Patrick McGoohan's movie script
Mark Hockley
movie again (I've read it at least half a dozen times now) and I felt
the need to pass on some of my thoughts to my fellow admirers of his
work.
Firstly you should understand that Patrick's script for The Prisoner
movie is not in active development. Another screenplay by Konner and
Rosenthal (who most recently wrote Might Joe Young) is currently being
worked on with Simon West attached to direct. Of course, depending on
how the script turns out all of this could change. But it seems
likely that a major shift in control of the project, along the lines
of someone like Mel Gibson becoming involved and championing Patrick's
original script, would be required for the screenplay I've just read
to make it to the big screen.
To be fair, Patrick’s script is not what you would call commercial.
To some extent it asks the viewer to have some knowledge of what has
gone before and it benefits (or suffers if you are a studio
executive!) from all of those elements, allegorical and otherwise,
that made the series so memorable and thought provoking.
So that you have at least some idea of what I'm talking about, it's
necessary to tell you that the script continues the story played out
in The Prisoner series. It is a sequel or a continuation.
Ironically, whilst giving every fan of the Prisoner a tremendous gift,
this was probably Patrick’s big mistake. I think the studio was
looking for a new version of the original premise. They didn't get
it!
What they did get was pretty much the ideal conclusion to what is an
enigmatic, often mystifying but ultimately rewarding puzzle.
Admittedly, Patrick steers the story away from dwelling on why the
things that happened in the series happened. He's not interested in
answering those questions and rightfully so. Instead he takes the
concept forward, using his own character of No.6 (now given a name,
although a cryptic one) as the linchpin and focuses on what I feel
sure is Patrick's own prime concern. Where is humanity heading in the
future? Toward enlightenment or oblivion?
Another reason why it would be difficult to make this script into a
major feature film is because it does not play be the rules. In terms
of what is expected for a big budget picture anyway. It’s pure
McGoohan! The dialogue shines with Patrick's individualistic, unique
word-play; no-one writes dialogue quite like him. The story is
intellectual, although he does makes a game attempt to insert at least
a little action into the proceedings. But really when you come right
down to it, Patrick McGoohan's Prisoner script is another allegorical
conundrum, just as it should be if it is to remain true to the spirit
of the original.
He should have known he couldn't get away it. But you have to admire
him all the more for trying.
dr
Mark Hockley a écrit dans le message <3686561...@news.tesco.net>...
>I've just re-read Patrick McGoohan's script for the proposed Prisoner
>movie again (I've read it at least half a dozen times now) and I felt
>the need to pass on some of my thoughts to my fellow admirers of his
>work.
Would you be kind enough to tell us where you read this ??
DR
Kriss Bakkin
I've just re-read Patrick McGoohan's script for the
proposed Prisoner
movie again (I've read it at least half a dozen times now) and I felt
the need to pass on some of my thoughts to my fellow admirers of his
work.
********************************************************
HOW DO YOU HAVE THIS??!!? Can you post it? Is there a URL to go to to
download it? I'd love to read this.....I'd love to read both scripts,
actually. Has McGoohan written any books?
Any assistance is greatly appreciated......
Kriss Bakkin
The Secular
http://home.earthlink.net/~larshus
Barbara J. Pruett
I have noticed the beginning of a discussion about the movie script for
The Prisoner film. Under the circumstances, I thought I would take the
opportunity to let the readers of this newsgroup know how movie scripts
are handled by the writers and the film company producing the movie.
Simply put, the script draftsthat are being written, or have been
written, for films that are still in the pre-production stage are not
considered public information.
The film script and/or various drafts that Mr. McGoohan may have
written for the film are not available for public reading at this
point. The script drafts have only been made available to authorized
people working directly with the film production company. This is
simply standard operating procedure for any film production.
As with any unpublished work, a script may NOT be legally reproduced
in full or in part without the permission of the author
of the script. Mr. McGoohan has not authorized any printing of
his script, nor has he discussed it with anyone other than his
colleagues on the production.
Barbara Pruett
Webmaster for the
Patrick McGoohan Home Page
Brian Watson
>Dear Readers,
>
>I have noticed the beginning of a discussion about the movie script for
>The Prisoner film.
<remainder snipped>
The readers of this newsgroup and people beyond it who were richly
entertained and intellectually challenged by the original Prisoner TV series
are obviously very interested in the possibility of a Prisoner movie and
hungry for hard information. This includes all the "it's on, it's off" "he
is, he isn't involved" rumours, and sooner or later there are likely to be
leaks of real information.
It happens in connection with every other movie project of any worth, as
well as many projects with much thinner potential, so that it happens with
this one should come as no surprise to anyone involved with it.
