12-30-01 Latest News

What's Next For Derek?
Lewman @ 8:57 am EST

Hey folks, Harry here. Sure we've officially hit the less than 48 hours till those Midnight Tuesday Screenings of FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, and the official shortness of breath and raised blood pressure that comes with the final part of the countdown for many of you.

Many will begin focusing on the next two chapters of the Tolkien Epic that Peter Jackson has captured on celluloid. Me, well admittedly, I'm dying to see pictures of Ents attacking, Shelob vs dirty little hobbits. Fearful and hopeful about the end results of Andy Serkis and Randall Cook's acting/animation. Ok, so my hands are shaking in anticipation.

However, given that I spent four and a half hours of attendance at the Alamo Drafthouse this fine Sunday afternoon to watch every iota of detail about the making of THE FRIGHTENERS. Watching Peter describe that while he was handling the editing on HEAVENLY CREATURES, he and Fran Walsh were hatching the plans for FRIGHTENERS. Well, the thought hit me. He's now got basically 2 and a half years of post on an astoundingly long shoot.

On those long plane trips around the world... What's Fran Walsh, Richard Taylor and Peter Jackson brainstorming about? Has Richard begun sketching something? Sculpting something? What words have been hitting Fran and Peter's reams of paper.

I had heard that Fran and Peter had a smaller, more intimate story set in New Zealand to shoot next. 1Something that didn't have armies of production folks, something small to keep their center. To have a nice relaxing pleasant shoot.

Then there is KING KONG floating out there in the ether somewhere. However, with Universal removing the KING KONG attractions from their park in Florida in favor of a stupid SCORPION KING attraction... It'll take a miracle to see that going. (You hearing me Movie Gods? A Miracle Please?)

Peter and Fran also wrote a really wonderful CONCRETE script based on that Dark Horse comic. What's happening with that? Anybody's guess right now.
However, word has just hit me from Middle Earth of a new project that is stirring in Jackson's insane brain.

When I spent time with Peter at his house, up in the attic where he stores his toys, models and collections, Peter had a major collector fetish that I had been unaware of. WORLD WAR I. It fascinates him. In fact, Viggo Mortensen scoured rare bookshops from one end of New Zealand to another to amass a collection of history books detailing the Kiwi side of WORLD WAR I. In his attic he had uniforms, original E.C. comic art of John Severin's, I believe from a FRONTLINE COMBAT issue or perhaps an ACES HIGH depicting in Severin's crisp clean line work, the aerial battlework of biplanes. I remember speculating at the time... How long till Peter Jackson makes his World War 1 epic?

Well, thanks to the palantir I left behind in New Zealand word has hit me that Peter and allegedly some folks at Weta, have begun playing around with ideas for a World War I feature film. Afterall with the digital tools that Weta developed for the creation of LORD OF THE RINGS, turning those same MASSIVE tools to work on World War I would be quite an easy retrofit.

Now, before you think that this is Peter's Spielberging out trip, you haven't heard it all. My spy has heard that while it is a World War 1 story, that is just a starting off point. Apparently, this is Peter's stab at making the largest scale ZOMBIE film ever. At least that's the rumor. A Zombie film of size and scale. Something straight out of the mind of a boy that got his FRONTLINE COMBATs screwed up with his TALES FROM THE CRYPTs in a Famous Monster noggin. Is this true? Is there any collaborative evidence?

Nope, not a peep. It is most likely extremely premature to be talking about it, hell... at this point it might just be a few scribblings on a pair of pages, but that's how FRIGHTENERS started. Two pages in an agent's fax machine. When I wrote Peter about it, I heard not a peep.... Not that that means anything, I've heard he's kinda busy at the moment. Something about a little flick he has opening up. Then again, Peter and I are on opposite sides of the fence at times. Him with his secrets... Me with my ears and eyes.

Let's see what more we can find out about this. What have you heard? Got a ticket to a premiere? Bumping into Peter? Ask him. The least you'll get is a smile and a gleam from those beady eyes of his. And if you do see that gleam, we know. Or at least we'll think we do, and ya know... A Zombie WORLD WAR I film from the director of BRAIN DEAD and LORD OF THE RINGS... well, that sound delicious. Eh? Remember, it's all rumor and subterfuge at the moment, but I remember a time when that was the case with a film opening this Wednesday. Hmmmm....