Kopelson helped start the international sales boom of the 80s and won an Oscar for Platoon.
Oscar-winning producer Arnold Kopelson has died of natural causes in Beverly Hills aged 83.
Brooklyn-born Kopelson entered the industry as an entertainment and banking lawyer and in 1972 founded Inter-Ocean Film Sales, a pioneer in the then burgeoning business of selling independent Us films to distributors around the world.
Kopelson became a producer himself in the late seventies, making films including Falling Down, The Fugitive and Seven and winning the best picture Oscar in 1987 for Oliver Stone-directed Vietnam War drama Platoon.
In 1994, Kopelson was named...
Oscar-winning producer Arnold Kopelson has died of natural causes in Beverly Hills aged 83.
Brooklyn-born Kopelson entered the industry as an entertainment and banking lawyer and in 1972 founded Inter-Ocean Film Sales, a pioneer in the then burgeoning business of selling independent Us films to distributors around the world.
Kopelson became a producer himself in the late seventies, making films including Falling Down, The Fugitive and Seven and winning the best picture Oscar in 1987 for Oliver Stone-directed Vietnam War drama Platoon.
In 1994, Kopelson was named...
- 10/9/2018
- ScreenDaily
Arnold Kopelson, the producer of films including the Oscar-winning Platoon and The Fugitive, and a CBS Corp board member from 2007 until last month, died at his home in Beverly Hills today. He was 83.
His death was announced by his wife and business partner, Anne Kopelson. CBS confirmed the news.
“Arnold was a man of exceptional talent whose legacy will long survive him. He also, of course, was a highly dedicated CBS board member for more than 10 years,” CBS said Monday. “Our hearts go out to Anne and his family.”
Kopelson was born on February 14, 1935 in Brooklyn, NY. He attended and then later graduated from New York University. He went on to earn a law degree at New York Law School. He began his law career in New York, Kopelson acted as special counsel in entertainment lending transactions to several institutions.
He would go on to partner with his future wife...
His death was announced by his wife and business partner, Anne Kopelson. CBS confirmed the news.
“Arnold was a man of exceptional talent whose legacy will long survive him. He also, of course, was a highly dedicated CBS board member for more than 10 years,” CBS said Monday. “Our hearts go out to Anne and his family.”
Kopelson was born on February 14, 1935 in Brooklyn, NY. He attended and then later graduated from New York University. He went on to earn a law degree at New York Law School. He began his law career in New York, Kopelson acted as special counsel in entertainment lending transactions to several institutions.
He would go on to partner with his future wife...
- 10/8/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Arnold Kopelson, the Oscar-winning producer behind films such as “Platoon,” “The Fugitive” and “Se7en,” has died. He was 83.
Kopelson died in his home in Beverly Hills Monday, a representative at Kopelson Entertainment tells TheWrap. He is survived by his wife and producing partner of 42 years, Anne Kopelson, as well as three children, Peter, Evan and Stephanie.
Kopelson won an Oscar in 1986 for Best Picture for “Platoon” directed by Oliver Stone, and was nominated again for Andrew Davis’ “The Fugitive” in 1993. His last film was 2004’s “Twisted” at Paramount with Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson and Andy Garcia. In all, he produced 29 features.
Also Read: Is 'The Fugitive' Based on a True Story? Not So Fast
Born in Brooklyn, Kopelson graduated from New York University and earned a law degree from New York Law School. He began his career with the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in...
Kopelson died in his home in Beverly Hills Monday, a representative at Kopelson Entertainment tells TheWrap. He is survived by his wife and producing partner of 42 years, Anne Kopelson, as well as three children, Peter, Evan and Stephanie.
Kopelson won an Oscar in 1986 for Best Picture for “Platoon” directed by Oliver Stone, and was nominated again for Andrew Davis’ “The Fugitive” in 1993. His last film was 2004’s “Twisted” at Paramount with Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson and Andy Garcia. In all, he produced 29 features.
Also Read: Is 'The Fugitive' Based on a True Story? Not So Fast
Born in Brooklyn, Kopelson graduated from New York University and earned a law degree from New York Law School. He began his career with the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in...
- 10/8/2018
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Arnold Kopelson, the Oscar-winning producer of such films as “Platoon” and “The Fugitive,” died Monday at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 83.
Kopelson’s death was confirmed Monday his wife and business partner of 42 years, Anne Kopelson.
Anne Kopelson said her husband was a consummate producer who dedicated himself wholeheartedly to every film he produced over his long career.
“He loved what he did,” Kopelson told Variety. “He loved dealing with people in making movies and he had a very, very big heart.”
In addition to his wife, Kopelson’s survivors include three children, Peter, Evan and Stephanie.
More to come...
Kopelson’s death was confirmed Monday his wife and business partner of 42 years, Anne Kopelson.
Anne Kopelson said her husband was a consummate producer who dedicated himself wholeheartedly to every film he produced over his long career.
“He loved what he did,” Kopelson told Variety. “He loved dealing with people in making movies and he had a very, very big heart.”
In addition to his wife, Kopelson’s survivors include three children, Peter, Evan and Stephanie.
More to come...
- 10/8/2018
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Arnold Kopelson, the Oscar-winning producer behind such features as Platoon, Seven and The Fugitive who pioneered the practice of presales in motion pictures, died Monday in his Beverly Hills home of natural causes, his wife, Anne Kopelson, said. He was 83.
Kopelson was a rare producer who had the knack of making big-budget action movies as well as smaller, more intellectually challenging films. He won the best picture trophy for Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and was nominated again for Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993), and His features received 17 Oscar nominations and amassed more than $3 billion in ...
Kopelson was a rare producer who had the knack of making big-budget action movies as well as smaller, more intellectually challenging films. He won the best picture trophy for Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and was nominated again for Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993), and His features received 17 Oscar nominations and amassed more than $3 billion in ...
- 10/8/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Arnold Kopelson, the Oscar-winning producer behind such features as Platoon, Seven and The Fugitive who pioneered the practice of presales in motion pictures, died Monday in his Beverly Hills home of natural causes, his wife, Anne Kopelson, said. He was 83.
Kopelson was a rare producer who had the knack of making big-budget action movies as well as smaller, more intellectually challenging films. He won the best picture trophy for Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and was nominated again for Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993), and His features received 17 Oscar nominations and amassed more than $3 billion in ...
Kopelson was a rare producer who had the knack of making big-budget action movies as well as smaller, more intellectually challenging films. He won the best picture trophy for Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986) and was nominated again for Andrew Davis' The Fugitive (1993), and His features received 17 Oscar nominations and amassed more than $3 billion in ...
- 10/8/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
As The Fate of The Furious enters theaters, a ranking of its 1st Assistant Director’s oeuvre.
Friday brings us the release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in The Fast & The Furious series. Thus, there could be no better time to look back and rank the previous works of one of the films most notable craftsmen, a man whose name is legendary. I speak of course of First Assistant Director Frank Capra III.
Capra III is the grandson of director Frank Capra, a Hollywood legend whose work includes It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life. How did that pedigree fare two generations removed? This exhaustive look at Mr. Capra III’s 1st Ad career will tell the tale.
While the film’s director often gets the lion’s share of the credit, the First Ad is one of the most critical positions on set. In...
Friday brings us the release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in The Fast & The Furious series. Thus, there could be no better time to look back and rank the previous works of one of the films most notable craftsmen, a man whose name is legendary. I speak of course of First Assistant Director Frank Capra III.
Capra III is the grandson of director Frank Capra, a Hollywood legend whose work includes It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It’s a Wonderful Life. How did that pedigree fare two generations removed? This exhaustive look at Mr. Capra III’s 1st Ad career will tell the tale.
While the film’s director often gets the lion’s share of the credit, the First Ad is one of the most critical positions on set. In...
- 4/14/2017
- by The Bitter Script Reader
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
It's not clear whether it's a sequel, reboot or remake, but a new movie of The Fugitive is on the way...
One of the biggest hits of 1993 (that didn't involve dinosaurs) was the big screen take on TV hit, The Fugitive. Harrison Ford starred as Dr Richard Kimble in a quality thriller, that won an Oscar for Tommy Lee Jones and picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture too. Oh, and it made megabucks.
There was a sort-of-sequel to The Fugitive that followed, in the shape of Us Marshals. That was basically a less impressive retread, with Wesley Snipes stepping in for Harrison Ford, and Tommy Lee Jones reprising that Oscar winning role. But since then, Warner Bros has left well alone.
Well, until now.
News has broken that Warner Bros is now planning a new The Fugitive movie, although it's not clear yet whether it'd be a sequel,...
One of the biggest hits of 1993 (that didn't involve dinosaurs) was the big screen take on TV hit, The Fugitive. Harrison Ford starred as Dr Richard Kimble in a quality thriller, that won an Oscar for Tommy Lee Jones and picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture too. Oh, and it made megabucks.
There was a sort-of-sequel to The Fugitive that followed, in the shape of Us Marshals. That was basically a less impressive retread, with Wesley Snipes stepping in for Harrison Ford, and Tommy Lee Jones reprising that Oscar winning role. But since then, Warner Bros has left well alone.
Well, until now.
News has broken that Warner Bros is now planning a new The Fugitive movie, although it's not clear yet whether it'd be a sequel,...
- 5/13/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Another day, another remake. Or this time a reboot. Or whatever the heck it will be. Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros is now in development on a new version of The Fugitive, working with producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson who helped make the first one. The Fugitive movie every knows, the one with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones from 1993, was actually adapted from a TV series from the 1960s. The report mentions it'll be a movie, with Christina Hodson (The Eden Project, Shut In) writing the script, but that's about it as details are sparse on what exactly it is beyond a new take. Maybe they want Harrison Ford back? Here's some of the best tweets collected regarding the news today - the funniest ones are at the bottom: The Fugitive Is Running Again at Warner Bros.: Sequel? Remake? Reboot? The details are still hazy.— Luigi Delarosa...
