Michael Bay Dot Com
Pearl Bucks
There’s an article in this week’s Entertainment Weekly regarding a general overview of the negotiations and casting notes. Click here to read it.
Gooding is all decked out for 'Pearl Harbor'
Cuba Gooding Jr. just can’t escape the Navy.
In the first casting for Disney’s “Pearl Harbor,” Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. — who next stars in Fox 2000′s “Navy Diver” — is in final negotiations to come aboard the Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay megabudgeted project.
The project has also garnered the interest of Kevin Costner, who is due to begin shooting the indie pic “3,000 Miles to Graceland” next month. The actor was expected to segue into Mandalay Pictures’ “Beyond Borders” for director Oliver Stone. However, “Borders” co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones fell out of the project last month, and the producers have not yet secured a female lead, thus pushing back the planned start date.
The Bruckheimer-produced “Pearl Harbor” will be directed by Bay from a script by Randall Wallace (“Braveheart”). The project will go before the cameras in April or May and shoot for about six months.
With “Harbor” proceeding full steam ahead, Gooding will take the smaller but pivotal role of the ship’s Dorie Miller, a mess attendant third class who was serving on the U.S.S. West Virginia when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Like many sailors in the segregated U.S. Navy of World War II, Miller was assigned to kitchen duty. Navy archives say the powerfully built Texan was collecting laundry when the Sunday morning attack began.
Historical accounts show that two bombs hit the West Virginia deck, and the battleship suffered below-deck flooding as her crew endured five torpedo hits to the port side. During this, Miller carried wounded sailors to safety, helped the ship’s fatally wounded captain and then fired an anti-aircraft machine gun at Japanese planes for some 15 minutes until the gun’s ammunition was spent and abandon ship orders were given.
Surviving the attack, Miller’s unbridled courage earned him the Navy Cross in 1942. The war hero died in 1943 when the escort carrier he was serving on was torpedoed during the U.S. invasion of the Gilbert Islands. In 1973, a Navy frigate was named the U.S.S. Miller.
Gooding Jr., repped by CAA, won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in “Jerry Maguire.”
(Hollywood Reporter)
Pearl Harbor score & casting
AICN has reported that Cuba Gooding Jr will have a small part on “Pearl Harbor.” And to those of you asking if there are any composers attached to “Pearl Harbor,” I will let you know as soon as I get some info. Personally, I think Treveor Rabin did a wonderful job with “Armageddon,” and Hans Zimmer did a cool job with “The Rock.” Maybe they should have both!
ILM
Got this from vfxpro.com:
Industrial Light & Magic confirms that it has secured the visual effects duties for Michael Bay’s upcoming Pearl Harbor epic whose possible title is “Tennessee”. Walt Disney Studios gave the project the green light after extensive previsualization by Disney’s The Secret Lab. An ILM spokesperson said that the company is thrilled to be involved in a film of such scale.
Mega-budgeted WWII epic finally gets its greenlight
By CHARLES LYONS, January 27, 2000
After months and months of budget scrutiny and talent talks culminating in the tension of the last two weeks, Disney has greenlit - at a budget of $130 million-$135 million - the WWII epic “Pearl Harbor,” with Michael Bay directing and Jerry Bruckheimer producing from a script by Randall Wallace (“Braveheart”).
A few legal issues were still being ironed out Wednesday evening, but the film is on track to begin production in April or May for release around Memorial Day, 2001. Disney will finance the filmâs entire budget, making “Pearl Harbor” one of the most expensive films ever at the greenlight stage. The studio will control worldwide distribution, though it is a distinct possibility that Disney could later lay off a large percentage of the budget on Spyglass, its foreign partner on such films as “The Sixth Sense.”
Estimates are that Disney could recoup as much as 40% of that budget in exchange for Spyglass stronghold territories Germany, Spain, Italy and France. Spyglass, run by Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber, has offered to finance the entire film, a scenario that Walt Disney chairman-CEO Michael Eisner and Walt Disney Studios chairman Peter Schneider have resisted while making the decision. The greenlight ends the high-profile jockeying between the studio and Bay and Bruckheimer. That duo gave up their upfront fees and delaying gross participation until the studio reached breakeven - and thought they had gotten a greenlight on a $145 million budget from studio chief Joe Roth and Eisner. That changed when Roth exited the studio this month when his contract expired. Suddenly, Eisner and his new lieutenant Schneider had second thoughts, and spent the last two weeks in a tense negotiation with Bruckheimer and Bay to shave an extra $10 million off the filmâs negative cost.
