Posted on 08/03/2005 12:57:03 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
As soon as Tom Hanks wraps up shooting on his role in The Da Vinci Code, he will play "as real-life (and rather controversial) Texas congressman Charlie Wilson in CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, written by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). It's based on the true story of a womanising politician who ran one of the largest-ever CIA operations.
"Hanks will play a congressman whose penchant for booze and women earned him the nickname Good Time Charlie. He watched his political career almost go down the drain in the early 1980s when he was caught in a hot tub tryst with two cocaine-sniffing showgirls in Las Vegas. He survived the scandal and ended up overseeing the largest and most successful covert CIA operation in history; his efforts to fund resistance fighters in Afghanistan hastened the fall of the Iron Curtain."
Tom Hanks,Brian Grazer, along with Ron Howard, will be hard at work on the long-awaited adaptation by Columbia Pictures of Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code.(Theatrical Release Date: May 19, 2006)
It hasn’t even started production yet, but Richard Horgan of FILMSTEW.COM writes: .." already, some folks are mobilizing against what they feel is a sacrilegious effort by Hollywood potentates Tom Hanks and Ron Howard.
Hilary Swank and Kevin Costner will narrate ON NATIVE SOIL, a documentary based on the 9/11 Commission report, directed by former NBC News producer Linda Ellman.
"On Native Soil" takes viewers behind the events of 9/11 -- from five miraculous feats of survival to the untold story of the 9/11 Commission to the final recommendations to make America safer. It is presented from the point of view of the victims' families who had to fight the U.S. government for over a year to force an investigation. "On Native Soil" features never-before-seen interviews with dozens of people who were directly involved in the events of the day and the Commission, including Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, a former top-level FBI counterterrorism official, the former head of the CIA's Bin Laden desk, victims' families, and many others. Their first-hand experiences and the testimony from the commission's public hearings tell a story every American needs to know," writes the "On Native Soil" press release.
"I was in Lower Manhattan that horrible day," said Swank. "I was drawn to the project by the amazing stories of the 9/11 families and survivors featured in the film, and I am proud that by contributing my voice to the project, I can help their voices to be heard."
"I saw this film in a rough cut and wanted to become involved," said Costner. "It's honest, it's serious and it's not political. This film tells stories every American will and should want to know."
"These brave families took on the U.S. government and made history," said Ellman. "It is a tribute to them that two such highly respected actors, inspired by the families' determination, chose to narrate this independent feature documentary. With the addition of Hilary's and Kevin's incomparable and passionate voices, I know this film will reach and move people by bringing the 9/11 Commission Report to life."
Another 9/11 film -Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello have joined Oliver Stone's 9/11 drama, as the wives of Port Authority officers played by Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena. "The as-yet untitled picture focuses on two of the firemen, policemen and other rescuers who bravely fought their way into the burning World Trade Centre buildings to save victims of the attacks. What makes the duo’s tale so extraordinary is that they were among the few who survived the fall of the Towers, after other rescuers worked frantically to pull them out of the rubble".(Press Release)
"Pena will portray Port Authority police officer William J. Jimeno, one of the last two men rescued from the collapsed buildings, and Gyllenhaal will portray his wife, Allison. Maria Bello will play Donna, wife of Sgt. John McLoughlin, the officer who was trapped in the rubble with Jimeno; Nicolas Cage will play McLoughlin." (Update Aug 2.)
Filming starts in New York this autumn.
Then Jodie Foster returns to directing with SUGAR KINGS, a drama in which she may also star, based on a Vanity Fair piece, "In the Kingdom of Big Sugar" by Marie Brenner; about a novice lawyer who takes on a groundbreaking case that pits a powerful sugar company against its exploited migrant workers.
And most are already aware Mel Gibson will once again use an ancient language, this time a Mayan dialect, for his next film as director. APOCALYPTO is an action movie set in Mexico in 1000 BC. Filming starts this autumn with a largely indigenous cast. Release date in the U.S. and Canada: 19-May-06
USA Today writes: " Gibson will bankroll Apocalypto himself. Disney has signed on to release it domestically for a fee, similar to the deal Gibson struck with Newmarket Films to distribute The Passion, one of 2004's top hits with $370 million in domestic revenues.
Working from a screenplay by Brian Helgeland ("Mystic River), Ron Howard will also direct "The Serpent and the Eagle," which focuses on the 1520 Spanish conquest over Mexico. Variety reports "this will most likely be Ron Howard's post-"Da Vinci Code" project."
It's just by coincidence that all "independent" films are completely in agreement with the Democrat party. That's a funky definition of the word "independent".
I suspect the villain of the film will be Ronald Reagan or GHWB.