- 5/12/2015
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Deadline exclusively reported Tuesday that yet another classic film would be getting the remake treatment: The Fugitive.
The original film from 1993 was a major blockbuster and starred Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in an Oscar winning Supporting Actor role. Andrew Davis’s film was adapted from a classic ABC TV show of the same name, in which Dr. Richard Kimble is wrongly accused of murdering his wife and is forced to go on the run while tracking down the real killer.
Deadline reports that emerging screenwriter Christina Hodson (Shut In, The Eden Project) would be penning the script. No word yet on whether Ford or Jones would return to this film, but of course Ford is on board for sequels to Star Wars and Blade Runner. Arnold and Anne Kopelson are returning as producers.
Thoughts on a director/star pairing? Chris Pratt might be too obvious if people also...
The original film from 1993 was a major blockbuster and starred Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in an Oscar winning Supporting Actor role. Andrew Davis’s film was adapted from a classic ABC TV show of the same name, in which Dr. Richard Kimble is wrongly accused of murdering his wife and is forced to go on the run while tracking down the real killer.
Deadline reports that emerging screenwriter Christina Hodson (Shut In, The Eden Project) would be penning the script. No word yet on whether Ford or Jones would return to this film, but of course Ford is on board for sequels to Star Wars and Blade Runner. Arnold and Anne Kopelson are returning as producers.
Thoughts on a director/star pairing? Chris Pratt might be too obvious if people also...
- 5/12/2015
- by Brian Welk
- SoundOnSight
There is a purity to the concept of "The Fugitive" that I admire. When the original four-season series ended, almost half of the available audience tuned in to see whether or not Richard Kimble would be able to finally bring the mysterious one-armed man to justice before being captured by the cops who had been chasing him throughout the entire run of the show. I can't even imagine a show so popular that half of the population tuned in at the same time, and I'm not sure TV will ever create another hit with that kind of reach in our world of a million channels. The 1993 feature film version of "The Fugitive" was unexpectedly huge when it was released. Heading into that summer, the biggest question was whether "Jurassic Park" or "The Last Action Hero" would be the hit of the summer, and while the dinosaurs did indeed prove to be unstoppable,...
- 5/12/2015
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Not every film spawned from a TV series is a success, but 1993’s The Fugitive was a bona fide hit, leading Tommy Lee Jones to a Supporting Actor Oscar and spawning a Jones-centric sequel in U.S. Marshals. Now Warner Bros. wants to put the idea on the run towards screens again.The original film, of course, starred Harrison Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, who went on the run when he was falsely accused of murdering his wife. In addition to tracking down the real culprit, Kimble had to evade dogged law enforcement (especially Jones’ hard nut Marshal Samuel Gerard) while simultaneously leaving clues to help the authorities in his search for the true killer.Deadline’s report doesn’t mention whether Ford or Jones will be back, or whether this will continue the story instead of following current trends and rebooting the whole the concept with new actors. Either way,...
- 5/12/2015
- EmpireOnline
Harrison Ford still didn.t kill his wife. Tommy Lee Jones still doesn.t care. And if you get that reference, then you likely will be interested in the news that Warner Bros. wants to get back in The Fugitive business, after a 17-year hiatus. Deadline has the details on the new Fugitive project, which will be shepherded at the studio by screenwriter Christina Hodson, as well as producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson. The main question everyone needs answered, however, can not be found in the initial report: will this new chapter in the saga of The Fugitive include either Harrison Ford or Tommy Lee Jones, who made a terrific pair as hunter and hunted in Andrew Davis. 1993 film? Right now, it's unclear if this is a reboot, a remake, or a sequel that has been long in the making. Here.s that scene I referenced, up above: The Fugitive...
- 5/12/2015
- cinemablend.com
As if Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Blade Runner 2 and Indiana Jones 5 weren’t enough, Warner Bros. is digging up another Harrison Ford classic, 1993’s The Fugitive, for a new installment.
No word yet on whether Ford or Tommy Lee Jones will be reprising their roles from the Andrew Davis-directed film, which won Jones an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The Fugitive was nominated in six other categories, including Best Picture, which it lost to Schindler’s List.
Christina Hodson, an up-and-comer who penned upcoming Naomi Watts thriller Shut In and had script The Eden Project snapped up by Sony, will scribe the update, which is not believed to be a remake so much as a franchise-reigniting sequel.
The original film, which was based on a tremendously popular ABC series of the same name, birthed a sequel called U.S. Marshals that had little to do with its predecessor outside of Jones’ character,...
No word yet on whether Ford or Tommy Lee Jones will be reprising their roles from the Andrew Davis-directed film, which won Jones an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The Fugitive was nominated in six other categories, including Best Picture, which it lost to Schindler’s List.
Christina Hodson, an up-and-comer who penned upcoming Naomi Watts thriller Shut In and had script The Eden Project snapped up by Sony, will scribe the update, which is not believed to be a remake so much as a franchise-reigniting sequel.
The original film, which was based on a tremendously popular ABC series of the same name, birthed a sequel called U.S. Marshals that had little to do with its predecessor outside of Jones’ character,...
- 5/12/2015
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
Exclusive: Warner Bros has put into development a new installment of The Fugitive, one of those rare times that Hollywood took a well-executed TV series and turned it into an even more exhilarating feature film. The studio has set Christina Hodson — whose The Eden Project was bought at auction by Sony, and whose script Shut In is completing shooting with Naomi Watts for EuropaCorp — to write it. Arnold and Anne Kopelson are returning as producers, but they would not say…...
- 5/12/2015
- Deadline
Warner Bros. Pictures has begun development of a new installment of "The Fugitive". Christina Hodson ("Shut In," "The Eden Project") will pen the script whilst Arnold and Anne Kopelson are returning as producers says Deadline.
The property started as a 1960s TV series about Dr. Richard Kimble, a surgeon accused of murdering his wife. He goes on the run to clear his name, leaving clues for a dogged cop about a one-armed man Kimble struggled with during his wife's killing.
The show ran for four seasons and was very popular at the time. In 1993 the property was turned into a highly acclaimed and successful feature film which Andrew Davis directed. Harrison Ford took on the role of Kimble, while Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar for his role as the U.S. marshal on the hunt for him.
This report does not make clear if this is a sequel or a reboot of the franchise,...
The property started as a 1960s TV series about Dr. Richard Kimble, a surgeon accused of murdering his wife. He goes on the run to clear his name, leaving clues for a dogged cop about a one-armed man Kimble struggled with during his wife's killing.
The show ran for four seasons and was very popular at the time. In 1993 the property was turned into a highly acclaimed and successful feature film which Andrew Davis directed. Harrison Ford took on the role of Kimble, while Tommy Lee Jones won an Oscar for his role as the U.S. marshal on the hunt for him.
This report does not make clear if this is a sequel or a reboot of the franchise,...
- 5/12/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
If anyone needs proof positive that Hollywood can be a tough place to get a movie made, it’s been ten years since Pacific Rim writer Travis Beacham first saw his script A Killing On Carnival Row optioned. After a decade lingering in development, it might finally see the light of day as one of Amazon’s original series.Set in an undetermined future, the action takes place in a city called the Burge, a place that oddly looks like 18th century London. There, strange creatures share the streets with humans, but everyone is terrified by a serial killer stalking the darker areas.Beacham originally sold the script to producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson and New Line quickly brought it to the attention of del Toro. But that was back when The Hobbit and other projects were dominating his brainspace, and he eventually passed. Neil Jordan and Tarsem flirted with the project for a while,...
- 1/11/2015
- EmpireOnline
Exclusive: In separate deals, 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin is reuniting with his To Rome With Love helmer Woody Allen, and his Rock Of Ages co-star Russell Brand. I’m told that Baldwin will be part of the cast of Allen’s next ensemble comedy, which he’ll shoot in San Francisco. Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper have also been rumored as participants. Baldwin and Brand are reuniting to star in Man That Rocks The Cradle, a New Line comedy about an overworked husband and father who thinks he has found the solution to all his problems by importing a super-nanny he is told is a true kid whisperer. Turns out the live-in maid is a man. The film will be produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson. Man That Rocks The Cradle originated as a spec script by Josh Cagan and based on a story by Cagan and Rob McKittrick. New...
- 5/11/2012
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Exclusive: Showtime is developing Pure Evil, a drama series executive produced by feature producing duo Arnold and Anne Kopelson. The project, which is being written by Trey Callaway (CSI: NY), centers on a brilliant and sinister CEO of the world’s largest tech & media conglomerate. Callaway will executive produce with the Oscar-winning Kopelsons. Steve Barnett, president of Kopelson Entertainment, will also produce. This is the first TV effort in a decade for Arnold and Anne Kopelson who executive produced the CBS series The Fugitive, based on the it 1993 movie they also produced.
- 3/13/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
Fanciful Indian filmmaker Tarsem Singh had not directed a feature for five years before this month’s epic Immortals. Six years ticked away between 2000’s The Cell and 2006’s The Fall, both equally full of ambitious and imaginative visuals.
Now he is suddenly becoming prolific with big-budget features. He was in post-production on his 3D Greek mythology movie at Relativity Media while in pre-production on his Snow White family film Mirror Mirror, which he shot from June 2011 to mid-September (though the trailer is risible).
Tarsem told ComingSoon it was the “easiest thing in the world” shooting them back-to-back, and he hopes to make “one movie a year” now. So last week the director sat down, read, and decided between “one or two projects that [he's] interested in.”
