James' "Macbeth"

[PokerKitten]

OMG! Finally! James' dream of filming Macbeth, using his own treatment of the script, looks like it's going to happen. $50,000,000 funding *faints*

He dropped this little morsel at Moonlight Rising, after letting it be known at the European Audiences With that he had a DoP already *squeeeeee* I'd love for him to act in it too, but I guess I'll have to be patient to find out that kinda stuff.

[nightnurse]

$50 mill....woo hoo...does he need a director? ;D
Does he need any witches?

[PokerKitten]

I'm so excited I'm gonna hurl! Lol! Not really but... ;D

Here's a snatch *ahem* from the Moonlight Rising Q&A (courtesy of Alane and Laurie of BAPS):

Someone asked him about the band and its
future plans. James replied that "the next three
years of my life are going to be tied up with Macbeth,
and I don't know if I'll have time for the band. The
whole golden door opened up, and I would be an
idiot not to take advantage."

[nightnurse]

Good on yer for not hurling...I'm still cleaning sneeze residue of the screen

Aaaagh...excited much, but if he's gonna be tied up with it for 3 years...NO touring with the band He'd just better get back here in October and bring the boys , or I'll be in the mosh pit with a zimmer frame by the time they get back

[Pixie]

Coooool!
Though hoping everything works out October-wise like NN, otherwise we'll be planning trips to the US... argh...

I'm getting DG withdrawal symptoms again, better head off to the therapy centre.

[SpikesToy]

nightnurse said:

Aaaagh...excited much, but if he's gonna be tied up with it for 3 years...NO touring with the band He'd just better get back here in October and bring the boys , or I'll be in the mosh pit with a zimmer frame by the time they get back

LMAO!!! I can just imagine that!

This is brilliant news I'm so excited for him. I feel a big WOO HOO coming on ;D

[unslain]

Didn"t James still have a few years left with J.W. and company? I read somewhere he signed a 10 year contract during, or after season 6 or 7 of btvs. Well, i guess since "angel" ended sooo ubruptly, I assume he got paid for those years anyway. Wow, 3 years with one show? Good luck, james. mike......

[Pixie]

Will want to be seeing that one, specially as he loves the play so much. I'm sure he'll do something really great with it!

Unlike the eejits outside in the quad who are currently murdering "A Winter's Tale"
And making a heck of a lot of noise to boot. "Carmen", my aunt Jane...

[PokerKitten]

Unfortunately that's not how it works Mike. He did have another year's contract for working on AtS, but that was only valid while the series was still being made. If there'd been another season he'd have def been a part of it. But as it's not, that's just tough; no more money as far as I know.

Getting a movie made is a long process, and if you are involved in the writing and producing three years is about right. But that won't mean he is working flat out on the Macbeth project and nothing else. There'll be room enough for other acting gigs to be fitted into his schedule.

[Pixie]

Thank God for that.

[JIG]

I'm really glad about the whole Macbeth project, its all very exciting, but im really disappointed with the GotR news

[PokerKitten]

A lot of folks have been arguing about how much funding James said he had... Some were increduous about 50 mill and thought it must have been 15. Well, the sound system at MR was crappy by many accounts but most of the speculation seems to have come from people who weren't there at all, lol!

Anyway, hils has posted at TWOP (not somewhere I normally choose to frequent...) some clarification:

Actually, it was $50 million, which is a pretty decent budget for any film these days let alone a Shakespearean adaptation.

My friend and I asked James about this when we were in the autograph line: he did get $50 million in funding for a production of Macbeth (we clarified that it was $50 and not $15 as we originally thought we had misheard him). In his words, he "met a guy on a plane" who invented MP3 technology and always wanted to be in the movies who was putting up the money.

Needless to say, the guy can afford it.

Straight from the horses mouth, as it were...

forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/index.php?showtopic=190653&st=795

Sometimes, the chance circumstances are the ones that get the job done! But let's hope when he said at the Q&A that it had happened about three days before that wasn't just when he was chatting to this guy on the plane (to NY)! But rather that a deal was confirmed three days before. Because otherwise, you know.... But the game of autograph-session-30- second-conversations chinese whispers also reveals that James told someone else, the deal was tied down.

We just need to hear him talk about it some more... Melbourne folks, ask the right questions!

[nightnurse]

Had to laugh at the poster who alluded to the whole thing as sounding like James was being spun a line 'Well he said he invented the MP3' !

Yep, we need to know that its a done deal and not just pie in the sky ....Toy, you'll have to pump him for info...an onerous task, but someone has to do it !

[deborahw37]

Well he told me at the Audience in London that Macbeth was happening

( note the casual way I dropped that " told me" into the conversation.. not that he wasn't also telling everybody else in the room . oh no .. I *OWNED* that mike it was mine all mine cue *demonic laughter*) ;D

Ok sorry about that .. anyway, where was I? .

