Slashdot Mirror
De Niro Seeks Science-Oriented Film Scripts
farrellj writes "According to this CBC story it seems that De Niro is looking for the next 'A Beautiful Mind, Memento or Good Will Hunting.' The script must have a scientist, mathematician or engineer as the lead charactor...And a finished script with synopsis and writer's resume must be in by Nov. 1. Submission info in the CBC story above.
Now, who is writing the 'Cowboy Neal saves the world' script? "
I can just see it, DeNiro sitting in some basement in Michigan or wherever and writing some illegible code for an hour and a half...
The romance is there with the infamous Valentine's Day Proposal.
Hemos is the "good buddy"...
This is gold.
In what way was Memento a science-oriented film? How does it fit in with Good Will Hunting or A Beautiful Mind (which was good mostly due to Jennifer Connley -- how did she stay so damn good looking?).
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Enough with the Cowboy Neal stuff already!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
If this is what is on the frontpage today, I'd hate to see what got rejected.
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
... Damn!, I'm always late with my great ideas.
Live web cams
...and it is known only as "Rocky and Bullwinkle". God bless Piper Perabo.
s200.org - visit it (me), love it (me).
--Chag
De Niro is looking for the next 'A Beautiful Mind, Memento or Good Will Hunting.' The script must have a scientist, mathematician or engineer as the lead charactor.
I never knew that Leonard was a scientist, mathematician or engineer.
Maybe he just forgot.
-cibrPLUR
Dr. Nuelhammer is ready for his closeup.
mathematician: do you have the formula?
deniro: you talkin to me?
mathematician: yes, give me the numbers please.
deniro: you must be talking to me, i dont see anyone else.
mathematician: yes, im talking to you, why is this such a problem fo you?
deniro: you got a problem?
mathematician: oh god.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
If he were Indian (or looked anything like G.H. Hardy to play another role), I think the movie of Ramanujan would be greatly impressive if done right. Read "The Man Who Knew Infinity", it's a good story.
I'd love to see a film showing the madness of the inventors at PARC inventing the future in which we now live. As far as characters you've got 'em in spades telling that story ! Butler Lampson, Bob Metcalf, Alan Kay, Gary Starkwheather...there's probably be a number of movies and stories you could tell. Not sure how compelling it might be a lay populace, but with characters that strong a writer might should (I would suppose) be able to taylor a story with commercial appeal...
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
I think Deniro should try his hand at this one.
Though Michael Douglas will be hard to surpass. Give the protagonist a Phd in computer science and this movie will be both current and relevant. Something most films are missing these days.
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
Earth is about to be hit by a huge asteroid and the only way to save mankind it is to use something with a big enough mass to push the asteroid off its course.
That's when CowboyNeal springs into action (powered by the world's largest catapult, naturally).
In a dramatic sequence, he misses the asteroid completely. Humanity prepares to be obliterated (shots of Arafat and Sharon hugging, Bush in bed with Osama, etc.). But the scientists notice that, without CowboyNeal's mass, Earth's orbit has changed slightly, and the asteroid narrowly misses.
The film ends with a shot fo CowboyNeal landing on the moon and eating it.
RMN
~~~
HTH
XML causes global warming.
I could see De Niro doing a really good Feynman. Feynman was brilliant above and beyond the call of duty, had a fascinating life and was kind of quirky. I could see De Niro doing him pretty well, with that New York accent.
They could get Jon Lovitz to play me (I mean the software engineer).
Super-tight movie. Very SF, but very social studies, as well.
If you liked Pi, you might like Cube (they even have it in blockbuster)
Also, ANGEL DUST.
Ohhh, soo good! It truly lives up to the phrase "phsychological thriller"
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
DeNiro: I'm looking to get a part in one of those movies like Memento or "A beautiful mind"
Agent: You mean a science related movie?
DeNiro: No, I mean an Oscar winner - it's been a while
Thanks, I'll be here all week.
XML causes global warming.
In what way was Memento a science-oriented film?
