Spielberg's Space Odyssey
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by Josh Grossberg
Jun 16, 2006, 10:30 AM PT
Steven Spielberg is getting ready for his next close encounter.
Seemingly taking another page from the Stanley Kubrick playbook, the E.T. director is planning a multidimensional mind-bending space flick that sounds reminiscent of Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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Spielberg, who famously followed through on Kubrick's plans for the 2000 sci-fi film A.I., has inked a deal with Paramount for the new project, according to Variety.
According to the trade, the untitled film tells the story of a group of space explorers who embark on a journey through a wormhole and enter another dimension. Using state-of-the-art special effects, Spielberg will draw on real-world, cutting-edge science based on Einstein's theory of relativity, namely the possibility for warping the space-time fabric via gravity waves and opening the door for time travel.
The story is based on a treatment by Caltech theoretical physicist Kip S. Thorne, one of the world's leading experts on relativity. It was brought to the Oscar-winning filmmaker's attention by producer Lynda Obst, a longtime friend of the scientist.
Variety reports that Spielberg was so enthralled by the idea he took his 89-year-old father, Arnold Spielberg, a retired engineer, to a Caltech workshop featuring Thorne and several of his colleagues.
While the filmmakers have a general concept in mind, a script for the ambitious space saga hasn't yet materialized and it will likely spend several years in development before Spielberg opens a portal in his own hectic schedule to shoot the film.
For now, Spielberg is taking a bit of a breather following last year's two-fer of War of the Worlds and Munich.
Aside from the space flick, he has two other movies in the pipeline that he plans to direct himself: the long-gestating fourth Indiana Jones adventure for Paramount and an Abraham Lincoln biopic starring Liam Neeson for Universal.
No word on which he'll start with.
While he sorts out his personal slate, Spielberg is also executive-producing Michael Bay's big-screen version of The Transformers, Clint Eastwood's highly anticipated World War II drama Flag of Our Fathers and the sci-fi thriller When Worlds Collide. He is also teaming up with Apprentice and Survivor mastermind Mark Burnett for a new reality series called On the Lot for Fox, which will give amateur filmmakers a shot at a development deal. And he's acting as a consultant with Electronic Arts to hatch three new original videogames that he may eventually make into movies.
If that isn't enough, he's also helping oversee DreamWorks' transition from NBC Universal to Paramount's parent company, Viacom. And last but not least, Spielberg is joining forces with renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou to design the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
With that schedule, he could use a good wormhole.
SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- Steven Spielberg’s latest film, “Munich,” is based upon what is known about the secret Israeli assassination team assigned to track down and kill 11 Palestinians who planned and carried out the Munich massacre of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972.
Ultimately, nine of the 11 targets were located and killed, usually by gunshot or remote controlled bombs.
“Munich” is also about the personal toll extracted by the assignment on the four-man assassination squad. Toward the end of the film their leader asks his control just what has been accomplished: “For every one we kill, a hundred take his place.”
In 1972 Israel was determined to demonstrate that killing Jews was a very deadly proposition. Israeli planes attacked several suspected guerilla camps almost immediately upon news of the Munich killings. With U.S. aid, they have been demonstrating ever since that Israel is a deadly enemy.
June 8 it was reported that al-Zarqawi, the best-known leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, had been killed in an air raid. Bush II, and Washington-based warriors around him, hailed the event as “significant.” They were quick to add that terror will continue. So will the U.S. occupation. So will the insurgency.
U.S. military deaths in Iraq neared 2,500 June 8. When the number reaches 3,000 will someone in the current administration note the figure matches the number of civilians killed in the horror of 9/11?
United States administrations, since lending military and “counter-insurgency” support for forces determined to stamp out freedom fighters in Nicaragua and El Salvador, have a soft spot for the doctrine of national security. That doctrine states that the people are the enemy.
Immediately following the 9/11 attacks a thoroughly cowed U.S. Congress began handing the president extraordinary power – make war whenever you like, anytime Congress passes legislation purporting to protect the freedom of the American people, threaten to veto it or upon approval, add language allowing you to weasel out, provide total support for intelligence agencies to spy on the people in their homes, on the Internet, and in telephone communications, and get those military recruiters into the nation’s schools to provide bodies for future “pre-emptive” wars.
And so the response of this administration to a terrorist attack was to turn on the people. In the meantime, its agenda to invade Iraq moved forward behind lies, manipulation of the media, and a monthly expense that has reached in excess of $6.5 billion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the war profiteers, administration supporters one and all, are very happy.
On a different note, and closer to New Mexico, do you know what a “New” Democrat is? Well, those folks, and they really do have a powerful organization, are to old-fashioned Democrats what the Rockefeller Republicans were to their party 20-30 years ago. Governor Bill Richardson is a charter member of the New Democrats.
