Peter Jackson lines up Dambusters remake

Guardian ^ | Thursday August 31, 2006 | Staff and agencies

[maquiladora]

Peter Jackson is to produce a remake of the classic British war film The Dambusters, about the intrepid mission of a Royal Air Force squadron. According to Screen Daily, the film is budgeted at between $30-40m and will be mark the directing debut of Christian Rivers. A long-time colleague of Jackson, Rivers served as animation director on King Kong and a visual effects director on the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Speculation over a possible Dambusters remake was initially sparked in May, when Jackson reportedly spent a day filming one of the last surviving Lancaster bombers that took part in the mission. The planes used the revolutionary "bouncing bombs" to target the dams of the Ruhr valley in May 1943. The pilots' heroics were later immortalised in a 1951 book by former POW Paul Brickhill, which was in turn adapted into the 1954 film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd. Jackson said yesterday that he had loved the movie as a child. He added that he wants his version to be 'as authentic as possible and as close to the spirit of the original as possible.'

[VOA]

"He added that he wants his version to be 'as authentic as possible and as
close to the spirit of the original as possible.' "

IMHO, he should just do a big-screen scale-up of the Dambusters show
that was on PBS's "Secrets of The Dead"; website for episode:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_nazidams/about.html
Well done cinematography and audio of the Lancasters doing their ground-
hugging training runs (and flights under utility lines) should be a
treat for the stunt junkies in the audience.

If Jackson combines the "geek factor" of Barnes Wallis (inventor of the
concept), the initial skepticism of Bomber Command, and the melding of
the polyglot group of aviators...
it will surely be war-movie buff "must have", if not a real mainstream hit.

[racing fan]

I persume there probably will be an extended 6 hour version of the movie and multiple dvd releases like Lord of the Rings and King Kong.

[Tijeras_Slim]

as close to the spirit of the original as possible.

I got $50 that says they change the dogs name. ;)

[VOA]

I got $50 that says they change the dogs name. ;)

Maybe.....this is one time a little bit of revisionism would be a good thing.

BUT, if it's done and someone sees the original film, they are going
to be doing an audio double-take!

[Tijeras_Slim]

I re-watched it recently and involuntarily flinched. Different times.

[Heyworth]

A friend of mine was a movie development guy for a while several years ago. The company he was working for had Jackson all but committed to do a movie based on Frank Luke, the balloon-busting WW1 American ace. Great script, Jackson's all excited. The only hold-up is that he's waiting for one last studio to pass on his LOTR project, once that happens, he's in...

My friend had a deactivated German Maxim machine gun they'd borrowed for presentations under his bed for a couple of months until they had to give it back.

[tet68]

Now THAT would have been a story worth telling.

[Ultra Sonic 007]

I'm still waiting for the Halo movie.

[dd5339]

Lancaster Ping!

Semper Fi

[Ragtop]

Haven't seen the movie. What was the dog's name?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It's not Niger.

[bmwcyle]

ping

[Constitution Day]

Dang it! You beat me.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Hint: It was a a black labrador.

[Ragtop]

Gotcha. Doubt Peter Jackson will have that in the movie. But it would take b@lls to do it though.

[VOA]

The dog was a black Lab.
He got called that infamous American epithet for slaves of African origin.

[fnord]

call the dog "Spike", just for kicks