It wasn't and I'd wager that De Niro et. al don't really want a film about science or even about scientists. What they want is another standard Hollywood film (note that the 'prize', if you win, is help developing their scripts from filmmakers. That means the same morons who put out crap every year are going to help you "improve" your story.) that has the gimmick of having a scientist in it. Why? Because any reviewer who sees the film and likes it will inevitably draw comparisons or make some comment about A Beautiful Mind even if the only similiary is that both films star a scientist or mathematician. People will read the review and say to themselves "Hey, I liked A Beautiful Mind, so I'll probably like this new movie as well." This is a standard trick in Hollywood -- try to associate your crap movie with something the audience already has a fondness for.
A Beautiful Mind (which was good mostly due to Jennifer Connley -- how did she stay so damn good looking?).
You ever see her in "Career Opportunities"? You think she looks good now at 30-something, you should see her in that film when she was 21 or 22. Yow!
GMD
watch this
We need some sort of mutant hybrid.......
The body and 1 liners of Arnold.....
The brains of Linux or maybe Roblimo.....
I will code you up.....(FLEX)
Vote early. Vote often. Vote CowboyNeal.
Next year is the 60th anniversary of the most important battle in human history - Kursk.
At every point in that battle the USSR's armed forces outwitted and out fought the Nazis. Now, that is because of the great skills and abilities of the Red Army and Red Airforce by 1943. But it is also because of the superior intelligence available to the allies as a whole - and one man, Alan Turing, is responsible for that.
Kursk is little known and understood in the west - but it is worth stating this simple fact: it was the first time the Nazi blitzkreig was stopped in summer campaigning weather. It was a seminal event in human history that has been covered up by the cold war for too long.
But better than that, it was the moment when scientific rationality (by which I mean the triumph of intelligence and not soime bizarre Stalinist idea of 'scientific socialism') triumphed over the will to power.
There could be a great, epic, film here and I wish I could write it.
This is the way to attract writers about science and technology, require that the script be sent through physical mail.
Pi and Gattaca are good films, but the article specifically mentioned this should be a film about science, not a science fiction film. The two are not synonymous (c.f. anything with Ahnuld in it).
Also I rather suspect that Mr. DeNiro was looking for an original script, not a remake of an existing film.
Sailing over the event horizon
Yeah, I'd pay 8 bucks to see that!
make it so!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
This review, and this one, and this one all seemed to like it. But more importantly, Kip Thorne said when he saw Alda in Los Angeles that it was like spending some time with Feynman once again.
I know if QED opened within 200 miles of me, I'd go see it. Alda has done great work and Feynman's life was amazing.
Bill is an astronomer who writes scientifically orientated thrillers - 'Nemesis' is about a killer asteroid with an interesting twist, Bill is a specialist in impact catastrophes and this book really shows this off.
He's also released 'Revelations' - another thriller aroudn the theme of zero point energy, and most recently 'The Lure' takes an interesting angle on messages from other races....
Slashdot fans will love these, the hero in Nemesis is a Linux user too....
For a student film I thought it went all the way around: great effecs, great story, great climax, great ending.
I guess that means you are probably less inclined to check out Angel Dust!
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
De Niro needs to remake Godzilla vs. Megalon.
As a recently college graduate in mathematics, I have taken it upon myself to read a bunch of biographies of famous mathemeticians (almost an oxymoron outside of academia).
Has anyone else noticed that almost any famous mathematician (or one that is referred to as "great") was always more than a little strange and, oftentimes, a little crazy?
As someone who is always interested in seeing math and pure science appear as "cool", I am very glad to see movies like these being made.
"Good Will Hunting" and "Octobery Sky" are great examples of movies that show that scientists and mathematicians need not be regarded as "losers."
- (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
I remember he came to visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry with lil kids (I'm guessing nephews or nieces) when he was on location in Portland a few years ago. (And he said we have one of the best science museums in the world!)
So, we can guess he is sincere in his interest in science and giving scientists more limelight.
mark
--
Mark Chen | Web Developer | Oregon Museum of Science and Industry | www.omsi.edu
I thought there were plenty of Script K1dd13z on Slashdot. There has to be some bash scripter... oh wait. Nevermind.
