Vlad the Bosnian Witch Doctor wrote me with a cure for my twisted ankle, and damn if it ain't working wonders. The cure? Take the gauze bandage soak it in brandy and wrap your ankle. The alcohol thins down the swelling and the other ingredients in the brandy help the pain and add to the cure. Fantastic cure, and it smells good too. Especially recommended for you foot fetish people. Anyway lest you think this Witch Doctor is only familiar with cures and Sceamin' Jay Hawkins, the Witch Doctor looked up the stars and told me about THE AGE OF AQUARIUS an upcoming Harrison Ford & Kristin Scott Thomas project.
So on to the movie about the New Age from a Balkans viewpoint. It's a Spielberg production, so it should be a Dreamworks release too, although the moronic newspaper article that ran the story today had nothing to say on that topic. No director has been attached to it(HARRY NOTE: I believe the director is Phil Alden Robinson, who also wrote it. Though I could be wrong) , either, so the only two persons of note involved are Branko Lustig and Harrison Ford, with 'four young Hollywood actresses whom Harrison likes considered for the female lead'. Lustig is, to refresh your memory, the 65-year-old Auschwithz survivor who became one of Croatia's leading international film managers, and won an Oscar for Schindler's List. (HARRY NOTE: I have NO idea who this is!!!)
Spielberg says that it's a protagonist-driven drama, and depending on who the writer is it could be so much more. Sorry about that, ahem. On with the plot.
An American researcher in Africa falls for a Bosnian girl working in an international mission. But the American turns out to be a Scoundrel, and abandons her to avoid deeper intimate entanglements. So she returns to Sarajevo, where the war breaks out in Spring 92. He sees the atrocities on CNN and wherever and starts feeling guilty and concerned for her and decides to go be with her. Which he does by joining a relief organization. So they meet in suicidal conditions in Sarajevo, currently undergoing a three-year-long siege, the worst since Leningrad in WW2. But they have Africa again! A particularly poignant ending is in order when he wants her to go to the States with him after the siege ends in 95 after Allied bombardments (GOD I LOVED THAT) but she decides to stay, because Sarajevo needs her...
Of course, Spielberg should be able to cut the melodramatic crap and give us a real wartime story with deep emotional involvement, which he did so splendidly ten years ago with Empire of the Sun. If he decides to direct (I would prefer him to do Indy Four as reported on your site, though. And, Harry, it's Shambhala, not Shangri-La - the latter is a James Hilton misconstruction.) The locations for Aquarius are Morocco and possibly Congo, with the Bosnian stuff being filmed mainly on sets in Slovakia, with some location work in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. The projected cost is in the neighborhood of 94 M$, and for that kind of dollar value Dreamworks can practially rebuild Sarajevo and bomb it back to ruins. I just hope this does its subject matter some justice, because this is the most delicate of contemporary topics.
I shall try to infiltrate any and all American crews roaming around the pictoresque Croatian countryside, naturalmente.
Just an example that in every country in the world, we geeks live and breathe. We endure the toughest of times in order to see and tell of the coolest things... MOVIES!!!! Great Work Vlad the Witch Doctor!!!!