One source said Bruckheimer and Bay’s waiving of upfront and gross could make a difference of $40 million to $50 million for the studio. That’s a significant chunk of change, and a significant move for the duo. Casting will begin in earnest, with the early favorites being “American Beauty” star Wes Bentley, “Thin Red Line” star Jim Caviezel and Charlize Theron will be offered the lead roles (Daily Variety, Jan. 25) in a storyline about two fighter pilot pals from Tennessee who fall in love with the same nurse.
Pearl Harbor Script updates
Got two tidbits today. The first is from Harry at AICN, and the other one is from the Hollywood Reporter.
Warning: there are a couple spoilers below.
Harry looks at the first real draft of Randall Wallace’s screenplay for Michael Bay’s PEARL HARBOR
Hey there folks at large, though I am writing this I guess there may be some doubt as to whether or not you’ll actually be able to read it. Sigh…. Today I do have something rather interesting for ya. You see… You’ve perhaps seen a couple of looks at Michael Bay’s PEARL HARBOR script. I can remember at least one look over at Dark Horizons. BUT… that was actually a review of a draft in progress. What does that mean?
Well, you see a screenwriter often times will write and get through with a draft… but not be satisfied with it, so he’ll go back, rework it, and when he or she is finished and happy.. then they’ll send it out to their director, producer, studio… whatever the case may be.
The draft of PEARL HARBOR (aka TENNESSEE) that had been hitting the script circles of the world, was actually an unfinished, incomplete draft of Randall Wallace’s that was never turned in to either Bay, Bruckheimer or the Mouse House. Wallace’s assistant was fired and that was that.
But as a result… We’ve never had a review of an accepted draft of this gigantic project… that is… till now.
Through trickery and tomfoolery, I have managed to obtain a 1/13/2000 draft by Randall Wallace of his original screenplay, which is now titled… PEARL HARBOR. Now, in yesterday’s Hollywood Reporter They mentioned that there are casting discussions and possibilities of having Charlize Theron, Wes Bentley, Ed Burns, Keri Russell, Scott Speedman, James Caviezel and Gene Hackman talking about roles in this film.
Also, Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer have been in discussions with the Department of Defense, The Pentagon and the Navy to secure complete cooperation in bringing this film about. You see… This isn’t a very cheap movie. Believe me. This script is a huge film.
The film is not just about PEARL HARBOR. It’s far larger and ambitious than that. It isn’t a remake of TORA! TORA! TORA! or FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. The film also covers what it was like to be a part of the Americans that volunteered to be a part of the British formed Eagle Squadron… which was formed of mainly American volunteers that went early to fight the Germans during the early days of the BATTLE OF BRITAIN. It includes behind the scenes details from both the American side and the Japanese side… From FDR to Hirohito… It deals with what happened that fateful day on Pearl Harbor… and then How we Americans reacted. And… if you’ve ever seen the excellent movie, THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO… you’ll know.
This is by far… the most textured and real script that Michael Bay has had in his hands thus far. Having said that… there are still a couple of small tidbits here and there that need tweaking. Mainly having to do with the one night meeting of Evelyn and Rafe.
Well… perhaps I need to set this all up better than I have thus far…
The film starts off with the following paragraph…
‘As in every dramatic reconstruction, actual characters and events have been combined and shaped for clarity; but the events are factual, and we have made every effort to capture the truth of what happened, drawing not only from the best historical works, but from the personal accounts of many who saw these events through their own eyes, and shaped them with their courage.’
It then opens in Tennessee in 1926, with two plays playing like they are in a biplane fighting off an unseen imaginary enemy. Their plane nothing more than an old shell of a bi-plane propped up on crates. The boys are Rafe and Danny.
A pair of wide eyed kids. Innocent. War was this strange heroic venture that all ‘Men’ took part in. Basically the film is really about this loss of innocence. This sense of invincibility that comes with youth. They are the best of friends. They type that when one can’t read so well… the other helps with the homework, while the other teaches the other how to fly.