...got rejected AGAIN. For those who actually read things of value, visit the crazy bastards who made this thing here. Be warned that it is in alpha.
s200.org - visit it (me), love it (me).
Ha ha. Seriously, though, this might be a good time for a remake of that famous tale. The movie that exists ("Charly") is pretty laughable and dated in spots (like when he takes off for a cruise around the countryside on a motorcycle). And laboratory manipulation of living creatures is always in the news these days. Seems like the time is right for a well-done version movie version of that story. Can you imagine the power of a film that shows a good actor knowing that he's slipping back into his former self and being powerless to stop it. A good treatment could make a really chilling contemporary tragedy.
GMD
watch this
it said "The script must have a scientist, mathematician or engineer as the lead charactor..."
not
" The script must have a dork as the lead charactor..."
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Place: Purgatory
;)
The Objetive: Geek Heaven
The Conditions: Be judged by a jury formed by the great intellects of our history, Michelangelo, Socrates, Lincon, Freud, Newton...
The plot: An analisys of what the dead person did in his life.
The Characters: CEOs of Worldcom and Andersen, RIAA members, corrupt politicians, Bill Gates...
I think this could revive some lost values.
Freud to Bill Gates: Does this picture of a penguin reminds you of your mother?
Buy a Nintendo DS Lite
Dunno if I care about the 800mhz Ipaq (or this story) but the AR Quake has already come and gone off of /.
Slashdot story ARQuake
-Sean
Why not just do a Hawking biography and be done with it?
That could be a good film. I don't honestly know anything about his life story but 'getting to know him' and what he's accomplished through a movie might be a good way for people to stop thinking of him as that poor 'wheelchair guy' and see him as something more.
GMD
watch this
XML causes global warming.
Are you kidding? I've seen it so many times that I can close my eyes and see the scene where they make her ride the K-Mart horse thingie.
I was personally happy when she won the Oscar for her work. Let's face it, she's paid her dues in Hollywood. She had to do a lot of borderline-sexploitation stuff when she was younger. I mean, she spends the last third of that movie in a skin-tight white tanktop with no bra on underneath while her co-stars are practically drooling at her chest.
That having been said, I can pretty much replay all her scenes in that movie over in my head, too :)
GMD
watch this
I have come up with the most remarkable science-based movie script, but it's too large to fit into the text box.
It's about some guy named Pierre.
"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased
Read this brief summary about Alan Turing's life.
A serious, well written script documenting his incredible, tragic life would make A Beautiful Mind seem about as powerful as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (not to knock Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - great movie, it's just no tour de force).
De Niro's gonna play Dick Feynman and it'll be a festival of dyspeptic grimaces.
Timeo idiotikOS et dona ferentes
She had to do a lot of borderline-sexploitation stuff when she was younger.
:-)
Speaking of which, have you seen "Mullhuland Falls"? Wow! I actually thought it was a good movie, too, but Jen Connolly in black lace lingerie made it fantastic for me
And just to be totally OT, I found a picture of Jen Connolly where she looks exactly like a friend of mine, whom I sadly never managed to hook up with.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
"Actor Robert De Niro is inviting screenwriters with an interest in science to send their scripts to his film production company."
"Two winning writers will get financial assistance, along with help developing their scripts from filmmakers and scientists. At least one of the scripts will be read at De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival in 2003, and a film based on one of the screenplays will debut at the 2004 festival."
Aside from the inane comments of Doron Weber, this sounds like a great opportunity for aspiring screenplay writers. And I love the fact that they are promoting science (definitely something in this country that needs MASSIVE PROMOTION!)
I do hope that De Niro stays away from the "Hackers" / "Gen X" type kiddie movies that promote large corporations and their view, rather than the truth; and goes for something serious and honest... maybe a story based on Kevin Mitnick or something chronicling the birth of the Internet (definitely room for characterization...) or a comedy based on BOFH.
it would only become exciting if they made it "fictionalized" when one of the PARC guys goes postal gutting the exec's at Xerox for denying that this would be the way of the future, castrating Jobbs for stealing their ideas and calling it a Macintosh, and then cutting out Billy's tongue and his arms before shoving a chainsaw into his chest.
