NEWS: Boyle's Next Film To Feature An Hour of No Dialouge?

I love silent films.

One thing I love even more, is when a modern film incorporates the idea of silent cinema, and brings it to modern audiences.

Triplets Of Belleville, my favorite animated film of all time, is a perfect example. The opening 20 minutes of Wall-E, or even the tear jerking 5 minute montage in the opening of Up (the best part of that film), are all great examples as well. However, it’s not often used, outside of There Will Be Blood (which may be the single best use of this idea), in the realm of live action films.

That said, Danny Boyle is about to throw his hat in the silent ring, and with more than one could have expected.

About a week ago, it was reported that Danny Boyle would not be doing sequels to 28 Weeks Later or Trainspotting as his next film, but instead, 127 Hours, the story of Aron Ralston. Who is Aron Ralston? Well, he’s more of a man than any of us could ever be, as he is a famous mountain climber who, after being trapped by a boulder for nearly five days, had to amputate his own arm to free himself. Balls? F*** yes.

Indiewire recently had a chance to talk to the film maker, who confirmed that Slumdog Millionaire scribe Simon Beaufoy is tapped to pen the screenplay, but has not yet started a draft, which will be adapted from Boyle’s treatment. However, that’s not really the news. The biggest chunk of news is that Boyle intends for the first hour to be completely dialogue free. In the actual story, Ralston WAS completely alone, and stuck in a canyon, so one could imagine that there wouldn’t be much talking. The film will rely solely on the acting ability of whatever actor is cast (Ryan Gosling has been rumoured).

Boyle continues and says the film has no green light or budget right now, but after winning an Oscar, that shouldn’t be too hard to attain.

This is beyond good news. The story itself is full of drama, and the idea of having a Castaway type story like this, without the horrible plot device that was the volleyball, is intriguing. I think Boyle is a brilliant film maker, as much as I didn’t like Slumdog, and I think if they get the right actor, this thing could be beyond fantastic. The story is inherently interesting and full of intensity and drama, and throw in the idea of being completely alone, the film could not only be a great piece of cinema, but a true horror film. Imagine the Decent, but featuring only one character, and no monsters.

This actually reminds me a lot of the upcoming Ryan Reynolds indie, Buried, which is a script that I still have to get through. In that film, he plays a man who was buried alive, with only a cell phone, and is allegedly getting a release sometime next year. Both of these films sound fantastic.

But what do YOU think?

Go see something good!

NEWS: John Hillcoat's Next Project, and It's One Hell Of A Project Indeed...

It looks like rumors are indeed true, and John Hillcoat is already eyeing a new project to follow up his soon to be hit and probably Oscar contender The Road, and it’s one hell of a project indeed.

Back at the beginning of October, the trades have been circulating a rumor stating that Hillcoat was looking at filming an adaptation of Matt Durant’s novel, “The Wettest County In The World”, which, as The Playlist puts it, is a “depression-era crime drama about three brothers who ran a bootlegging gang during Prohibition.” Now, with the fact that the novel was written by a grandson of one of the men that the book is based on, this is a project to put on your must watch list, right? Well, you can add a screenwriter and leads to that mix too.

Talking to Atomic Popcorn, Hillcoat confirms that Shia Labeouf and Ryan Gosling are both attached, but that he “shouldn’t talk about it”, which basically means that it’s not all done yet. However, one thing we can be sure of is that Nick Cave, who also penned Hillcoat’s brilliant western, The Proposition, will be penning the script. Honestly, if the two rumored leads pick up their roles, the film is easily going to launch into the top 10 of my most anticipated for whatever year the film is set to be released in. The Proposition is a fantastic western, with one hell of a script, and both Gosling and LaBeouf are two of the best young actors of their generation, at least in the discussion (Gosling more so).

Here’s the books synopsis:

This family saga follows the Bondurants, bootlegging brothers runnin’ stills, runnin’ loads, and runnin’ from the law in Depression-era Virginia. The book is mainly narrated through the experience of the youngest Bondurant, Jack (in truth, a grandfather of the author), and his family’s moonshine enterprise supplies the action in a plot that evokes the culture of distilling and distributing white lightning. To optimistic Jack, bootlegging is both a bond to his older brothers, Forrest and Howard, and a means to make cash to impress a girl. Forrest, by contrast, is taciturn and suspicious: the world is violent, and he meets it on that ground. Tender of the stills and imbiber from same, burly Howard is always ready to take on the Bondurants’ enemies, corrupt law officers. Wending through this conflict in flash-forward mode is novelist Sherwood Anderson, who plumbs the Bondurant story a few years after the brothers’ climactic confrontation with the county sheriff. Descriptively gritty and emotionally resonant, novelist Bondurant dramatically projects the poverty and danger at the heart of the old-time bootlegging life.

Also, in smaller news, according to The Playlist, Hillcoat will be taking Nick Cave’s newest novel, The Death of Bunny Munro, and will be adapting it for television, as something in an HBO style, so probably a few serialized chapters as a Generation Kill style miniseries. Can’t wait.

Go see something good!