Genre: Comedy/Drama.
Studio:
Universal Pictures.
Production Company:
Universal.
Project Phase: In the Can.
Who's In It:
Brad Pitt (Death); Anthony Hopkins (William Parrish); Claire
Forlani; Marcia Gay Harden; Jeffrey Tambor; Jake Weber.
Who's Making It:
Martin Brest (Director); Ron Osborn, Jeff Reno, Kevin Wade, Bo
Goldman (Screenwriters); Martin Brest (Producer);
David J. Wally (Co-Producer); Ronald L. Schwary (Executive Producer);
Emmanuel Lubezki (Director of Photography); Dante Ferretti (Production Designer);
Aude Bronson-Howard (Costume Designer); a remake of the 1934 film Death
Takes a Holiday.
Premise: Death takes his vacation on Earth where he falls in love with a beautiful woman. But because of Death's extended absense from his duties, nobody in the world can now die. Depending on how you look at things, this could be fantastic or disasterous.
Release Date: November 13, 1998.
Comments: Unknown.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
February, 1997... This film has been several years in development, bouncing around under the title 'Death Takes a Holiday'. [Thanks to Christian for supplying a load of info on the project! Additional information provided by 'Josh the Sandman', Joe Hanna, and anonymously.]
March 4, 1997... This fellow informs us that Hopkins has signed on. [Scoop provided by Michael C.]
July 27, 1997... Sure, this film is based on the the 1934 film, Death Takes a Holiday, but did you know that that film was based on the stage play from the 30's by Alberto Casella? Bet you didn't also know there was a TV movie remake in 1971. See? Now go work on getting to appear on Jeopardy!. [Scoop sent in by 'widgett'; additional crew info supplied by ZENtertainment, 'widgett' and the IMDb.]
August 17, 1997... " Not a ton of 'insider' info to speak of, but I'm from Rhode Island and Universal is currently here, filming Meet Joe Black. The film is shooting for the next SIX weeks at the Aldrich Mansion, owned by the Catholic Diocese of RI, in East Greenwich, RI. The Mansion is primarily used for wedding receptions and the like (indeed, my cousin was married there), and is being used as the locale for the 'party sequence' that is supposed to be the primary, central dramatic scene of the film. Pix and stories on the filming have been running in our local paper, the Providence Journal-Bulletin, for the last few days, though filming was supposed to start on August 11th or thereabouts. (This will be the second major Hollywood film, following Amistad, to be filmed in RI this year). All the principals are here, obviously, and security is extremely tight; in fact, the Coast Guard is patrolling the nearby waters of the Atlantic to keep people away from the shooting! The production ran into some minor legal trouble a week ago when a landowner sued the Diocese for allowing the movie to film in E.Greenwich, but the judge refused to block the start of filming. (This, however, will still be heard in court, and apparently Universal will join the Diocese in the suit...though it looks like there won't be any real problem in Martin Brest & Co. getting their movie made in RI)." [Material sent in by Andy Dursin.]
January 27, 1998... The picture has been re-shuffled to compete with the Fall '98 pictures now. [Anonymous.]
What's a CA page without a little bit of totally unprovable gossip? "This movie is being filmed in R.I. near where I live and it has been reported that Pitt and Hopkins have had a few tiffs on the set. Pitt is unprepared with his lines and Hopkins chats with the extras but Pitt flees as soon as he is done. Also the extras said that the party scene is pretty boring work. (And this is the majority of the film.)" [Overheard anonymously.]
June 7, 1998... "I saw a test screening of this movie last week and was shocked that it was nearly a three hour movie...Long scenes..boring and total abuse of 100 million dollar budget.
"It was such a wonderful movie based on Death Takes A Holiday. Can't imagine why anyone would want to attempt to make a movie that simple into such a huge disaster...Glad I didn't have to buy the ticket." [Review submitted by anonymous.]
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September 14, 1998... [Thanks to the impeccably-dressed Eric Lurio for the poster image.]