Ahhh, my Homie.
I used to like actors like Bob De Niro and Nicholas Cave quite a lot. But they have sold out. De Niro as Eddie Murphy's sidekick? Come on.. That last burglar movie sucked also. In fact, everything he has touched since Heat sucked.
I used to believe that actors like De Niro, Cage and Nicholson really had class. What a disappointment.
Unable to read configuration file '/bigassraid/htdig//conf/14229.conf'
Geocrawler error message.
All movies, even light-hearted comic romances, should have Joe Peschi beaten severely and buried alive.
You mis-spelled his name. It's P-a-u-l-y S-h-o-r-e.
GMD
watch this
Stupid job ads, weird spam, occasional insight at
Hey dudes, I found an NYT article that illustrates the basics to any good scifi movie here. Get those pencils going, it's easier than you think!
rm -rf slash-code/
From here to there and there to here funny things are everywhere.
Requium for a Dream.
ass to ass, ass to ass, ass to ass, ass to ass
Karma: It's not just a good idea. It's the law.
I don't really pay attention to famous people, so could somebody explain who this "De Niro" character is, and why I should know about him?
thanks.
Skiers and Riders -- http://www.snowjournal.com
And it being Hollywood they could arrange to have Galois survive the duel and have a happy ending.
-- SIGFPE
Pi was about insanity. And it had almost nothing at all to do with science. (Math != science). Was it unique? Yes. Did I like it? No. It was painful to watch the character going through yet another headache attack again and again when I'd much rather they spend that wasted screen time on something useful, like letting the audience in on what the heck the movie is actually about. And the cheezy numerology business with the religious folks didn't help it at all. You know that scene where the main character's mentor is giving a speech to him, telling him to give up the pursuit of Pi because that way lays insanity? I'd wished he'd given that speech to the scriptwriter so I didn't end up wasting my time watching the movie.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
We momentarily interrupt the onslaught of goofy script ideas...
<SERIOUS>
Does anyone know of some good books or URLs on screenplay writing, formatting, etc.? This sounds like it might be fun, but I don't know the rules of the game.
</SERIOUS>
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program. Next up, a +5 Funny!
IIAS (screenwriter). If I worked in Hollywood, I might naturally conclude that De Niro wants to reproduce the success of all three said films. I might therefore graft them together in the most commerical way possible. Let me know what you think, Nov. 1 is not too far off.
----
Will's Beautiful Memento
by Kappelmeister
INT - CLASSROOM - DAY
LEONARD
One more step, I'll dethink ya, buddy.
WILLOW
Come on Lenny, let's go home.
LEONARD
It's a code. There's something else here, I can sense it.
WILLOW
What do you mean?
LEONARD
Look at that Bernoulli hack. Now I know for a fact, no self-respecting professor would write that if he knew his students could get it.
WILLOW
Sorry, sir.
LEONARD
Did I say "Dear Lord" or "Dear Willow," ya four-fingered, two-bit phantom?
WILLOW
You talkin' to me, Lenny?
LEONARD
Dear lord.
Leonard stares intently at the blackboard, his cold grey eyes madly internalizing the complicated equations.
LEONARD
Let me see.
WILLOW
Look, Lenny. The astrophysics professor left this on the board.
LEONARD MATHMAN, an 50-year old janitor, cleans near a college blackboard with his imaginary friend, WILLOW.
No, this isn't meant to be funny.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
An oscar means her never having to take her clothes off again.
Not unless she wants to, of course. Dare to dream.
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
They could show the inventive and resourceful engineers coming up with clutch fixes for a trouble-ridden live hoaxed broadcast.... Honestly, I'd love to see a movie like this, for pure fantasy value.
taken! (by Davidleeroth) Thanks Bingo Foo!
A friend of mine is a scriptwriter in the USA, she told me that you get sponsored by the government if you agree to have them dictate certain parts of the script: They make is easier to record your movie in certain cities and you can make free use of the militairy things (she told me there's even an dedicated goverment agency that's taking care about these movie things).