Rafe is the hungrier of the two. Itching to do his duty. He volunteers for the Eagle Squadron to fight the Germans, thus splitting the two friends up. On his night before shipping out to England, Rafe meets Evelyn… a nurse… My only problem in this entire 116 page script is in her character.
They have one night to fall in love, before their romance takes the form of war torn love letters. As their ‘night’ currently consists… it’s mainly an adventurous romp. With their dialogue mainly consisting idle chatter. For me, the best single night dialogue driven love affair came from Kim Krizan and Richard Linklater’s BEFORE SUNRISE… and the film desperately needs a realistic soulmate meeting here at the beginning. It isn’t terrible… it just isn’t…. IT yet.
However, as soon as Rafe ships out… MAN… this movie flies. Randall Wallace’s script is filled with all the right moments. You can feel the kindling catching fire ’round the world. You begin to see why the Japanese had to do, what it is they did. You see why the Americans didn’t believe that the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor.
What I love about this script is the fact that these are not the, ‘EVIL NIPPONESE’ or the ‘YELLOW PERIL’ as they have so often been portrayed in film. In fact… perhaps the best line in the entire film belongs to Yamamoto himself…
Yamamoto has outlined the plan to fill the radio airwaves with false movements and attack plans to confuse the Americans, and the resulting clutter would be indecipherable.
Genda comments to him, ‘Brilliant, Admiral.’
To which Yamamoto retorts, ‘A brilliant man would find a way not to fight a war.’
And I love that this is coming from the ‘insidious enemy’.
Later still, when Danny shoots down a Jap Zero that was going to kill men floating in the water after a ship had been destroyed, he says exasperated to another pilot through the radio, ‘They’re even shootin’ guys floating in the water’ To which the other pilot says, ‘It’s a war, Danny. Wake up.’ This sense of things is wonderful to me. I love the sense of innocence and fairplay that gets crushed by war. First in Rafe in the Battle of Britain… then in Danny at Pearl Harbor.
War is not a beautiful thing.
Another thing I really love about this script is this. You know how Michael Bay likes to show, what many of his… ummm… critics like to call… Kodak Moments? You know… like the kid running with the Space Shuttle, with a dilapidated mural of Kennedy is on a building in the background in ARMAGEDDON?
Well here… On the morning of December 7th… His little montage sequences are again applied. But here.. instead of it being just random ‘Hallmark Highlights’ they’re based upon insights from survivors of PEARL HARBOR… Sort of… their little highlighted memories… their Polaroids of a terrible moment. And when we revisit these flashes throughout the ordeal… we see whether or not these people live or die. Whether they lose some one or an arm or two. As a result… these moments are real.
What I like about Evelyn is that she has a sense of purpose in the script. She isn’t just some dumb broad. She has to perform a billion decisions as the victims of Pearl Harbor come in like a flood of torn flesh and broken bones. She’s forced to choose who will receive treatment… and who will have to die.
She isn’t just helpless staring at the men who are getting the job done. And when I called up Bay Pictures about a problem with her character near the end of the script where she is turned into that type of character… It seems that they are at work on this next draft to strengthen her even more.
Yeah… she’s a woman in love… surrounded by tragedy. But she’s also a nurse. And she has work to do. A place to bury her sorrows by comforting and saving others from their own.
As the script read, it’s already a very large epic film. If they end up fixing a couple of character things and that opening romance… then the film will really really be the homerun that everyone at Disney, Bruckheimer and Bay pictures want from this. It’s funny. Robogeek was a tremendous fan of ARMAGEDDON, but even he was a bit scared of the ‘popcorning’ of history that Michael Bay could have brought to the film. Well… at least here in this draft of the screenplay by Randall Wallace… that is not the case.
They don’t play up the Japanese or the Germans as ultimate evil bastards. Even the heroes in the film… they are just regular joes that did their jobs in a very irregular time. I can see why SPYGLASS is chomping at the bit to get this film from DISNEY if Eisner were to chicken out on it. I’ll continue to follow this film all the way through production, as it is the largest WWII movie that I’ve been around to see being made. And I just hope they nail it. The events that they are bringing to life are times so a part of historic memory that they need to be treated with the sense of fairness that Randall Wallace has given them.
