It was announced today a theatrical motion picture will be made about Mine That Bird, and his extraordinary journey and triumph at the 2009 Kentucky Derby. The director will be Jim Wilson, Academy Award Winning Producer of Dances With Wolves and many other films including, The Bodyguard, Wyatt Earp and Message in Bottle. Lead producer is Pieter Kroonenburg, who is also president of Kingsborough Pictures.
The film will be a success story for New Mexico’s film industry, with a commitment by the producers to utilize New Mexico crews and talent whenever possible and to shoot the majority of the picture within the state. Mine that Bird is owned by New Mexicans Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach, and was trained on their ranches in Roswell, New Mexico. The owners are Members in the New Mexico LLC, formed to produce the film. Among those being considered for roles in the movie are Mine That Bird,...
The film will be a success story for New Mexico’s film industry, with a commitment by the producers to utilize New Mexico crews and talent whenever possible and to shoot the majority of the picture within the state. Mine that Bird is owned by New Mexicans Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach, and was trained on their ranches in Roswell, New Mexico. The owners are Members in the New Mexico LLC, formed to produce the film. Among those being considered for roles in the movie are Mine That Bird,...
- 11/8/2010
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
Kingsborough Pictures and I Cinema Television Inc. have teamed to option the life rights of late jazz star Chet Baker to develop into a feature film. Producing the project will be Kingsborough topper Pieter Kroonenburg and ICTV president Daniel L'Heureux. Tony Oleshansky and Bill Bannon will executive produce. The project is out to writers and directors. The as-yet-untitled project will center on the year 1960, when Baker lived in Rome. During that time, he was enjoying international stardom and a romance with English fashion model Carol Jackson, who would later become his third wife. Also under the option deal, the producers have acquired the rights to Baker's master recordings, which will be used in the project.
The greatest lion of them all in the African adventure "To Walk With Lions" is Richard Harris. Playing George Adamson, the English expatriate who spent the majority of his adult life rehabilitating lions to be reintroduced into the African wild, Harris turns himself into a lion.
Harris' long white hair and beard -- looking remarkably like Adamson -- quiet dignity, lion bellows and obstinate refusal to bend to anyone else's will convinces us and his lions that he is one of them. Indeed, he is their leader.
A rousing, old-fashioned (in that best meaning of that term) tale of human courage, this film has come to the Toronto International Film Festival to seek distribution after a debut at the Seattle Film Festival. Mainly financed by Canadian producer Pieter Kroonenburg's GFT Kingsborough Films, "Lions" does present a marketing challenge. Its willingness to look on the gamy side of life certainly prevents its promotion as Disney-type kids fare.
But there are so many other hooks here -- a robust African yarn, terrific performances, the magnificent Kenyan countryside lovingly shot by Jean Lepine and a theme of animal conservation that gets more timely with each passing year -- that an ambitious distributor could make an impact with this film not only theatrically but in ancillary markets.
To call this a sequel to "Born Free" misrepresents both films made in different times for different audiences. "Born Free", made in 1966, showed how George and his wife Joy Adamson were able to return Elsa the lioness to the wild. It was a fairly benign story accompanied by a best-selling song. The new film tells of the uneasy friendship between George Adamson and a wild, young English ex-pat Tony Fitzjohn (John Michie), who quite accidentally gets hired to work at Adamson's Kora game compound.
A hard-drinking womanizer who lives an unprincipled and irresponsible life, Fitzjohn accepts the job only because he's desperate for a few bob. Uneasy around the lions, Fitzjohn is ready to bolt at a moment's notice. But living with George and his antisocial brother Terence (Ian Bannen), who prefers elephants to lions, Fitzjohn grows to admire that which he fears. Besides, plenty of women and booze turn up at Kora to keep him happy.
Hungarian-born Australian director Carl Schultz ("Careful, He Might Hear You") neatly balances the rich characters and the compelling story lines with the natural inclination to feast visually on the glorious African landscapes. The film manages to recall not only those old African melodramas Hollywood once made but also movies like "Out of Africa".
Its characters are people smitten with the land, and, the film also makes clear, people who sometimes forget whose land this is and people who sometimes care more about animals than natives.