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"MJB is the story of Death, played by Brad Pitt (acting somewhere between 12 Monkeys and Legends of the Fall), taking a brief vacation on earth and staying in the house of Anthony Hopkins, a wealthy socialite. Joe Black, as Death calls himself, falls in love with Hopkins' daughter and she loves him as well, but she's scared of him once he begins to reveal his identity. Essentially, the film appears to be telling two stories--the fish-out-of-water Joe Black trying to adapt to life on Earth, and the love story between him and the daughter." ['Necros'.]
October 22, 1998... Our scooper just caught a sneak peek of the film and chimed in with this email; call it an early film review. We're running it with minor SPOILERS included, but if you decide to skip the review, here's the short form: it's OK, but it's looong.
"Just saw a sneak of the Death Takes A Holiday remake. Overall impression: good. But DEAR GOD was it long-- three hours and fifteen minutes! Holy sh!t. It was touch and go for a little while if I could take all the artsy emotional staring at one another that goes on in the film. But I prevailed and really it wasn't all that bad. The story is cute and it is sort of fun to watch how Death learns about the world. It's kinda like watching a little kid. Brad Pitt is really good in this film. He shows a lot of ability in playing multiple characters. *SPOILER-ish*: In order for Death to come to earth, he needs a body. To get the body he needs to kill someone, Pitt. This is THE BEST death that I have seen in a long time. It's not comparable to anything I have seen. *End spoiler*
Anthony Hopkins has a really great dynamic character that is fun to watch. And Claire Forlani is beautiful. And everybody has some hysterical one liners. *SPOILER* It is somewhat disturbing to watch Pitt lose his virginity to her. He looks far too goofy. *End spoiler* If I could go back and edit out maybe an hour of staring it would be a much faster paced film and a little less tedious. But if you have a girlfriend: go. She'll appreciate it and you wont fall asleep but may try to gnaw your arm off at points."
['Beej' presents his male point-of-view review for you.]
November 8, 1998... "Despite what you may hear from the fringes of the activist community, there is a difference between the sexes. Men and women for the most part like different things.
"While many a fellow would love a good old fashioned blow'em'up, women tend to prefer romances. This is a chick flick. A long chick flick....not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you.
"Saintly zillionaire William Parrish (Anthony Hopkins) is going to turn 65 in a few days. His daughter Allison (Marcia Gay Harden) is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to throw him the party of the millennium. She's married to Quince (Jeffrey Tambor), a bit of a nebbish who's into rotisserie football and her sister Susan (Claire Forlani) is a doctor who dresses like a shlub and is going out with Drew (Jake Weber), an up and comer who, like Quince is on the board of Directors of Bill's media empire.
"It's made clear that Drew is NOT the guy for Allison. Why is not yet explained, but we know that he's going to be the villain in this very mushy movie.
"So who's going to be the right guy for Allie? While stopping by a cafΘ for a cup of coffee, she meets a guy played by Brad Pitt, who charms the pants off of her. But she's taken, they leave the place and go in opposite directions. Brad crosses the street to take one last look and BAM!!! He gets hit by a truck. The audience laughed uproariously. at what turns out to be the only real use of special effects.
"Meanwhile, Ol' Bill is hearing voices. It seems that Death wants to have a talk with him. So at dinner that night, a mysterious stranger appears. Bill knows that it's the grim reaper, who offers him a proposition. Bill will show him a good time, and in return, he gets a few extra days to attend his birthday party. Bill introduces his newfound friend as Joe Black, Allie recognizes him as the guy from the cafΘ. The romance is rekindled. Drew is furious.
"The team who wrote the screenplay clearly have a problem with Drew. It's always a mistake to have a villain who's in the right. We can tell where he's coming from. He's not happy when she and Joe make nookie in the foyer. But it seems we think he should be! Only later, when he's revealed to be a true baddie, do we begin to lose our sympathy.
"This is a slow film. With very little happening, what we have is a number of character studies of relatively ordinary and uninteresting people.
"What saves this is the acting. Hopkins and Pitt are their usual wonderful selves, and Weber and Forlani give there all. Especially good are Harden and Tambor in two very thankless roles.
"If you're into cheap romances, this is the film for you. If not, save your butt and see something shorter."
[Review sent in by Eric Lurio.]
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