According to Deadline, Tarsem’s next film is Killing on Carnival Row, a fantasy spec script written by Travis Beacham and purchased six years...
Now he is suddenly becoming prolific with big-budget features. He was in post-production on his 3D Greek mythology movie at Relativity Media while in pre-production on his Snow White family film Mirror Mirror, which he shot from June 2011 to mid-September (though the trailer is risible).
Tarsem told ComingSoon it was the “easiest thing in the world” shooting them back-to-back, and he hopes to make “one movie a year” now. So last week the director sat down, read, and decided between “one or two projects that [he's] interested in.”
According to Deadline, Tarsem’s next film is Killing on Carnival Row, a fantasy spec script written by Travis Beacham and purchased six years...
- 11/20/2011
- by Jeff Leins
- newsinfilm.com
After lingering around the dusty halls of development hell for six years, Travis Beacham's attention-grabbing first script Killing On Carnival Row might finally have found a director to drag it on to the screen. Deadline reports that Tarsem Singh - the man behind Immortals - is attached to make it.
And given Carnival Row's concept, it certainly sounds like something the visual-obsessed director could work with. Set in an undetermined future, the action takes place in a city called the Burge, a place that oddly looks like 18th century London. There, strange creatures share the streets with humans, but everyone is terrified by a serial killer stalking the darker areas.
Beacham originally sold the script to producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson and New Line quickly brought it to the attention of Guillermo del Toro, who coincidentally is now directing Beacham's Pacific Rim screenplay. But that was back when The...
And given Carnival Row's concept, it certainly sounds like something the visual-obsessed director could work with. Set in an undetermined future, the action takes place in a city called the Burge, a place that oddly looks like 18th century London. There, strange creatures share the streets with humans, but everyone is terrified by a serial killer stalking the darker areas.
Beacham originally sold the script to producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson and New Line quickly brought it to the attention of Guillermo del Toro, who coincidentally is now directing Beacham's Pacific Rim screenplay. But that was back when The...
- 11/19/2011
- icelebz.com
Even though his latest movie, the swords-and-sandals epic Immortals, just opened in theaters and he's deep into post-production on his next movie, the Snow White adaptation Mirror, Mirror, director Tarsem Singh is already lining up his next, next movie...and maybe even the movie after that one. According to Deadline, Singh is attached to direct Killing on Carnival Row, a "noir-style fantasy thriller" from Clash of the Titans (remake) and Pacific Rim screenwriter Travis Beacham. In addition, Singh recently revealed that his dream project would be to direct a feature adaptation of Genndy Tartakovsky's stylish action-adventure cartoon Samurai Jack.
Next Showing:
Link | Posted 11/18/2011 by BrentJS
Anne Kopelson | Arnold Kopelson | Tarsem Singh | Travis Beacham...
Next Showing:
Link | Posted 11/18/2011 by BrentJS
Anne Kopelson | Arnold Kopelson | Tarsem Singh | Travis Beacham...
- 11/18/2011
- by BrentJS Sprecher
- Reelzchannel.com
"Immortals" and "Mirror Mirror" director Tarsem Singh is showing no signs of slowing down his recent rapid succession of projects says Deadline.
Tarsem is now attached to the noir-style fantasy thriller "Killing On Carnival Row" which was originally set up by producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson six years ago at New Line.
"Clash of the Titans" and "Pacific Rim" writer Travis Beacham's script is set in a future city called Burgue which resembles 18th century London, albeit one populated by both humans and other creatures. It's in this setting that a serial killer is on the loose.
Guillermo Del Toro and Neil Jordan came close to making the film but Singh looks like a more certain option.
Tarsem is now attached to the noir-style fantasy thriller "Killing On Carnival Row" which was originally set up by producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson six years ago at New Line.
"Clash of the Titans" and "Pacific Rim" writer Travis Beacham's script is set in a future city called Burgue which resembles 18th century London, albeit one populated by both humans and other creatures. It's in this setting that a serial killer is on the loose.
Guillermo Del Toro and Neil Jordan came close to making the film but Singh looks like a more certain option.
- 11/18/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
One of the most original fantasy screenplays of recent years is picking up more of a change to get eventually made into a movie.
Six years ago would-be screenwriter Travis Beacham made some noise in Hollywood when his spec screenplay Killing on Carnival Row started making the rounds around the town. Set in a dark and disturbing city that resembled 19th century London, except that its population was made up of beings best found in fantasy tales, Beacham's story centered on detectives investigating the brutal and horrific murders of fairies. Killing on Carnival Row was like Seven meets Lord of the Rings, and it caught the attention of a lot of people.
The script sold to producer Arne and Anne Kopelson, and it brought Beacham writing assignments like the remakes of Clash of the Titans, Disney's The Black Hole and the giant monster movie Pacific Rim. Unfortunately, for the past...
Six years ago would-be screenwriter Travis Beacham made some noise in Hollywood when his spec screenplay Killing on Carnival Row started making the rounds around the town. Set in a dark and disturbing city that resembled 19th century London, except that its population was made up of beings best found in fantasy tales, Beacham's story centered on detectives investigating the brutal and horrific murders of fairies. Killing on Carnival Row was like Seven meets Lord of the Rings, and it caught the attention of a lot of people.
The script sold to producer Arne and Anne Kopelson, and it brought Beacham writing assignments like the remakes of Clash of the Titans, Disney's The Black Hole and the giant monster movie Pacific Rim. Unfortunately, for the past...
- 11/18/2011
- by Patrick Sauriol
- Corona's Coming Attractions
After lingering around the dusty halls of development hell for six years, Travis Beacham’s attention-grabbing first script Killing On Carnival Row might finally have found a director to drag it on to the screen. Deadline reports that Tarsem Singh – the man behind Immortals – is attached to make it.And given Carnival Row’s concept, it certainly sounds like something the visual-obsessed director could work with. Set in an undetermined future, the action takes place in a city called the Burge, a place that oddly looks like 18th century London. There, strange creatures share the streets with humans, but everyone is terrified by a serial killer stalking the darker areas.Beacham originally sold the script to producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson and New Line quickly brought it to the attention of Guillermo del Toro, who coincidentally is now directing Beacham's Pacific Rim screenplay. But that was back when The Hobbit...
- 11/18/2011
- EmpireOnline
Despite telling THR that he wants to tackle something different because "all everyone wants to think is that I want to do visual films," Deadline reports that director Tarsem Singh has signed on for something that sounds to be in line with his previous work, a film titled 'Killing On Carnival Row.'Scripted by Travis Beacham, ('Dog Days of Summer,' 'Clash of the Titans' 'Pacific Rim') the film is said to take place in the futuristic city of Burgue that is very remincent of 18th century London. The inhabitants are a combination of creatures and humans. As the title implies, among them is a serial killer. Of Singh taking the position, producers working on the film, Arnold and Anne Kopelson said: "I am thrilled that Tarsem will direct Carnival Row, which we’ve been developing over the past six years. His extraordinary visual sense and...
- 11/18/2011
- LRMonline.com
All things considered, it’s been something of a mixed week for Tarsem. His first film in about five years, Immortals, opened to mostly negative reviews but general box office success, an event which was soon followed by the disastrous trailer for his Snow White picture, Mirror, Mirror.
Let’s add another positive to this uneven scale, since Deadline reports that the filmmaker has landed his next film, Killing on Carnival Row, for producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson. Though the project isn’t currently set up at a studio, the former claims to be in talks with one at the moment, expecting “to begin production on the noir-style fantasy thriller next June in New Orleans.” Some extra digging on the project tells us that it’s “[s]et in a fantasy world where humans live side by side with mystical creatures, a serial killer is on the loose murdering faeries,” and...
Let’s add another positive to this uneven scale, since Deadline reports that the filmmaker has landed his next film, Killing on Carnival Row, for producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson. Though the project isn’t currently set up at a studio, the former claims to be in talks with one at the moment, expecting “to begin production on the noir-style fantasy thriller next June in New Orleans.” Some extra digging on the project tells us that it’s “[s]et in a fantasy world where humans live side by side with mystical creatures, a serial killer is on the loose murdering faeries,” and...
- 11/17/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Say what you will about Immortals. Odd casting choices and historical inaccuracies aside, it looks simply amazing. As have both of director Tarsem Singh's previous films (The Cell, The Fall). While we wait to see what develops with his upcoming Mirror, Mirror, news of his next project has broken, and it sounds right up our alley.
According to Deadline Singh has become attached to Killing on Carnival Row, a script by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim) that producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson originally set up six years ago.
The script takes place in the future in a city called the Burgue, which looks a lot like 18th Century London. It is inhabited by humans and other creatures, and a serial killer is on the loose. “I am thrilled that Tarsem will direct Carnival Row, which we’ve been developing over the past six years,” Arnold Kopelson said.
According to Deadline Singh has become attached to Killing on Carnival Row, a script by Travis Beacham (Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim) that producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson originally set up six years ago.
The script takes place in the future in a city called the Burgue, which looks a lot like 18th Century London. It is inhabited by humans and other creatures, and a serial killer is on the loose. “I am thrilled that Tarsem will direct Carnival Row, which we’ve been developing over the past six years,” Arnold Kopelson said.
- 11/17/2011
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
For years we didn't hear much at all about Tarsem Singh (The Cell, The Fall). But his new film Immortals opened a week ago to generally negative opinion (I liked it more than most [1], though I'll never argue that it is 'good') and the trailer [2] for his family-oriented Snow White comedy Mirror, Mirror just hit this week. Now we've got word on a possible next film from the visually obsessive director: the noirish fantasy thriller Killing on Carnival Row, penned by Pacific Rim writer Travis Beacham. The script has been around for a few years -- it was Beacham's first big sale years ago -- and has had people like Neil Jordan and Guillermo del Toro attached to direct. Deadline [3] says that producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson are in talks with a studio to make the film, though they wouldn't reveal which one. The story takes place in a city named the Burgue,...
