City of Angels

Genre: Fantasy/Romance.

Studio: Warner Brothers.
Production Company: Atlas Entertainment/Warner Brothers.

Project Phase: In the Can.

Who's In It: Nicolas Cage; Meg Ryan; Dennis Franz; Andre Braugher.
Who's Making It: Brad Silberling (Director); Dana Stevens (Screenwriter); Dawn Steel, Charles Roven (Producers); John Seale (Director of Photography); Lynzee Klingman (Editor); based on the film Wings of Desire directed by Wim Wenders, written by Peter Handke and Wim Wenders.

Premise: Although you can't see them, they're all around you -- angels. They are there to provide invisible comfort, consolation, and to sometimes escort us to the other side. So it has always been, it seems. However, one day in Los Angeles, one particular woman catches the eye of one particular angel, and the seemingly unthinkable happens -- he falls in love.

Release Date: April 10, 1998.

Comments: If you have not seen the original film, Wings of Desire, hurt yourself a lot, and then get up, brush yourself off, and go rent the thing. An incredible gorgeous film which switches from black and white to color, from German to English, and manages to balance an incredibly beautiful and artistic film to view with a touching story and incredibly moving characters. So the question arises -- why Americanize the film? Is it because the United States, on the whole, thinks subtitles are the work of the devil? Or is it an honest effort to retell a great story for English-speaking audiences? Only time...and a theatrical release...will tell.

Not to be confused with a film of the same name that not even Mia Kirshner could rescue.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

[Page draft submitted by 'widgett'.]

July 21, 1997... In addition to Cage, Meg Ryan's name has been attached to the project to presumably play the American version of the Solveig Dommartin role, called Marion in the original, called Maggie in this screenplay.

I have seen a copy of the screenplay dated 5/29/96, and it's essentially what it threatened to be -- an Americanization of a foreign film. If you speak Spanish, and have been able to read Pablo Neruda in both Spanish and English (or any other poet in his or her native tongue), then you'll understand what I mean when I say that something is lost in the translation. It has some of the elements of the original -- the angels congregating in the library, the angels collecting things they see mortals doing -- but other things which made the original so effective are not here. First, in the screenplay I've seen, there is no mention of the transitioning back and forth from black and white (angels' POV) to color (humans' POV). The great role played by Peter Falk in the original has a version in this script, but it's not the same (as anyone who's seen the original might understand). Also, Seth (who was named Damiel in the original) and other angels can make themselves visible to humans temporarily, unlike the original in which Damiel and Marion carry on the first part of their romance without Damiel being seen, only felt. It only touches upon the vision that Wenders gave us of humanity in order to focus on the romance between an angel and a woman who has no faith. Not that it couldn't be a good movie, but in this draft of the screenplay at least, it's simply a lesser one. [Review submitted by 'widgett.']

October 26, 1997... Screenwriter Dana Stevens also penned Blink. [Sent anonymously.]

December 29, 1997... A scooper tells us that originally Peter Gabriel was asked to co-score the film with film composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient). Peter Gabriel eventually declined, but Yared is set to score the picture. [Submitted anonymously.]



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