When I learned Richardson had taken away $800,000 earmarked for New Mexico Emergency Services, I thought it was because he needed it for that ever-so-important Spaceport in the southern part of our state. Wrong. It will be spent on that light-rail project so that commuters in Las Lunas and Belen won’t have to drive to Albuquerque to work. They will ride for free the first year.
Meantime, if you live in areas hit by that funding grab and you get really sick and need an ambulance or medical attention, just take three deep breaths and relax.
And finally, there’s another election upcoming. It’s not until 2008, but people are busy getting set to insure it comes out the “right” way, that is, the continuation of the Bush dynasty. Actually, it won’t make a lot of difference whether the next occupant of the White House says he/she is a Democrat or Republican. Corporate imperialism is well entrenched and controls the political process effectively.
However, “free “election sauce is being prepared. And what is that?
First, you need the spice of representatives of Bush supporting voting machine companies getting around the country and targeting those states and regions that are most likely to have voters that “just don’t get it,” machines that are subject to strange little quirks and, most importantly the states with a maximum number of members of the Electoral College. All that is the spice.
Then, you need the main ingredients. Political operatives will be searching for local and state officials who are most enamored of current office holders and are familiar with all the little treats that come through the absentee and early voting process.
And there you have “free-election” sauce – the sauce with which we could be eaten.
Jack Fairweather is an educator and a trustee on the village board in Magdalena. His views do not necessarily represent the Mountain Mail.
| Opening Up |
| What's That About Britney Spears? My family and I visited Florida in March. While I was walking along the edge of the pool at our hotel one morning with my daughter's friend, Linda, we passed a covey of bikini-clad teenaged girls. One of them was reading a magazine with a picture of Britney Spears on the cover. I didn't really see it, but Linda did and suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my God! Don't tell me Britney (as if Britney were an old friend of hers, which she isn't.) is having another baby!" The girl reading the magazine bounced it right back. "Yes! Can you believe it? Do you want to read this when I'm finished?" "Oh my God," Linda repeated. "Cecily, what do you think of Britney having a second baby?" "I didn't know she had a first," I mumbled. Then, with a daring that astonished me, I confessed. "The truth is that I don't think about Britney Spears, ever. Not at all." Since then and this will sound funny, I've thought a lot about all the people I don't think about. I don't think about Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. I don't care what, what's-her-name, that woman from Sex in the City, oh yeah, Sarah Jessica Parker, wears on her feet. I don't think about Angelina-whoever, who has just had Brad Pitt's baby and who has adopted orphans from starving parts of the world. I mean, I think it's great and I hope the adopted children will have happier lives, but I can't help thinking, now that I am thinking about them, those babies anyway, that they may have traded one set of troubles for another. There is some huge gap in my personality that fails to include the celebrities that dominate much of our media. I don't even think about George Clooney and he's gorgeous and really talented! I know I am supposed to care. Isn't that what the media hype is about? Trying to keep us interested in these people? I'm wondering if I ever cared about movie stars? Come to think of it, I never even thought about Steve McQueen or Cary Grant! Still, it's clear to me that in recent years this gap in me has yawned into staggering proportions. Conversations about famous people of the moment make me want to flee to the lady's room. Once, when I was living in Bridgehampton, I went to East Hampton to Ina Garten's food shop, The Barefoot Contessa, and Steven Spielberg was standing in front of the cheese counter. I just stared and stared. I admit it. I wanted him to look up and see me. And smile maybe? Steven Spielberg has my attention totally. I think he is a visionary with a great soul, a mensch. I want to sit next to him at dinner and ask him what informs his art and who is God for him? I want to know how his mind works, from ET to Munich. But that was not going to happen that day in front of the Brie and the Camembert, so I bought my cookies and left. The strange thing about all this is indifference is that I am a complete movie buff. I see practically everything that earns a 6 or above from film critic Susan Granger. Everything, that is, except the movies that suddenly spurt blood all over the screen making you check for severed body parts in your lap. I think about the acting, rarely the actors. I am wowed by the craft. Take Anthony Hopkins. I am in awe of Anthony Hopkins' talent and I know nothing about his personal life. I don't care how many times he marries or if he is dressed by Armani for the Academy Awards. The efforts of publicists notwithstanding, I have a limit to how many people and their life dramas that I can care about. I am already full up with caring, the only caring I'm capable of. For example, I care that a friend forgot to renew her driver's license and has to go the dreaded DMV; I care that Mercurio's and Page's have ceased to exist; I care that a friend is finally in remission from cervical cancer; I care that so many people crash on I 95; I care that the 94-year-old woman who lived below me died and I wonder who will feed the birds she loved. I care that we are not feeding the hungry in this world and that America is once again rattling a sword. Britney will have to do without me. Cecily Stoddard Stranahan is a psychotherapist, retired, and an interfaith minister.