Fox Baja to serve spell as port of ‘Pearl Harbor’
(Wed., Jan. 26, 2000) By John Watling
MEXICO CITY — “Pearl Harbor,” Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay’s mega-budgeted production, has found its shooting ports. More than a year after shooting wrapped on the most recent full-length feature filmed at the Fox Baja facility, the studio is gearing up to host Disney’s megabudgeted “Pearl Harbor.”
Sources said a few weeks of shooting will take place at the Baja facility, while most of the film will be shot in Los Angeles, as well as in Hawaii and Texas. An April 10 date is being eyed for the start of principal photography in Hawaii.
Bruckheimer is producing and Michael Bay is directing “Pearl Harbor,” which is now in preproduction in Los Angeles. Fox Baja manager Charlie Aronsen is expecting the production to arrive at his facility in March to begin preparing for shooting there.
“We are extremely happy to have ‘Pearl Harbor’ here,” Aronsen said.
The Fox Baja facility first hit headlines with news that “Titanic” was to film there in 1996. Recently, the northern Mexico facility has attracted some television production, namely “The Expendables” for USA Network. But the facility has had trouble attracting feature productions since ‘Big Blue’ finished shooting in December 1998.
Aronsen said the difficulties have nothing to do with the quality of the facility. “We can shoot anything here,” he said. “It is all about the lack of incentives for filming in Mexico.”
The number of foreign productions shooting in Mexico has declined sharply in recent years as other countries including Canada, Australia and Ireland have increased the incentives for foreign productions to film there, while Mexico has done nothing to attract foreign productions.
'Pearl Harbor' Moving Forward?
Got this The Insider at Cinescape:
The last the Insider heard there were negative rumblings about the fate of Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pearl Harbor project. Things appear to have changed for the better, though there may have been some compromising as well.
First, according to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, in order for Disney to give a final okay for the project, Bruckheimer and Bay had to cut the budget of their blockbuster down from the previously announced $145M. The figure is said to now be sitting in the $130M range. Still, even though this tightens things for everyone, it has allowed the team to move forward with potential casting of the film pending the greenlight from Disney.
The columnist repeats recent rumors suggesting that the most prominent actors Michael Bay is eying to take on the film’s two male lead roles are currently Wes Bentley (American Beauty) and Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line). In addition, Charlize Theron (Cider House Rules), as opposed to Gwyneth Paltrow, is now the name being tossed around for the female lead. Other names currently floating through the rumor mill for the film’s leads include Ed Burns, Keri Russell and Scott Speedman. No matter who takes the parts, early word from Bay and Bruckheimer suggested that those actors might have to work for scale to keep the budget down, though one would imagine that there would also be a back end deal as well.
Beyond the casting, Bruckheimer is said to have sought out government assistance for the impending film. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the producer met with Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen and Secretary of the Navy Richard J. Danzig to gain the aid of the government in the making of the film. Word has it that both have pledged their support to the project.
The Fate of Michael Bay's PEARL HARBOR in trouble'
Got this from Harry Knowles at AICN:
“The truth is… Pearl Harbor (aka TENNESSEE) is still set to begin shooting in Hawaii on April 10th. Michael Bay and crew are currently in the midst of meeting with a wide array of actors and actresses, and it’s looking like some casting is almost ready to go forward. They will be shooting in Hawaii for 6 weeks, before moving production to Baja, California for additional shooting. Recently Michael Bay was in Texas taking a look at an old Aircraft Carrier, and the film is being made. So, while Roth MAY have very well left Disney over some heated discussion with Eisner, (Which I Do Not Know), whatever happened between Eisner and Roth… It seems it will have NO effect upon the film or the film’s future.”
