Thoughts
It was clear from his first remarks to THR, but if anyone needs further proof that Ang Lee is excited to direct Cleopatra, his recent pronouncement that he will probably accept Sony's offer even though he hasn't read the script should settle the issue.
Cleopatra at long last has all the key pieces in place -- producer, star, studio, script and director. It took Sony, Rudin and Jolie two years to finally land a suitable director but Lee is well worth the wait for there is no one better suited. I expect that everyone will abide by Lee's timetable and production will start as soon as he is ready. So while she has other projects including Unbroken percolating, Cleopatra now takes priority over everything else on Angelina's plate.
The big question is when they will be able to start filming. Lee told HitFix he plans to take an extended break in the weeks leading up to the Oscars and his trip home to Taiwan last week may be the start of his vacation. He may be ready to start work on Cleopatra when he gets back to L.A. near the end of Feb.
Since some scenes will need to be filmed on location in Egypt, a Fall start coincides with the best season to visit the country and gives Lee enough time to do prep work. Deserts can be a challenging environment but Lee has previous experience filming Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon under difficult conditions in the Gobi Desert in China.
Preproduction shouldn't take longer than normal even for a big-budget historical epic. Robert Stromberg was announced as Maleficent's director on Janruary 6, 2012 and filming began June 13. Assuming Lee starts working in earnest after the Oscars, a Fall start would afford him as much prep time as Stromberg needed for an equally large and elaborate production. Cleopatra will have lavish sets but most of the work of bringing Alexandria and the glories of Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt back to life will have to be done in post-production VFX. Cleopatra will probably have almost as much blue and green screen work as Maleficent but they'll be recreating lavish palaces and massive armies instead of fairy castles and fantastical creatures.
It will be interesting to see if Angelina can squeeze in another film before heading off to Egypt. If she has the time and inclination, it would likely be to star in a small drama or be part of an ensemble much like Brad's appearances in 12 Years A Slave and The Counselor last year. Co-starring in Shantaram is certainly a possibility but she won't have time to direct it as well.
With Cleopatra looming and now her top priority, Angelina is probably looking at late 2014 for Unbroken. That will give her time to work on the script which Deadline said she still needs to finalize and to hold auditions and get her cast in place. The most logistically challenging part to film in Zamperini's story is his 47 days adrift in the Pacific Ocean but she can turn to Ang Lee for advice and maybe even use the facilities he built for similar scenes in Life of Pi. Once she starts work on Unbroken, she will be unavailable for any other film for 12 to 18 months so Sony and the other studios that have projects for her will want to get them in first.
Sony is eager to get Salt 2 off the ground and they've hired a good scriptwriter so there's a possibility they could have a script and director acceptable to Angelina by the time she finishes Cleopatra. Everything else on her plate looks like it may be further behind in development but there's always the possibility of something unannounced jumping to the head of the line.
- Fussy
"I'm about to read the script. It just feels right to me after all the other types of films I've done. What does it have in common with any of them? They’re all totally different! That’s what makes this perfect.” -- THR
"Sony has asked me to shoot the movie and Angelina Jolie wrote to me to express her wishes to collaborate. We admire each other... the project looks very attractive. It's a big-budget movie so I am carefully evaluating it ... this is a rare opportunity and I will probably take it." -- AFP
Taiwanese film director Ang Lee, left, and his wife, Jane Lin, smile for the media after arriving in Taiwan from Japan yesterday.Jan 19, 2013
FULL STORYPhoto: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Agence France-Presse
Oscar-winner Ang Lee is likely to direct the historical epic 'Cleopatra', starring Angelina Jolie http://goo.gl/4uFKI
From AFPAng Lee mulls directing historical epic "Cleopatra"
(AFP) – 19 minutes ago
TAIPEI: Oscar-winning director Ang Lee said Saturday he will "probably" accept an offer to direct historical epic "Cleopatra" starring Angelina Jolie, after the Hollywood actress wrote to him asking him to come on board.
Lee, whose 3D adventure "Life of Pi" has earned 11 Oscar nominations, said he would read the script before making a decision but the project was "very attractive".
"Sony has asked me to shoot the movie and Angelina Jolie wrote to me to express her wishes to collaborate. We admire each other... the project looks very attractive," the Taiwanese-American told reporters in Taipei.
"It's a big-budget movie so I am carefully evaluating it ... this is a rare opportunity and I will probably take it."
Lee returned to his birth place over the weekend to celebrate after "Life of Pie" earned 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director.
The movie, based on the novel by Yann Martel about an Indian boy cast adrift with a Bengal tiger, has become Lee's highest-grossing film ever with more than $450 in global box office sales, according to 20th Century Fox.
About 70 per cent of the movie was shot in Taiwan, including at a now-abandoned airport in the centre of the country where Lee's team built a specially designed wave-generating tank.
Asked if he plans to cast his son Mason Lee, who starred in "The Hangover Part II", in his future projects, Lee joked that he would rather not "torture" his kin.
"He likes acting and I give him my blessings... I am tough on actors but it's difficult to be tough on your own son and it'd be an unnecessary torture for us. I'd rather torture other people's kids."
The filmmaker, who is based in New York, was hailed as the "glory of Taiwan" after becoming the first Asian to win a best director Oscar for his gay cowboy drama "Brokeback Mountain" in 2007.
Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved.
