Joan of Arc

Genre: Drama/Historical/Adventure.

Studio: Columbia Pictures.
Production Company: Gaumont.

Project Phase: Greenlighted.

Who's In It: Milla Jovovich (Joan of Arc); John Malkovich (King Charles VII); Faye Dunaway (Yolande D'Aragon); Dustin Hoffman (Grand Inquisitor Pierre Cauchon); Vincent Cassel (Gilles De Rais); Thceky Karyo (Dunois); Olga Sekulic (Queen Marie d'Anjou); Pascal Greggory (Duke of Alencon); Desmond Harrington.
Who's Making It: Luc Besson (Director, Screenwriter); Thierry Arbogast (Director of Photography); Eric Serra (Musical Score).

Premise: Based upon the life of the 15th century French peasant girl who unified France to rally against the conquering forces of the British, and who was later captured and burned at the stake for her insurrection. In death, she became a martyr.

Release Date: Unknown.

Comments: Unknown.

Rumors: Unknown.

Scoop Feedback:

January 10, 1998... Besson continues to finialize the script. With the involvement of Jovovich in the starring role, this places Gaumont in the forefront of other competing studios' Joan of Arc projects. Shooting is planned to begin in France in June '98. [Reported by Todd Dupler and anonymously.]

October 19, 1998... Some news from the old continent: "Here in France we don't know much, but here is all that we know....The movie stars Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway (yeah, I KNOW you know that) but also Vincent Cassel (Hate), Thcheky Karyo, (Bob, from La femme Nikita), Pascal Greggory, and Desmond Harrington.

"The shooting is already over schedule. It is supposed to end in early December (yeah, that's a 6 months shoot !!). There's been problems with injured stunts during fight scenes. Jan Kounen, director of 'Dobermann', has come to help Besson as a camera operator during these same fight scenes. And, at last, this is just a supposition, but I guess thaht Thierry Arbogast is the director of photography, since he is done with Wing Commander... You can be sure that Eric Serra is doing the music too." [Scoop provided by 'Stan'.]

November 3, 1998... Dustin Hoffman has climbed on-board the project, five months after principal photograpy began. Hoffman will begin shooting his scenes next Monday Daily Variety reported today. Due to the secrecy surronding this project it is unknown at this point what exact role Hoffman is playing. [Scoop provided by 'DeadPool', first appeared in Daily Variety.]

November 26, 1998... Someone who's spent time on-set in Europe writes in to CA with gossip about the shoot: "I´m from Czech republic and everyone knows that this flic has been shooted here. Well, the stunt (including the Czech stuntman, who were in Titanic as well) guys said, that the scenes were REALLY dangerous and some of them left, because they couldnt stand it. Lot of people were injured during the monumental battles, so I assume they should be VERY realistic. By the way, the landscape and nature is very beautyful in here, so it should be nice in the movie." [That was 'Rockhound' taking the fall on screen.]

December 1, 1998... Where everyone else is still wondering what role Dustin Hoffman will play in Besson's film, our scooper has struck gold with the info: Hoffman is playing the 'Grand Inquisitor' in the picture's courtroom scenes. There were some difficulties for Besson's project on location while filming in the Czech Republic resulting in a number of stuntmen being injured and for a while it looked like the stuntmen were going to 'walk' on the project. This was straightened out but some bad feelings remain below-the-line. On the bright side, the battle scenes look incredibly realistic. [Anonymous.]

January 5, 1999... This French scooper was able to shed some light on more casting choices: "I've got a casting tidbit here: a young french actress named Olga Sekulic plays the role of 'Marie d'Anjou, Queen of France' and the wife of Charles VII (John Malkovich). (Faye Dunaway is thus NOT THE QUEEN; she plays Yolande d'Aragon, the mother of Marie d'Anjou) This is Olga's second big screen role after a small part in the comedy Les Visiteurs 2." [Scoop provided by 'Liam'.]



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