Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Chistopher Nolan to explore Howard Hughes ?



It looks like famous Brit director Christpoher Nolan has chosen his next project after he finishes filming his third Batmen installment ( The Dark Knight Rises ) this summer, and it seems it will be a Howard Hughes biopic of all things. Many familiar with the billionaire that went into seclusion in his later years will remember Martin Scorsese's version of Hughes with Leonardo DiCaprio ( The Aviator ), and that film earning multiple Oscar nominations. Added to that, there was even a version of Hughes life starring Paul Lemat and Jason Robards that was called Melvin and Howard which was a decent film in it's own right.

As for Nolan's take, it goes a little like this...We’ll meet the Howard Hughes who spent much of 1948 sitting naked in a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel with only a pink dinner napkin covering his genitals as he screened movies from his studio, RKO Pictures, and ran up an $11 million tab; the Hughes who — obsessed with food safety — once bought every franchise restaurant chain in his home state of Texas, and who was similarly so concerned about air quality that he installed an aircraft filtration system in his 1954 Chrysler New Yorker, taking up its entire trunk; the Howard Hughes who had his hair cut and nails trimmed only once a year, and who was seemingly as addicted to Baskin Robbins Banana Ripple ice cream as he was to regular codeine injections; the Hughes who at the end of his life considered only Mormons trustworthy enough to be let into his inner circle.

I know there are some movie geeks that don't like Nolan for whatever reason ( yes there WERE Inception detractors ) but I'm a fan. I have liked more of his films than I haven't ( Mostly Memento and The Prestige being the best ) so I'm going to give this project a shot. What if Nolan conjures up stuff and previous info Joe public was not privy to up till now ? You never know.

Casting the right actor will be of utmost importance if he goes through with this. I am fully confidant in Nolan's screenwriting abilities. He's a good storyteller. No delusions there on that point. Many people over the Internet have mentioned Christian Bale to play Hughes, whom as we all know, obviously Nolan and Christian have a strong working relationship who have collaborated on four movies together in their filmography. Nolan's original choice was Jim Carrey some 10 years ago. Now that's interesting ! Some others have said go with the method actor... Daniel Day-Lewis. Not a bad choice either, but he mostly likely will be filming the Abraham Lincoln biopic, Lincoln, with Steven Spielberg. So he proabaly won't be available for the Hughes treatment. Either way, the project sounds like an interesting one at that. I know it has my attention.

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Started to really pay attention to film ( movies ) what was going on in front of the camera, but more interestingly, behind it as well at about as far back as age 10. Motion pictures ( when good ) are a fascinating medium. All the work and prep that goes into filmmaking. It's an amazing process !