Genre: Drama/Fantasy.
Studio:
20th Century Fox.
Production Company:
Figment Films.
Project Phase: Greenlighted.
Who's In It:
Leonardo DiCaprio (Richard); ; Tilda Swinton; Virginie Ledoyen (Françoise, unsigned);
Guillaume Canet (Etienne); Staffan Kihlbom; Magnus Lindgren.
Who's Making It:
Danny Boyle (Director); John Hodge (Screenwriter); Andrew MacDonald, John Hodge (Producers);
based on a book by Alex Garland.
Premise: A rootless traveler is given a map scrawled by a madman that supposedly leads to paradise.
Release Date: Fall 1999 (tentative).
Comments: Unknown.
Rumors: Unknown.
Scoop Feedback:
[Page draft submitted by 'Deadpool'.]
July 10, 1998... Variety reports that Leonardo DiCaprio has agreed to make The Beach his next starring vehicle. The cutting-edge British trio behind Trainspotting, Shallow Grave and A Life Less Ordinary will oversee the film: Danny Boyle will direct, while Andrew MacDonald and John Hodge will produce. The latter will adapt the novel. Filming begins in January. [Scoop provided by 'Deadpool'; originally appeared in Variety.]
October 16, 1998... French actors Virginie Ledoyen and Guillaume Canet are currently in talks to join this project. They would play two French backpackers, Francoise and Etienne, who become involved in a romantic triangle with DiCaprio's character when they set out together to track down rumors of a perfect beach on a remote island in Thailand. [Scoop provided by 'DeadPool' taken from Daily Variety.]
November 16, 1998... While we haven't heard much recently from The Beach production, it looks like the Swedes have. "It's confirmed that a Swedish soap opera star will play against DiCaprio, as major lead part in The Beach. I just can´t remember his name. It was out in the Swedish papers yesterday, so it has got to be confirmed in the rest of the world by now." We've heard jack so far. Does anyone out there know who this person is?[Scoop sent in by 'MartinJern'.]
Young teenage girls, brace yourself -- we've got a SPOILER FILLED synopsis and commentary about the novel for you. If you don't want to know the gritty details of what Leo will be doing in the show, just read up to the part where the spoilers begin and then skip ahead!
"Just thought I'd drop my two cents in on 'The Beach.' I hunted up the novel almost a year ago when it was first announced that the Trainspotting team had purchased the rights. Read it very quickly, and here's the skinny: it sucks.
"Okay, so it doesn't *suck* suck, but it's none too great a book. The jacket proliferates with reviews comparing it to 'Lord of the Flies' -- having never read the book, I don't know whether this is a fair comparison (though I've been told by several friends that it isn't).
"The plot goes like this: Leonardo DiCaprio plays Richard who likes to travel a lot -- not the normal touristy let's-see-the-sights kinda stuff, but the kinda travelling where you attempt to really understand the culture you're in, really try to see that part of the world which most never even glimpse. In a cheap hotel in Asia somewhere (Hong Kong maybe? Sorry, I forgot) Richard is roomed next to a guy who is more than a little odd and who says his name is Mr. Duck. Mr. Daffy Duck.
"SPOILERS:
He keeps on talking to Richard through the (very thin) wall and going on and on about how everyone wants to know where The Beach is. Soon enough Mr. Duck goes daffy and kills himself, leaving a bloody, hand-drawn map to The Beach for Richard to find.
"Richard and a French couple he met at the same hotel as Mr. Duck decide to go to this mysterious Beach and figure out that it's a on a protect island somewhere in the South Pacific (again, wish I could be more specific but it's been a year since I read it). They plot out a path to the island and take off, Richard first leaving a hand-drawn copy of the hand-drawn map for a couple of nice American surfers he met (Leo,incidently, is supposedly British -- why no Ewan McGregor?) along with a friendly note to the readers that says 'REMEMBER THIS. IT WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER.' (not really, but you get the idea...)