- 11/17/2011
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Tarsem Singh, whose latest film Immortals just opened and who follows with the Julia Roberts-starrer Snow White film Mirror, Mirror, has become attached to Killing on Carnival Row. That is a script by Travis Beacham that producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson originally set up six years ago. It was a hot spec and the very first sale for Beacham, whose subsequent credits include Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim, the Disney remake Black Hole, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Fox. The Kopelsons, who originally set it at New Line, have gotten close to making the film with Guillermo Del Toro and Neil Jordan, but they feel that Singh will put them over the top. Arnold Kopelson said he’s in talks with a studio he wouldn’t reveal but expects to begin production on the noir-style fantasy thriller next June in New Orleans. He’s starting to cast.
- 11/17/2011
- by MIKE FLEMING
- Deadline
Producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson (Pacific Rim, Black Hole) have been trying to get their film Killing On Carnival Row made for six years now. From a script by Travis Beacham (Clash Of The Titans), the film takes place "in the future in a city called the Burgue, which looks a lot like 18th Century London. It is inhabited by humans and other creatures [faries, elves, vampires], and a serial killer is on the loose." While Tarsem Singh first drew notice from The...
- 11/17/2011
- by Alex Riviello
- JoBlo.com
Killing on Carnival Row snags Immortals, Mirror Mirror director Tarsem Singh Tarsem Singh is on a roll. Currently sitting in first place with Relativity Media's Immortals epic adventure starring Henry Cavill (Superman in Man of Steel), and will most likely be on top again for Mirror Mirror; another Relativity release. Now, according to Deadline, Singh's attached to Killing on Carnival, scripted by Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans, Black Hole reboot). Arnold Kopelson, who produces along with Anne Kopelson, said he's in talks with a studio, but didn't say who and filming should start sometime in June in New Orleans. Script tells of a place called Burgue, consisting of humans and other creatures, which looks a like 18th Century London, and has a serial killer on the loose...
- 11/17/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Killing on Carnival Row snags Immortals, Mirror Mirror director Tarsem Singh Tarsem Singh is on a roll. Currently sitting in first place with Relativity Media's Immortals epic adventure starring Henry Cavill (Superman in Man of Steel), and will most likely be on top again for Mirror Mirror; another Relativity release. Now, according to Deadline, Singh's attached to Killing on Carnival, scripted by Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans, Black Hole reboot). Arnold Kopelson, who produces along with Anne Kopelson, said he's in talks with a studio, but didn't say who and filming should start sometime in June in New Orleans. Script tells of a place called Burgue, consisting of humans and other creatures, which looks a like 18th Century London, and has a serial killer on the loose...
- 11/17/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Killing on Carnival Row snags Immortals, Mirror Mirror director Tarsem Singh Tarsem Singh is on a roll. Currently sitting in first place with Relativity Media's Immortals epic adventure starring Henry Cavill (Superman in Man of Steel), and will most likely be on top again for Mirror Mirror; another Relativity release. Now, according to Deadline, Singh's attached to Killing on Carnival, scripted by Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans, Black Hole reboot). Arnold Kopelson, who produces along with Anne Kopelson, said he's in talks with a studio, but didn't say who and filming should start sometime in June in New Orleans. Script tells of a place called Burgue, consisting of humans and other creatures, which looks a like 18th Century London, and has a serial killer on the loose...
- 11/17/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Variety.com is reporting that CBS Films has acquired the script for “Sleeper Spy” a fast-paced espionage thriller by Anthony Jaswinski. Jeff Wadlow, who previously directed “Never Back Down” for Summit, is attached to direct the spy project. Arnold and Anne Kopelson of Kopelson Entertainment are onboard to produce “Sleeper Spy”. The Houston-based company Equus Total Return will be financing the thriller project, which is going to center around a mysterious and shadowy plot to assassinate a political figure, and the race against time to stop it from happening. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for the latest movie news and more from “Sleeper Spy”. By Costa Koutsoutis (Source: Variety.com)...
- 9/26/2009
- by Costa Koutsoutis
- ShockYa
CBS Films has acquired "Sleeper Spy," a fast-paced thriller written by Anthony Jaswinski that will be directed by Jeff Wadlow.According to Variety, Arnold Kopelson will produce with Kopelson Entertainment partner Anne Kopelson.The thriller revolves around a plot to assassinate a political figure. The script was acquired by the Kopelsons through the Equus Media Development Company and developed independently.
- 9/25/2009
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
CBS Films has picked up "Sleeper Spy," a thriller written by Anthony Jaswinski which Jeff Wadlow ("Never Back Down," "Cry_Wolf") is directing. Kopelson Entertainment's Arnold Kopelson will produce alongside his partner Anne Kopelson. The film tells of a plot to assassinate a political figure. Kopelson told Daily Variety "Amy has literally functioned as our partner in the development of this screenplay." CBS' next project is the Dwayne Johnson starrer "Faster."...
- 9/25/2009
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Guillermo Del Toro is in negotiations to develop and direct Killing on Carnival Row, a dark fantasy for New Line Cinema. Arnold and Anne Kopelson are producing via their Kopelson Entertainment banner. Set in a mystical and dark city filled with humans, fairies and other creatures, the story centers on a police detective investigating a series of murders against the fairies. The detective becomes the prime suspect and must find the real killer to clear his name. The studio picked up Carnival as a spec by first-time writer Travis Beacham in November.
New Line Cinema has preemptively picked up Killing on Carnival Row. The fantasy spec script by first-time writer Travis Beacham, set in a dark city filled with mystical creatures, is being produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson via their Kopelson Entertainment banner. The script did not formally go out to studios because it was leaked to execs this week in anticipation of getting a director attached. When a number of studios showed interest, WMA, Beacham's agency, said it would enter exclusive negotiations with the first company to make a serious offer, figuring it would demonstrate which firm had the most passion for the project. At New Line, the script was championed by Keith Goldberg and Michael Disco, who will oversee with Toby Emmerich.
- 11/18/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Walt Becker has signed on for directing duties for In the Navy, a Touchstone Pictures comedy. The story follows a slacker Navy clerk who inadvertently switches places with a Navy SEAL and ends up on a dangerous mission. The script was written by Jason Filardi (Bringing Down the House). Arnold and Anne Kopelson are producing through their Kopelson Entertainment. Sherryl Clark is executive producing. Jason Reed is the Walt Disney Co. executive on the project. Becker, who is repped by ICM and Nine Yards Entertainment, is best known for directing the comedy Van Wilder.
Opens
Friday, Feb. 27
Combining the ludicrous with the lurid, "Twisted" is twisted all right. Characters get distorted and motivations warped in this police thriller in order to keep bodies piling up and clues pointing in all directions. This movie also marks one of the strangest portrayals of a police department ever in a Hollywood movie. The San Francisco P.D. here is populated with short-tempered, predatory psychos and drunks on the prowl for constant fights or sexual gratification, and at least one of them is a serial killer. Even a solid cast of Ashley Judd as a police detective who sleeps around, Samuel L. Jackson as the police commissioner with a personal stake in her career and Andy Garcia as her enigmatic partner can't bring credibility to the nonsensical story.
Veteran director Philip Kaufman gets maximum tension from the twists and turns in Sarah Thorp's woeful screenplay, but its sheer silliness ultimately defeats him. The Paramount release will have only a quick look in theaters before moving on to the greener pastures of the ancillary markets.
What's remarkable about Judd's Jessica Shepard is not her promotion to the homicide division by commissioner John Mills (Jackson), but her being on the force at all. She drinks herself into a nightly stupor, punches out fellow cops as quickly as she does perps in handcuffs and suffers psychological torment from the murder-suicide of her mother and dad years before. She also displays little moral sense as she will pick up the first man she meets in a bar for casual sex.
However, Jessica is less a character than a walking provocation for a series of crimes. In her very first case as a detective, she is shocked to realize that every butchered body belongs to a former lover. Which explains the need for her multiple sex partners. Her daily drinking leads to blackouts, which explains her inability to account for her whereabouts at the time of each murder. And the trauma of her promiscuous mom and her jealousy crazed dad explains the "bad seeds" of sexual irresponsibility and homicidal rage in her blood.
Mills raised her following the death of her father, his partner, and has shepherded her career with the SFPD. Her new partner, Mike (Garcia), immediately falls for her, but the other detectives develop an instant dislike, presumably preferring to keep the homicide division all male. Meanwhile, in a series of awkwardly written and staged scenes, police shrink Dr. Frank David Strathairn) struggles to get to the bottom of her mental disarray.
Thanks to Jessica's intimate connection to each victim, she is suspect No. 1. The viewer, on the other hand, scrutinizes the behavior and body language of all the male cops around Jessica to determine which one is following her and beating to death her sex partners once they leave her sweaty embrace. With logic on holiday and the filmmakers feeling the need for a new twist every few minutes, this proves a fruitless exercise. Basically, it's the last guy standing.
The movie at least looks slick. Cinematographer Peter Deming plays with shadows and fog and dark exteriors to make San Francisco nicely eerie. Peter Boyle's editing propels the story along even when the narrative stalls. Mark Isham's score is rich in atmosphere and dread.
