Butler's Script Sale of the Week...
November 10th, 2001
There were a good number of interesting sales this week. Many were sci-fi including the Nicolas Cage project THE VOLUNTEER and the cloning thriller RH1658. I'll also be looking out for Robert Benton's latest EMPIRE FALLS and the historical drama JOHN ADAMS.
My pick this week is Fox Searchlight's acquisition of the circus freak drama JOHNNY ECK written by Caroline Thompson. The story of a man born without his lower body and his brother/manager is definitely one of the most exciting projects currently in development. What makes it even more exciting is that Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star - as the freak.
In fact, this project is a labor of love for DiCaprio, who has been shopping the idea around Hollywood for years. Playing a man without the lower half of his body (God bless digital effects) is a daring career move for the young heart-throb, whose fanatical female fans usually pay the price of admission to see all of him. But Leo, like Johnny Depp before him, has always seemed more concerned with the artistic merit of his projects rather than their box-office potential. TITANIC (1997) is the exception in a filmography that includes mostly challenging and thought-provoking cinema.
The story of Johnny Eckhardt and his full-bodied twin brother Robert definitely fits the bill of challenging and thought-provoking. It is the story of two men dealing with the frustrations of never having realized their dreams. Robert always wanted to be a showman; Johnny wanted to go to college and lead a "normal" life. As it turned out Johnny became the "showman" and his brother, eventually, became his manager. And it was Robert who had the deepest psychological scars forcing Johnny to become his brother's emotional caretaker.
Hopefully Caroline Thompson can fashion the brilliant script that this story deserves. She worked on EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, itself a "freakish" morality tale, but the script to JOHNNY ECK should aim deeper than the ultimately superficial surrealism of SCISSORHANDS. This should be a unique relationship/character study film and needs to be careful not to become a freak show itself - "Hey look - Leo's got no legs. Wicked!"
But as this is Leo's baby, I'm sure he'll do everything in his still influential power (he's got at least ten years of calling the shots thanks to TITANIC) to make sure that doesn't happen. Let's hope he gets his pick of director. Personally, I'd love to see Soderbergh or Curtis Hanson take this on.
Sentimentalists like Spielberg and Zemeckis, who would surely get off on the digital effects, need not apply.
This needs a deft hand to mold it into the original piece of cinema that it deserves to be. Definitely one to keep an eye on ...
-- Edward Butler
My pick this week is Fox Searchlight's acquisition of the circus freak drama JOHNNY ECK written by Caroline Thompson. The story of a man born without his lower body and his brother/manager is definitely one of the most exciting projects currently in development. What makes it even more exciting is that Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star - as the freak.
In fact, this project is a labor of love for DiCaprio, who has been shopping the idea around Hollywood for years. Playing a man without the lower half of his body (God bless digital effects) is a daring career move for the young heart-throb, whose fanatical female fans usually pay the price of admission to see all of him. But Leo, like Johnny Depp before him, has always seemed more concerned with the artistic merit of his projects rather than their box-office potential. TITANIC (1997) is the exception in a filmography that includes mostly challenging and thought-provoking cinema.
The story of Johnny Eckhardt and his full-bodied twin brother Robert definitely fits the bill of challenging and thought-provoking. It is the story of two men dealing with the frustrations of never having realized their dreams. Robert always wanted to be a showman; Johnny wanted to go to college and lead a "normal" life. As it turned out Johnny became the "showman" and his brother, eventually, became his manager. And it was Robert who had the deepest psychological scars forcing Johnny to become his brother's emotional caretaker.
Hopefully Caroline Thompson can fashion the brilliant script that this story deserves. She worked on EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, itself a "freakish" morality tale, but the script to JOHNNY ECK should aim deeper than the ultimately superficial surrealism of SCISSORHANDS. This should be a unique relationship/character study film and needs to be careful not to become a freak show itself - "Hey look - Leo's got no legs. Wicked!"
But as this is Leo's baby, I'm sure he'll do everything in his still influential power (he's got at least ten years of calling the shots thanks to TITANIC) to make sure that doesn't happen. Let's hope he gets his pick of director. Personally, I'd love to see Soderbergh or Curtis Hanson take this on.
Sentimentalists like Spielberg and Zemeckis, who would surely get off on the digital effects, need not apply.
This needs a deft hand to mold it into the original piece of cinema that it deserves to be. Definitely one to keep an eye on ...
-- Edward Butler
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