Alrighty folks here's a project to get excited by... Wim Wenders is one of them certifiable genius in the field of filmmaking.... Someone never ever to pass by with out checking out what he's doing. I tell ya, this one'll probably be a winner with a capitol W. It's got a cool cast, and a pretty cool script with more twists and turns than anything I'm gonna tell ya about.... BUT if you have to know some of this sci-fi film noirish film then continue reading, otherwise turn away.... the knowledge that it is a Wim Wenders project starring Mel Gibson, Milla Jovovich, Amanda Plummer, Gloria Stuart, Jeremy Davies and Jimmy Smits should be enough to get your cork popped. So go off and celebrate, and only read below if ya want a sampling of the spoilers. Otherwise... adieu...
sommerset o'neil reporting from sunny and glamorous hollywood, california. actually, it gets kinda boring around here - you know, 75 degrees and sunny everyday - what a snooze :o)
anyway, i have recently had the opportunity to read the script for the now-filming wim wenders / bono project "the million dollar hotel." but, before i spout forth my opinion, let me let you in on some production info.
actors singed onto the film are as follows: mel gibson, jeremy davies, milla jovovich, amanda plummer, jimmy smits, gloria stuart, ellen cleghorne, and bud cort. those are the names i recognized, at least
ok - back to the script. the story takes place in a not-too-far in the future LA, more specifically the grungy downtown area. the center of the action is, you guessed it, a hotel. a seedy one at that. it begins with an investigation into the death of one of the hotel's residents, an artist named izzy. while his death looked like a suicide (he supposedly jumped off the building), his father is convinced that his son was murdered. he therefore hires the top-of-the-line, ball-busting fbi agent skinner (mel gibson). i'm not sure if they are carrying this element of his character into the film (i will have to contact my source), but in the script he is described as a conehead. yes, a bald guy with a head a few inches larger than everyone else's that he gets a lot of weird looks for. ok..... so, skinner doesn't like the hotel because it is inhabited entirely by wackos. a guy who thinks he wrote all the beatles music. a mexican whose dead mother tells him who is to be saved and who damned, and he draws x's and o's over the people accordingly. you dig? well, izzy roomed with another artist, geronimo (jimmy smits), who tries to exploit izzy's art after his well-publicized death. why well-publicized? it turns out that izzy wasn't just some junkie artist - his father is samuel goldkiss, a millionare mogul. skinner focuses his investigation on izzy's seemingly closest friends - somewhat slow tom tom (jeremy davies) and street-whore-bruised-angel eloise (milla jovovich). of course romance between them ensues, and there is a twist in finding out who pushed izzy. or wait, did he jump?? hummmmmmmmmmmm......
my opinion? well, the story seemed a bit broad to me. stereotypical characters and a hybridly familiar plotline. BUT i have faith in wim - i think he can make this movie more interesting than the script. i also think that the actors can make their characters a bit more unique and fleshed-out than they were on paper. BUT, then again, i read the script for "the lost highway," thought it was the bomb, and just look what happened to that. well, ya just never know.
buddy holly? i'll have the five-dollar-shake......
sommerset o'neil
