O.O

[rivendellrose]

At this moment, I cannot decide whether to hate Steven Spielberg or love him.

I was checking up on TheOneRing.net, and saw that Miranda Otto is going to be in his new production of "The War of the Worlds," due out in 2005. He gets points for casting Miranda, certainly... but dude, could he possibly grab a more classic movie to revamp??? So I go to check out the rest of the cast. It also includes Tom Cruise, which is kind of "meh" for me. Whatever. It'll probably be very good. It's just kind of "oh, look who's plotting another blockbuster..."

Then I get a weird desire to go check out the rest of his movies, since they're usually good for a laugh, at least. This is the man who, according to rumor, wanted to cast Haley Joel Osment as Harry Potter, after all.

And then I see it. One of my all-time favorite books is on the list! 'That bastard!' I think. 'How can he dare to make a movie out of Memoirs of a Geisha?' And yet... at the same time... *squee* I look at the cast... and my heart just tears apart with glee. He's cast Ken Watanabe (who I completely loooooove) as the Chairman! And Michelle Yeoh (ohmigod the love for that woman) as Mameha!! ♥

I don't recognize the girl he's got as Sayuri (the main character), sadly... she's pretty enough, but not at all as I picture the character. Ken Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh, though... wow. *Sighs*

I apologize for that making no sense whatsoever to anybody who hasn't read the book. Let that be an inducement to you to GO READ IT NOW.

...Unfortunately, he's also filming YET ANOTHER Jurassic Park movie. So. It can't all be good news, obviously.

Comments

[maho-kiwi.livejournal.com]

how can there be ANOTHER JP movie? The first was good, yes. But I was like, ten when that came out. The second one? Meh, okay. The third movie was a dismal failure in all senses of the word. WHY oh WHY would he do another? Gaaahh..

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I know, I know. The first one was great. I've boycotted all the previous ones, though - there are some things that just shouldn't be made into sequels.

And certainly not a fourth movie!

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

JP#247 = bad. Very very bad
Ken Watanabe and Michelle Yeoh? So very very good. I adore them both too!

It's likely WotW will be filmed here (NZ) I think. I'm somewhat excited about it, but Tom Cruise and Miranda Otto I don't like so much. I love the book (and the musical) very much though, so it'll be interesting to see what happens ;)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I very much agree, on both those counts. I've only ever seen Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which is probably blasphemy of some sort, but good lord she was amazing. And Ken Watanabe is just gorgeous, and so very talented.

For whatever reason (*coughs*Lord of the Rings*coughs*) I adore Miranda Otto. Tom Cruise... meh. He's okay. I can't decide whether to feel jealous or sorry for you down in NZ - the film community seems to have decided that you're it's new favorite spot. Good and bad parts to that, I imagine.

And... WotW musical?

[shoeless-girl.livejournal.com]

I think Ken and Michelle are both dropdead gorgeous (I've only seen Ken in The Last Sumurai, so that's probably blasphemous as well!)

NZ is fantastic. The film industry is great for us - creates jobs, revenue blah blah blah. When it decides somewhere else is the new place to be, that will be fine as well, they can stop exploiting us :)

Jeff Wayne's version. I guess you'd call it a musical - it's simply brilliant. I've forgotten how to make pretty links, sorry, but you can read a little about it here: http://www.dprp.net/proghistory/index.php?i=1978_01
or here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000025CO/104-1131238-7855119?v=glance

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking I've seen Ken in something else, but all I can ever be sure of is The Last Samurai. In which he was pretty much my whole reason to watch the movie. Well... that and the general prettiness, when things weren't spurting blood. *shudders*

That would definitely be the good side, yes - I just worry about the film industry destroying the exact reasons that NZ is so perfect... before I can get down there to see it all, particularly. ;)

Whee! I shall take a peek at those sometime when I'm not in the office supposedly doing work!

[becksbooks.livejournal.com]

Only having seen Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger is DEFINITELY blasphemous - you must, must, must go watch Wing Chun. One of the all-time best kung-fu movies ever made, in my opinion. (hm...questionable grammar there, but screw it, I'm a teacher I make the rules =) )

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

The grammar was okay, from what I can tell - it's just a sentence fragment, that's all.

Wing Chun, huh? Okay, I'll add that to the unending list of Movies I Must See. ;)

Jen, you're a dork. :)

[ladysonnet.livejournal.com]

-First you say you love Michelle Yeoh.
-Then you say you don't recognize the person who is cast as Sayuri.
-Then you say you've only seen Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger.

Um, Jen? The person they've cast as Sayuri is Zhang Ziyi. You know, the person who's breakout role in the US was (you guessed it) Crouching Tiger.


Look, there she is, right at the top.

:) :P :)

You know I love you dearly, but I just thought I'd help fill in that blind spot you seemed to have there. ;)

Bethany

Re: Jen, you're a dork. :)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Damn it, I knew her name sounded familiar! But when I looked at her IMDB profile I didn't have the brains to actually skim through and see what she'd been in, just look at her picture and think 'huh, doesn't look familiar.'

What's really embarassing is that I think that's the second or third time people have had to point out that she's the girl from that movie... within something like the last week. *headdesk*

I have some kind of mental block when it comes to that actress, apparently. The good news is, I totally loved her, and she strikes me as the sort who'd be great as Sayuri. Judging from that one movie. *laughs*

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

If you've ever seen the original "War of the Worlds" you'll know why it might be a good idea to redo it. Trust me.

I'm betting the JP movie is a part of the contract he has with whatever studio first released it. Or, that's what I'm going to believe.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I've seen clips, so yeah, I know. It could definitely do with some better effects. It'll be cool, too, it's just kind of "oh, look, here goes Spielberg making another blockbuster movie."

Hopefully. But sweet gods, can't they just STOP yet???