Bombs Away
Nelson here… Sorry for the downtime. I was notified by my webhosting company that one of their servers went down. And guess what? It just *happened* to be the one this site is hosted on. This crap happens one more time, I’ll be…
Anyway, on with the news. Since Joe Roth’s departure from Disney, rumors regarindg Bay’s “Pearl Harbor” have begun to spread. Reel.com’s Jeffrey Wells wrote an article about “Pearl Harbor” and all the stuff going on. Personally, I believe some of it (the casting parts), and the other stoff is a bunch of crap. It seems that if this movie gets made, it will be opening summer 2001. If you want to read the article, click here to read it.. Below, you can read some excerpts:
Bombs Away
“In less than four months, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay will probably begin rolling film on Pearl Harbor „ the biggest, splashiest, most expensive World War II film ever made. The budget is starting at $145 million, and will almost certainly come in higher when all is said and done. Movies like this always do. Which is where the “probably” comes in. In the wake of Disney chairman Joe Roth’s announced resignation Wednesday, Disney chairman/CEO Michael Eisner is rattling his saber and telling The Wall Street Journal and Variety that Pearl Harbor hasn’t been greenlit. But this is probably just posturing meant to assuage the financial community. I’d say the odds favoring a Pearl Harbor “go” at this stage are roughly 80-20…”
“…I’ve been told Ed Burns (Saving Private Ryan), Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line) and Wes Bentley (American Beauty) „ three very intense, au courant young actors „ are top contenders for the two male lead roles, flyboys Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker. Burns is said to be a particular favorite to play McCawley; the similar-looking Caviezel and Bentley (dark hair, intense eyes) are said to be competing for the Walker role. Felicity’s Scott Speedman is also said to be in the running for one of the male roles. Gwyneth Paltrow is being sought out to play Evelyn, the romantic female lead…” I know Bruckheimer is looking to cast Gene Hackman as President Franklin Roosevelt, but I’m told Hackman is waiting for a script rewrite before committing…”
“…When this budget-buster from Disney finally opens in the summer of 2001, to put it another way, will it play like a cross between Titanic and Saving Private Ryan, which Bay is said to be aiming for…”
“…Reached by phone, Bruckheimer declined comment on most of the matters discussed here. He confirmed the projected April start date and said the location filming schedule calls for Pearl Harbor, Los Angeles, Fox Baja, Texas, and then England, in that order…”
Did Eisner Bomb Pearl Harbor?
Got this from the IMDB:
Did Eisner Bomb Pearl Harbor?
Joe Roth’s exit as Walt Disney Studios chief may have followed a clash with Michael Eisner over Roth’s decision last November to greenlight a $145-million budget for Pearl Harbor the Wall Street Journal indicated today (Thursday), citing people familiar with the matter. Reports at the time the go-ahead was announced said that producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay had been engaged in lengthy negotiations with Roth and had finally agreed to financial concessions including a downsized back-end participation and accountability for any budget overages. Nevertheless, nearly two months after the deals with Bruckheimer and Bay were struck, Eisner has yet to clear the film, the WSJ said. (Today’s Daily Variety said that Eisner told it that Pearl Harbor (2000) has not been greenlighted.) Moreover, it added, Disney’s strategic planning department, which ordinarily is engaged in handling business ventures for the company, has been directed to scrutinize the film’s budget, the highest ever authorized for any film.
Commercial Interest
Went back in to the archives of “Bay material” and picked up a small story the Hollywood Reporter did on John Schwartzman. In the article he talks about working with Michael on “Armageddon.” You can read it here.
Happy Holidays
I would like to wish everyone that visits this site a Merry Christmas. Hope you can enjoy the holidays wherever you are. To those in Venezuela and Russia, you will be in our prayers, may God be with you.
And to all those who have in some way contributed to this site (with your emails, news, pictures, etc), we only hope that by this time next year we’ll all be watching Micheal Bay’s “Pearl Harbor.”
ILM
Just some little news today. ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) will be doing the visual effects for Pearl Harbor. And Jerry Bruckheimer has his web site on standby mode. Go to www.jbfilms.com.
'Pearl' Jam / A big-spending director gets the green light from frugal Disney
Michael is featured in an article on the Hollywood Reporter chosing him as “Person of the Week.” Before reading it, I would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Take care.
‘Pearl’ Jam / A big-spending director gets the green light from frugal Disney
By Stephen Galloway
No one has ever accused Michael Bay of lacking chutzpah. But when the thirtysomething director’s new movie, tentatively titled “Pearl Harbor,” got the green light last week, a great many pundits had their breath taken away.