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SINCE 1993 Steven Spielberg, the world'smost successful director, has carved two cinematic careers for himself.
On one hand he keeps Hollywood's bankers happy with popcorn blockbusters such as War of the Worlds, Minority Report or Jurassic Park.
On the other are his heavier, thought-provoking films such as Schindler's List, Amistad, Saving Private Ryan and Munich.
Spielberg won Best Director and Best Picture for Schindler's List and he recreates another harrowing episode in recent Jewish history with this heart-rending account of the aftermath of the 1972 Summer Olympics. The event became infamous when an extremist Palestinian group called Black September kidnapped nine Israeli athletes from the Olympic village, killing two others.
The terrorists and their hostages subsequently perished in a gun battle with police at a military airport, inciting Israel to seek revenge.
In Munich intelligence officer Avner (Eric Bana) is recruited by Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) to oversee 'Operation Wrath Of God'. The secret mission requires Avner to relinquish his identity in order to travel across Europe assassinating members of Black September.
Mossad officer Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) is Avner's point of contact on the mission, putting him in touch with a crack team of patriotic agents including explosives expert Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), 'cleaner' Carl (Ciaran Hinds) and getaway driver Steve (Daniel Craig).
The men venture from Athens, Geneva and London to Paris and Rome exacting revenge.
Munich holds our interest despite a few lulls. Shot loose and fast, often on handheld cameras, the film's nervous energy works to its advantage, stoking the tension as Avner and co work their way through the list of targets.
On the downside, screenwriters Tony Kushner and Eric Roth sit uncomfortably on the political fence, and distance us from the characters' anguish, denying us alasting emotional connection.
DVD Extras: Munich: The Mission, The Team featurette, introduction by Steven Spielberg.
To buy £19.99.
June 15, 2006
Spielberg ranks on Forbes power list
I normally don't like to comment on lists that rank celebrities' incomes, since people's personal finances are no one else's damned business, but I have to make comment on today's new Forbes Celebrity 100.
Spielberg ranked high on Forbes' annual list of entertainment's mighty, at "Power Rank" 6 (he held his ground from the same spot on last year's list). Spielberg follows Tiger Woods (#5), U2 (#4), Oprah Winfrey (#3), Rolling Stones (#2), and Tom Cruise (#1).
When it comes to directors/producers, Spielberg ranks at the top, followed by George Lucas (#15 on the full 100 list), and Peter Jackson (#21 on the full 100 list).
Spielberg ranks high through "E-Score" rankings, which evaluate celebrity attributes with the public (a system and ranking that even the studios use), coming in at #9. Of the full 100 list, Spielberg is the only celebrity from the top 10 to make the top 10 E-Score list. With E-Score attributes like "Intelligence" (his top attribute) and "Talented" (his secondary attribute), Spielberg is certainly viewed well in the public eye. He also ranks at the highest position of any celebrity with "Intelligence" and "Talented" attributes on the list.
Okay, now to the comment I was just itching to make about Forbes' write-up on Spielberg.
The respected financial magazine credits Spielberg's 2005 earnings to the obviously lucrative sale of DreamWorks and the success of "War of the Worlds," yet it inevitably mentions the box-office disappointment of "Munich." Incontestable, but Forbes skews all logic and veracity when it claims, "['Munich's'] disappointment may help explain why Spielberg is returning to crowd-pleasers, working up sequels to cinematic favorites 'Indiana Jones' and 'Jurassic Park.'"
Any fan awaiting either film can tell you that Spielberg has had these properties in the works far longer than "Munich's" box-office run this past December/January. If Spielberg were concerned solely with commercial success, wouldn't it have made more sense to Forbes if he'd followed "War of the Worlds" with a more commercial property than "Munich."
FILMS CURRENTLY IN RELEASE
Munich (theatrical)
War of the Worlds (DVD)
FILMS CURRENTLY IN
ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT
Indiana Jones 4
ELECTRIC SHOW
wise guy Sorry, what was that again?
By Edwin Yeo
June 18, 2006
LAST Sunday, this paper ran a story on me as a columnist.
Due to space constraints, they were not able to run the full interview with me.By popular demand, and mostly because I'm too busy watching the World Cup to actually write a column, here is the full interview.
What is your occupation or what are you currently doing now?
NEVER YOU MIND WHAT I AM DOING NOW! I'll have you know it's a perfectly normal male activity and any guy who says he doesn't do it is a liar...Oh, wait, you mean what is my job?
