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Silver Screen Columbus
| Article
# : |
18749 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1991 |
778 Words |
| Author
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Scarlet Cheng
Scarlet Cheng, based in Los Angeles, is a contributing editor
to the arts section of The World & I. |
In our media sensitive age, the quincentenary of the discovery of America simply would not be complete without movies to commemorate the event. In fact, the production of two major feature films about Christopher Columbus is under way. Both promise heavy-duty production teams, top stars--one features Gerard Depardieu and the other Timothy Dalton--and location photography from Spain to the West Indies.
Christopher Columbus: The Discovery is being brought to us by the father-and-son duo of Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the team that produced the first three Superman movies. Apparently, they had originally wanted Ridley Scott to direct, but Scott envisioned a film based on a broader scope, whereas the Salkinds wanted to focus on Columbus' landmark first voyage to America.
"This is a great adventure story, the greatest adventure of all time," Ilya Salkind said during the Cannes Film Festival last May, where the two Columbus projects were competing head-to-head for funding and distributors. "That's the movie we wanted to make." So Scott went off to do his own feature, named simply Christopher Columbus, and the Salkinds ended up getting George Cosmatos to direct, British actor Timothy Dalton to star as the lead, and Mario Puzo, the best-selling novelist who wrote the first two Superman screenplays, to script.
At Cannes both projects were highly touted, with major ads being taken in the trade dailies distributed there. Articles highlighted their rivalry in raising money and in vying for front-runner position in the filmmaking race. The Salkinds hired an aramada of planes pulling banners through the azure sky to advertise their project--reminding us they were the team that produced such smash hero-pics as Superman--and they even brought the sailing models of the three historical caravels to port and had star Dalton posing on board. Meanwhile, Scott had a built-in PR advantage since his film Thelma and Louise was the closing official selection feature at the prestigious French film festival.
For all the brouhaha, the Salkinds' project has not fixed on an American distributor. As of this writing, Universal has an option to distribute it, while the other Columbus flick has already netted a distribution deal with powerful Paramount Pictures.
Scott's Christopher Columbus, starring the ubiquitous Gerard Depardieu (is there any European film that he's not in these days?), is being produced by Scott and Frenchman Alain Goldman, with a script by
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