The reason: “Pearl” is going into production with an officially sanctioned $145 million budget. That’s $10 million more than Bay’s last flick, “Armageddon,” hitherto the costliest movie ever to be greenlit.
True, other films have cost more. “Titanic” springs to mind, at $200 million-plus. And let’s not forget “Waterworld” and “Wild Wild West” and “Lethal Weapon 4″ and … the list goes on.
But the difference between these pictures and “Pearl Harbor” was that they ended up costing so much; at the time they were initiated, their budgets were just a fraction of their final cost. Indeed, “Titanic” was expected to sail in at around $90 million-$100 million, until a few minor seafaring snafus got in the way.
“Pearl Harbor” is an anomaly at a time when Hollywood has been struggling to cut costs. Other major movies, from the Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer “I Am Legend” to the Robin Williams vehicle “Bicentennial Man,” have been killed or were put on temporary hold because their budgets topped the now-verboten $100 million mark.
And Disney, in particular, has been budget-conscious since its struggling stock price led company chairman Michael Eisner to mandate widespread cuts and a hiring freeze.
But maybe that cost-cutting is about to start loosening up. Disney has been flush with one of the best boxoffice runs in motion picture history. After halving the number of films it makes, down to around 15 live actioners a year, it has continued to ride a boxoffice tsunami, emphasizing a deft mix of family films and “event” releases. This year it will easily cruise in at No. 1. And, with the “Pearl Harbor” project, it is betting on two proven commodities: the blockbustering Jerry Bruckheimer and his occasional stablemate Bay, who together have hit home runs not only with “Armageddon” but also with “The Rock.”
Hollywood can afford to take a few risks. Still, future greenlighters may also remember the lessons 20th Century Fox has learned. In the wake of “Titanic,” budgets have been slashed at the studio. And if Bay had gone ahead and made his next picture for Fox, as planned, it wouldn’t have been the $145 million “Pearl Harbor” but an altogether more modest affair: the $10 million “Phone Booth.”
MSN…
No major news today. I did get an e-mail telling me how msn.com describes this site :
“Very flashy tribute to the director of such films as ‘Armageddon’ and ‘The Rock’ features video clips, a bio, a filmography, and a chat room.”
Hey not bad eh? I’ll share something with you guys & girls today. Remember when I met Michael at his office? Well, one of the things that I mentioned to him is that I get a lot of “fucking, angry e-mails” from people who hate Bay’s work (most of them envious people). And then told him how much “commotion” his name causes when an article appears on AICN. And he asked very puzzled: “Why?” I simply answered: “I dunno. I guess they don’t like you or your work.” He then told me that the world would be a better place if these people would worry more about the things happening in Turkey (remember, this conversation took place August 31 of this year) than worrying about his movies. Anyway, I just thought I’d share this with you.
Disney opens fire on 'Pearl Harbor': $145 mil
Ok, Disney has given Michael the greenlight on doing Tennessee! Read more about it below
By Chris Gennusa
The Walt Disney Co. has said yes to the most expensive live-action film ever greenlit, Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay’s $145 million “Pearl Harbor” (a k a “Tennessee”) written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Randall Wallace (“Braveheart”).
While other pictures — most notably 20th Century Fox and Paramount’s $200 million opus “Titanic” and Warner Bros.’ “Wild Wild West” — have cost more, no movie has been given the go-ahead with such a lofty price tag. (Fox committed to “Titanic” when the film was expected to cost a mere $90 million-$100 million.)
The previous watermark was Bay and Bruckheimer’s “Armageddon,” which Disney greenlit at a budget of $135 million. The decision to move forward on “Pearl Harbor” follows weeks of negotiations among Disney, producer Bruckheimer and director Bay, who both made financial concessions to get the picture made.
Under terms of the greenlight, neither Bruckheimer nor Bay will receive their regular first-dollar gross deal, and their back-end participation will be far less than on previous pictures. They will also be held responsible for budgetary overages. The project’s expense stems from Bay’s wish to re-create fully the early-morning bombing of the Hawaiian naval base that pulled the United States into World War II.
Because the money is being spent on production, sources said the picture will be made without A-list star salaries and instead rely on the internationally known Bruckheimer-Bay brand. It is expected that lesser-known actors will be cast, unless top stars are willing to work for scale.