"Anyway, to make a short story long they go to mediocre lengths to get to said island, where they find a ring of hemp-growers. They almost get shot but manage to lay low until they find this mysterious Beach, a hidden paradise kinda thing. It's a pretty cool-sounding location (be interesting to see where they film it) and is essentially a beach, a waterfall, and much extra land to boot enclosed in a series of cliffs and hidden from the outside world by some fortuitously-planted trees. From here it's pretty standard: a small band of fellow travellers live on this beach in harmony and love (etc. etc.), they all have little work duties (catching fish, tending crops, etc.) and they have a sort of uneasy relationship with the hemp-croppers (don't mess with us and you won't get killed). Initially the 'natives' freak out when they see Richard and friends, but since they were 'invited' by Daffy (one of the founders) it's all cool. Just so long as no-one else comes... Most of the book is concerned with the day-to-day operation of The Beach (ie looking out for Hemp Growers, going to the 'mainland' for things like batteries, relationships with various people etc.) with the occassional 'exciting' bit like a shark attack. This is interesting in an intellectual sense (you've created paradise -- how does it work?) but not too great in a plot or even a character sense.
"By the end, Richard and company decide to leave for some minor and largely uninteresting reason that I can't actually remember at the moment -- I think it was more just 'hey, you wanna go now?' Anyway, they choose the night of some big celebration (I think one in honor of when they day when the Beach's 'founders' -- Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and somebody else -- first arrived) to do this, but figure that they should first drug everyone with stolen hemp, which they do by putting it in this stew/soup sorta thing. Everything's going well, everyone's feeling fine and having a hell of a party when -- you guessed it -- those nice American surfers show up. Unfortunately, they weren't aware of the Hemp growers and didn't manage to avoid them, which pisses the Growers off no end. So they crash the party and execute the surfers in front of all the drugged-up beachers, who start having a *very* bad trip (is hemp hallucanegenic? it is now). They see the map that Leo drew, decide to kill him, at which time he and his crew exit, stage left. The End. END SPOILERS.
"If this summary sounds interesting... well, it's more interesting than the book itself, trust me. Essentially, the novel tries to ask some very interesting intellectual questions involving why we always destroy paradise etc. and how a generation that has seen and done everything can ever find new experiences. Unfortunately, the book itself is not much of a new experience and nothing particularly noteworthy comes out of it. It's too much a character piece to have a truly interesting plot and too much an intellectual exercise to have very interesting characters. Which is not to say, incidently, that it might not be a f**K of a movie. John Hodge is a hell of a screenwriter and can really make an idea fly (don't believe me? Try reading the screenplay to A Life Less Ordinary and then comparing it to the movie -- the script rocks, I tell ya), and I think his adaptation of Trainspotting proves that he can work wonders with near-impossible material (which is *not* to compare The Beach with Trainspotting in terms of quality -- merely in terms of screewriting difficulty). Danny Boyle is quite the visual stylist, of course, which would be helpful, and Leo is, well, Leo."
[Digital masterpiece theatre commentary by your host for this evening, 'Mirth'.]
November 22, 1998... We've finally found out who that rumored Swedish actor supposedly cast in The Beach is thanks to our latest scooper. Staffan Kihlbom, a Swedish soap star in Vita lögner (which means 'White Lies' in english), is also somewhat of an unknown in his native land. Kihlbom's also been in a commercial for a type of snack food. [Scoop provided by Peter Johansson.]
Tilda Swinton, probably best known for her role in Sally Potter's great film Orlando, has nabbed one of the roles.
January 12, 1999... A lot of action is happening with this project. First up, shooting begins this Friday in Thailand. Leonardo and his ever-growing-in-numbers crew have been in Thailand for a week now. Fox has been assuring Leo's security by taking out an entire hotel floor for the star himself. He also has the luxury of using the studio's yacht, which was rumored to be his parting gift after the shoot but Fox denies it. It's also rumored that Leo has taken on some weight and muscle for the role. The Daily News reports that Danny Boyle has added a steamy love scene between Leo and Virginie Ledoyen.
Second, we finally found the name of the other Swedish actor in the movie. It's Magnus Lindgren. [Scoop provided by 'Martin Jern']
Finally, a Thai court threw out an attempt by environmentalists to prevent filming of the movie. The court will hear the plaintiff again on March 26, but ultimately what that means is that shooting will go ahead as according to plan. [Scoop provided by 'Deadpool'.]