Rewrite Underway for the Jack Ryan Reboot Starring Chris Pine

 

David Koepp to Rewrite the Jack Ryan Reboot Starring Chris Pine

Are you attempting to get a big budget franchise screenplay into fighting shape with a rewrite or two?  Odds are, you’ll try get David Koepp to take a crack at it.  Koepp is one of the most high profile screenwriters around, famous for smoothing out the rough edges on potential blockbuster scripts.  He’s credited with contributions to Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Angels & Demons, War of the Worlds, Mission: Impossible, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  Now, Paramount has hired him to sort out their lingering script issues with the as-yet untitled Jack Ryan reboot starring Chris Pine.

The studio recently rescheduled the film, swapping places with Pine’s current science fiction franchise.  The original plan involved filming the Jack Ryan adventure before Pine returned to the role of Captain James Tiberius Kirk in the Star Trek sequel, which will shoot in this fall, likely under the direction of JJ Abrams.  Though that plan could still have worked out, dissatisfaction with the screenplay led Paramount to delay the reboot in order to beef up the story.

Deadline reports that David Koepp will get to work rebooting Ryan once he has completed work on his latest directorial feature, Premium Rush, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon.  Their article also confirms that Jack Bender, who directed 34 episodes of ABC’s Lost, is still on board to direct the origin story, which is tentatively scheduled to being production in January.

Koepp is the latest in a string of writers to tackle the material, starting with Hossein Amini.  After Amini, Adam Cozad was tasked with rejiggering his spec script Dubai into a Ryan-centric espionage tale.  Anthony Peckham took a crack at it, then Cozad was brought back.  Oscar winner Steve Zaillian, who wrote Clear and Present Danger and made an uncredited contribution to Patriot Games, was briefly on board, but he quickly exited the project.

Rather than simply rushing the film to meet a release date, the emphasis is being placed firmly on kickstarting a new franchise.  It won’t be the first time Paramount has dusted off the heroic CIA analyst first played by Alec Baldwin in The Hunt For Red October; in 2002, Ben Affleck played a younger version of Ryan in The Sum of All Fears.  Neither actor is as associated with the role as Harrison Ford, who played him twice in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

May 17, 2011
Categories: Inside Hollywood . Tags: , , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

URWERKS – Video

URWERKS offers up this new demo reel that shows what they can do.  Pretty cool stuff.

URWERK – UR110 movie from I-réel on Vimeo.

May 16, 2011
Categories: News you can Use, Vendor News . Tags: , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

Voice Search Being Tested on Google.com

Google has begun testing an integration of voice search with the Google.com search engine.  Voice search detects your computer’s microphone settings and can open up a “Speak now” widget to detect your words and transcribe them into a search query.  Android phone owners should be familiar with Google Voice Search; it’s available in the Google Search widget. Google Voice Search on Android even translates voice commands into actions. For example, “Directions to Empire State Building New York” will get you instant driving directions to Manhattan’s famous landmark.

Google has been working hard on improving the accuracy of its voice search product. It now recognizes Chinese and learns from your speech patterns. Perhaps now Google believes it’s accurate enough to begin testing with the general populace.

Right now, voice search seems to be in a limited testing period. While searching by voice may be easier than typing in some cases, we don’t think you’re suddenly going to see an uptick in people shouting out their search queries.  Google Voice Search “works surprisingly well but is very awkward to use in the office.”

May 13, 2011
Categories: Technologies, Vendor News . Tags: , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

Spiderman now in Action

Aranha set NY

The filming of The Amazing Spider-Man , the new movieSpider-Man , is about to start, now in New York City, after passing through Los Angeles. The team director Marc Webb is already in town preparing for the action sequences that take place in the streets of Manhattan and the bridges over the Hudson River.

Set 25Jan2011 06

Set em Los Angeles 18012011

May 12, 2011
Categories: Inside Hollywood, News you can Use . Tags: , , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

Men in Black III – Lingering Script Problems Slow Production

Now that Men in Black III is once again filming in New York after an interruption in the already-unconventional schedule due to lingering script problems, we’ve seen a few set photos recently.  These have included the first look at Josh Brolin, who is playing a younger version of Agent K in scenes involving Will Smith‘s Agent J traveling back in time to the 1960’s.  Tommy Lee Jones will again play K in contemporary scenes, but some new set photos from The Brooklyn Paper show some more of Smith, Brolin, and the 60s setting.  Take a peek right here.

On locoation at the old Relish Diner in Williamsburg, VA

The Brooklyn Paper article reasonably concludes that the last image depicts, “funky stand-ins covered with lightbulbs to help create the computer-generated magic.”  That makes sense, but if you remember back to the first Men in Black, there’s an early scene just after J and K meet up with pawnbroker Jeebs (Tony Shaloub), when a pair of pair of people adorned in black outfits and lightbulbs quickly ride by on a tandem bicycle.  Given the specificity of that moment, I’d say we’ll see those two in the new film as they appear in the picture.

The film sees the return of franchise director Barry Sonnenfeld, who has not directed a film since 2006’s RV.  Also on board for the film are Rip Torn, Emma Thompson, Jemaine Clement, Alice Eve, and Nicole Scherzinger.  Men in Black III is set for May 25, 2012, just about a full decade since Men in Black II.  This new sequel will, of course, hit screens in 3D

May 11, 2011
Categories: Inside Hollywood, News you can Use, Vendor News . Tags: , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion; creates new business division

The rumors were right. Microsoft announced on May 10 that it bought Skype, an Internet communications vendor, for $8.5 billion.

Instead of trying to mash Skype into an existing Microsoft business division, the company has decided to create a new, separate Skype business division, with Skype CEO Tony Bates as the newly minted President. Bates will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

In its press release announcing the deal, Microsoft played up the potential synergies between Skype and its own communications offerings, including its Lync VOIP platform, Outlook mail, Messenger instant-messaging, Hotmail Web mail and Xbox Live gaming service.

Microsoft pays record $8.5bn for Skype in online battle cry

“Skype will support Microsoft devices like Xbox and Kinect, Windows Phone and a wide array of Windows devices, and Microsoft will connect Skype users with Lync, Outlook, Xbox Live and other communities. Microsoft will continue to invest in and support Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms,” said the release.

Microsoft offered no timetable or further details as to when and how it will make Skype available as part of any of its existing product offerings.

According to earlier reports, Microsoft was bidding against Google and Facebook for Skype. As my colleague Larry Dignan noted, the $8.5 billion Skype purchase price made for one expensive game of keepaway.

Microsoft and Skype are holding a press conference (hopefully) outlining more particulars of the deal at 11 a.m. ET. There will be a live Webcast(with no follow-up interviews permitted).

Today’s deal with Skype marks Microsoft’s largest acquisition (dollar-wise) in the history of the company.  For the past couple of years, Microsoft execs seemingly had decided that Microsoft’s history of assimilating successfully its big acquisitions (aQuantive, Danger, AdECN, Bungie, etc.) was not so great, resulting in the company shying away from anything but relatively minor, targeted acquisitions.

May 10, 2011
Categories: News you can Use, Technologies, Vendor News . Tags: , , , . Author: MyMotorways . Comments: Leave a comment

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