[LM24] New Hollywood Le Mans film project

[Simmi]

Crazy news. Tony and Ridley Scott to make a Le Mans film based around the 1950s/1960s era!!!

Here is all the PR bumf:

http://www.fremantlemedia.com/news/n...e_Drivers.aspx

Thoughts? I believe it was Tony Scott who directed Days of Thunder. Who will play the Rodriguez brothers?

[Simmi]

Ok looks like it is actually a TV show. A lot of film makers moving to TV these days to flesh stuff out.

[dxk1]

I always thought a feature on Pierre Eugene Alfred Bouillin (Pierre Levegh) would be a very interesting piece. It could focus his early life as an ice hockey and tennis star to his racing career covering his heartbreak at Le Mans in 1952 where he drove singlehanded and was in the lead in a Talbot with one hour to go before he blew the gearbox to his disastrous accident in in 1955 where he and 80 spectators were killed.

DK

[rich07]

Whatever they do they'd better do it right and not rely on a bunch of crap CGI.

[Tourer]

Well, the cars still exist and the circuit is still there (although to make it look authentic it would need some CGI work) so it is definitely possible.

Could be really good if done well.

[rich07]

I dont mind CGI as long as its used sparingly and is quality work, this could be very good if done the right way.

[GT6]

this period is one that will certainly get the interest of the car lovers but it will be interesting to see who they portray as the heroes and who get the bad press

[Mal]

Ford / Shelby will be the heroes; Ferrari will be the villains

[Tim the Grey]

Could be Jaguar/Ferrari, or possibly the Aston with Carroll Shelby vs the "Red Hordes"?

Shelby's life story? Pig Farmer to Car Manufacturer. Lets them play with 250 GTOs that way!

I look forward to more info, as it comes out.

[NaBUru38]

I care about CGI because it ruins the immersion. See FnF - I love the series, but the chase and race scenes are usually terrible because you can feel they are computer-made. In comparison, Jason Statham's amazing The Death Race is real and therefore it makes it more thrilling, like the character could actually get hurt.

[Aysedasi]

It sounds pretty essential to me to have some Le Mans experts on board when making the film - people who will be able to say whether the CGI is good enough.....

[Simmi]

Even some of the finest recent prestige TV shows have had shonky CGI. If anyone watched The Walking Dead for example.

One thing you can say is that this project is in the right hands with two of the best action directors in the business. I'd hope they would aim a little higher than Death Race.

[Le Vieux]

When we think back to old films with incredibly bad imagery - for example, model ships being blown up in water tanks made to represent the open seas - we should be thankful foe CGIs. True, some still leave a little to be desired, but when done well, they're very good and the standard seems to be improving all the while.

Films about motor racing tend to be in one of two categories: There's the motor racing film with feeble plot such as McQueen's Le Mans or there's the plot with a motor racing background such as the 1956 film Checkpopint, featuring the Mille Miglia.

The title of this series makes me wonder if it's going to be more of a documentary series about the drivers who raced at LM during this period. If so, it may well rely simply on archive film material, rather than trying to recreate scenes of 50-60 years ago.

Just as a matter of interest (and if this takes off it may require a new thread) what feature films (as opposed to ducumentaries) have there been that have included LM?
I'd start the ball rolling with the 1966 film Un homme et une femme.

[deggis]

According to IMDB it is a tv series: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1827269/

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Le Vieux

Just as a matter of interest (and if this takes off it may require a new thread) what feature films (as opposed to ducumentaries) have there been that have included LM?
I'd start the ball rolling with the 1966 film Un homme et une femme.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0307156/