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Post by Rich Curilla on Oct 24, 2011 15:23:23 GMT -5
Ten years ago yesterday, Michael Corenblith scouted Alamo Village on his "second day on the job" for Ron Howard.
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Post by ronald on Dec 4, 2011 8:27:35 GMT -5
When I read that Ron Howard was going to do an Alamo movie! It was like a wish came true but after a lot of delay it was not what could have been. The best part is all you guys who have brought so much to the many mostly dead web sites I value your imput I have gained a lot
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Post by Bill Yowell on Dec 4, 2011 9:25:51 GMT -5
I too was really excited about Ron Howard being selected to direct the movie. While it is still by far my all time favorite "Alamo" movie, I can't help but wonder how much better it might of been, if Ron had been there to the end of production.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Dec 4, 2011 9:35:19 GMT -5
I heard that he dropped out of the project because the bozos at Disney would not give him a free hand and he wasn't going to be able to do the kind of film he wanted. I like the film too, but it's obvious that Disney needed Howard more than he needed them.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Dec 4, 2011 13:02:06 GMT -5
I would love to have seen Ron Howard's interpretation, but I believe it wouldn't have been the caring Alamo movie that JLH did. Although I suppose his regime might have also had key people aboard who fell in love with the project. After all, Ron is the one who started the thrust with Michael Corenblith to assemble historians for, at first, a weekend forum and then on-set presence.
As it is, I am very happy with John Lee Hancock's concept and follow-through. I just wish Disney would greenlight his preparing a directors cut (which he still wants to do) so we could see ALL of his vision and not just what later editors allowed.
Imagine Entertainment (Ron Howard's production company) did in fact produce The Alamo, but more significantly, sunk millions of dollars into the project before Disney ever greenlighted it for production. The $10,000,000 sets were mostly built already by the time they were assured of their shoot. It's normal for a production company to develop a project by sinking several million into script and rewrites as well as shopping it around Hollywood to see what stars might be interested, but it is supernormal to go ahead and build a set for a movie you might shelve if nobody is interested. This took some real faith and passion. Ron Howard seems to have had that for the project. Rumor has it that he bugged Duke Wayne to death about The Alamo during the filming of The Shootist when Wayne probably didn't even want to hear that word anymore. LOL.
Ron pulled out when Disney turned down his $120-mil. budget and refused to let him do his R-Rated spin, insisting on PG-13 because it has twice the B.O. draw. At that point, he agreed to still produce the movie, but not direct. His reccommendations to the Mouse House for directors they might consider were Robert Rodriguez and John Lee Hancock (no report of his first choice here). Thank God it was John Lee.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Dec 4, 2011 13:40:55 GMT -5
I think Hancock did well with what he had and was undermined by editing (just awful!) and that obsession with the PG rating and the "big box office" it was supposed to bring in. Boy, that really worked out for them, didn't it? How hard is for Hollywood to understand that "The Alamo" is a different kind of movie (to put it mildly) than "Cars," "Nemo," or "Toy Story"?
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Post by Rich Curilla on Dec 5, 2011 0:10:47 GMT -5
I know. That will never happen in Hollywood. I think that, with John Wayne and John Lee Hancock, we have had the best treat possible -- people who care to do it well in spite of Hollywood.
Perhaps the only better situation would be that an Alamo historian would be able to capitalize a $100,000,000 Alamo movie and make it with historians. Um..........................
Can you imagine ten of us at the helm trying to come up with a script with some degree of unity and purpose and a final project that could be shown in a 2-1/2 hour period. (And be able to make the movie profitable without having Johnny Depp playing Davy Crockett.)
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Post by Allen Wiener on Dec 5, 2011 13:45:28 GMT -5
Rich, I'm not going to be able to sleep after reading that; what a nightmare that would be! Maybe we should just be happy with the Alamo movies we've got, weaknesses and all.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Dec 5, 2011 16:06:59 GMT -5
Indeed.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Dec 5, 2011 16:14:36 GMT -5
By the way, I just gave a tour at Alamo Village a few days ago to a man who has wanted to come here most of his life. He was on vacation with his wife and two grandkids and searched us out. I think my treat was as great as his though. He is ex-Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio. He has read Gates of the Alamo and is in the middle of Three Roads to the Alamo. They watched John Wayne's movie before they came and also saw the Imax film in San Antonio. Seeing as how he has spent two years as a U.S. Senator and eight as a U.S. Congressman, guess which book I pitched to him as next on his reading list.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Dec 5, 2011 19:06:12 GMT -5
Hmmmmmm. I'll have to think that over Rich! :-)
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Post by ronald on Dec 6, 2011 11:57:08 GMT -5
When I read Billy Bob would play Crockett I thought OH No But he stole the show, He is a much under rated actor, I think he could play almost any part, good bad or whatever
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Post by loucapitano on Dec 7, 2011 18:33:45 GMT -5
"It looks like we're all of one mind," as Sterling Haden commented. I think HBO or any of the current mini series producers could do justice to the Alamo story. As I said in a prior thread, the Alamo Forum has people talented enough to do the screenplay. Now, if we could just convince these producers to do it. Any ideas?
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Dec 8, 2011 18:57:34 GMT -5
Uh, start by one of hitting the maga-lottery?
I loved Billy Bob Thornton's portrayal of Crockett. He really brought him to life, IMO. You believed you were seeing the real David C. If there was only a way of meshing the best of both major motion pictures into one well-told story.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Dec 9, 2011 2:15:07 GMT -5
I find Alamo '04 to be a very well told story. It is minimalism, so no fluff. I do miss hanging around the Cantina with the boys and dallying with the beautiful Spanish senorita, but it is storytelling for its day, and you can spend many watchings peeling away the story layers to find that it just keeps getting deeper and deeper.
Like Ronald, I rolled my eyes at the ceiling when I learned that Billy Bob Thornton was cast as Crockett. I tried to make it work in my head by watching him in other films. Huh-uh. Then, the first time I got to be on set was the evening he did his fiddler on the roof scene, which I watched on the video lift monitor inside the gate underneath him (the only place we could be and not be in the shot), and he nailed it. Then later that night, I got invited to watch dailies and saw the unedited scene of the Gonzales boys coming in. Even with camera slates, pauses, retakes, etc, I went "THAT is David Crockett!" Absolutely awesome!
On set, Billy had the same effect that Davy had on the garrison. Everybody loved him and felt better after being around him. I have heard that he even purchased a VCR and TV for the extras because he saw how bored they were waiting to be used, sitting in the extras holding building. Class act.
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