?
The last one didn’t do all that well — less than 100 million domestic and it probably cost more than that to make and market it. Between foreign receipts (apx. 100 million) and DVD sales It will make a few bucks but you need solid numbers (north of 200 million domestically) to make a franchise.
They might take another shot at it, but I am hearing that no one wants to work with Crowe for any price. The fact all his latest films have bombed doesn’t help.
I wonder if he isn’t financing a lot of this one himself to try to get back on the winning track.
The first film was GREAT. Unfortunately it was up against Lord of the Rings: Return of the King at the Oscars and got it’s butt kicked.
I’d pay to see it and his performance.
>>I’m guessing the first film was pretty good, no?<<
No. I saw it and don’t remember a thing about it. And the box office says I wasn’t alone.
I really liked that movie. The little “jam session” at the end was kind of cool.
Good, I enjoyed the first one.
>>I’d pay to see it and his performance<<
Crowe’s acting is well-liked by many. Too bad the man isn’t.
He and Ridley Scott seem to have gottten along ok. Am I missing something?
ping
You aren’t missing anything. In fact Crowe/Scott are finishing up (yet another) version of Robin Hood.
They’ll have to do some work on Surprise. She has been going to rot in San Diego. Nevertheless, there’s not a moment to lose.
>>He and Ridley Scott seem to have gottten along ok. Am I missing something?<<
Scott has a reputation for handling difficult actors well. When you live in L.A., especially near Studio City and Encino you hear insider stuff.
You’re right, I’d forgotten that.
There have been multiple threads over the years here on FR dealing with both the books and the movies.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1720160/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1021624/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1012563/posts
The fact that there is one rather loud voice on this thread telling you the movie sucked should not keep you from renting the movie and judging for yourself. It’s terrific film making and a damn good naval war movie.
That's good to know, the man makes beautiful movies. The Duellists and Bladerunner are two of my favorites.
One of the four starring hobbits was in Master and Commander, so he had all his bases covered.
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