The film begins during the 1970s and ends with Adamson's murder in 1989. Adamson's effect on Fitzjohn, who is basically Adamson's younger self, is seen in the fact that Fitzjohn now runs Tanzania's Mkomazi game reserve and spends much time traveling to raise money and the world's consciousness about the damage poachers and bandits cause in the African wild.
But the film concentrates on the human adventure as the cocky younger man learns how to work and communicate with dangerous beasts, struggles to overcome his hot temper, especially when drunk, and romances an English anthropologist (Kerry Fox), who has plenty of reasons to doubt his sincerity.
The film takes only the occasional potshot at its predecessor. Terence mocks his brother by humming the "Born Free" theme song. And the Joy Adamson who briefly turns up here (played by James Bond veteran Honor Blackman) is more a rough-around-the-edges socialite whose interest in wildlife only barely includes lions. (Reportedly, the real Joy Adamson never shared the profits from her book and movie deal with her husband's game preserve.)
Harris, puffing thoughtfully on his pipe and strolling with his lions, dominates the film as the old lion who must teach his cubs how to defend their territory. He seldom speaks above a whisper and allows his face little opportunity to betray his inner emotions.
Michie is a genuine discovery in this film. A bare-chested hunk with plenty of sex appeal and the acting moxie to go with it, Michie makes a captivating Fitzjohn, a man whose spiritual growth the movie ably charts. Nor does it hurt that Michie lived in Kenya for much of his youth and speaks Swahili.
TO WALK WITH LIONS
IAC Films & Television
in association with GFT Kingsborough Films/
Studio Eight Prods./Simba Prods.
Producers: Pieter Kroonenburg, Julie Allan
Director: Carl Schultz
Screenwriters: Sharon Buckingham, Keith Ross Leckie
Executive producer: John Buchanan
Director of photography: Jean Lepine
Production designer: Michael Devine
Music: Alan Reeves
Costume designer: Suzy Belcher
Editor: Angelo Corrao
Color/stereo
Cast:
George Adamson: Richard Harris
Tony Fitzjohn: John Michie
Lucy Jackson: Kerry Fox
Terence Adamson: Ian Bannen
Maxwell: Hugh Quarshie
Joy Adamson: Honor Blackman
Victoria Andrecelli: Geraldine Chaplin
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Harris' long white hair and beard -- looking remarkably like Adamson -- quiet dignity, lion bellows and obstinate refusal to bend to anyone else's will convinces us and his lions that he is one of them. Indeed, he is their leader.
A rousing, old-fashioned (in that best meaning of that term) tale of human courage, this film has come to the Toronto International Film Festival to seek distribution after a debut at the Seattle Film Festival. Mainly financed by Canadian producer Pieter Kroonenburg's GFT Kingsborough Films, "Lions" does present a marketing challenge. Its willingness to look on the gamy side of life certainly prevents its promotion as Disney-type kids fare.
But there are so many other hooks here -- a robust African yarn, terrific performances, the magnificent Kenyan countryside lovingly shot by Jean Lepine and a theme of animal conservation that gets more timely with each passing year -- that an ambitious distributor could make an impact with this film not only theatrically but in ancillary markets.
To call this a sequel to "Born Free" misrepresents both films made in different times for different audiences. "Born Free", made in 1966, showed how George and his wife Joy Adamson were able to return Elsa the lioness to the wild. It was a fairly benign story accompanied by a best-selling song. The new film tells of the uneasy friendship between George Adamson and a wild, young English ex-pat Tony Fitzjohn (John Michie), who quite accidentally gets hired to work at Adamson's Kora game compound.
A hard-drinking womanizer who lives an unprincipled and irresponsible life, Fitzjohn accepts the job only because he's desperate for a few bob. Uneasy around the lions, Fitzjohn is ready to bolt at a moment's notice. But living with George and his antisocial brother Terence (Ian Bannen), who prefers elephants to lions, Fitzjohn grows to admire that which he fears. Besides, plenty of women and booze turn up at Kora to keep him happy.
Hungarian-born Australian director Carl Schultz ("Careful, He Might Hear You") neatly balances the rich characters and the compelling story lines with the natural inclination to feast visually on the glorious African landscapes. The film manages to recall not only those old African melodramas Hollywood once made but also movies like "Out of Africa".
