Movies you'd like to see (or even make)

I’ve long wanted to make a series of historical movies, based on the lives of real historical figures. More than that, I wanted to really develop them as flawed, but real human beings who had dreams, faults, but also noble traits. I’m not in film and could never do it, but I can still dream it.

My favored figures are:

Custer. A brave and innovative young officer (Brigadier at 23!), often brash, rude, and unwise, but able to ride and defeat the Confederate cavalry on their own terms and with a strong sense of honor and duty (he turned down a $10,000generalship of Mexican troops, allied to the U.S., because the government disapproved). He adventured in the west as a cavalry officer after the Civil War. He’d make a great biography, just because of the drama of his real life, and the compact time in which it occurs.

Grant. Often misunderstood and dismissed, Grant may have been the single greatest general in American history. But as cool as his Civil War life was, I’d like to focus on his Presidency, because it was one of the most unique administrations. Grant had his failures, yet he was also perhaps the most forward-thinking President in American history. I think a period drama of his administration’s work in building up the still-shattered South, supressing the KKK, and finding ways to bring AmerIndians into the American fold would be a fascinating film.

Cicero. The Last of the Romans himself. Cicero is great becaue he was a snarky talker who loved a snappy comeback, but who also struggled heroically to keep the Republic alive. In this role, he would fight as much, if not more, against self-sabotagers like Cato as against Caesar and Pompey - who were his friends! In the end, Cicero’s life can be seen as a tragedy, but not quite the Greek one. He’s not brought down by his own faults, but by the faults of others, and the Roman civil wars tear apart his family as well as his friendhsips and dreams. Yet along the way he truly exemplified the greatness of Rome: its ability to appreciate talent of any source, the best of Republican principles, and a streak of earthy solidity.

The Romanovs. Who boy, talk about drama. As with so many RUssian leaders, they were torn between progressive impulses and the need to keep RUssia from completely exploding into civil war, yet made worse by the industrial age. Then factor in the strange case of Rasputin and, well, the whoel story writes itself.

OK, there’s a few idea, but what about yours? What do you want to see made? Some super-hard sci-fi? A love story about zambonis? A remake of Citizen Kane, only twice as long?

I’d love to see “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” but they’d probably screw it up and make it a about explosions.

Also “The Fool’s Progress.”

If I ever have the money, I’m going to make sure that Phil Dick’s Ubik screenplay gets made into film, and gets made properly.

I’d also love to see The Man In The High Castle get made as a film, but at this point in time, I think the division of the US as a loser in WW2 is too dated to have much impact on the film-going public. Still, I think the themes it explores are excellent and would love to see them on the silver screen.

The Stars my Destination (“Tyger, Tyger” in Britain) – it has a killer opening that I’ve filmed in my head several times. I think, despite what naysayers have said, that you can make a helluva movie out of this.

The Demolished Man, too, as long as we’re on Alfred Bester.

Arena, as I’ve said many times. Fredric Brown’s short story has been ripped off numerous times, but never filmed.

The Devil’s Alternative – Frederick Forsyth Cold War thriller. Now it’d have to be a period piece.

I, Robot – I still want to see Ellison’s script of Asimov’s book filmed.

Gravity’s Rainbow, but it would have to be twenty hours long and still not have a real ending. If anyone’s considering this, please hurry while John Goodman’s still around to play Major Duane Marvy.

I think a good TV miniseries or show could be made out of the story of the US revolution and the early years of the US government especially their efforts to gain recognition by other nations and diplomatic efforts. You’d have to compress events a little and play a little loose with dates but I always found it very interesting. The US really was in a unique position as a new nation basically, often you get the sense they were fumbling into the expected roles and stuff, it raises lots of great questions about fundamental concepts like what exactly is the point a country becomes “real” etc.

I think a good story is there about flawed men trying to create a country from scratch and that story.