Last month, a second-unit production crew began work on “Pearl Harbor,” even though Disney Studios chairman Joe Roth had not given the drama an official thumbs up. Weeks later, second-unit production stopped, and word came that the filmmakers were trying to shave the budget by reworking the script.
Some pegged the original budget at $200 million. As of last week, sources said the budget was $153 million-$154 million, but it was understood that the studio wanted it trimmed to $140 million. Interestingly, during the studio’s negotiations with the filmmakers, the project began showing up on Disney news releases as a done deal.
Disney has entered into “split rights” deals with other studios, but the studio is committed to financing “Pearl Harbor” on its own, sources said. Disney will likely approach foreign financing entities about investing in the project, but producing-financing firm Spyglass Entertainment (a Disney-based equity partner) has not yet been approached.
“Pearl Harbor” (a working title) begins months before the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese bombing of the Pearl Harbor U.S. naval base in Hawaii and focuses on a pair of brothers who fall in love with the same woman. One brother remains on American soil in the U.S. Air Force, while the other goes overseas to fight in the United Kingdom.
Bay initially called the project “Tennessee,” apparently a code name. Sources said he did not want to repeat the situation in which he found himself with “Armageddon.” When word of that project leaked, DreamWorks and Paramount immediately put the similarly themed “Deep Impact” into production, causing a well-publicized race to the screen.
The commitment to “Pearl Harbor” marks a leap of faith for Disney as the company has been making cutbacks across the board.
With Disney stock hovering at $23-$29 per share for most of the year, company chairman and CEO Michael Eisner recently took the unusual step of holding a conference with shareholders to propose ways to boost profits and lift the stock price. In addition to making staff and budgetary cutbacks, he announced that the company will make a large percentage of its animated classics permanently available on video for the first time.
Disney has long attempted to keep budgets down, a company mantra since a famous memo was issued by Jeffrey Katzenberg in which the then-studio chief proclaimed the benefits of lower budgets following the relatively disappointing performance of “Dick Tracy.”
Bruckheimer and Bay, who have long-term deals at Disney, have collaborated on such films as “Armageddon” and “The Rock.” Separately, Bruckheimer (with late partner Don Simpson) has made such top money earners as “Flashdance,” “Top Gun” and “Crimson Tide.”
. . .
You can read an article on Bay and Tennessee at http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com. I had the pleasure of meeting Harry Knowles of AICN in Santa Monica. He was cool. We talked a little about Michael and the usual reaction critics and film snobs. Harry is one of the few “film geeks” that actually enjoys Michael’s work.
VFX update
It’s been a while since I posted something significant. I’ve moved from Massachussetts to California, and I’m in the process of getting settled. Well, one of the dilemas in bringing Tennessee to the screen will be getting all the visual effects done in time for its Christmas 2000 release. Got this from the Hollywood Reporter:
Visual effects have become a hot spot in the ongoing battle to get Michael Bay’s World War II epic “Tennessee” green-lighted. The sizable effects job — easily 300 shots, insiders say — was originally to have gone to Dream Quest Images, which made sense because Disney, the studio producing “Tennessee,” owns Dream Quest, and two of the company’s top effects supervisors — Richard Hoover and Hoyt Yeatman — have long-established relationships with Bay, with whom they worked on “Armageddon” and “The Rock.”
Because of the high volume of work and fairly tight turnaround, it was decided the work would be split between two shops, and Industrial Light & Magic entered the mix. However, in an effort to lower production costs, it was decided that it would be more efficient to have one shop do the work. “It’s always more expensive to work with multiple facilities, because you’re carrying the overhead for both in your budget,” a source on the production said.
At one point, ILM reportedly had the job locked up. The San Francisco-based firm did spectacular World War II work for “Saving Private Ryan” and has a battalion of Oscars, all of which appealed to Bay, who is intent on making “Tennessee” a “prestige” production.
But an eleventh-hour rally by the artists formerly known as Dream Quest, recently rechristened by Disney as the Secret Lab, has put the dark horse back in the running. “They’re just not giving up,” said an insider at Jerry Bruckheimer Films, which is posting “Gone in 60 Seconds” with Secret Lab and has done five other films with DQI. “They sent over a new reel, which absolutely floored us.” On the other hand, “ILM really wants the job,” one insider said. “Michael is a filmmaker they believe in.”
