Spielberg sets his sights on Dalton Trumbo's Montezuma script

[Tanuki]

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/07/spielberg-dalton-trumbo-montezuma-javier-bardem

"A screenplay about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire that has been gathering dust for more than half a century could be resurrected by Steven Spielberg, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The Oscar-winning film-maker is eyeing Montezuma, based on a script by famously blacklisted Spartacus screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, for his next directing project. Another member of Hollywood royalty, Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, is tipped to play the Aztec emperor's nemesis, conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Montezuma was once intended to reunite Trumbo with the star of Spartacus, Kirk Douglas. The 1960s screenplay will be now be rewritten by producer Steve Zaillian, the writer of Schindler's List.
Trumbo, a hugely significant figure in Hollywood history, won two Oscars during his lifetime while working under assumed names due to his ostracisation by the US film industry as an alleged communist sympathiser in the McCarthy era. It was his naming in 1960 as the true screenwriter of Spartacus and Exodus (by actor Kirk Douglas and director Otto Preminger) that effectively broke the blacklist".....

[octoberlib]

1. K&R

Sounds interesting!

[struggle4progress]

2. Trumbo was a pretty good writer. His book Johnny Got His Gun made a real impression on me

when I was in junior high school

[CatWoman]

3. what a coincidence - happy at that

I'm reading The Conquistadors right now, and am just at the sacking of Mexico.

Cortez was a complete asshole.

[Xipe Totec]

7. No argument there

It is difficult to judge someone from such a distant time, based on our present sensitivities.

But we do know this: There were many contemporaries who hated his guts.

And having his first wife die shortly after coming to see him in Mexico, with strange purple bruises around her neck did not help his case.

And having the judge that came to investigate the death of his wife, die himself shortly after arriving, from eating a bad piece of cheese, well, that complicated matters even more.

Much was alleged. Very little if anything was proven...

He was a scoundrel, but a very successful one.

PS: I recommend reading "Documentos Cortesianos" a five volume set of the complete history of H.C., and the Who's Who of the Conquistadors. You'll find some surprising stories there, including those of Female and Black Conquistadors.

[UTUSN]

4. R#5 & K for, I hope it's great, and to be so will have to exceed "Apocalypto" (yes, Mel GIBSON)

GIBSON is what he is (not in a good way), and I'll never understand how brilliant creations can come from uglily flawed humans, but Apocalypto is a brilliant film that is unflinching about the indigenous life before the Europeans, with the GIBSON violence and gore (The Passion; Braveheart; the American revolutionary one) present but with a human story predominant. The final scene is the most gripping with its simplicity since KUBRICK's The Shining where the wife discovers the dude has been typing reams of a typing exercise instead of a book.

That said, I should be saying, and will, that SPIELBERG and crew are wonderful for a subject that is way neglected and overdue. Just about every other part of the world has had their story told in a pecking order ahead of this one.

[TeamPooka]

8. Many assholes have made great movies. Sometimes it helps.

[Cha]

5. Interesting.. thanks Tanuki~

[Xipe Totec]

6. The story of Cortés is absolutely amazing

Most people know only a fraction of his story; that which begins with the conquest. But his true story stretches from a precarious childhood, Nearly dying as a teen at the hands of a jealous husband before even setting sail for the new world. Missing his first trip from a broken leg (jumping from a window to escape said husband). Taking the Governor of Cuba hostage....

I could literally go on and on....

Enough to say that his story stretches for several centuries after his death, and three separate burials.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

9. Hey. . .Stevie. . .and the Rape of Nanking hasn't gotten much press

Or the Camp Grant Massacre
Mountain Meadows Massacre
Bisbee Deportation of 1917
Pullman Strike
Joseph Stillwell and the AEF in China during WW2
Emperor Norton the First
Joseph Brant
George Stinney
The Tulsa Race Riots of 1921
The story of Gerald Gault and In Re Gault

Maybe it's time Hollywood stop producing shit and produce things that entertain and inform.

[KittyWampus]

10. Well, if you feel so strongly those events need movies, get busy and make a movie

or write a script or screenplay.

Not a fan of Spielberg, but Schindler's List is hardly "shit".

[Nanjing to Seoul]

11. Already written screenplays on:

Rape of Nanking
Lu Anshan Rebellion
Camp Grant Massacre
Emperor Norton
Bisbee Deportation
Joseph Stillwell

All copyrighted in my agent's hands in Marina Del Rey.

And I'm working the fall of the Shang Dynasty and George Stinney now.

Agent is working on marketing now. But being unknown and living half a world away in China has its limitations.

And no, it's not. . .which is why I like period pieces and enjoy writing them.

[Xipe Totec]

13. So, your post was a shameless plug for your screenplays? Busted!

[Nanjing to Seoul]

14. Nope, but since you think that, I will just agree.

Because when someone tells me to put up or shut up, I will do it.

Plugging things on anonymously on a political message board seems fruitless and pointless.

But hey. . .if you think you busted me, I will just agree. I'm in no mood.

[Xipe Totec]

15. Lighten up.

I look forward to seeing your scripts turn into movies.

They sound really great.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

16. You accuse a PhD candidate for and teacher of history of shamelessly plugging

his work when all his intention was to ask people to not pick something everyone pretty much already knows alot about, then have the absolute gall to tell him to lighten up?

You took it to the level. An apology would be in order.

[Xipe Totec]

17. You won't get an apology from me, so don't hold your breath

If you want respect, write a paper in a reputable journal and don't waste your time in a political blog.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

18. It's called the dissertation

Pride is a bad thing. When you're wrong (as you are), admit it, atone and learn from it.

But one thing I've noticed is as I get older in life, people become more cynical, self-righteous and easy to tear down.

You did your cyber bullying, got called out on it and refuse to apologize. I consider the source, not the statement.

Don't bother responding. I'm not wasting another minute on someone who is so crass and full of hubris that when told they are wrong, save face, pass the buck and refuse to say two simple words of contrition.

[Xipe Totec]

19. Yawn. nt

[Xipe Totec]

20. This is for you, and I know you'll come back and read it

Because hubris is your defining characteristic.

A true scholar would not waste his/her(?) time posting shit on a political blog.

A true scholar would not be demanding apologies or recognition from random people on said political blog.

You are a fraud.

Worse, if you are not a fraud, you need to hand back your degree to whatever university you conned into giving you a degree.

If you are the scholar you claim to be, quit wasting your time and get back to some useful endeavor.

[edbermac]

12. Spoiler alert: Monty gets eaten by a giant shark at the end.

You heard it here first.