Genre: Historical/Action/Romance/Thriller.
Studio:
Unknown.
Production Company:
Arnold Kopelson Productions.
Project Phase: Development Hell.
Who's In It:
Unknown.
Who's Making It:
Eric Manes, Martin Kunert, Marc Moss (Screenwriters); Arnold Kopelson (Producer); Jan de Bont
(Director?, unconfirmed).
Premise: An unlikely love arises between an male Allied operative and a female Nazi agent, set on-board the ill-fated zepplin that burned to the ground in 1937.
Release Date: 1999?
Comments: OK, we've got the end of the film's trailer in our mind's eye already. Picture the Allied agent and the Nazi running down the top of the Hindenburg, trying to outrace the flames blossoming behind them as people tumble off the zeppelin...wow! Deja vu or what?!
If it opens with salvage hunters trying to figure out where some lost loot from the dirgible went, we want blood.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
August 3, 1998... CA's very lifeblood comes from the scoops it receives. So when we get a hold of one as juicy as this puppy you know our day as been made. Read the scoop that started this page and then our thoughts on it afterward:
"I'm sure you read about the mid-six figure sale of the pitch Hinderburg to Arnold Kopelson Productions a few months back (I believe the film was listed on the site at one point.) Anyway, to refresh, it's the story of the ill-fated blimp, but more importantly a romance between a chick Nazi and a good-guy Allied agent who fall in love... (Titanic in the air! -- the pitch must have been brilliant).
"Anyway, writers Eric Manes and Martin Kunert just recently turned in their script about a week and a half ago, and were pretty promptly kicked off the project. From Arnold Kopelson's mouth itself he told them 'We want this to be our next film, so we're removing you.'
"Sucks for Manes/Kunert, but it does mean that we will very likely be seeing a Christmas 1999 release of a Jan deBont film... Hindenburg."
[Anonymous.]
First, the movie is just a rumor right now; we're not going to list it under 'Script Stage' just yet until we confirm it's a legit project, so bear that in mind. Second, in all likelihood, you know it was bound to happen sooner rather than later: a film in the style of Titanic. The biggest-grossing film of all time is always duplicated by Hollywood and the Hindenburg disaster has many tangents shared with the Titanic disaster. The premiere vessel of its kind during the time period, it too met a disasterous fate and now lives in legend. Throwing in the romance element between the two unlikely lovers just cements it. We wouldn't be talking about this baby if it wasn't for ol' Jimmy Cameron.
We'll work on confirming the authenticity of the project's status first; if that pans out, we'll do some more mining and see if we can unearth another nugget or two. But if you're a would-be screenwriter looking to make your break into Hollywood, you may want to think about combing through your library's section on historical manmade disasters -- it's an up-and-coming sub-genre, we think.
December 8, 1998... Heard it through the grapevine that a new writer by the name of Marc Moss will be shortly beginning a complete re-write of the Hindenburg script once his work on Along Came a Spider is done. Our scooper felt that while it's easy to make comparisons between this project and Titanic, "...Kopelson is intent on delivering something that stands on its own. The iceburg can't be beat, but the dialogue'll be better." The scooper feels that the espionage angle will likely remain in the next draft as well. [Anonymous.]