TWISTED
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures presents in association with
Intertainment
a Kopelson Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Philip Kaufman
Screenwriter: Sarah Thorp
Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson, Barry Baeres, Linne Radmin
Executive producers: Stephen Brown, Robyn Meisinger, Michael Flynn
Director of photography: Peter Deming
Production designer: Dennis Washington
Music: Mark Isham
Co-producer: Peter Kaufman, Sherryl Clark
Costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Editor: Peter Boyle
Cast:
Jessica Shepard: Ashley Judd
John Mills: Samuel L. Jackson
Mike Delmarco: Andy Garcia
Dr. Frank: David Straithairn
Lt. Tong: Russell Wong
Lisa: Camryn Manheim
Jimmy: Mark Pellegrino
Dale Becker: Titus Welliver
Ray Porter: D.W. Moffett
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Friday, Feb. 27
Combining the ludicrous with the lurid, "Twisted" is twisted all right. Characters get distorted and motivations warped in this police thriller in order to keep bodies piling up and clues pointing in all directions. This movie also marks one of the strangest portrayals of a police department ever in a Hollywood movie. The San Francisco P.D. here is populated with short-tempered, predatory psychos and drunks on the prowl for constant fights or sexual gratification, and at least one of them is a serial killer. Even a solid cast of Ashley Judd as a police detective who sleeps around, Samuel L. Jackson as the police commissioner with a personal stake in her career and Andy Garcia as her enigmatic partner can't bring credibility to the nonsensical story.
Veteran director Philip Kaufman gets maximum tension from the twists and turns in Sarah Thorp's woeful screenplay, but its sheer silliness ultimately defeats him. The Paramount release will have only a quick look in theaters before moving on to the greener pastures of the ancillary markets.
What's remarkable about Judd's Jessica Shepard is not her promotion to the homicide division by commissioner John Mills (Jackson), but her being on the force at all. She drinks herself into a nightly stupor, punches out fellow cops as quickly as she does perps in handcuffs and suffers psychological torment from the murder-suicide of her mother and dad years before. She also displays little moral sense as she will pick up the first man she meets in a bar for casual sex.
However, Jessica is less a character than a walking provocation for a series of crimes. In her very first case as a detective, she is shocked to realize that every butchered body belongs to a former lover. Which explains the need for her multiple sex partners. Her daily drinking leads to blackouts, which explains her inability to account for her whereabouts at the time of each murder. And the trauma of her promiscuous mom and her jealousy crazed dad explains the "bad seeds" of sexual irresponsibility and homicidal rage in her blood.
Mills raised her following the death of her father, his partner, and has shepherded her career with the SFPD. Her new partner, Mike (Garcia), immediately falls for her, but the other detectives develop an instant dislike, presumably preferring to keep the homicide division all male. Meanwhile, in a series of awkwardly written and staged scenes, police shrink Dr. Frank David Strathairn) struggles to get to the bottom of her mental disarray.
Thanks to Jessica's intimate connection to each victim, she is suspect No. 1. The viewer, on the other hand, scrutinizes the behavior and body language of all the male cops around Jessica to determine which one is following her and beating to death her sex partners once they leave her sweaty embrace. With logic on holiday and the filmmakers feeling the need for a new twist every few minutes, this proves a fruitless exercise. Basically, it's the last guy standing.
The movie at least looks slick. Cinematographer Peter Deming plays with shadows and fog and dark exteriors to make San Francisco nicely eerie. Peter Boyle's editing propels the story along even when the narrative stalls. Mark Isham's score is rich in atmosphere and dread.
TWISTED
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures presents in association with
Intertainment
a Kopelson Entertainment production
Credits:
Director: Philip Kaufman
Screenwriter: Sarah Thorp
Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson, Barry Baeres, Linne Radmin
Executive producers: Stephen Brown, Robyn Meisinger, Michael Flynn
Director of photography: Peter Deming
Production designer: Dennis Washington
Music: Mark Isham
Co-producer: Peter Kaufman, Sherryl Clark
Costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Editor: Peter Boyle
Cast:
Jessica Shepard: Ashley Judd
John Mills: Samuel L. Jackson
Mike Delmarco: Andy Garcia
Dr. Frank: David Straithairn
Lt. Tong: Russell Wong
Lisa: Camryn Manheim
Jimmy: Mark Pellegrino
Dale Becker: Titus Welliver
Ray Porter: D.W. Moffett
Running time -- 97 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Regency Enterprises has hunted down Justin Stanley and Shane Bitterling's spec script Witchfinders for Oscar-winning producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson to produce through their Kopelson Entertainment. Witchfinders is described as a possible tentpole action-adventure project in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean with witches. It centers on a group of 17th century witch hunters who are charged with destroying a coven of witches before they flee Europe for a new home in Salem, Mass.
- 6/30/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Walt Disney Co. has plunked down an undisclosed sum to pick up Jason Filardi's pitch Navy Seal, with Arnold Kopelson and Anne Kopelson's Kopelson Entertainment and Intertainment AG on board to produce. The project -- described only as a military comedy -- was developed from an original idea by Kopelson senior vp production Sherryl Clark and then brought to Filardi to write. At the studio, the project is being shepherded by executive vp Jason Reed. The deal reteams Filardi with Disney, the studio for which he penned the Steve Martin and Queen Latifah starrer Bringing Down the House. That project recently wrapped production with Adam Shankman at the helm. The Kopelsons, who won a best picture Oscar for Platoon, are currently producing Blackout, starring Ashley Judd, Samuel L. Jackson and Andy Garcia and directed by Philip Kaufman for Paramount Pictures and Intertainment. Filardi is repped by ICM and manager Brian Lutz. He is scripting the comedy Ghetto Buck for Columbia Pictures, with Dennis Dugan on board to direct and Martin Lawrence set to topline.
- 10/8/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Eraser is poised to resurface as a USA Network drama pilot for Oscar-winning producers Arnold Kopelson and Anne Kopelson and Warner Bros. Television. USA Network is in talks with the studio to develop a loose adaptation of the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner, which the Kopelsons produced for Warners. Arnold Kopelson said the TV version would be based on "some aspects of the federal witness protection program," as explored in the feature, but would not be strictly modeled after the characters in the movie. In addition to Eraser, Kopelson Telemedia has a sizable put pilot commitment at ABC for a TV rendition of the 1998 feature U.S. Marshals to be penned by Larry Ferguson (The Hunt for Red October). Also at ABC, the company is shepherding a Hawaii-based detective drama from writer Greg Poirier (Rosewood) to be produced with Touchstone Television. The project is one of a flurry of Aloha State-based projects in development at the major broadcast networks.
- 10/2/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Filling the shoes of those who came before you is never easy, especially when the footwear belonged to Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly and Ray Milland.
Yet "A Perfect Murder" -- based loosely on Hitch's "Dial M for Murder", which was adapted from Frederick Knott's stage play of the same name -- succeeds admirably.
A smart, classy, near-perfect suspense thriller boasting crackling performances from Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, it's director Andrew Davis' best work since "The Fugitive".
This is a yarn in which the perpetrator's identity is shared with the audience from the start, but the tautly executed cat-and-mouse maneuvers nevertheless keep it involving.
Filling an underserved niche, "A Perfect Murder" should yield Warner Bros. some of its best boxoffice numbers of the year.
Purists may find it sacrilege to say so, but Patrick Smith Kelly's clever screenplay, rather than simply updating the action from 1950s London to '90s Manhattan, actually improves on the Knott/Hitchcock original by creating a more treacherous dynamic between the two male points of the intriguing love-hate triangle.
When wealthy industrialist Steven Taylor (Douglas in full "Wall Street" Gordon Gekko mode) realizes that his prized possession -- coming-from-big-money, U.N. multilingual-translator wife Emily -- is having a torrid affair with struggling artist David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen), Taylor plots to critically hurt the one he loves.
Revealing his discovery to Shaw after digging up a considerable criminal portfolio on the career usurper of wealthy women, Taylor blackmails him into killing Emily.
Needless to say, despite elaborate preparations, the execution goes horribly awry as Emily manages to ward off her masked attacker by stabbing him -- no, not in the back with a pair of scissors (that may have worked in the tasteful '50s), but with a carefully aimed meat thermometer to the jugular.
To make matters worse for Taylor, the unintended murder victim doesn't turn out to be whom we expected. As Taylor frantically attempts to cover his tracks, Emily's suspicions are understandably heightened, as are those of Detective Mohamed Karaman (David Suchet), with whom Emily converses in his native Arabic.
Even Hitchcock would have approved of the casting. Douglas revels in playing the seamy, dark side that the late, great master of suspense used to enjoy eliciting from Hollywood good guys Cary Grant and James Stewart.
And while she's not exactly Grace Kelly (who is?), Paltrow brings an intelligent wiliness to her not-so-pitiful victim. Good also are Mortensen as an out-of-his-league counter-blackmailer and Suchet as the detective who answers to a much higher authority when making judgment calls.
Technical contributions are nothing short of superb.
A PERFECT MURDER
Warner Bros.
A Kopelson Entertainment production
An Andrew Davis film
Director: Andrew Davis
Producers: Arnold Kopelson
and Anne Kopelson, Christopher Mankiewicz, Peter Macgregor-Scott
Screenwriter: Patrick Smith Kelly
Based on the play "Dial M for Murder" by:
Frederick Knott
Executive producer: Stephen Brown
Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski
Production designer: Philip Rosenberg
Editors: Dennis Virkler, Dov Hoenig
Costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Music: James Newton Howard
Color/stereo
Cast:
Steven Taylor: Michael Douglas
Emily Bradford Taylor: Gwyneth Paltrow
David Shaw: Viggo Mortensen
Detective Mohamed Karaman: David Suchet
Raquel Martinez: Sarita Choudhury
Sandra Bradford: Constance Towers
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Yet "A Perfect Murder" -- based loosely on Hitch's "Dial M for Murder", which was adapted from Frederick Knott's stage play of the same name -- succeeds admirably.