It is also to be expected that the author of any proposed script, whoever
he/she is, and regardless of whether their involvement is current in any
capacity, will regard a leak as a breach of confidentiality which may
jeopardise the viability and potential success of the project. In addition,
any such leak could amount to a breach of contract if the "leaker" has a
legitimate right to hold the script, conditional on the terms in a signed
agreement.
It is, no question about it, a breach of copyright law if the published
reports quote from the script. I am not so sure about copyright law if
plotlines and integral concepts are discussed without quoting, but I would
assume that a studio would require *extremely* tight non-disclosure
agreements to be signed by anyone involved in a project, and that these
might well preclude *any* leaks of *any* kind.
So, if the source posting here holds a script legitimately, they are
probably bound by a non-disclosure agreement of some sort and now would be a
very good time to read it again.
It might also be a good time to consider carefully how much they enjoy
continued working in movies as, if these are leaks of real information, the
fact that this person has let them out would not be good news to have going
around in the business, in addition to any legal proceeding which might
result.
In conclusion, while I am very sympathetic to both sides in this matter,
what I *really* want is for the business to get its corporate finger out and
get on with making what *should* be as remarkable a piece of movie-making as
the original TV series was in it's medium.
--
Brian
Mark Hockley
this newsgroup or anyone else. I made a promise that I would never do
so and I consider myself a man of my word. I merely wanted to pass on
to other admirers of Patrick McGoohan's work, some of my thoughts on
the project. I think if you read what I posted carefully, there are
no plot details and the main revelation (although it has appeared in
various other places before) was that the script was a sequel or a
continuation.
Let me make it clear that my intention was only to show support for
Patrick McGoohan's work.
I apologise if I have upset or offended anyone in what was a genuine,
heart-felt post.
Mark Hockley
dr
really talk about it . The way you presented it , it looked as though
everybody but me had read this script ! ! :)
DR
Mark Hockley a écrit dans le message <368774ed...@news.tesco.net>...
Richsprt
me) :)
Brian Watson
>How did you get a copy of the script? Is it available to someone else ?
(like
>me) :)
Some while ago when he posted here, he made it plain that *he* has a
legitimate reason to have a copy of the script and he meant well by
discussing some of the contents of it here.
His motives have raised objections which have been voiced here by the
writer's spokesperson.
That's the situation.
--
Brian
Dale Sherman
that the concept of the movie would be to go BEYOND what was done in the
series and not just do a rehash of the series' storyline.
While I thought the DC Comic Book series from a few years ago was utter
claptrap, I seem to recall that PMcG did okay the storyline. The idea of
moving the story on to another character and finding new topics of
discussion under THE PRISONER umbrella was a great one, I felt. Thus,
while I didn't care for the comic book series, I at least felt there was
something new going on.
I hope for the best with the movie. However, if the studios have any say
in the matter, I feel we'll probably end up with a rehash of ARRIVAL with a
little bit of FALL OUT mixed in during a 80-minute-long movie.
Roy Wilke
<krissp...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>Mark Hockley wrote:
>I've just re-read Patrick McGoohan's script for the
>proposed Prisoner
>movie again (I've read it at least half a dozen times now)
(snip)
>What they did get was pretty much the ideal conclusion to what is an
>enigmatic, often mystifying but ultimately rewarding puzzle.
>Admittedly, Patrick steers the story away from dwelling on why the
>things that happened in the series happened. He's not interested in
>answering those questions and rightfully so. Instead he takes the
>concept forward, using his own character of No.6 (now given a name,
>although a cryptic one) as the linchpin
(snip)
Mark knows what The Prisoner's real name is and he won't tell us?
I'll bet he went and killed Kenny, too :)
Roy Wilke
markc...@gmail.com
Is there any way we can get this script into the public domain I imagine there would be many people dying to know what Patricks next installment of the prisoner would have been .
I can be contacted at cri...@hotmail.com please if anyone has a copy of this script I'd love to see it
Be seeing you
Mark
Roger Pryor
The 6of1 society used to have scripts and other ephemera relating to
this. I don't know of they still exist, try Google for 6of1.
Regards (Still one of the best shows)
Roger Pryor
Roger Pryor
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
dona...@gmail.com
I saw this old thread and remembered that I have a copy of Patrick McGoohan's original feature script for The Prisoner. I stumbled across it years ago when I was interning for a producer. So without further ado here it is.
-Don
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mfwqwackb7cqk72/The%20Prisoner%20%28unproduced%20feature%20by%20Patrick%20McGoohan%29.pdf?dl=0
