During the course of an interview with a Bosnian journalist, Angelina revealed that she would soon be spending the "next few months" in London to film
Maleficent for Disney (a bit of a surprise since she hardly ever talks about her shooting schedule in advance.)
IMDb, which previously moved Maleficent's release to 2015, has since amended the
date back to 2013. That will give the film close to a year in post for what is expected to be an impressive visual fantasy from an Award-winning production designer. This is Richard Stromberg's first directing gig but he will be surrounded by experienced producers and Angelina, now with a wealth of knowledge after
B&H, can give additional input and guidance. Filming will likely take place in Pinewood Studios where much of
Pirates 4 was also shot -- although to-date, little more than a handful of crew members are listed on IMDb.
So to recap, I think
Maleficent will film mid-March to June and
12 Years a Slave in July. Since this is Brad's year off, Angelina will presumably make a couple of films back to back much as Brad did in 2011. That means she can squeeze in one or even two more films after
Slave and it will probably be down to
Luc Besson's dramatic thriller and/or
Cleopatra. THR had earlier quoted "insiders" as saying that Besson's film was "off the
table" but Europacorp's just released 3Q report confirms that talks are
still ongoing. Besson was originally targeting an April start but that must now be pushed back to accommodate
Maleficent. A possible concern for Angelina's camp may be shooting another action film so close to
Salt 2 which is looming next year.
I also wonder whether after making a children's fairy tale, Angelina would be looking to do an escapist actioner of the sort Besson has become known for. The tagline of Besson's film has been kept secret but it has been variously described as a dramatic thriller with real scientific elements a la
Inception, and a sci-fi actioner set in space. If it leans more towards the former, I can see why Angelina might be interested in doing it. But if it is more like
The Fifth Element or
Lockout, I think she'll pass and just focus her attentions on
Salt 2.
The biggest question is when Eric Roth can get a script ready for
Cleopatra since it is a priority project she has long been excited about. There had been speculation that David Fincher would next do
20,000 Leagues for Disney but that film has been moved back to "In Development" (possibly because of cost concerns in the aftermath of
John Carter) which potentially leaves his schedule open later this year for
Cleopatra. Given the difficulty in aligning Angelina's and Fincher's schedules and given that everyone involved including Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin are eager to get this done, they will want to take advantage of any opening. Working from a previous script by Brian Helgeland and Stacy Schiff's acclaimed book, Roth should be able to get the script to everyone's liking by late this year.
Late Fall will coincide with the start of the peak tourist season in Egypt where they have already scouted filming locations. While that will mean certain areas will be crowded with tourists, those are unlikely to be the areas they will film in and it is the most pleasant season for her family to visit. That will leave late Summer and early Fall free for Besson's if she decides to make it. If Europacorp can get their people to work through the traditional August vacation period in Paris and Angelina is willing to work with little down time, she could film Besson's from August to Oct. and start
Cleopatra in November until early 2013.
Lorenzo diBonaventura said they're still working on the script for
Salt 2 which means whatever Kurt Wimmer submitted (he's had more than a year to work on it so he must have already turned in a few drafts) did not pass muster. This doesn't come as a surprise since Angelina wanted the original
Salt to be more dramatic and substantial but what Phillip Noyce and Wimmer came up with was longer on action and gimmicks. I expected that Wimmer will just provide the seed for an idea and someone else will come in to develop it. I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Zaillian or some other writer has already been called in to do a rewrite. They still have over a year before they need to start filming so there is plenty of time. Its currently listed on IMDb for a 2014 relaese
The article below is about the possibly problematic Disney feature
John Carter that may have impacted some of the studio's decisions with regards to
Maleficent and
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Further down is the
listing of the house they rented in Richmond during
WWZ.
11:57 AM PST 1/19/2012 by Kim Masters
Problems plague "John Carter" and "47 Ronin" as studios place $200 million-plus bets on untested auteurs.
This story first appeared in the Jan.27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter Magazine.
In these tough times, it's understandable why first-time directors appeal
to Hollywood studios: They can bring fresh ideas, work more cheaply
than veterans and presumably are more open to "guidance" from the suits.
But a couple of high-profile projects illustrate how entrusting major
effects-driven movies to inexperienced directors adds an extra layer of
risk to an already risky business.
For
47 Ronin, a samurai revenge story starring
Keanu Reeves, Universal turned to
Carl Rinsch, a director known for stylish Heineken and Mercedes-Benz commercials and the well-received 2010 short
The Gift.
Rinsch, 35, had never made a feature, and what followed was a tense,
combative shoot. Industry sources say the studio belatedly took steps to
impose greater control on the project, which started with a budget of
$175 million and is said to have soared far beyond that. Universal is
considering whether it should spend more money to film additional scenes
to help the movie — its first in 3D — before a planned November
release.
