Stone, Cage to Team Up on Film About 9/11

The Cosmic Soldier Girl · Senior Member

RE: Stone, Cage to Team Up on Film About 9/11

Jim Colyer · Member

Looking forward to Nic's 9/11 movie. Got to be a winner.

Cagefactor · Forum Founder

CAPTURING the tragic remains of twisted metal and rubble in uncanny detail, this is the first picture from the set of a movie which will commemorate the World Trade Centre terror strike.

The set for World Trade Center is not in New York, but on the other side of the country in Los Angeles, where director Oliver Stone will depict the tale of John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and William J. Jimeno (Crash's Michael Pena), the last two survivors rescued from the rubble at Ground Zero.

The cast also includes Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal and is billed as the first attempt to tell the tale of the rescue.

The remainder of the plot is unknown, except that Stone has promised it will not be a disaster movie.

Suzanne · Veteran Member

Sounds very promising.

Suzanne

Cheripits · Veteran Member

Oliver Stone took some time out of his schedule and visited my college [SVA] tonight. He spoke about the 9/11 film he's shooting in nYC currently;

*It's called "World Trade Center." Reminds me of how "Pearl Harbor"---a film that wasn't really about Pearl Harbor----was once called "Tennessee"

*He promised that this will be Nic Cage like you've never seen him before. The character he plays---Sgt. John McLoughlin--- is very, "John Wayne" in contrast to the other Port Authority office he's trapped with, Officer William J. Jimeno (Michael Pena), who's character is Latin and has a more vivacious mind and lifestyle.

*The film takes place in 24 hours.

*Policemen, firemen, and neighbors of the downtown area stop by frequently to make sure that "they're doing it right."

*The destruction of the towers is going to be done in L.A., not NYC.

*There wasn't much rewriting to be done on Andrea Berloff's script...he said this script came out of the blue and hit "him directly between the eyes"....

ks_nic_fan · Newbie

Looks like the next masterpiece is in the works. Saw on CNN that filming in NYC has begun on the Oliver Stone 911 movie.

Cagefactor · Forum Founder

THREE-TIME Oscar winner Oliver Stone will direct...
7-11-05
superstar Nicolas Cage in the first major Hollywood movie about the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, producers announced. The as-yet untitled film, which will be made for Paramount Pictures, will tell the true stories of the last two men to be rescued alive from the ruins of the collapsed World Trade Centre in New York. "It's an exploration of heroism in our country - but is international at the same time in its humanity," said Stone, who won best director Academy Awards for his war epics Born On the Fourth Of July (1989) and 1986's Platoon.

"It's a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened, and carries within a compassion that heals," Stone said in a statement issued by producers. Oscar-winning star Cage will take the lead role of New York Port Authority policeman Sergeant John McLoughlin, who was trapped along with one of his fellow officers in the mangled wreckage of one of the twin towers that crumbled after being hit by hijacked passenger jets. "I feel someone had to tell the story of the people who were in the Trade Centre before and after it collapsed," said McLoughlin of the plans to make his story into a major movie.

"The people involved in putting this movie together are truly making an extraordinary attempt to tell those stories and the stories of those who are no longer with us," he said. The movie will focus on the two men as well as on their rescuers and families as they battle to find out what happened to their missing loved ones in the aftermath of the attacks that left a total of around 3000 people dead in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The film will be produced by Double Feature Films' Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher as well as Moritz Borman, while the screenplay has been penned by Andrea Berloff.

Cage won the best actor Academy Award for 1995's Leaving Las Vegas, while stome won a third Oscar for the adapted screenplay of 1978's Midnight Express. The announcement of the first major film of the events four years ago came a day after a string of suspected al-Qaeda bombings on London's transport network left at least 50 people dead, marking the worst attack on the British capital since World War II.