A smart, classy, near-perfect suspense thriller boasting crackling performances from Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, it's director Andrew Davis' best work since "The Fugitive".
This is a yarn in which the perpetrator's identity is shared with the audience from the start, but the tautly executed cat-and-mouse maneuvers nevertheless keep it involving.
Filling an underserved niche, "A Perfect Murder" should yield Warner Bros. some of its best boxoffice numbers of the year.
Purists may find it sacrilege to say so, but Patrick Smith Kelly's clever screenplay, rather than simply updating the action from 1950s London to '90s Manhattan, actually improves on the Knott/Hitchcock original by creating a more treacherous dynamic between the two male points of the intriguing love-hate triangle.
When wealthy industrialist Steven Taylor (Douglas in full "Wall Street" Gordon Gekko mode) realizes that his prized possession -- coming-from-big-money, U.N. multilingual-translator wife Emily -- is having a torrid affair with struggling artist David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen), Taylor plots to critically hurt the one he loves.
Revealing his discovery to Shaw after digging up a considerable criminal portfolio on the career usurper of wealthy women, Taylor blackmails him into killing Emily.
Needless to say, despite elaborate preparations, the execution goes horribly awry as Emily manages to ward off her masked attacker by stabbing him -- no, not in the back with a pair of scissors (that may have worked in the tasteful '50s), but with a carefully aimed meat thermometer to the jugular.
To make matters worse for Taylor, the unintended murder victim doesn't turn out to be whom we expected. As Taylor frantically attempts to cover his tracks, Emily's suspicions are understandably heightened, as are those of Detective Mohamed Karaman (David Suchet), with whom Emily converses in his native Arabic.
Even Hitchcock would have approved of the casting. Douglas revels in playing the seamy, dark side that the late, great master of suspense used to enjoy eliciting from Hollywood good guys Cary Grant and James Stewart.
And while she's not exactly Grace Kelly (who is?), Paltrow brings an intelligent wiliness to her not-so-pitiful victim. Good also are Mortensen as an out-of-his-league counter-blackmailer and Suchet as the detective who answers to a much higher authority when making judgment calls.
Technical contributions are nothing short of superb.
A PERFECT MURDER
Warner Bros.
A Kopelson Entertainment production
An Andrew Davis film
Director: Andrew Davis
Producers: Arnold Kopelson
and Anne Kopelson, Christopher Mankiewicz, Peter Macgregor-Scott
Screenwriter: Patrick Smith Kelly
Based on the play "Dial M for Murder" by:
Frederick Knott
Executive producer: Stephen Brown
Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski
Production designer: Philip Rosenberg
Editors: Dennis Virkler, Dov Hoenig
Costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick
Music: James Newton Howard
Color/stereo
Cast:
Steven Taylor: Michael Douglas
Emily Bradford Taylor: Gwyneth Paltrow
David Shaw: Viggo Mortensen
Detective Mohamed Karaman: David Suchet
Raquel Martinez: Sarita Choudhury
Sandra Bradford: Constance Towers
Running time -- 107 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Revisiting the exciting milieu of Warner Bros.' 1993 boxoffice smash "The Fugitive", but with one notable difference in the absence of superstar Harrison Ford as the wily good guy on the run, "U.S. Marshals" is a satisfying action extravaganza with Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones returning as the tough, relentless Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard.
Stuart Baird ("Executive Action") marshals his troops with finesse, and debut screenwriter John Pogue has come up with inventive ways to pay homage to writer Roy Huggins' characters and the original film.
Produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson, the wide release won't chase down the big numbers of its predecessor, but it's a sure-fire winner worldwide and should not escape the attention of video renters.
The success of "The Fugitive" was rightly recognized as the dual attraction of Ford's heroic doctor on a quest to clear his name and the professionalism of Jones' driven bogyman to the bad guys. Diverging from the original premise, "U.S. Marshals" lacks the first film's simple, dynamic structure and the strong emotional bonds one forms with the desperate "runner."
Instead, there's a big question as to whose side the current film's fugitive is on. Seen first in a spectacular curtain-raising traffic accident that lands him in the hospital, tow truck driver Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) is battered but in for far worse when the police find a concealed weapon in his truck. Seems the gun was used in a double homicide.
In short order he's put on a prisoner transport plane, and before one can say "Con Air" ten times, an assassin among the convicts tries to shoot him and causes a nasty crash landing instead. Also on board is Gerard, and he helps rescue the survivors after the plane lands on a rural road, flattens a bunch of telephone poles, skids off the road, flips over and lands upside down in the Ohio River.
The plane crash is the analog of the first film's knockout train-and-bus wreck, whose jump-off-the-dam scene is replayed with Sheridan swinging off a building in a move that would have Quasimodo demanding a stunt double. Overall, from the early tracking of the enigmatic Sheridan through the woods near the plane crash to the climactic rounds of cat-and-mouse pursuits and surprise gun battles in New York, Baird and crew successfully keep the tension high despite some confusing plot points.
Sheridan is both a runner and shooter, as Gerard finds out in one point-blank encounter, but it's a bit frustrating the way the audience is kept in the dark about his true identity and how he connects to the murders that one is initially led to believe he knows nothing about. Indeed, the focus is squarely on Gerard and his team, including returnees from the first film Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck and Tom Wood.
As such, "U.S. Marshals" is a showcase for Jones, and he comes through with another convincing, grounded performance. He's hurt but doesn't take it personally when he's shot at, yet he has an emotional side that comes out when one of his comrades is killed. With a more potent motive for risking life and limb than in the first film, Gerard also makes a mistake or two in figuring out who is the real bad guy.
Kate Nelligan is elegantly authoritative as Gerard's boss. While government agent Robert Downey Jr. is a bit too devious-looking from the outset, the actor has several fine moments playing the outsider on Team U.S. Marshals.
Well mounted in all regards, the elaborate production has a rugged physicality and mostly believable sequences, with the solid contributions of mechanical-effects supervisor Mike Meinardus, visual effects-designer Peter Donen and stunt coordinator Gary Davis.
U.S. MARSHALS
Warner Bros.
A Kopelson Entertainment/Keith Barish production
Director: Stuart Baird
Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Based on characters created by: Roy Huggins
Screenwriter: John Pogue
Executive producers: Keith Barish, Roy Huggins
Co-executive producer: Wolfgang Glattes
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Director of photography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer: Maher Ahmad
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gerard: Tommy Lee Jones
Sheridan: Wesley Snipes
John Royce: Robert Downey Jr.
Renfro: Joe Pantoliano
Walsh: Kate Nelligan
Marie: Irene Jacob
Biggs: Daniel Roebuck
Newman: Tom Wood
Running time -- 131 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Stuart Baird ("Executive Action") marshals his troops with finesse, and debut screenwriter John Pogue has come up with inventive ways to pay homage to writer Roy Huggins' characters and the original film.
Produced by Arnold and Anne Kopelson, the wide release won't chase down the big numbers of its predecessor, but it's a sure-fire winner worldwide and should not escape the attention of video renters.
The success of "The Fugitive" was rightly recognized as the dual attraction of Ford's heroic doctor on a quest to clear his name and the professionalism of Jones' driven bogyman to the bad guys. Diverging from the original premise, "U.S. Marshals" lacks the first film's simple, dynamic structure and the strong emotional bonds one forms with the desperate "runner."
Instead, there's a big question as to whose side the current film's fugitive is on. Seen first in a spectacular curtain-raising traffic accident that lands him in the hospital, tow truck driver Sheridan (Wesley Snipes) is battered but in for far worse when the police find a concealed weapon in his truck. Seems the gun was used in a double homicide.
In short order he's put on a prisoner transport plane, and before one can say "Con Air" ten times, an assassin among the convicts tries to shoot him and causes a nasty crash landing instead. Also on board is Gerard, and he helps rescue the survivors after the plane lands on a rural road, flattens a bunch of telephone poles, skids off the road, flips over and lands upside down in the Ohio River.
The plane crash is the analog of the first film's knockout train-and-bus wreck, whose jump-off-the-dam scene is replayed with Sheridan swinging off a building in a move that would have Quasimodo demanding a stunt double. Overall, from the early tracking of the enigmatic Sheridan through the woods near the plane crash to the climactic rounds of cat-and-mouse pursuits and surprise gun battles in New York, Baird and crew successfully keep the tension high despite some confusing plot points.
Sheridan is both a runner and shooter, as Gerard finds out in one point-blank encounter, but it's a bit frustrating the way the audience is kept in the dark about his true identity and how he connects to the murders that one is initially led to believe he knows nothing about. Indeed, the focus is squarely on Gerard and his team, including returnees from the first film Joe Pantoliano, Daniel Roebuck and Tom Wood.
As such, "U.S. Marshals" is a showcase for Jones, and he comes through with another convincing, grounded performance. He's hurt but doesn't take it personally when he's shot at, yet he has an emotional side that comes out when one of his comrades is killed. With a more potent motive for risking life and limb than in the first film, Gerard also makes a mistake or two in figuring out who is the real bad guy.
Kate Nelligan is elegantly authoritative as Gerard's boss. While government agent Robert Downey Jr. is a bit too devious-looking from the outset, the actor has several fine moments playing the outsider on Team U.S. Marshals.
Well mounted in all regards, the elaborate production has a rugged physicality and mostly believable sequences, with the solid contributions of mechanical-effects supervisor Mike Meinardus, visual effects-designer Peter Donen and stunt coordinator Gary Davis.
