Walt Disney Studios Showcase - 9/24/2008
Page 4 of 5
Next up was a look at upcoming offerings from Touchstone. First was a new romantic Comedy, The Proposal, due out for summer, 2009. Star Sandra Bullock was on hand, and entered to a round of applause. She said that The Proposal was fun to make, �The best time I�ve had making a film.� After viewing a trailer, Cook asked about a scene with comic nudity. Bullock laughed and said making her look that good was the greatest of all special effects. She said that the director had done a great job; perhaps there had been some Pixar action involved.
Following The Proposal was a trailer for a new Bruce Willis science fiction thriller, Surrogates. Scheduled for September, 2009, Surrogates imagines a world in which people send surrogates into the world as they vicariously experience their activities in the safety of their homes. At least, until things start to go wrong.
The next film, Earth, is the first offering from Disney�s newest label, DisneyNature. DisneyNature is the first new film label for Disney in ten years. Earth follows three animal families, polar bear, whale and elephant, through a year in their lives. The film will be released, appropriately, on Earth Day, April 22, 2009.
After the stunning images of the Earth trailer, Cook changed the pace with a reel of bloopers from the comedy Wild Hogs. He then announced that a sequel, Wild Hogs 2: Bachelor Ride, was in development. The curtain was raised to reveal the original cast of Wild Hogs, Tim Allen, John Travolta, and Martin Lawrence seated on gleaming motorcycles, as William H. Macy roared across the stage on his. All four joined Cook for a free wheeling discussion of the film. Tim Allen mentioned that the sequel would include sequences set in Europe, than asked if they would actually shoot in Europe, or just in Epcot as Europe.
The next section of the program was devoted to Miramax. A highlight reel presented the many Academy Awards the label had brought to Disney, with an emphasis on No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Following the reel, Cook introduced the President of Miramax, Daniel Battsek. As they settled in to talk, Cook pointedly said that Battsek had so much more charm and class than �those other two guys.� Could it be the accent?
Stating how pleased they were with last year�s The Queen, Battsek said that they would be again working with Helen Mirren in The Dead. She will play an Israeli agent in an espionage thriller set in post World War II Berlin. He also spoke of three movies on the horizon, Blindness, Happy-Go-Lucky, and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Trailer for Blindness: http://www.blindness-themovie.com/
Finally, Bassket discussed Doubt, the film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play. The Miramax production, scheduled for a December release, stars Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Set in a Catholic school in the early 1960s, Streep plays an authoritarian nun who accuses priest Hoffman of abusing a young black student. Bassket pointed out that the trailer for Doubt featured a new title logo sequence for Miramax films.
Trailer for Doubt: http://www.apple.com/trailers/miramax/doubt/
To wind up the day, Cook mentioned that Disney had made many fine films on sports themes over the years. And, he said, in a baseball film, you want a good clean up hitter. For Disney, he said, that was producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The highlight reel that followed was filled with dizzying action and eye popping effects, from such films as Pirates of the Caribbean, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, and National Treasure. As the producer entered from the wings, Cook enthused, �You�re the coolest guy I�ve ever known.�
When asked how he stayed on the cutting edge, Bruckheimer shrugged and said, �Pure luck.� He did admit that he tried to keep doing things that were fresh and new. Cook asked what he looked for in a film property. Bruckheimer�s prompt reply was, �Something entertaining.� He also spoke warmly of his �good luck charm,� then asked him to come out and greet the crowd. All the way from production in London, it was Nicolas Cage. Together, they announced they were in development for National Treasure 3.
While Cage was there, they also spoke of a property they were developing from a sequence of Disney�s animated classic, Fantasia. The Sorcerer�s Apprentice would be a comedy, filled with magic and wonder, as well as spectacular special effects.
Bruckheimer went on to discuss G-Force, a comedy in which a group of highly trained animals work for the CIA. G-Force is scheduled for release on February 24, 2009. He also spoke of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, based on the long running video game series. It is set for Memorial Day, 2010. He mentioned, as well, a comedy, Confessions of a Shopaholic, scheduled for a Valentine�s Day, 2009 release. Star Isla Fisher was on hand to talk about the film, based on a popular book series.
Turning back to classic Disney films, Cook spoke of the groundbreaking 1982 production, TRON. He pointed out that it was so innovative, it was the only film to be featured on the cover of both Time and Newsweek magazines in the same week. Continuing in the tradition of innovation, TR2N is scheduled for a 2011 release. A short scene was presented, in which an updated version of the memorable light cycles was seen. Also of interest to the crowd was the appearance by Jeff Daniels in the sequence.