Cagefactor · Forum Founder

Stone, Cage Do 9-11
by Charlie Amter
Jul 8, 2005,
The September 11, 2001 terror attacks have gone from taboo to trendy. Until last month, there were two TV miniseries in the works, one at ABC and one at NBC. While the latter, an eight-hour production from the high-powered likes of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, was scuttled two weeks ago, citing the competition from the rival network and budget concerns, there are now two movies on the drawing board to pick up the slack.

Columbia Pictures has a feature working its way through the studio focusing on the rescue attempts that took place between the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center at 8:46 a.m. and the collapse of the north tower at 10:28 a.m. Shattered Glass writer Billy Ray has already completed a first draft of the script, per Variety. But with Grazer and Howard bowing out of the 9-11 rush, the project with the most prestige--and blockbuster potential--will star Nicolas Cage and be directed by Oliver Stone for Paramount Pictures.

The untitled film is the fact-based story of the last two men--Port Authority police officers John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno--rescued from the collapse of the World Trade Center. The film follows their ordeals and the efforts of their rescuers. Cage stars as one of the cops. "The film is a portrayal of how the human spirit rose above the tragic events of that day," Paramount says in a press release. Announced Friday--just a day after terror attacks in London--the film has no release date. But according to Variety, the project has been fast-tracked and is already in preproduction.

"It's a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened, and carries within a compassion that heals," Stone said in a statement. "It's an exploration of heroism in our country, but it's international at the same time in its humanity. "Andrea Berloff's screenplay is one of the best that's ever come to me out of the blue--I guess like that day," he continued. "It walloped me--and many others--with its emotion and simplicity. Clearly, it's a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened, and carries within a compassion that heals. It's an exploration of heroism in our country--but is international at the same time in its humanity." The studio says it is developing plans to share proceeds of the film with charities benefiting those affected by 9-11.

As for the ABC miniseries, it is being produced by Marc Platt (Legally Blonde) from a script by Cyrus Nowrasteh (Into the West). Although the ABC project doesn't have a premiere date, NBC decided it didn't want the competition--or to foot the bill for the pricey project, which could have hit the $20 million mark. The network, which struggled last season and has since lost advertising revenue, pulled the plug on its 9-11 miniseries late last month, even though a script had been completed, preproduction had begun and the network had trumpeted the program at its upfront presentation to advertisers in May.

http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,16907,00.html

Cagefactor · Forum Founder

Another new movie!!! This one also sounds good and I am not surprised that Nics in it.

Nicolas Cage to Star in Oliver Stone Film About Police Officers Trapped in Rubble on Sept. 11

NEW YORK Jul 9, 2005 — Nearly four years after the collapse of the World Trade Center, Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone will direct a film based on the story of two police officers who were trapped in the rubble on Sept. 11, 2001.

Nicolas Cage, who won a best-actor Oscar for "Leaving Las Vegas," will star as Port Authority police Sgt. John McLoughlin. McLoughlin and fellow officer William J. Jimeno became trapped during rescue efforts after the collapse of the twin towers.

Paramount Pictures said the movie is expected to be released next year.

"It's a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened and carries within a compassion that heals," Stone said in a statement Friday. "It's an exploration of heroism in our country but it's international at the same time in its humanity."

Paramount said the film also will focus on the officers' rescuers and their families. McLoughlin and Jimeno are said to be the last two men rescued.

"I feel someone had to tell the story of the people who were in the Trade Center before and after it collapsed," McLoughlin said in a statement. "It needs to be told how this horrific tragedy brought Americans and the world together to help those in need."

While the star power of Stone and Cage will likely make the movie the most high profile film to tackle 9/11, it's not the first. Many independent films have turned their lens to downtown New York, and in the 2002 film "The Guys," Anthony LaPaglia played a fire captain who lost eight men in the towers' collapse.

Stone has won best-director Oscars for "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July." He also has directed "Alexander," "Nixon," "JFK" and "Wall Street."

Screen credits for Cage include "Adaptation," "City of Angels" and "Moonstruck."

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=924494&CMP=OTC-RSSFee ds0312

-- Edited by Cagefactor at 12:21, 2005-07-11