U.S. MARSHALS
Warner Bros.
A Kopelson Entertainment/Keith Barish production
Director: Stuart Baird
Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Based on characters created by: Roy Huggins
Screenwriter: John Pogue
Executive producers: Keith Barish, Roy Huggins
Co-executive producer: Wolfgang Glattes
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Director of photography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer: Maher Ahmad
Editor: Terry Rawlings
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gerard: Tommy Lee Jones
Sheridan: Wesley Snipes
John Royce: Robert Downey Jr.
Renfro: Joe Pantoliano
Walsh: Kate Nelligan
Marie: Irene Jacob
Biggs: Daniel Roebuck
Newman: Tom Wood
Running time -- 131 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
The medium is the story in Warner Bros.' "Mad City", as an invasively smarmy TV news reporter tailors a hostage situation to bolster his career. Starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman, this Warner Bros. release is an ambitious tale of media manipulation and personal breakdown.
In a slug line, it's "Broadcast News" meets "Dog Day Afternoon", not a bad combo, but under Costa-Gavras' grim, staccato direction, "Mad City" is strictly yesterday's news.
No doubt about it, producer Arnold Kopelson has smartly assembled an all-star movie unit, but "Mad City"'s parts are far greater than their sum. It's a tricky call for the marketers, whether to platform this topical, serious-minded film to sophisticated audiences, who will consider it old hat, or to launch it wide based on its star draws, and then watch it tumble through negative word-of-mouth.
Either way, "Mad City"'s boxoffice population will reflect bright flight -- brainy viewers heading away toward more challenging and entertaining filmic regions. "Mad City"'s best region may be on the left bank side of Europe, where Costa-Gavras is greatly regarded as a political filmmaker and the United States generally is thought of as a media circus.
Undeniably, in this age of paparazzi pestilence, "Mad City" is timely. Dustin Hoffman stars as Brackett, a loose-cannon, prima-donna TV news reporter who has been sent down from the network to the journalistic bush leagues for past transgressions. It's his all-consuming desire to make it back to the network, and, he feels, he needs just one big story to do it.
Brackett's opportunity comes in an unexpected package, when he is relegated to a puff story about a natural history museum going under financially. While on the assignment, a disgruntled ex-employee, Sam Travolta) barges in with a shotgun, ostensibly to plead with the museum director (Blythe Danner) to get back his old job as a security guard. Blam, Sam: his gun goes off accidentally, and, worse, straight into the gut of the on-duty guard. Bad luck for the guard but good luck for the vainglorious Brackett, who is inside the story for an exclusive.
You don't have to have just watched the latest inane freeway chase on Channel 2 to guess what happens next. Unfortunately, Tom Matthews' screenplay unfolds like a New York Times story: predictable, plodding, pedantic and personality-deficient. Through Brackett's interviews with Sam, we're presented a capsule portrait of the hostage-taker, a schlub who has reached his melting point.
Unfortunately, we learn about as much as this crazed cluck as we do in 20-second TV news bits about those postal workers who go berserk with guns. Yet, because the hostages are kids, the story loses a deeper psychological and political perspective. While it's fun to watch Travolta goof around with the kiddies, the narrative is largely unchallenging.
The serioso posture of the film's themes are further lunked up by an array of stereotypical backdrop characters, including an old warhorse station manager (Robert Prosky); a drippy, local news anchor (William Atherton), an ingenue, cub reporter (Mia Kirshner), a patrician museum director (Danner), a two-faced network anchor star (Alan Alda), as well as sharkish, 20-something network honchos. All perform admirably, given the constricted dimensions of their prototype characters.
For their roles, Hoffman and Travolta acquit themselves capably, given the deficiencies of the writing. Hoffman is, not surprisingly, well-cast as the bantam news hound, a cross between Carl Bernstein and Geraldo Rivera. Travolta is less lucky in his blubbering, blue-collar role. His worker-character is, alas, -- tubby, dumb and friendly. Kind of like one of those generic "Mr. Goodwrench"-type guys in the TV commercials for car parts. Although Travolta's inherent good-naturedness truly comes across, and we come to feel sorry for the character, this overblown story is, through all its staccato furor, the story of a big puppy dog overcome by the snarling, evil pack of wolves, i.e. the press.
That Sam's hostages are primarily little kids also diminishes the depth of the storyline: i.e. the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives tend to bond with their captors, is completely wasted. Having Sam cuddle up to kids is, alas, lazy dramaturgy and superficial psychodynamics. Most woefully, the relationship between the manipulative newsman and the dunderheaded assailant never develops beyond a predatory level as the slimy newsman circles his prey; incredibly, the story line climaxes with a character reversal that is largely unbelievable, given all that we have seen before.
Aesthetically, Costa-Gavras' film is comparable to an academic publication -- you know those weighty theories published by university presses who think brown-paper-bag wrappings and no gloss or glitter somehow dignify their findings.
Compositionally, "Mad City" is dullsville, but it is also abrasive: Charged with tight shots, propelled by a quick clip, painted with dull colors and muddied with odd fluty music, it's ramrodded with all the incendiary firepower of groundbreaking developments. Through all its bombastic fury, we half expect the junta to come running up the stairs and swarm the palace, er, museum. Under such shrill direction, the film soon snaps under its own strident gait. It seems likely that Costa-Gavras has no sense of humor -- a necessary punctuation for as tightly wound a story as this one -- and the film's utter relentlessness soon trips it up. How do you say "loosen up" in Greek?
Ultimately, "Mad City" is more ornery than mad. It's so stiff that even when it wanders into "Network" territory, it does not seem to recognize any story dimension other than its preachy, evil-media cant.
This rigid work, like fellows with top hats, seems ripe for comic leveling. Paging the Zucker brothers ... Leslie Nielsen.
MAD CITY
Warner Bros.
An Arnold Kopelson production
in association with Punch Prods.
A Costa-Gavras film
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Director Costa-Gavras
Screenwriter Tom Matthews
Story Tom Matthews, Eric Williams
Executive producers Stephen Brown,
Jonathan D. Krane, Wolfgang Glattes
Director of photograhy Patrick Blossier
Production designer Catherine Hardwicke
Editor Francoise Bonnot
Music Thomas Newman
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman
Casting Amanda Mackey Johnson,
Cathy Sandrich
Sound designer Bertrand Lenclos
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sam John Travolta
Brackett Dustin Hoffman
Laurie Mia Kirshner
Hollander Alan Alda
Lou Potts Robert Prosky
Mrs. Banks Blythe Danner
Dohlen William Atherton
Lemke Ted Levine
Miss Rose Tammy Lauren
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
In a slug line, it's "Broadcast News" meets "Dog Day Afternoon", not a bad combo, but under Costa-Gavras' grim, staccato direction, "Mad City" is strictly yesterday's news.
No doubt about it, producer Arnold Kopelson has smartly assembled an all-star movie unit, but "Mad City"'s parts are far greater than their sum. It's a tricky call for the marketers, whether to platform this topical, serious-minded film to sophisticated audiences, who will consider it old hat, or to launch it wide based on its star draws, and then watch it tumble through negative word-of-mouth.
Either way, "Mad City"'s boxoffice population will reflect bright flight -- brainy viewers heading away toward more challenging and entertaining filmic regions. "Mad City"'s best region may be on the left bank side of Europe, where Costa-Gavras is greatly regarded as a political filmmaker and the United States generally is thought of as a media circus.
Undeniably, in this age of paparazzi pestilence, "Mad City" is timely. Dustin Hoffman stars as Brackett, a loose-cannon, prima-donna TV news reporter who has been sent down from the network to the journalistic bush leagues for past transgressions. It's his all-consuming desire to make it back to the network, and, he feels, he needs just one big story to do it.
Brackett's opportunity comes in an unexpected package, when he is relegated to a puff story about a natural history museum going under financially. While on the assignment, a disgruntled ex-employee, Sam Travolta) barges in with a shotgun, ostensibly to plead with the museum director (Blythe Danner) to get back his old job as a security guard. Blam, Sam: his gun goes off accidentally, and, worse, straight into the gut of the on-duty guard. Bad luck for the guard but good luck for the vainglorious Brackett, who is inside the story for an exclusive.
You don't have to have just watched the latest inane freeway chase on Channel 2 to guess what happens next. Unfortunately, Tom Matthews' screenplay unfolds like a New York Times story: predictable, plodding, pedantic and personality-deficient. Through Brackett's interviews with Sam, we're presented a capsule portrait of the hostage-taker, a schlub who has reached his melting point.
Unfortunately, we learn about as much as this crazed cluck as we do in 20-second TV news bits about those postal workers who go berserk with guns. Yet, because the hostages are kids, the story loses a deeper psychological and political perspective. While it's fun to watch Travolta goof around with the kiddies, the narrative is largely unchallenging.
The serioso posture of the film's themes are further lunked up by an array of stereotypical backdrop characters, including an old warhorse station manager (Robert Prosky); a drippy, local news anchor (William Atherton), an ingenue, cub reporter (Mia Kirshner), a patrician museum director (Danner), a two-faced network anchor star (Alan Alda), as well as sharkish, 20-something network honchos. All perform admirably, given the constricted dimensions of their prototype characters.
For their roles, Hoffman and Travolta acquit themselves capably, given the deficiencies of the writing. Hoffman is, not surprisingly, well-cast as the bantam news hound, a cross between Carl Bernstein and Geraldo Rivera. Travolta is less lucky in his blubbering, blue-collar role. His worker-character is, alas, -- tubby, dumb and friendly. Kind of like one of those generic "Mr. Goodwrench"-type guys in the TV commercials for car parts. Although Travolta's inherent good-naturedness truly comes across, and we come to feel sorry for the character, this overblown story is, through all its staccato furor, the story of a big puppy dog overcome by the snarling, evil pack of wolves, i.e. the press.
