Screen Junkies » David Seidler

Martin Scorsese To Expose Hot, Heavy Taylor/Burton Affair?

Geoffrey Golden — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:54:08 +0000

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are like the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt of the 60s and 70s, only with eighty less adopted children. They were Hollywood’s biggest scandal at one point, with both actors beginning an affair after making Cleopatra and eventually leaving their respective spouses to get married in 1964. Ten years later they divorced, but the scandalous couple were hounded by the paparazzi (back then, that was a novelty, unlike today’s 24-hour TMZ police state) and condemned by the pope, which is awesome.

The New 'Boardwalk Empire' Trailer is a Gangster's Paradise (Sans Coolio)

Paramount has optioned a book about Taylor and Burton called Furious Love by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger. The book was rejected 100 times for a movie deal, but Taylor’s recent death prompted interest from Natalie Portman and King’s Speech writer David Seidler, in addition to Paramount. Now the studio is trying to put Martin Scorsese in the director’s chair. This makes sense, as Scorsese is currently working on a Frank Sinatra biopic and spent years developing one about Dean Martin. Post-Rat Pack, it’s time to try Elizaburton. That’s what they would have been called, if only past gossip reporters had today’s name melding technology. (Deadline)

‘King’s Speech’ Scribe Prepping Story About POWs, Might Put This Oscar On The Mantle

Penn Collins — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:26:14 +0000

David Seidler, Oscar-winning screenwriter of The King’s Speech, is going after another one with another inspirational story, this time about Nazis and POWs. I think he may be using the gold statues as sex toys.

Games of 1940 revolves around a diverse group of prisoners who band together and risk their lives while in a Nazi camp to put on their own Olympic games after the 1940 games were cancelled.

If I may editorialize, this sounds an awful lot like the episode of “The Office” when Michael leaves early to close on his condo and Jim put on his own version of the Olympics at Dunder-Mifflin. I’m not saying that David Seidler is ripping off material, just that this has been done before. And done well.

Seidler claims to have come across the story when he and Italian screenwriter Luca Manzi were touring a Polish sports museum. Which is so goddamn strange I don’t even have anything clever to say about it. Games of 1940 will probably be released in November of 2012, then again in March of 2013 after it wins Best Picture. (Deadline)

‘The King’s Speech’ Band Might Get Back Together

Joseph Gibson — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:34:16 +0000

The bros who put The King’s Speech together might be working on another joint. It’s called The Lady Who Went Too Far, presumably a re-imagining of Gilbert Gottfried’s 2001 9/11 jokes with a woman playing Gottfried. Or not – it’s actually about Lady Hester Stanhope:

“Stanhope was an explorer in the early 19th century, described by Seidler as ‘a female Lawrence of Arabia,’ who began as the hostess for her uncle, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. After Pitt’s death in 1810, Stanhope, then aged 34, travelled through the Middle East, generally refusing to wear a veil, and sometimes disguising herself as a man as a result. Settling out there, she led occasional treasure-hunting expeditions, and became a powerful, well-respected figure, known as ‘Queen Hester,’ in what is now known as Lebanon, giving sanctuary to refugees, and believed that her destiny was to be the bride of a new Messiah.”

No director attached yet, but this news originally came from Tom Hooper, who mentioned this was King’s Speech screenwriter David Seidler‘s next project. So the speculation is that Hooper will be directing too. Whenever these two wild and crazy guys get together, it’s fireworks, so here’s hoping. (via The Playlist)