Harry here, 3 years ago I read a script by Alan McElroy called THE ARGONAUTS. I adored the script. It was set modern day and involved a master thief that ends up on the hunt for the golden fleece. The pursuit takes them, if memory serves, to Mt Olympus which has long been abandoned by the Gods. Left behind to guard their sacred treasures was the mythological creatures of old. In a section in my book coming out in March I talk about this project and the script as being one of my top ten hope it gets made projects. I adored it. Originally Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise were said to be circling the project, which has been curdling in the script and property archives of DREAMWORKS for years with zero forward momentum.
Well, today Michael Fleming at Variety tells tale that Stephen "MUMMY movies" Sommers has taken charge of the project and will be making it his next project it looks like. However, in the second paragraph of Fleming's update:
"The tale is set on the eve of WWII, when a group of treasure hunters think they've figured out the location of the fabled sunken ship of Jason and the Argonauts, a vessel whose contents are believed to include the mythical golden fleece. The adventurers find themselves back in the land of Greek mythology, battling Cyclops and a minotaur."
It seems that the project has become more 'Mummified'. It is now a pre-WW2 flick, the high tech theiving is now gone in favor of 'treasure hunters' and the original Argo never once figured into the plot of the original McElroy script. Fleming's article also mentions that this was merely a 'pitch' at DREAMWORKS and makes no mention of it being a script... And it states that Sommers and some rascal name of Simon Kinberg fresh out of USC are set to write the script to THE ARGONAUTS.
Now I'm really not all that hot about this. Sommers has a penchant for camp and cheese in his flicks and that original script had nary a single scrap of cheddar at all. In fact, I loved that original script. As much as I love period films, setting it right before WW2 is going to directly call it into comparison with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. That old draft felt like something a bit new, something totally different from just being a regurgitated Indiana Jones style adventure. Now undoubtedly this is the first project to be directly greenlit in the aftermath of LORD OF THE RINGS and HARRY POTTER's amazing box office performances both here in the United States and Internationally.. showing a worldwide hunger for FANTASY film.
I am excited that the project is moving forward at long last, I like that Sommers is saying it is a tribute to Harryhausen's style of filmmaking... and I just hope that he remembers that in Ray's flicks... cheese and corn had no place. Play this straight... please.
Click Here To Read The Original Story Back In 1999 that we ran!!!
