Caffeinated Clint
Two bits of news today, the first from our friends at Collider
The Invasion
The Wachowski Brothers saved the day on the new “Body Snatchers” retool. Says Collider, “I have spent the last few days researching this story on The Invasion and if you’re a fan of The Wachowski Brothers this might make your day. The last time you may have heard of this film was when Nicole Kidman was involved with a stunt gone wrong. What you may not have known was that took place during the reshoots for the film.
Apparently, Warner Bros. saw an early rough cut of The Invasion and realized it needed a little work. The director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, was unavailable to work on the planned reshoots, so Warner Bros. and Joel Silver brought in a pair of writer/directors that they knew they could rely upon, The Wachowski Brothers. It was reported that they came in to shoot a new ending. But I can report that they rewrote over 2/3 of the film, and brought in their trusted colleague, James Mcteigue (V For Vendetta), to direct the material while they were busy prepping their own film.”
Death Race 3000
Meantime, had a couple of conversations with someone recently connected to the “Death Race 2000” remake, who confirmed that Jason Statham is indeed in the mix – but he won’t be playing Machine Gun Joe, because that role has been re-written as a black character – to star. He also said the last draft of the script needed work but still works a treat!
Our insider also tells us, “The plot is in the near future (2020), this time the Death Race is a globally popular televised race that has high risk prisoners driving tricked out cars armed with weapons on a racetrack that’s part of a prison complex called Terminal Island, and run by the prison warden.
The race’s rules are that after 5 wins you get your freedom. The cars race around (unarmed to start) after gaining points by hitting other cars or driving over giant buttons on the track the drivers can access weapons for their vehicles. The cars are all real world cars that have been modified with armour plating.
The film opens with a race in which the fan favourite, the masked Frankenstein wins his fourth race but at the cost of his car exploding and being killed. But of course the fans all think he is still alive, but only seriously injured. It turns out that there have been several Frankenstein?s, and since his popularity makes millions in ad revenue and merchandise for the prison and the global corporation that runs it, many drivers have worn the mask to be Frankenstein.
The film follows a former race car driver named Jensen who is framed for his wife’s murder and through the manipulations of the warden is sentenced to Terminal Island. He is forced into assuming the role of Frankenstein, in the hopes to win one more race and gain his freedom”.
Our friend told us a bit more, but it’ll ruin the ending of the movie. He says to expect “Lot of explosions and cars flipping for unnecessary reasons almost every page; typical Anderson.”
Universal is going for a drastic budget reduction on the film too, we’re told. That could change once they get the next draft — and it rocks!
Thanks to ‘Frosty’ and ‘The Mask’
