Genre: Drama/Science Fiction.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
Icon Productions.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Mel Gibson (Director); Terry Hayes (Screenwriter); based upon the Ray Bradbury
novel Fahrenheit 451.
Premise: In a fascist future society, the role of a fireman has greatly changed. Books have been banned, and when a cache of them are found, the firemen arrive to incinerate the illegal library. Fireman Guy Montag relishes his job, but begins to question his role and the society he's helped to preseve when he meets a mysterious woman.
Release Date: Unknown.
Comments: Originally filmed by acclaimed French director Francois Truffaut in the 1960s, the scope and importance of Bradbury's novel still reaches into the beginning of the twenty-first century where the debate over banning certain works of literature still rages. Gibson's production company, Icon, aquired the rights to the property in 1995. The title derives from the temperture paper burns at.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
March 30, 1996... Terry Hayes is reportedly working on a second draft for Icon. [Scoop handed in by 'IDickerson'.]
May 6, 1996... Reportedly, Ray Bradbury has said that he will only allow his works to be adapted to film is he writes the screenplay and has a certain amount of say in the production process. His fear stems from the early 1980's NBC mini-series based upon his classic The Martian Chronicles novel. [Scoop handed in by 'cjepsen'.]
August 22, 1996... In May '95, Ray Bradbury gave a talk at a L.A. high school, where he mentioned that he's submitted two drafts to Mel Gibson so far. However, Gibson isn't satisfied yet, and has asked Bradbury to work on a third draft. He also said that they want Sean Connery for the role of Montag's boss, Captain Beatty. [Scoop mailed in by 'lacertus'.]
August 25, 1996... Bradbury is reportedly working on a sequel novel to Fahrenheit 451, which is set for publication sometime in 1997. [Scoop mailed in anonymously.]
September 1, 1996... Gibson is rejecting Bradbury's drafts and claims, in the words of the scooper, that it lacks storyline and isn't edge-of-your-seat material. Bradbury is considering changing the ending, and if this happens, it's unlikely that his sequel will be made into a movie either. [Scoop furnished anonymously.]
December 1, 1996... In a public lecture held at the Long Beach Public Library on October 3, 1996, Ray Bradbury said that he had completed another screenplay version of Fahrenheit 451 for Mel Gibson. He also said that Sean Connery had expressed an interest in the roll of the Fire Captain. Ray Bradbury said that if Sean Connery took the part "I would be out of my head with happiness." [Scoop submitted by 'The Ray Bradbury Page' - http://www.on-ramp.com/johnston/bradbury.htm.]
February 2, 1997... "I had dinner with Ray bradbury in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and I asked him about the film and sequel. He stated that he has never considered writing a sequel...and that there would never be a sequel. He said he has submitted the script to Gibson, 'but he's so popular and so busy... I have no idea when it'll happen. They've paid me a great deal of money... but that's not what's important. I want to see the damn film made.' Ray mentioned that the new film would feature a very young teen as the woman who introduces Montag to books, and the cyberdog from the book will be in the film. Finally, he is CONSIDERING writing a special edition of the book which will include new material originally written for the play and opera versions. The new scenes provide back story and motivation for the Fire Captain, and are really quite lovely." [Scoop sent in by John Adcox.]
February 25, 1997... Ray Bradbury was the keynote speaker at an Internet conference on February 12, 1997. During the course of the talk Bradbury gave, the writer mentioned he was working on two scripts at the moment; The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury confirmed the F451 script was for Gibson's Icon Productions, and that the actor was committed to both direct and star in the production, due out in 1998. [Scoop sent in by Fireman Gary Whitta.]
April 5, 1997... According to this scooper, Bradbury claimed that the new film was tentively scheduled for a 1998 release. Gibson would both direct and star. [Scoop sent by 'saint.dogbert'.]
August 12, 1997... During a talk at a public school this past May, this scooper overheard Bradbury mention that Gibson, Connery and French actress Sophie Marceau (last seen in Braveheart) would star in the picture. [Scoop sent in by 'JBK'.]
Along with Bradbury, we're told Tony Puryear and Terry K. Hayse are doing re-writes of the script; but this would violate the conditions Bradbury works under. [Scoop sent anonymously.]
On Larry King's talk program in early August, Gibson confirmed that he will direct the picture after completing his work for Parker. The actor said he wouldn't star in the picture but that casting decisions were already in progress. The new remake would be updated to include computer technology as well, so words written digitally would also be banned. Gibson also called Fahrenheit 451 one of the best books ever written. [Scooped by 'RecceNav1', 'Jeb Zingo', 'tjm5622', 'stkim3011', 'RDKJAM'.]
