Jason to appear in "Stopping Power"

[catloveyes]

How fantastic for our wonderful Jason and yes I am very fond of John Cusack as well!!!

Now we have 2 movies for our dear Jason...WOW...what a great 2008!!!!

Thank you so much dear Char!!(Hugs)

Hugs,
Kate

[Gillian]

I do believe it's the real thing ...

Well it was pulled off Reuters. That makes it fairly credible.

Hil, I think "Manchester United's" pretty much in development hell, and there's been next to no news for "Football", so until such time as there is, there ain't much else on his dance card. And although the "rent-a-villain" label irks me too, I think it would've been worse had he been paired with say, one of Hollywood's top male action stars. Then you would have been looking at the kind of stereotypical character he's tried so hard to avoid. John Cusack is an interesting choice (and a fine actor - loved his turn in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil") which makes me hope this will be more of a noirish thriller kind of deal, something which I really don't have a problem with, although Jan De Bont and a 51 minute car chase scene is cause for concern.

Can't really comment on Melissa George as I don't think I've seen her.

I should point out too that these kinds of films aren't really bad in and of themselves. They've done much to propel the careers of Alan Rickman and the like, and are a somewhat necessary evil when it comes to self promotion and marketing.

Just about every English actor has had to do one at some point or another, and as a rule, generally mean the difference between a mediocre and good film.

[Chari910]

Headline from CHUD.com


Now that he's moved on from giant shark pictures to landlocked action, Jan de Bont is casting some smart muscle. He's just added Jason Isaacs to the cast of Stopping Power, the film in which John Cusack plays a father forced to cooperate with a kidnapper when an RV with his daughter onboard is hijacked as a criminal's getaway sled.

Isaacs, obviously, is the heavy here. 30 Days of Night's Meliassa George is also on the cast list, to appear as Cusack's girlfriend. He's getting older, yes, but he's still dreamy enough to snog a sexy Australian that's a decade his junior.

(Sorry about 'snog' there. I've read about three British books in a row and it just slipped out. But hey, Black Swan Green, lovely stuff. First bit of 'post-modern lit' I've read in a while that doesn't make me feel like a trendy cunt. Go ahead and buy it from us at Amazon.)

As for the story at hand, I like this matchup. As befits his age, Cusack is getting to the point where he can pull off a complex leading man/hero role, and Isaacs is definitely able to bring a threatening performance to the table even without a cascading revolutionary / sea captain / warlock wig. Though the man-made locks definitely help because you know anyone who looks hard instead of like a Pricilla extra whilst wearing them will .
Stopping Power, as I wrote about ages ago, is based on a story and screenplay by Eric Red. It's part of his comeback, and sort of an elaborate way to tell us how much he likes From Dusk Till Dawn. But Isaacs is an inveterate rewriter, as I saw in action several years ago and friends working on Brotherhood have recently confirmed. So this could end up an About Schmidt remake instead.

(In his defense, the script I saw him rewriting was utter crap. And he wore a wig in that movie, too. What's he trying to cover up?)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason is getting a reputation as a 'script rewriter' LOL

http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=news&id=11532

[Gillian]

LUCIUS MALFOY WANTS YOUR RECREATIONAL VEHICLE

Hmm, maybe they should've called it "Drive Hard".

*cough*

Char, it's interesting that CHUD points that out. We've heard numerous stories of Jason's contributions and ad-libs on previous films. He's also fairly passionate when trying to communicate his own ideas about a character's personality/motivations. Whether De Bont's accommodating in that regard remains to be seen.

Also, wasn't there mention about him and William Fichtner having a go-to in Ridley Scott's trailer on the set of Black Hawk Down regarding the script? Or something to that effect?

[kjshd05]

Last year I asked Blake Masters, on IMDB, if Jason was allowed to
"Ad Lib" his dialogue, something he has done numerous times before.
Mr Blake's reply was no, that he wanted Jason to stay closely to his written script. There was room for discusion if questions, but no changing of dialogue. I guess in the second season, Mr Blake has been more
lenient to suggestions

[Chari910]

Kj, thanks for reminding me about that. We were even worried that Jason might not have been very happy being so restricted.

In his defense, the script I saw him rewriting was utter crap. And he wore a wig in that movie, too. What's he trying to cover up?)

About this comment, I'm thinking Passionada. The writer didn't know that Jaso was bald from BHD at the time. Maybe Jason did have some input about changing the inital (horrible) ending..

[kjshd05]

yes, Char, we were worried he would not be happy, not having any
input into the character...seems this year, he's had a bit more freedom..
his "seizure" scenes are intense...I think when he was bald for BHD, it made him look older...guess the producers of Passionada didn't like
the bald idea...LOL absolutely, I think mr jason had a say about the new, better ending...must remember to ask ...LOL

[AussieJo]

I don't doubt the accuracy of the initial report, I just think this moofie has "stinker" written all over it.

Melissa George is a former Australian soap starlet who headed to LA nearly 10 years ago to seek stardom. She has been in a bunch of failed TV shows and D-grade movies, yet the tabloids and trashy womens' magazines here always talk about has she has "taken Hollywood by storm". I think she's screwing some teeny nu-metal "musician" at the moment or something. That she's the female lead is either a sign that (1) this movie is crap and they couldn't afford anyone better, or (2) she's sleeping with the right people these days. Either way it's not encouraging.

[Marie]

I do believe the re-write came from the poor response the ending got when they showed it at the first draft debut at a festival (or it may have been just an audience test but I thought it was a film festival in Seatle) before they did the re-writing and re-shooting. It was shown with the ending where he wound up in a coma and my understanding was that the audience hated the ending. Of course I might be having a bizzare day and have my movies all mixed up.

[kjshd05]

Marie, U R correct, and I do believe, that is mentioned on the commentary from Jason, Sophia and Dan....that the initial ending was not liked by preview audiences, Dan went back to the producer David Bakalar and asked almost a year later to redue the ending...
The original ending was never acceptable to the cast and director...

[malfoygrandma]

Too bad we can't all have the same perfect taste as some! Cusack and action movies are good for a nice day of entertainment! Keeps poor crippled old ladies and their matching husbands off the streets. Thanks, Char for finding all the nice advertising Jason will get. Hope he gets paid a million!

[Hilary the Touched]

, MG!
Hey, any time I'm dissatisfied with a Jason Isaacs project, all I gotta do is take a deep breath and murmur to myself, "Hooooooooteeeelllll".

And then I feel all better.

My recollection of Passionada is that Bakalar's principal motivation in composing a story was to woo viewers into loving New Bedford. The writers were not from the immediate area, but came down and sort of ended up with a 'menu' of items to incorporate. The story didn't organically evolve around the plot arc. Dan Ireland spoke with affection and admiration of JI, and I think everybody may have benefited from his inspiration and input. Remember, JI joined the cast after they'd already completed some shooting with the original Charlie, Scottish actor David O'Hara, who walked off after 3 weeks or something. I think it was Dan Ireland who talked about what a metamorphosis JI effected on the set.

And I think on the commentary for Black Hawk Down Mark Bowden talked about actors coming to him after shooting: JI kept asking, "How about if we add this for Steele? How about if Steele does this?" but Bill Fichtner's request was always for less--he felt his character ought to be more laconic!

[Helen8]

Hilary the Disgruntled, for its alliteration.

Alliteration? Remember, there's an editor onboard.

[Hilary the Touched]

Yeah, 'cause there's no alliteration.
Hence there must have been another reason, i.e., I'M CRANKY.

[Gillian]

Just thought I'd add ... according to news.com.au, Stopping Power is scheduled to begin shortly and won't wrap till Christmas.