Its characters are people smitten with the land, and, the film also makes clear, people who sometimes forget whose land this is and people who sometimes care more about animals than natives.
The film begins during the 1970s and ends with Adamson's murder in 1989. Adamson's effect on Fitzjohn, who is basically Adamson's younger self, is seen in the fact that Fitzjohn now runs Tanzania's Mkomazi game reserve and spends much time traveling to raise money and the world's consciousness about the damage poachers and bandits cause in the African wild.
But the film concentrates on the human adventure as the cocky younger man learns how to work and communicate with dangerous beasts, struggles to overcome his hot temper, especially when drunk, and romances an English anthropologist (Kerry Fox), who has plenty of reasons to doubt his sincerity.
The film takes only the occasional potshot at its predecessor. Terence mocks his brother by humming the "Born Free" theme song. And the Joy Adamson who briefly turns up here (played by James Bond veteran Honor Blackman) is more a rough-around-the-edges socialite whose interest in wildlife only barely includes lions. (Reportedly, the real Joy Adamson never shared the profits from her book and movie deal with her husband's game preserve.)
Harris, puffing thoughtfully on his pipe and strolling with his lions, dominates the film as the old lion who must teach his cubs how to defend their territory. He seldom speaks above a whisper and allows his face little opportunity to betray his inner emotions.
Michie is a genuine discovery in this film. A bare-chested hunk with plenty of sex appeal and the acting moxie to go with it, Michie makes a captivating Fitzjohn, a man whose spiritual growth the movie ably charts. Nor does it hurt that Michie lived in Kenya for much of his youth and speaks Swahili.
TO WALK WITH LIONS
IAC Films & Television
in association with GFT Kingsborough Films/
Studio Eight Prods./Simba Prods.
Producers: Pieter Kroonenburg, Julie Allan
Director: Carl Schultz
Screenwriters: Sharon Buckingham, Keith Ross Leckie
Executive producer: John Buchanan
Director of photography: Jean Lepine
Production designer: Michael Devine
Music: Alan Reeves
Costume designer: Suzy Belcher
Editor: Angelo Corrao
Color/stereo
Cast:
George Adamson: Richard Harris
Tony Fitzjohn: John Michie
Lucy Jackson: Kerry Fox
Terence Adamson: Ian Bannen
Maxwell: Hugh Quarshie
Joy Adamson: Honor Blackman
Victoria Andrecelli: Geraldine Chaplin
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/20/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A well-received world premiere selection at last month's Palm Springs Film Festival, "The Call of the Wild" is a pleasant surprise. Much more faithful to Jack London's 1903 classic than the two Hollywood versions (1935, 1972), Peter Svatek's vigorously mounted adventure deserves to be seen on the big screen, although video and cable are its most likely venues for striking it rich.
A friendly movie for school-age children, although there is plenty of frontier violence and tragedy, the appeal of "Call" is not limited to young boys or families. Joining the likes of "The Secret Garden" and "Black Beauty", "Call of the Wild" takes a chance with old-fashioned storytelling and is heavily narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.
Like "Black Beauty", the period story is episodic and presents a credible scenario that romantically and realistically incorporates a four-legged hero who has a soul and destiny, friends and enemies, and a history that becomes a legend.
Filmed splendidly in Quebec, with many exteriors involving animals and frigid conditions, "Call" is the story of Buck, a Leonberger (a cross between a St. Bernard, Labrador and Great Pyrenees) who is shanghaied one day and put to work on a sled in the wild gold-rush era of Alaska and the Yukon.
Strong but not used to the cruelty of man and fellow animals, Buck learns rapidly that the harsh but fair laws of nature control the destinies of men and dogs. The howling of wolves in the forest and several encounters where Buck must fight and even kill his foes awaken primal instincts, but the stupidity and carelessness of greedy humans almost does Buck in.
Rutger Hauer as John Thornton, Buck's bearish friend in the wilderness, heads the fine cast, which includes Luc Morissette as the French-Canadian courier who first treats Buck with kindness.
Portrayed in the past by Clark Gable and Charlton Heston, Hauer's character is a dreamer and a survivor. When he saves Buck from a group of desperate gold-seekers and sure death, the injured dog learns of the power of love.