That Sam's hostages are primarily little kids also diminishes the depth of the storyline: i.e. the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives tend to bond with their captors, is completely wasted. Having Sam cuddle up to kids is, alas, lazy dramaturgy and superficial psychodynamics. Most woefully, the relationship between the manipulative newsman and the dunderheaded assailant never develops beyond a predatory level as the slimy newsman circles his prey; incredibly, the story line climaxes with a character reversal that is largely unbelievable, given all that we have seen before.
Aesthetically, Costa-Gavras' film is comparable to an academic publication -- you know those weighty theories published by university presses who think brown-paper-bag wrappings and no gloss or glitter somehow dignify their findings.
Compositionally, "Mad City" is dullsville, but it is also abrasive: Charged with tight shots, propelled by a quick clip, painted with dull colors and muddied with odd fluty music, it's ramrodded with all the incendiary firepower of groundbreaking developments. Through all its bombastic fury, we half expect the junta to come running up the stairs and swarm the palace, er, museum. Under such shrill direction, the film soon snaps under its own strident gait. It seems likely that Costa-Gavras has no sense of humor -- a necessary punctuation for as tightly wound a story as this one -- and the film's utter relentlessness soon trips it up. How do you say "loosen up" in Greek?
Ultimately, "Mad City" is more ornery than mad. It's so stiff that even when it wanders into "Network" territory, it does not seem to recognize any story dimension other than its preachy, evil-media cant.
This rigid work, like fellows with top hats, seems ripe for comic leveling. Paging the Zucker brothers ... Leslie Nielsen.
MAD CITY
Warner Bros.
An Arnold Kopelson production
in association with Punch Prods.
A Costa-Gavras film
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Director Costa-Gavras
Screenwriter Tom Matthews
Story Tom Matthews, Eric Williams
Executive producers Stephen Brown,
Jonathan D. Krane, Wolfgang Glattes
Director of photograhy Patrick Blossier
Production designer Catherine Hardwicke
Editor Francoise Bonnot
Music Thomas Newman
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman
Casting Amanda Mackey Johnson,
Cathy Sandrich
Sound designer Bertrand Lenclos
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sam John Travolta
Brackett Dustin Hoffman
Laurie Mia Kirshner
Hollander Alan Alda
Lou Potts Robert Prosky
Mrs. Banks Blythe Danner
Dohlen William Atherton
Lemke Ted Levine
Miss Rose Tammy Lauren
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/27/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Always negotiating to keep one's interest but too often getting bogged down in hit-or-miss subplots, director Taylor Hackford's supernatural drama starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves is a classy scare, but it takes too long to get to the devilish core of the matter.
The Warner Bros. release produced by Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson and Anne Kopelson ought to open well and travel far. "The Devil's Advocate" has sex, blood and Pacino, whose gleefully bombastic performance is the film's one major success story.
Reeves, playing a Florida legal superstar lured to the big city to work for the firm of mighty John Milton (Pacino), is another matter. Smart but vain, Reeves' character is fairly bland, and the actor, apart from looking like a million bucks, is not involving for long stretches.
Based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman and written for the screen by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, "Devil's Advocate" is an old tale set in the luxurious world of the rich, with young rookie Kevin Reeves) and playful young wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) settling into a new life with relative ease.
We learn in early scenes that Kevin is not above terrorizing a sexually abused teenage girl to win acquittal for a guilty client or defending a scary denizen of the lower depths accused of animal cruelty. Living in Milton's swank building, Kevin wins points with his subway-riding boss, but the wife at home starts to go batty.
With Pacino in creepy makeup that makes him look just a bit like Bela Lugosi, one is clued in early on that Kevin is working for a unique boss. The lad's seriously religious mother (Judith Ivey) gets bad vibes and warns that Theron's depressed and lonely character needs his attention. In an important scene, Kevin makes love to Mary Ann and goes into a lustful craze when she turns into the flirtatious co-worker (Connie Nielsen) he's made eye contact with several times.
Meanwhile, always probing, always joking, Milton orders Kevin to take the case of a well-known businessman (Craig T. Nelson) accused of murdering his family. Kevin works hard and bonds with Milton's cheerful lieutenant (Jeffrey Jones), but events soon spiral into a round of revelations and dire consequences.
While Reeves and Theron's characters go through the tortures of the damned and hold up well enough, Pacino is firmly in command, brushing aside all who get in his way of making Satan the Super Lawyer one of his most crowd-pleasing characters. Sometimes he's too funny, and one is distracted. Similarly, Hackford has to conjure up one too many minor frights to keep the audience on edge.
Befitting the head of a firm that represents countries and the world's richest scumbags, Milton's sinister private abode is the sight of the thunderous finale, in which Pacino lets loose in a tirade that's worthy of an ovation. Alas, the movie's pyrotechnics are also cranked up at this point, but the payoff is worth it.
From Bruno Rubeo's production design and Andrzej Bartkowiak's wide-screen imagery to Rick Baker's scary demons and Judianna Makovsky's costumes, "Devil's Advocate" is handsomely mounted.
THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Warner Bros.
In association with Regency Enterprises
A Kopelson Entertainment production
A Taylor Hackford film
Director Taylor Hackford
Producers Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson,
Anne Kopelson
Screenwriters Jonathan Lemkin, Tony Gilroy
Based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman
Executive producers Taylor Hackford,
Michael Tadross, Erwin Stoff, Barry Bernardi, Steve White
Director of photography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer Bruno Rubeo
Editor Mark Warner
Music James Newton Howard
Demons designed and created by Rick Baker
Visual effects designer Richard Greenberg
Costume designer Judianna Makovsky
Casting Nancy Klopper, Mary Colquhoun
Color/stereo
Cast:
Kevin Lomax Keanu Reeves
John Milton Al Pacino
Mary Ann Lomax Charlize Theron
Eddie Barzoon Jeffrey Jones
Mrs. Lomax Judith Ivey
Christabella Connie Nielsen
Alexander Cullen Craig T. Nelson
Running time -- 149 mintues
MPAA rating: R...
The Warner Bros. release produced by Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson and Anne Kopelson ought to open well and travel far. "The Devil's Advocate" has sex, blood and Pacino, whose gleefully bombastic performance is the film's one major success story.
Reeves, playing a Florida legal superstar lured to the big city to work for the firm of mighty John Milton (Pacino), is another matter. Smart but vain, Reeves' character is fairly bland, and the actor, apart from looking like a million bucks, is not involving for long stretches.
Based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman and written for the screen by Jonathan Lemkin and Tony Gilroy, "Devil's Advocate" is an old tale set in the luxurious world of the rich, with young rookie Kevin Reeves) and playful young wife Mary Ann (Charlize Theron) settling into a new life with relative ease.
We learn in early scenes that Kevin is not above terrorizing a sexually abused teenage girl to win acquittal for a guilty client or defending a scary denizen of the lower depths accused of animal cruelty. Living in Milton's swank building, Kevin wins points with his subway-riding boss, but the wife at home starts to go batty.
With Pacino in creepy makeup that makes him look just a bit like Bela Lugosi, one is clued in early on that Kevin is working for a unique boss. The lad's seriously religious mother (Judith Ivey) gets bad vibes and warns that Theron's depressed and lonely character needs his attention. In an important scene, Kevin makes love to Mary Ann and goes into a lustful craze when she turns into the flirtatious co-worker (Connie Nielsen) he's made eye contact with several times.
Meanwhile, always probing, always joking, Milton orders Kevin to take the case of a well-known businessman (Craig T. Nelson) accused of murdering his family. Kevin works hard and bonds with Milton's cheerful lieutenant (Jeffrey Jones), but events soon spiral into a round of revelations and dire consequences.
While Reeves and Theron's characters go through the tortures of the damned and hold up well enough, Pacino is firmly in command, brushing aside all who get in his way of making Satan the Super Lawyer one of his most crowd-pleasing characters. Sometimes he's too funny, and one is distracted. Similarly, Hackford has to conjure up one too many minor frights to keep the audience on edge.
Befitting the head of a firm that represents countries and the world's richest scumbags, Milton's sinister private abode is the sight of the thunderous finale, in which Pacino lets loose in a tirade that's worthy of an ovation. Alas, the movie's pyrotechnics are also cranked up at this point, but the payoff is worth it.
From Bruno Rubeo's production design and Andrzej Bartkowiak's wide-screen imagery to Rick Baker's scary demons and Judianna Makovsky's costumes, "Devil's Advocate" is handsomely mounted.
THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
Warner Bros.
In association with Regency Enterprises
A Kopelson Entertainment production
A Taylor Hackford film
Director Taylor Hackford
Producers Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson,
Anne Kopelson
Screenwriters Jonathan Lemkin, Tony Gilroy
Based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman
Executive producers Taylor Hackford,
Michael Tadross, Erwin Stoff, Barry Bernardi, Steve White
Director of photography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer Bruno Rubeo
Editor Mark Warner
Music James Newton Howard
Demons designed and created by Rick Baker
Visual effects designer Richard Greenberg
Costume designer Judianna Makovsky
Casting Nancy Klopper, Mary Colquhoun
Color/stereo
Cast:
Kevin Lomax Keanu Reeves
John Milton Al Pacino
Mary Ann Lomax Charlize Theron
Eddie Barzoon Jeffrey Jones
Mrs. Lomax Judith Ivey
Christabella Connie Nielsen
Alexander Cullen Craig T. Nelson
Running time -- 149 mintues
MPAA rating: R...
- 10/10/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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