Kids love pirates. Hell, who am I kidding, grown men love pirates too. There is a certain romance to piracy, which is weird considering pirates were generally a filthy, smelly, ruthless, uncharming bunch – even Jack Sparrow is a dirty, backstabbing scoundrel, but for some reason – maybe just the way the human brain functions – men all want to be him and women all want him to be in them.
While Pirates of the Caribbean was fun and all, who wouldn’t want to see a gritty R-rated historically-based pirate epic? Raise of hands? Yes, that’s right, that is everybody in the world raising their hands there. And what an interesting choice it would be to get United 93 and Bourne Supremacy director Paul Greengrass on board to direct it, which is exactly what Dreamworks is hoping in their upcoming Blackbeard pic. The script will come from the pen of talented writer and history junkie David Franzoni (Amistad, Gladiator).
Blackbeard (or Edward Teach by birth) has an interesting (if not familiar) story that I know could translate very well to the screen. He was not just ruthless, but almost demonically so. Since he isn’t the most charming or likable fellow, I imagine the story will take on the perspective of one of his pirates that sails with him over the years – perhaps not a noble chap himself, but maybe one with some sort of conscience.
“The first act is really about the evolution of this character and how he became Blackbeard,” producer Barry Josephson revealed. “The second act is about how he sort of defeats the English so handedly. And the third act is about the rise of [Royal Navy Lt. Robert] Maynard being the one who was smart enough, gifted enough, got to know him well enough to be the one person that was able to do what he did.”
No word yet on the casting, but we can all start throwing our suggestions out there in hopes of one of the producers catching wind: Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray Winstone, Tom Wilkinson…? Hmm…
Personally, I’d rather have a movie about Arab pirate Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah, a rather unknown pirate, but perhaps the greatest that ever lived! Am I smelling a new pirate trilogy here? I think I’m on to something.
Source: MTV
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One of the greatest Blackbeard rumors was that after he was stabbed, shot, and decapitated he swan around the ship he was captured on a few times before his body sunk.
What a grisly, scary man.
Should make for a GREAT ending though!
this will be a nice alternative to the recently announced Pirates of the Caribbean 4
Sorry guys, I want more good gritty dramas from Greengrass, not another big expensive themepark ride. Yie, I wish they’d stop roping talented directors into this stuff.
jesus, kurt. yeah, cause all historically based epics are theme park rides.
sorry buddy, but there is a place for these kind of movies – these kind of movies that unlike traditional dramas – open up and stretch our imaginations and take us back to a time that we could otherwise never see or only see in badly staged retellings on the history channel.
yes, there is room (and a NEED) for these kind of movies in Hollywood (Braveheart, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Henry V, etc) and i want talented people behind them. would you rather they give it to schmucks like Paul WS Anderson?
fuck your theme ride park comment. that isn’t even snobbery, kurt, it is stupidity.
Gladiator (same scribe, David Franzoni, as this project) was SUCH A MESS. I don’t know of a messier film that has ever won an Oscar. I know they had trouble with Oliver Reeds untimely death, but ouch, everything about that film was unfinished and sloppy.
Haven’t seen Kingdom of Heaven (but I want to see the long Directors Cut at some point).
I probably immediately thought Themepark ride because the source here (and source imagery) is from MTV.
Historical Epics are not my thing, admittedly, and Greengrass is such a great contemporary director, it panis me to see him devote his time and energy to this.
Having said all that, stuff like MASTER & COMMANDER is golden.
Expensive adult historical epics typically fail at the box-office, I can see pressure being mounted to make this type of thing family-friendly.
If I’m wrong, I salute you for pointing out my stupidity.
i still like you, rest easy, sir.
See how nice we can play? You, sir are a scholar and a gentleman.
“I think you’re both fucked in the head. Ten hours from the fuckin fun park and you wanna bail out!? Well I’ll tell you something: this is no longer a vacation. This is a quest. It’s a quest for fun. I’m gonna have fun and you’re gonna have fun. We’re all gonna have so much fucking fun we’ll need plastic surgeory to remove our godamn smiles. You’ll be whistling ‘Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah’ out of you’re assholes!”
Greengrass is such a great contemporary director, it panis me to see him devote his time and energy to this.
That is nonsense, Kurt, as is your “theme park” comment, which you attribute to MTV having the scoop (c’mon MTV has been getting a lot of un-MTVish scoops lately, since they kicked up the gear at their movie blog and have connections to any celebrity or filmmaker they want).
I don’t understand what you are saying though. Do you only consider dramatic modern pieces worth watching and making? I’m just trying to understand the logic behind your comments here, Kurt. If there is talent behind and in front of the camera, shouldn’t that be enough to excite? It’s going to be a serious and historically-based look at the myth of piracy in the Caribbean. What isn’t exciting about that? This isn’t Walter Matthau’s Captain Red here.
What I love about these historically based period pieces or epics or what have you is the way they transport the audience somewhere else besides our 20th or 21st century world. It is the closest we can get to experiences what it was really like in a time that is so difficult for us to imagine. And it really fuels our imaginations. There is so much value to these kind of films, just as much as ANY other kind. Granted, I’m a history junkie and am a sucker for a well-made historical period pieces, but that is besides the point.
My god, there are some great historical period pieces out there. Becket. The Lion in Winter. Lawrence of Arabia. Braveheart. Kingdom of Heaven DC. Ben Hur. Spartacus. The New World. Dances With Wolves. Master & Commander. And yeah, even Gladiator. (Oddly, for being somebody that studies history, I have very little problem with historical inaccuracies and bending the truth within these kinds of film, as I take them more or less as historical fiction).
