And yet another JMS project

[Jan]

I saw this on IMDBPro this morning but it hadn't hit the regular IMDB yet (or I missed it-I was in a hurry this morning) so I hesitated to say anything. JMS pointed to it on the newsgroup a bit ago, though, so I guess it's okay:

They Marched Into Sunlight

I followed up with a question asking what he could tell us about it since he has a writing credit but isn't listed as writing the screenplay.

Jan

[AaronB]

I saw this on IMDBPro this morning but it hadn't hit the regular IMDB yet (or I missed it-I was in a hurry this morning) so I hesitated to say anything. JMS pointed to it on the newsgroup a bit ago, though, so I guess it's okay:

They Marched Into Sunlight

I followed up with a question asking what he could tell us about it since he has a writing credit but isn't listed as writing the screenplay.

Jan

Was this the surprise that he was referring to in his post?

[Belbo]

Lions, Led by Donkeys

Anyone who hasn't seen the excellent PBS documentary Two Days in October (which is also based on Maraniss's book) really should do asap - very powerful stuff, especially the segment on the Black Lions' ambush.

Anyway, another cool A-list project for Joe "Eszterhas" Straczynski. Life is sweet!

[Jan]

Was this the surprise that he was referring to in his post?

I think so. It's the only new item. I noted that IMDB didn't show that he was writing the screenplay and he wrote back:

I am writing the screenplay, from an outline by Paul Greengrass, who's also directing.

jms

I've ordered the book this is based on. Still haven't read 'World War Z' yet, though.

Jan

[Jan]

Anyone who hasn't seen the excellent PBS documentary Two Days in October (which is also based on Maraniss's book) really should do asap - very powerful stuff, especially the segment on the Black Lions' ambush.

Thanks for the recommendation, Belbo. And welcome.

Jan

[grumbler]

Still haven't read 'World War Z' yet, though.

It is interesting as a curiosity (ie because of the JMS connection), but really is a bad book overall - no characters, a silly premise, self-indulgent writing... I cannot imagine why anyone thought this book, of all books, could be made into a movie. That idea is as silly as the premise of the book (i.e. the whole "zombies with dead bodies but living brains" idea).

Why not do a decent adaptation of one of the Flashman novels?

[frulad]

Ooohhhhhh! A Flashman movie would be great!

(With apologies to Malcom McDowell, but Royal Flash just wasn't that great...)

[Jan]

It is interesting as a curiosity (ie because of the JMS connection), but really is a bad book overall - no characters, a silly premise, self-indulgent writing... I cannot imagine why anyone thought this book, of all books, could be made into a movie. That idea is as silly as the premise of the book (i.e. the whole "zombies with dead bodies but living brains" idea).

The one thing JMS has said he did with the screenplay is to invent the interviewer character. Other than that, while I haven't finished the book, what I've read was pretty good. I think the point is less about the zombies themselves as it is about the global scope of disaster and its causes and effects.

Jan

[phazedout]

I'm a bit of a zombie nut and will watch anything even faintly zombie related. Ergo combining that with my obsessive JMS collectability, I'm going to see this movie, even if it's bad, it's got zombies in it for pities sake.
Phaze
on the "tried to play with me wireless router, broke it, silly phaze, fixed now though" ID

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Anything with JMS' name on it I'll be in the theatre at least twice for. We've gotten him this far, can't let up now.

[NotSoWize]

Ooohhhhhh! A Flashman movie would be great!

(With apologies to Malcom McDowell, but Royal Flash just wasn't that great...)

That movie was pretty weak, and Royal Flash is about the weakest of theFlashman novels, so I'm not sure why it was selected to be made into a movie ahead of the others. But, I would love to see a good Flashman film. I seem to be about the only American who has heard of Flashman, so I was surprised to see him mentioned here, let alone seconded!

[frulad]

They probably picked Royal Flash as its a riff on Prisoner of Zenda.

I read a bunch of the series about 15 -20 years back when I stumbled across them in the local library. I wish I had time to revisit them now that I have a greater appreciation of history...