I’d love to make a movie about the woman we named our daughter “Moon Unit” after. My “Tante Lune” was an amazing woman, as I describe in this [post=10457110]post[/post]. A female MD in the 1930s, a resistance fighter in WWII, brilliant and up on world affairs well into her 90s. I’m afraid Hollywood would not “get” the ending - that by living decades in peaceful retirement she had the best and happiest ending of all.

I forgot to list one earlier (I was at work, so my time was limited).

The first I knew of Mick Farren was a book I bought at an airport bookstore, to kill time on the flight. I didn’t know at the time that it was Part 1 of 2, nor did I know just how hard it would be to find Part 2 of 2. It took me almost 22 years to track down the final book, but I did it because I loved reading Phaid the Gambler so much.

I’ve got about half of that book written as a screenplay, and even if it was made from someone else’s final draft (Mick are you working on this?), I’d love to see both parts of The Song of Phaid the Gambler made into films.

I have asked my daughter to make Niven amd Pournelle’s **Footfall **into a film, or to at least make a student project of the launch of the Archangel Michael.

I also am still waiting for a good visual treatment of the HMS Thunder Child sacrificing herself to protect the last refugee ships escaping London.

I’d like to see a full on Fantasy Action movie all about the Maori demi-god Maui, incorporating the familiar myths, and ascribing a couple of other Pacific Island mythologies to him to flesh out the story a bit.

But not in the style of 300/Spartacus/Clash of the Titans. More along the lines of Lord of the Rings or Pirates of the Caribbean.

I’d love to see The War of the Worlds done as a Victorian period piece, but with a big budget, consistent and accurate CGI, accurate reproductions of the real locations as they were in the 1890s, etc. If only the recent US version had been done that way!

How about a remix of The Lord of the Rings with less battle footage but bigger landscapes? I mean, it took place across much of a continent. The river Anduin should have been the size of the Mississippi.

And I’d also like to see a bio-pic of L L Zamenhof, the creator of Esperanto.

The Mote in God’s Eye.

The film I most wish to see produced is the story of Juan Pujol. I’ve been working on his Wikipedia page, trying to get it to Featured Article quality in time for the next anniversary of D-Day.

His story gets more incredible the more I learn. A double-agent on the side of the Allies in World War II, he received an MBE from King George VI and the Iron Cross from Hitler. Because of him, 22 German divisions including Rommel’s tanks were not at Normandy.

He was, quite possibly, the greatest bullshit artist who ever lived.

You do realize that those myths aren’t familiar at all to the vast majority of the planet’s moviegoers.

Personally, I’d love to see a movie about Archimedes. I mean, we’re talking the guy who single-handedly held off the most powerful military in the world, for decades-- Hollywood loves that stuff. And pick the right actor, and you’ll have about half the population wanting to see it just for the Eureka scene.

Of course I do. That’d change after they watched the movie. :slight_smile:

Or are you asking me to link to some so you can learn them too? Because I would like to think I don’t have to handhold you for that.

You described the HBO mini-series *John Adams* almost to the letter. It’s quite excellent.

Faith and Fire. Cliff’s notes version: Miriya’s a born soldier, disgraced after a psychic terrorist escaped from her custody. Verity is a doctor whose sister - one of Miriya’s subordinates - was killed during the escape. Together, they [del]fight crime[/del] hunt him down, and discover that this is more than one lone psychopath.

I’ve said before on SDMB that I’d like to see a movie about the life and times of Joshua Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico. He was one of the country’s great eccentrics, and the citizens of San Francisco not only humored him, they honored him. It’s unclear whether Norton was really crazy, or just crazy like a fox.

I’m not a huge Depp fan, but I think he’d be perfect for the star of a bio-pic of Alberto Santos-Dumont, eccentric pioneer aviator. He designed and flew airplanes and some of the first dirigibles.

The Revolutionary War was an important time in American history, but that was just ideological pledges and insurrection. The 20 years after the war was over shaped what we wanted into how to make it possible. I don’t know how a writer and director could make it fascinating as a film, but its a period in American history that’s vital to understand and almost completely unknown to the general public.

If I was a history teacher at a high school or college that’s what I’d focus on.