Proud of his new friend, loner Thornton wins a big bet in town when Buck pulls a heavily loaded sled. The pair then go in search of a lost gold mine. Buck's ultimate embracing of the wild life is beautifully evoked, but the kill-or-be-killed laws of the north are brutal.
Prague-born director Svatek ("Witchboard: The Possession"), who was raised and still lives in Montreal, and cinematographer Sylvain Brault provide many memorable scenes in the well-realized project.
THE CALL OF THE WILD
Hallmark Entertainment
Fries Schultz Film Group
Kingsborough-Greenlight Pictures
Blue Rider Pictures
A Peter Svatek film
Director Peter Svatek
Producers Pieter Kroonenburg, Julie Allan
Writer Graham Ludlow
Based on the novel by Jack London
Executive producers John Buchanan, Gary Howsam, Jeff Geoffray, Walter Josten
Director of photography Sylvain Brault
Production designer Michael Devine
Music Alan Reeves
Editor Denis Papillion
Costume designer Claire Nadon
Casting Vera Miller, Nadia Rona, Rosina Bucci
Color/stereo
Cast:
John Thornton Rutger Hauer
Narrator Richard Dreyfuss
Mercedes Bronwen Booth
Hal Charles Powell
Charles Burke Lawrence
Perrault Luc Morissette
Running time -- 91 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A friendly movie for school-age children, although there is plenty of frontier violence and tragedy, the appeal of "Call" is not limited to young boys or families. Joining the likes of "The Secret Garden" and "Black Beauty", "Call of the Wild" takes a chance with old-fashioned storytelling and is heavily narrated by Richard Dreyfuss.
Like "Black Beauty", the period story is episodic and presents a credible scenario that romantically and realistically incorporates a four-legged hero who has a soul and destiny, friends and enemies, and a history that becomes a legend.
Filmed splendidly in Quebec, with many exteriors involving animals and frigid conditions, "Call" is the story of Buck, a Leonberger (a cross between a St. Bernard, Labrador and Great Pyrenees) who is shanghaied one day and put to work on a sled in the wild gold-rush era of Alaska and the Yukon.
Strong but not used to the cruelty of man and fellow animals, Buck learns rapidly that the harsh but fair laws of nature control the destinies of men and dogs. The howling of wolves in the forest and several encounters where Buck must fight and even kill his foes awaken primal instincts, but the stupidity and carelessness of greedy humans almost does Buck in.
Rutger Hauer as John Thornton, Buck's bearish friend in the wilderness, heads the fine cast, which includes Luc Morissette as the French-Canadian courier who first treats Buck with kindness.
Portrayed in the past by Clark Gable and Charlton Heston, Hauer's character is a dreamer and a survivor. When he saves Buck from a group of desperate gold-seekers and sure death, the injured dog learns of the power of love.
Proud of his new friend, loner Thornton wins a big bet in town when Buck pulls a heavily loaded sled. The pair then go in search of a lost gold mine. Buck's ultimate embracing of the wild life is beautifully evoked, but the kill-or-be-killed laws of the north are brutal.
Prague-born director Svatek ("Witchboard: The Possession"), who was raised and still lives in Montreal, and cinematographer Sylvain Brault provide many memorable scenes in the well-realized project.
THE CALL OF THE WILD
Hallmark Entertainment
Fries Schultz Film Group
Kingsborough-Greenlight Pictures
Blue Rider Pictures
A Peter Svatek film
Director Peter Svatek
Producers Pieter Kroonenburg, Julie Allan
Writer Graham Ludlow
Based on the novel by Jack London
Executive producers John Buchanan, Gary Howsam, Jeff Geoffray, Walter Josten
Director of photography Sylvain Brault
Production designer Michael Devine
Music Alan Reeves
Editor Denis Papillion
Costume designer Claire Nadon
Casting Vera Miller, Nadia Rona, Rosina Bucci
Color/stereo
Cast:
John Thornton Rutger Hauer
Narrator Richard Dreyfuss
Mercedes Bronwen Booth
Hal Charles Powell
Charles Burke Lawrence
Perrault Luc Morissette
Running time -- 91 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/10/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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