Oh yeah. so if he knew about it in London but wasn't talking details my guess is he's now had enough time to do all the legal stuff and the deal was locked three days before MR .

Of course stuff still could go wrong but I have my fingers toes and elbows crossed for the boy . because ever since I read the reviews from Seattle ( everyone here seen those BTW? or shall I bring em over?) and heard him do " Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow I've wanted to see him play that role . My only complaint is it's apparantly going to take him three years!! what's he filming? the directors cut with extra dinosaurs? I'd hope that two years is more realistic

[PokerKitten]

Deb, they are posted at the main site. I have a 3 page section on James and Will's lurve And of course, Macbeth features heavily! JM Loves WS

He's producing the damn thing, and it takes a long time to make a movie, so we'll just have to be patient.

[Ditto]

I have lost my reason for wanting to win the Lottery! ;D I don't quite know what to do with myself now. Congrats JM, but I'm sick as a chocolate parrot that he's even thinking of giving up the band. Hope he's not all Oh I'm doing the Scottish Play and so not bothered about the band now, I might as well get drunk and goof around" grrrr. JM.

Er, you wouldn't know I'm over the moon for him would you? ;D

[PokerKitten]

I think it was more that he was pretty down on himself when he made the band comment, Ditto. And yeah, he'll be pushed for time just like when he was a show regular. But he still managed to squeeze in band time. Maybe once his head's cleared and he accepts that everyone fucks up sometimes, he'll ;D back.

[SpikesToy]

Pump James?

Oh! For information! Gotcha! Will do ;D

[PokerKitten]

Well, I was pretty wrong with that last comment, wasn't I?!

Anyway, I wouldn't normally do this but geena at MTS has started putting up her Melbourne Con report, which makes very good reading. And I had been a bit confused with the bits I had heard so far from the Con about work on "Macbeth", so was interested in what she reproted about James' dinenr conversation on the subject:

Macbeth. James gave us his reading of the play in great detail. One of our table stated afterwards that she felt bad she hadn’t done the preparatory reading. He has very firm ideas of how it should be played. A young and innocent girl must play Lady M (as he calls her). It must be done as written in period. And the scene with Hecate must be as horrid and harrowing as film will allow. I don’t know what will happen on that set if the Director suggests he try things a different way.

Funding for Macbeth. As I am sure you have all read by now, the funding for the film comes from the man who invented the MP3. James had only ever envisioned an $8-10 million budget and he said he thought it would play once on the BBC and then be released direct to video. The $50 million offered was much more than he ever anticipated. However, he told us that he is very uncomfortable with just taking the man’s money and has suggested that they raise the funds instead. The MP3 guy has agreed that is a good idea (and is apparently able to raise a lot of money easily), but keeps saying things like ‘But if we don’t get it all, I’ll just give the rest to you.’ MP3 guy appears to be a big Shakespeare fan and is in agreement with James’ vision of the play. What James is currently focussing one is: 1) the screenwriting (he told us how he wishes to film the Hecate scene but I shan’t spoil you except to say that the process apparently involved him writing the staging and then saying with delight, ‘No, James. That’s not horrible enough. More evil needed.’ And coming up with the worst thing he could think of. 2) the distribution. This is apparently the hardest part of filmmaking. The question he has to be able to answer is “Why will teenagers come to see this film?” His answer is “Because it has lots of violence and sex.” This is what gets most films distributed. He said it was no good starting to make the film unless the distribution is lined up. He wants to take a leaf out of Peter Jackson’s book and have a great pitch and presentation to give and so that is his other focus at the moment. He is working on the art and look of the film. (if you look at the dvd extras of The Fellowship of the Ring, you’ll be able to see what he’s trying to do). We tried to convince him that it was much cheaper to film in Australia than in the US and he should come here to do so. Why, we have medieval castles just lying around everywhere!

James came across as very savvy in the ways of the film business. And what impressed me was that he clearly is not going to exploit the generosity of MP3 guy. Whilst the film is his passion, it is more than a vanity project that must get made at any cost.

Full report, well worth a look - Scroll down for geena's report

[PokerKitten]

Gah! Rogue Slayer says that James revealed at Oakland Con that the financial backer for Macbeth had pulled out But that the guy had refired his enthusiasm for what he had wanted to do with the play (paraphrasing), and that he would still do it, just with a much smaller budget. Hopefully when she has had a rest she'll write up a report and give details I can link to.


ETA - hang on, her hubby did at Whedonesque Here's a snippet:

When we had our pic taken with James Marsters, I asked if the MacBeth project was still a go. ( I had a sketch of him as MacBeth I wanted to give him later at the signing) and he said he was still making it, but the guy who was gonna give him 50 million pulled out! So that budget's a goner. But he's still all gung ho about making it, except more low budget. He's writing his version of it now and at the Q&A later he said he'd love to have Natalie Portman as Lady MacBeth.