In one of his columns, Ben Stein said nice things about Tom Hanks.
It's disappointing to see him and Howard involved in something as slimy as The Da Vinci Code.
And with Hilary Swank, Kevin Costner, and former NBC News producer Linda Ellman involved, we're supposed to believe that ON NATIVE SOIL won't be political. Right.
Sort of like "Dances With Wolves" (or as I call it, "Hollyweird Commie Sucks up to The Red Man") wasn't political.
So these 9/11 families they're talking about...let me guess, they mean the liberal, Bush-hating rabid Rat Jersey Girls, don't they?
Several more reasons to avoid Hollyweird.
}:-)4
"The "Independent Films" That make the cut are completely in agreement with the Democrat Party"
Well, personally, I think that if there is anyone to blame for conservativism in America, it probably is the "unquestioned", infallible portrayal of the democratic party that people try to create with their word play. Why are there a few people who don't seem to have their answers out in a Michael Moore documentary? The pro-democrat people need to know that when there seems to be no opposition, or accurate portrayal of the opposition shown, it does not make your argument look any better in the eyes of an intelligent conservative. (By the way, some of us on the conservative side are actually smart, something that liberals try to deny the existence of) (LOL)
If you read the book you will find that Charlie Wilson was a patriot and a fervid anti communist. But he also put into motion, inadvertently, the events that led to 9/11.
Charlie Wilson was an admitted cocaine user and 99.999999% probable alcoholic. It seems pretty likely based on the book that he was used multiple times by Israeli intelligence (who led him around by his genitals). The book also lays out just how politicized our military procurement system has become. Why is he being lionized? He is a perfect example of what a conservative legislator should NOT be.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who last tried to woo Tom Arnold in Don Roos' Happy Endings, and Maria Bello, a Vegas prostitute in Wayne Kramer's The Cooler, have snared themselves some husbands. The pair has joined the cast of the upcoming Oliver Stone film that centers on two Port Authority police officers called to the scene of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
Andrea Berloff penned the currently untitled project that stars Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena as Sgt. John McLoughlin and Officer William J. Jimeno, respectively. McLoughlin and Jimeno were among the Port Authority officers called to the scene after the September 11 attacks on the WTC, and they risked their own lives by running into the smoking buildings in order to search for survivors. Eventually trapped themselves, the duo were among the few who survived the collapse of the buildings. Other rescuers came in, found them and pulled them from the rubble.
Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher are producing the film for Paramount Pictures through their Double Feature Films banner. Moritz Borman is also producing, and the late Debra Hill will receive a posthumous producing credit. The film is expected to go before cameras this fall in New York.
http://www.filmstew.com/Content/Article.asp?ContentID=12023&Pg=1
I read the book from cover to cover in three days. It was a fascinating look at what goes on behind the diplomatic and political scenes.
"It's just by coincidence that all "independent" films are completely in agreement with the Democrat party. "
Yes, but wasn't The Passion of the Christ an independent film? No studio would handle it.
I'm specifically talking about those movies that identify themselves as being "independent" minded, i.e. they're not aligned with one side or the other.
Your definition is a different one, and you'd have to admit that even by that definition TPOTC is the exception that proves the rule. There are some films made independent of the studio system with conservative values, but they're a tiny portion of the market and get no press from the film publications.
That is because Democrats are willing to put up the money for independant films when Republicans figure out they can make money at making movies there will be Republican indy films.
Visit the Conservative Hollywood http://www.boondockexpansionist.org/
Different times then and due to Charlie's efforts, the Afghan fighters and lots of arms, we creamed the vaunted Soviet war machine and most probably hastened the fall of the Soviet Union. However, youi're right, abandonment of the area after victory allowed the seeds of 911 to grow.
How exactly is The Davinci Code "slimey"? It's a novel, it's found in the fiction section. It's pretty much an Indiana Jones story by a guy who read Holy Blood, Holy Grail.
People who get all worked up about it are in the same category as the people who got worked up over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, another novel in the fiction section.
The story of how the Afghans skinned Russians alive and left them for the Russians to find with various appendages cut off and stuffed in their mouths was the height of brutality for me.
Yes, and the rape descriptions of captives, including the problem with them screwing the donkeys we gave em for transporting arms, told me a lot about the crazies we are now deealing with.
"How exactly is The Davinci Code "slimey"? It's a novel, it's found in the fiction section. It's pretty much an Indiana Jones story by a guy who read Holy Blood, Holy Grail."
How about if I write a novel about Ronald Reagan and his harem of teen-age boys? Oh, but it's just fiction, so it can't be slimey.
i don't wanna see tom hanks as a womaniser.
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