It remains to be seen how much Disney believes in him. Despite the combined track records of Bay and Bruckheimer, there is considerable nail-biting over “Tennesse’s” big budget and whether it will set sail.
One thing is certain. If “Tennessee” does get made, it will be shot at Fox Baja Studios, with whom the producers are negotiating. “For a film like this, you wouldn’t want to shoot anywhere else,” the production source said of the state-of-the-art facility, which boasts the premier tanks for water work. A Secret Lab spokeswoman said the process is ongoing, and it is too premature to comment. ILM declined to comment on the status of its bid.
Pearl Harbor
“Corona’s Coming Attractions” has posted on their site some info on “Pearl Harbor” that you can read here. I’m not putting the site’s credibility down (they have been known to give accurate in the past), but in regards to the latest news (posted October 14, 1999) on the budget, casting, etc…it’s partially inaccurate, so don’t worry.
Anyways, the movie is still scheduled to come out on Christmas 2000. The start of principal photography might be pushed back a month.
Michael talks Pearl Harbor
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay will begin filming an epic big-budget drama set around the Pearl Harbor bombing here early next year.
Bay, who directed the 1998 blockbuster ‘Armageddon’ and ‘The Rock,’ and Bruckheimer, who produced the films, head the production team for the $100 million-plus ‘character-driven love story’ tentatively titled ‘Tennessee’ under Disney’s Touchstone moniker (Daily Variety, June 25). Randall Wallace, who won a screenwriting Oscar for ‘Braveheart,’ is the scribe.
The picture, which looks to be the second most-expensive ever produced in Hawaii (after ‘Waterworld’), will spend plenty on spectacular special effects, including a re-creation of the bombing, Bay said. “You will see what happened at Pearl Harbor like you have never seen it in any other movie,” Bay promised. “Our goal is to stage the event with the utmost realism.”
Hackman, Paltrow sought
No stars have been signed, but Bay said he’s after Oscar winners Gene Hackman to play President Franklin Roosevelt and Gwyneth Paltrow for the romantic lead of a Navy nurse.
The story centers on two brothers caught up in the events that drew the United States into World War II. One of the siblings enlists with the U.S. Air Force, and the other flies for the RAF. Both brothers get involved with the same woman. The story begins several months before the Pearl Harbor bombing.
“Tennessee is the film’s temporary title and has been a code name for the production for several months, Bay said. The film may be called “Pearl Harbor, he said. The code name was used to keep the project secret, Bay said. (Writer Wallace is from Tennessee.)
Avoiding copycats
“We didn’t want the same thing to happen with this film that happened to us with ‘Armageddon,’ said Bay. When word got out about “Armageddon, another studio rushed a similar themed film, “Deep Impact, into production.
“I want this to be the movie about Pearl Harbor by which all other such films are measured, he said. ” ‘Tora Tora Tora’ was more of a documentary. And all of these other (Pearl Harbor) films glorified war; there were no characters to latch onto.
This summer, Bay scouted Oahu for locations in a helicopter with his production designer and visual effect supervisor. Since June, Bay and Wallace have interviewed veterans of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the production’s special effects staff started its research.
World tour
Bay expects the film to require 130 shooting days - the same as “Armageddon - including time in England, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Baja, Mexico, at the “tank set used for the film “Titanic. The Baja set is ideal for some of the film’s planned large special effects, specifically the sinking of the USS Oklahoma.
Bay plans to use many live explosions rather than just computer-generated ones, he said. He also plans to “take real ships and twist them up through the air.
Most of the Hawaii filming will be done at Oahu military bases, including Hickham, Wheeler, Schofield and Pearl Harbor. The production team has met with military officials on the mainland and expect approval, as the film depicts “such an American historical event.
The production company has not selected a production base, but Bay said he really liked Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. The Hawaii Film Studio is currently being used by two production companies, one of which produces the television series “Baywatch Hawaii.
Meeting Michael Bay
While in Los Angeles, I got the chance to meet Michael at BayFilms. Click here to read about it and see some pictures.