Of related interest, this scooper's found that at the address 'www.fahrenheit451.com' there is a web site design firm called Lucid Graphics, Inc. [Sent in by 'saint.dogbert'.]
March 4, 1998... Late last week Variety reported that Tom Cruise has peaked the interest of Gibson for the role of Montag. [Tossed in the bonfire by 'bobgom', 'rwoods', 'spritzker', 'maxnalvy', 'Uncle Sam' and anonymous.]
March 17, 1998... Mel Gibson and ICON Pictures have aquired the services of the Director of Photography from Braveheart to scout Fox's new Sydney studios. American Production Designer Tom Sanders will embark off down under to look at the property for Gibson's next directorial project -- and our source was "90% sure" that project is the remake of Fahrenehit 451. Gibson won't be starring in this project, we're told, with a promise more news is yet to come. [Thanks to 'A Celluloid Life' for pulling the fire alarm.]
April 19, 1998... The April 8th edition of The Sunday Age (a Melbourne, Australia newspaper) reported that filming is expected to start in Sydney this October. Tom Cruise's name was mentioned for the leading role, depending upon whether his schedule would accomodate the shoot. [Anonymous.]
May 28, 1998... We've been scooped that the film's start of production has been delayed until May of 1999. The plans are to still have Gibson direct it and Cruise to star in it, as well to shoot the picture in Australia. [Anonymous.]
November 9, 1998... Widgett here with a report on this project. An interesting development has occurred. Poet and science-fiction writer Mike Langford was in attendance at DragonCon where Bradbury himself talked about the status of the film. Uncle Ray stated that he had not seen a copy of the screenplay--at all. In fact, over the course of two years he was told nothing but encouraging filler about how the film was going the two times that he called the studio to check on the status. The studio never called him back.
Bradbury related a parallel predicament in which his desperate entreaties to the powers at Disney in 1980 about their misbegotten retelling of his Something Wicked This Way Comes fell on deaf ears. That is, until preview audiences universally rejected it, leading them to come crawling back to Bradbury for his advice, which was to reshoot much of the film. Disney agreed, and the film was much improved.
Now it's deja vu all over again. Ray tells it like this: He wrote a screenplay for Fahrenheit 451 and turned it into the studio, and a year passed with no word. He said that he then called the studio and was basically told, "Oh, we were just about to call you. Things are going great with the film, and we'll get back to you real soon." Another year passes. Again Ray calls. "Oh, we were just about to call you--" they began but Ray interrupted them, "That's what you said a year ago." It was then he asked for a meeting with director Mel Gibson, and after some hoo-hahhing, it was granted.
He said that during the meeting with Gibson, he was shown production sketches, including sketches of the Mechanical Hound. He left the meeting with Mel feeling much better about the whole thing. Bradbury spoke very warmly about Gibson's work, especially his Hamlet, which Bradbury calls the best screen version of the play. Still, Mike was a bit perturbed about the whole "I haven't seen the screenplay routine." So was the Widgeman.
On an excursion into the Dragon Con dealers exhibit hall, we found it. The one script in all sci-fi-convention-dom that the Guest of Honor, Grand Master Ray Bradbury himself wanted to see most desperately. This particular copy was by Terry Hayes, and was had the words "Revised Third Draft" on the cover. So I acquired the screenplay, read it and was quite perturbed. I handed it off to Mike and he agreed.
We agreed that the obvious problem is this: Bradbury's novel stands as an eloquent, melancholy, cautionary tale of a dystopian future in which books are forbidden and burned by the authorities and reading is nearly forgotten. The tale was spawned in the age of McCarthyism but is sadly looking more like our time by the day. Francois Truffaut created a beautiful translation of this story to the screen in 1966 with Oskar Werner and Julie Christie, but if this Hayes script is any indication, the re-make project may turn out looking a lot more like Terminator or Robocop than Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451. What's wrong with that? Just read the book. Then ask yourself, why must action scenes with megabuck effects lead to missing the point of this story? But, of course, they seem to have become the Only point to some "stories".
Well, Mike Langford then decided simply to send the screenplay to Uncle Ray. He did so on October 2, and, on October 29, received a handwritten note back from Uncle Ray, thanking him for the script and confirming that it was indeed the first time he had seen any rewrite of his script. His exact words: "The first I have ever seen." He added, "My God, what a situation. I called Mel Gibson and he may now send me scripts #5 #6 and #7! I am grateful!"
As Mike says, and I think he's speaking for a lot of us out here in Corona-Land, "Let's all hope this project is truly back on track, not just to make a quick billion on a few dozen explosions, but to relate a classic and vital fable that cuts to the heart of our increasingly illiterate age." Damn skippy.
[Major points go to Mike Langford, for taking the law into his own hands.]
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