I am currently occupied with the World Cup.
What things get you most excited?
When you get to my age and have done all the things I have, nothing really excites you anymore...holy cow, check out the rack on that babe!
Sorry, where was I?
What are your pet peeves and why?
I really hate those people who stop you on Orchard Road and ask: Excuse me, are you Singaporean? WHOSE BUSINESS IS IT ANYWAY? Are they giving out prizes to Singaporeans? NO. They just want you to do a survey!
Is it okay if I take a shotgun and wipe them out? It would really make Orchard Road a lot more pleasant. No, I'm serious.
Beyond work, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Who has spare time? I work 24/7. When you see me drinking, it's work! When I watch football, it's work! I'm a workaholic!
Who is your favourite person and why?
Little Nikki. My 6-year-old girl who has proven that the size of the vessel does not correlate to the amount of energy it contains inside.
Describe your existence on earth.
Earth? We're on Earth? Isn't this the planet Naboo?
Describe yourself (eg. self-indulgent, klutzy, coolest person on earth, etc).
Well, when I last checked the mirror, I had two eyes, two ears, one nose and a mouth. And a huge...oh wait, this is a family paper, right?
What things in life inspire you most?
Truth, beauty, freedom and love. Above all else, love. Love is a many splendoured thing. Love is like oxygen. Okay, maaaybe I've watched Moulin Rouge one too many times.
Where do you get your inspiration for your column(s) from?
Usually, Miss Singapore Universe.
If readers say they hate your column(s), what would you do or say to them?
For those whom I have not buried yet, I say thank you for reading my column. Please don't switch to reading blogs.
Do you think you're a celebrity of sorts?
No, no, Steven (Spielberg), I really don't think you deserved an Oscar for Munich. I'm sorry, you know me, I always say it like it is. Oh, and you can tell Tom (Cruise) that I think three impossible missions is enough. Okay, later. Sorry, what was the question again?
What are your wildest dreams?
You really shouldn't ask me questions when you can't publish the answers.
Any deep dark secrets to share?
I have a huge...oh wait, again, this is a family paper, isn't it?
Search for the heroes
THE TWIN ICONS OF the American Western, Johns Ford and Wayne, delivered their masterpiece with The Searchers in 1956, so it's only appropriate that it gets a shiny new 50th anniversary DVD release from Monday. The definitive example of the genre, not only does it remain one of the most breathtaking visions of the American landscape ever captured on film - the relatively untouched Monument Valley looks majestic - it marks a clear transition from the simplistic black hats/white hats, good-vs-evil dynamic of the early Westerns to the more complex interrogation of the racial attitudes undercutting the genre that became central to later "revisionist" efforts.
Wayne gives his one truly great performance as Ethan Edwards, a disturbing, frighteningly racist ex-Confederate soldier on an obsessive quest to hunt down his niece (Natalie Wood), who has been abducted by a murderous Comanche tribe. His mission is not motivated by a desire to rescue her, but to kill her because she's been "tainted". Not exactly heroic stuff, then, but Ford uses this to explore the brutality of life on the frontier; the savagery that existed on all sides; and the blood spilled in the formation of modern America. What's more, his final image of Ethan, alone and wandering back into the wilderness, can be read as the tragedy of a man whose actions and attitudes have no place in a civilised world.
On the extras Martin Scorsese, John Milius and Peter Bogdanovich offer valuable insights into all of this, with Bogdanovich (who knew Ford personally) providing a full-blown commentary on the film itself. This is only right. The movie brats of the 1970s were the first to recognise its classic status and its influence can be seen in many of their films, including Star Wars and, most explicitly, in Taxi Driver.
Its influence can also be seen in Steven Spielberg's Munich, which came out on DVD earlier this week. Just as Ford's film can be read as a complex meditation on the troubling ideological foundations of modern America, this unverifiable, but nonetheless credible account of the Israeli-sponsored assassination campaign against the Palestinian terrorists who murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics speaks to the world today. Raising tough questions about the nature of revenge, specifically its cathartic value, Spielberg's film is something of an anti-thriller that interrogates the true cost of responsive action. When Eric Bana, cast as the leader of the covert kill squad, is seen questioning his accomplishments at the movie's end against the backdrop of the New York skyline (Twin Towers in full view) it's Spielberg's way of directly linking this event to the post-9/11 world. It's moving, too, and, in a way, echoes the final shot of The Searchers. It's just a shame that elsewhere Spielberg's approach to the material feels too much like a throwback to the 1970s. That's not normally a bad thing, but after United 93, Munich seems less effective as a piece of political film-making than it did a few months ago.
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