Just some random ramblings.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. There are a number of directors that I enjoy seeing making these types of movies, I really think the bulk of them are lightweight, but that’s just personal taste. After United 93 & Bloody Sunday giving some really interesting takes on film and modern history, and for that matter, him pretty much re-writing the visual language of a modern spy thriller, I just would rather see him continue to push the envelope in that direction.
If he delivers something along the lines of THE NEW WORLD or MASTER AND COMMANDER, then JOY, but for every couple of those fabulous films, you end up with Academy Award travesties like Gladiator and ***SHUDDER*** Braveheart.
“re-writing the visual language of a modern spy thriller”
What modern spy thriller genre is there? Because the newest James Bond movie copied his Bourne movies, he has now re-written a visual language? Bullshit Kurt, this is grandstanding.
I think it’s a much truer statement that Mel Gibson with Braveheart, led the way for all of the historical/fantasy epics that followed the next 10 years, culminating in The Lord of the Rings. How many of them copy the battle scenes in Braveheart? Which then itself copies, but in terms of contemporary re-writing of visual language (a phrase you’d expect from a person who has only seen films for acouple of years, and only films made within those years. Seriously Kurt, think alittle) Braveheart would be more worthy of the praise than Paul Greengrass.
United 93 is an awesome movie, but the Bourne movies are boring as hell. To me, watching a scene that is cutting every .3 seconds feels as fake as bad visual effects. I felt no more tense in Bournes bathroom fight in the 3rd movie, than I did when Optimus Prime fought Megatron.
I happen to think that The Bourne Supremacy is masterful at mounting tension with the constant cutting. I’m normally a fan of static long takes (Funny Games, Boogie Nights, Birth), but I dug how Greengrass re-envisioned the thriller via editing.
Braveheart may have had some big battles, but ouch, the script is atrociously overbaked. The only major thing that Braveheart influenced in my book is Battlefield Earth. Yie.
“the script is atrociously overbaked.”
But since we’re talking “visual language”, that doesn’t matter.
Nice guilt-by-association with Battlefield Earth. I’m sure you’re being honest about how you feel, but the fact that your brain has lumped these two movies together says more about you, than the merits of either. I think it’s the hollywood celebrity-going-auteur that bugs you, because it means that the auteur is becoming mainstream, and you will no longer seem as bright or interesting in social circles when talking about it, because regular people like an auteur movie as well. Wong Kar-Wai has nothing on Mel Gibson.
I feel like an idiot for misreading A spy thriller with THE spy thriller though, so I’m sorry for jumping at you. I was blinded by the anger you induce by praising glamourous, pretentious inanities like Master & Commander while shitting on the grand, operatic, artistic tapestry of something like Braveheart or Gladiator. I’ll take the 25seconds of Riefenstahl ripoff in Gladiator over any “we’re sailors so we sing at sea”-scene in Master & Commander.
I found the story telling in Braveheart to be facile, obvious, and blunt to a fault. Yes, the visual language factors in there. But I’ll fully admit that the desire to revisit Braveheart beyond the single theatrical visit was not great, and I’ve not seen the film in over a decade. I was mildly turned off the fetishistic nature of the violence in the movie, which is strange because I happen to like splatter comedies and Dario Argento (well pre-1990 Argento). Passion of the Christ did nothing for me except make me want to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre to get back to how a really violent film is made. I think The Devil’s Rejects is a work of art and Hellraiser is a a fun hoot.
On the actor to director front: I like Clint Eastwoods directorial choices, even if I don’t like all of his films – A Perfect World is fab, and Unforgiven is a legitimate classic, while Bird is low-key intimate. I love Bill Murray’s only directed film: Quick Change. Todd Field, I quite like and respect, particularly Little Children (yet he is funny and loose in EYES WIDE SHUT). Heck even George Clooney’s directing career is interesting. I like Chaplin, Keaton and Jacques Tati. I’ve liked the few films directed by Dennis Hopper, Christopher Guest and yes, I really dug Apocalypto. I find The Postman strangely watchable, and Open Range is a pretty darn solid flick. Occasionally I can even make it though a penny marshall or danny devito movie. Robert DeNiro’s THE GOOD SHEPARD may suffer from pacing and acting problems, but it was a pretty stylishly directed film. I like Todd Luiso’s character work (particularly in High Fidelity and Snakes on A Plane) and I really dug Love Liza and look forward to what he does with Macbeth. On Shakespeare front, I like Kenneth Brannaugh’s assorted acting and directing gigs.
Ron Howard can go fuck himself though.
Isn’t the auteur theory in its death throes right now? Or at least not applicable to directors so much these days. Take Charlie Kaufman, hell take Nathan Fillion and Christopher Doyle. I’m not sure what point you are trying to make with the auteur stuff.
Grand, Operatic artistic tapestry: Werner Herzog, Fritz Lang, Darren Aronofsky, Michaelangelo Antonionni, P.T. Anderson, Thomas Vinterberg, Leni Reifenstahl, Abel Gance, Francis Ford Coppola, David Lean, Billy Wilder, F.W. Murnau, Christopher Nolan, Shinya Tsuakmoto, Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone, Sergei Eisenstein, Guy Maddin, Nicholas Winding Refn, John Frankenheimer, Liliana Cavani, Joseph Losey, wkw, Gus Van Sant, George Miller, Nicholas Roeg and David Lynch.
Out.