"Independence Day" -- Script Sucks, but Epicly
Gene Huff
>From Daily Variety, June 11, 1993:
>
>The life story of former U.S. government UFO scientist Bob Lazar that
>was recently put into turnaround by Guber-Peters Prod. has been put on
>an earthly fast track by New Line Cinema for director Chuck Russell,
>according to Michael De Luca, New Line's exec Veepee/CEO.
>
>*** Looks like both Campbell and Huff are wrong, technically, but
>I'd side with Campbell because at least he's polite. I think there is
>something more than right or wrong but how well you play the game.
-You're going to be sorry you said that because you are not playing the
game very well and it's fortunate that everyone isn't subject solely to
who you side with as you're totally wrong. Anyway, I'll now give you a
lesson in Lazar movies 101 and when I'm done dancing on your head I
won't even scream cock-a-doodle-doo:).
The first Lazar movie deal was, indeed, with Guber-Peters
entertainment and the producers were David Saunders, Rafael Eisenman,
and Jeff Young. When Sony bought Columbia, Tri-Star, and Guber-Peters
Entertainment, they made Peter Guber the head of everything. This was
the end of Guber-Peters and David Saunders began running Triumph
Releasing. Things were jumbled and the Lazar movie was lost in the
shuffle. Their script, written by Jim Hicks, who writes under the name
Jim Cresson, (He wrote "The Morning After" with Jeff Bridges and Jane
Fonda) had fallen by the wayside. This is the old Lazar movie deal that
Glenn Campbell was referring to because he knows full well that the
current Lazar movie is in pre-production.
The new deal is, indeed, with New Line Cinema and it's producers are
Michael DeLuca, Chuck Russell, and Jon Farhat. Their first screenplay
was written by Roy Carlson who wrote "China Moon" which was kind of a
90's remake of "Body Heat". Carlson is history and the current writer
is David Rabe who wrote "Casualties of War" with Michael J. Fox and
Sean Penn, and he co-wrote "The Firm", starring Tom Cruise and Gene
Hackman, with Robert Towne and David Rayfiel.
I've met Jim Hicks, David Saunders, Rafael Eisenman, Jeff Young, Chuck
Russell, Jon Farhat, Roy Carlson, and though we've never met yet, I've
spoken with David Rabe on the phone a number of times.
Now, as impressive as it is that you read an article in variety, I
stand by my claim that if "Independence Day" was not produced by
Saunders, Eisenman, and Young, then Glenn Campbell has misinformed
everyone by saying that it was produced by those who were to produce
the defunct Lazar movie. Campbell knows about the ongoing deal with New
Line and you are the one who misinterpreted what he said and what I
said.
I defy you, or anyone else for that matter, to find fault with
anything I've stated. BTW, I'd hate to see the slow track if this movie
is on the fast track as they've had it for about 2 years and 9 months
and they don't even have the screenplay done yet!:)
Right and wrong is everything and it really doesn't matter how you
play the game, at least not this one. If Campbell didn't know what he
was talking about, he shouldn't have acted like he did. Now I'm not
saying that, in this instance, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
I've simply aske for confirmation of who, exactly, the producer's of
"Independence Day" are. I doubt that it's Saunders, Eisenman, and Young
did it as if that were true I think they would have been in touch with
Lazar. However, maybe they've surprised me.
I think the one thing that everyone can agree on is that you don't
know what you're talking about. I hope I haven't been to impolite. I'm
completely comfortable with the assessment of anyone reading this
thread of who's right and who's wrong and who does and doesn't have a
brain, Forrest:).-