Hey folks, Harry here with a report from Sean at well, he explains below, but what he has here is a fantastic rundown on the current state of production on K-19... the Kathryn Bigelow directed Russian Sub Historical Thriller starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson and... well... you'll see below. Sounds great thus far, in what has to be considered a wonderful step in the right direction for Ford... and Neeson. I expect wonderful things from this project... keep your eye on it...
Hi, Harry
.....Sean here from "Harrison Ford Headquarters" ( HarrisonFordOnline.Com ). I hope all is well.
Wanted to send you some news on Harrison Ford's upcoming submarine-thriller "K-19: The Widowmaker."
This report is in six parts --
(1) The official site for the next Harrison Ford thriller is up. You can find "K-19: The Widowmaker's" official site at ( K19Movie.Com ).
(2) For my site, I received a special report from Norway, from a friend who tells me that director Kathryn Bigelow and her team are there scouting locations for the shoot. Submarines and warships are being looked over during the trip as well.
Here's the report, courtesy of my friend Grethe:
<<-----start of report----->>
I picked up the following piece of news from "Aftenposten" on Friday Dec. 1st. (translation and excerpts by me):
"I won't quote names right now, but we're talking big time names" says Petter Borgli, producer with the (local) success thriller "The Belt of Orion" on his CV. The latter movie also has a scenario involving super power politics affecting the Svalbard Islands. "A Russian sub almost blew up in 1961, and we're making a movie about that incident" Borgli is scouting the terrain with the American director Kathryn Bigelow. the only woman director in Hollywood who's ever worked in the action, horror and science fiction genres."
So - the production companies are looking for location sites, and we may find HF on Norwegian soil again if Borgli closes the deal!! Great! A sobering note is that the Svalbard Islands are located in the Barents Sea at roughly 78 degrees north, 20 degrees east -- Svalbard is over 2.500 kilometers from mainland Norway.
<<-----end of report----->>
(3) Two brief synopsis's on what the new Harrison Ford thriller is about (BEWARE OF SPOILERS):
a. In 1961, the crew and captain of Russia's first nuclear ballistic submarine, K-19, discovered that the cooling system in the reactor had failed. With no way of communicating with other Russian ships because of a broken antenna, Zateyev and his second-in-command Yenin (to be played by Liam Neeson) must put aside personal differences to handle the crisis. If they didn't brave the inevitable radiation and try to cool the reactor, the result would have been a Chernobyl-like explosion that could have triggered a nuclear war.
-----synopsis taken from Variety article
( VARIETY ARTICLE ).
b. K-19
The true story of Russia's first nuclear ballistic submarine, which suffered a malfunction in its nuclear reactor on its maiden voyage in the North Atlantic in 1961.
The submarine's crew, led by the unyielding Captain Zateyev, races against time to prevent a Chernobyl-like nuclear explosion which threatens not only the lives of his crew, but has the potential to ignite a world war between the super powers.
-----synopsis taken from official "K-19: The Widowmaker" website ( K19Movie.Com )
(4) Harrison Ford talks "K-19: The Widowmaker":
On choosing this role, Ford said, "The tremendous courage and sense of duty exhibited by the Russian submarine force amid the Cold War struggle for nuclear supremacy inspired me to take on the role of Captain Zateyev."
-----Ford's quote taken from official Intermedia Press Release
( PRESS HERE FOR PRESS RELEASE ).
(5) Extra Info about "K-19: The Widowmaker":
"K-19: The Widowmaker"
Cast:
Harrison Ford (as Captain Zateyev)
Liam Neeson (as Comrade Yenin)
Rod Steiger (as Chief Rvavinsky)
....more to be announced...
Genre:
drama/adventure/thriller
Director:
Kathryn Bigelow
Principle Photography:
starts shooting in February 2001
Shooting Locations:
Russia, Iceland, Norway, Canada & Florida USA
Screenwriters:
Christopher Kyle & Louis Novra
Producers:
Nigel Sinclair & Guy East
Production Companies:
NGF, Intermedia Films & Palomar Films
International Distributor:
Nippon Herald Films
Release Date: Holiday 2001
(6) Intermedia has also set up another website for the cold/war thriller. And it should go up soon. It can be found at TheWidowMaker.Com . Nothing is there right now, but it is registered for future use by Intermedia Films.
Well, that's all for now. Thank you for your time. Please take care.
:)
Sean
Editor/Maintainer -
"Harrison Ford Headquarters"