PHOTOS: 15 Biggest Box Office Flops of 2011
In the case of Disney's March space fantasy
John Carter, there was clear allure to taking a chance on director
Andrew Stanton. He wrote and directed Pixar's
Finding Nemo and
WALL-E,
which together grossed about $1.3 billion worldwide. But the 3D
extravaganza has undergone a complete re-engineering, and the budget,
originally $200 million, is widely rumored to have ballooned to $300
million. Industry sources with links to the project believe it might
lead to a staggering write-down.
Given the success of
Brad Bird's
Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol,
it's clear a first-time live-action director can succeed on an event
movie. But Bird, another Pixar veteran, was working with producer
J.J. Abrams, who had directed the previous Mission, star-producer
Tom Cruise was intimately familiar with the material, and Paramount hired
Dan Bradley, a giant in the field, as second-unit director to assist on action sequences. Although Paramount sources say Bird directed
Ghost Protocol from beginning to end, others with ties to the project say Bradley was instrumental.
PHOTOS: 'Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Dubai Red Carpet
Neither
47 Ronin nor
John Carter was made with
comparable levels of experienced support. Universal's film posed obvious
challenges: It's a period piece set in Japan and starring Reeves, who
hasn't carried a $100 million domestic grosser since 2003's
The Matrix Revolutions. And producer
Scott Stuber's résumé is slim on big effects movies. Universal insisted that Rinsch work with experienced second-unit director
Phil Neilson (
Iron Man), but Rinsch balked, preferring to shoot every frame himself.
"Universal wants a big event movie, [but] Carl did everything he
could to hijack it, to make it into a drama," says a source close to the
project. "Keanu was so along for the ride." Meanwhile, he says,
executives on the project "placated Carl and Keanu extensively until it
was too late," allowing them to film sequences that will end up on the
cutting-room floor. Representatives for Rinsch and Reeves declined
comment.
Stuber's colleague
Pamela Abdy was dispatched to the
set to push Rinsch back on track. But while Abdy is said to have come
down hard on the director, she too lacks experience with big event
projects. Universal also embedded a production executive on the set to
monitor Rinsch's progress.
The studio now has tough choices to make. Rinsch is said to want (or
need) several additional weeks to shoot martial-arts sequences.
Universal is looking at a cut he assembled to determine what additional
shooting, if any, might be necessary. The studio also is bringing in a
new editor.
Still, some who have seen footage say it is impressive. "Keanu looks
the way he's supposed to look," says one. "He's that half-blood guy."
One source says Universal is hoping to recoup much of its costs in Asia
alone. But that would require huge grosses, and
47 Ronin is based on and specific to Japanese culture, which doesn't usually translate into appeal in, say, China.
PHOTOS: Hollywood's A-List Redefined
Universal might yet have a better chance of succeeding with
47 Ronin than Disney does with
John Carter.
According to several sources close to the project, the issues plaguing
the film also result from a lack of experienced support for the
director. One source associated with talent on John Carter says Stanton,
46, initially was allowed to pursue his vision with "no checks and
balances, no star, no producer, nobody to keep him in check." In
December 2010, when he showed a 170-minute cut to executives at Pixar
and Disney, they found the story unclear and the characters not
engaging. Stanton then began to re-engineer a film that already had been
shot, creating storyboards of new sequences and cutting them into the
footage. A few months later, he embarked on extensive and costly
reshoots. Disney, which had anticipated
John Carter as a trilogy, held off on discussing the next installment.
PHOTOS: 20 Top Grossing Movies of 2011
A Disney spokesman says Stanton "has an incredibly strong production
team around him in key positions, each with strong and impressive
credentials." Among those he cites are line producer
Colin Wilson (
Avatar), production designer
Nathan Crowley (
The Dark Knight) and costume designer
Mayes Rubeo (
Avatar).
But a longtime Disney observer says Stanton has had issues that
naturally would arise when a director accustomed to computer animation
confronts the real world. "This was a guy who was used to saying, 'This
is what I've ordered,' and handing it to his animators to deliver," says
this person. Meanwhile, Stanton's second-unit director was
Mark Andrews, a Pixar associate who also lacks live-action experience.
Disney, led by former TV executive
Rich Ross, is giving
John Carter
a big tentpole push — it is said to be committing $3 million, for
example, to advertise during the Super Bowl. The perception among those
involved with the film is that should it falter, Disney will blame the
previous executive regime, which launched the project but has been gone
for two years. Others say that it's far too soon to write a
John Carter obituary. "I've got a lot of faith in this guy," one former Disney insider says of Stanton. "Remember:
Finding Nemo was supposed to be the first Pixar flop."
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The property covers approximately 7,475 sq ft of modern family
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This impressive home benefits from a large entrance hall and
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Avenue Road is located in the heart of St John's Wood, a well
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attractions include the Abbey Road studios, made famous by the
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The American School in Loudoun Road is very popular with many
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- 7 bedrooms
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- Family / Media room
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