I think it's really bad when a government starts to use the movies as a form of propaganda, instead of artistic view on something, or perhaps mix of both. Many movies these days are disguised propaganda, when you think about it.
I would really like to see a movie made based on the book "Fountains on Paradise" by Arthur C. Clarke. This book uses technology which has just become a reality and is even being considered as a viable way to get out to space with less effort.
If the story did get transformed into a movie then it might spur on some more development into the exploration of space and funding of projects of the like.
When shit hits the fan get some of these https://youtu.be/pY-GncsZ-UE
"A scientist, mathematician or engineer as the lead charactor"
And his name must be "Booger"
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Can the script be in perl?
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
I worked as a "hasher" in the cafeteria where Jennifer Connelly ate breakfast. I agree that she looks amazing on film, but it must take some effort. She wasn't particularly radiant when asking why we were out of whatever cereal it was that she wanted. This was probably on purpose in order to not attract attention, but you honestly wouldn't look twice on a Sunday morning.
Lasers Controlled Games!
Want a pitch, a subject, and a title in one word? Okay...
TESLA
Most fascinating scientist in history, I think. Imagine Johnny Depp, in period costume, having a violent epileptic fit in Central Park, then half-consciously carving the diagram for the alternating current generator into the dirt with a stick. Then getting hounded by the government and lesser mortals the rest of his life, inventing everything of any consequence and getting no credit for it. Tragic story, Oscar material all the way.
Read "Man out of Time," if you haven't. And shame be unto you, for not having read it yet.
Potential tag lines: "The man who created the world," or "Never have so many owed so much... To one."
Potential final statement, white words on black screen:
"In 19XX, a federal appeals court ruled that Nikolai Tesla, and not Marconi, was the actual inventor of radio."
(cross-fade)
"The final Edison direct-current generator was taken offline in 19XX. No further experiment or trial in direct current residential voltage has ever been attemped."
(cross-fade)
"Fringe scientists continue to pursue Tesla's dream of providing free electricty to all peoples and places of the world via the Tesla Coil."
(cross-fade)
"The thousands of pages of handwritten notes produced throughout the final years of Tesla's life continue to be classified at the highest levels of secrecy ever assigned to any government document."
(cross-fade)
"It is extremely unlikely that any will ever be made public."
"Oh, well I'm sorry if you don't appreciate my random murders!" - Crow T. Robot,
I think it would be interesting to have a movie about the making of the atomic bomb. Particularly Openhiemer's (sp?) topsy turvey career and political problems after the bomb project and the moral dilemma his group faced during the project. (Many wanted a demo project in front of Japanese scientists before actual use, but it was feared that there was not enough nuclear material to spend on that and that the Japanese knew that manufacturing it was a tedious process and may have limited impact.)
Another candidate is the guy who proposed a moon orbiter seperate from the lander during the start of Apollo (I don't remember his name right now). He got a lot of flack, but stood his ground and the logic of his idea eventually prevailed. The final scene could be Armstrong's historical stepping out.
Manhattan project and Apollo, the two biggies.
Either that, the Bill Gates story (similar to The Wizards of Silicone Valley, which the stupid movie stores don't carry anymore.) I just hope, they would show both sides of Gates, the good and the bad.
Table-ized A.I.
You forgot the part where the script checks to see if it's offered on a P2P system, and self destructs if it is (taking windows/system32 with it).
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
More importantly, if you make the mistake of thinking scientificly about what some people say in this movie, you might loose a lot of fun.
Paraphrased, scene with the orthodox jews, talking about the number with 257 (or so) digits:
But you had thousands of years to find this number, you would have found the number just by trying out!
Unfortunately, 1E+200 is a little to big to count to, even if you have a lot of time on your hands.
I very much like this movie, but I don't understand why they didn't at least cut of rough edges like this....
How about http://wearables.unisa.edu.au/arquake/ /. editors add insult to injury and let drivel like this get posted on the frontpage. Who cares? Do you really think that there is a hidden talent lurking here with sci-fi movie script, and /. get into the movie credit list? I'm sorry, but ./ is slowly going to hell. Our "editors" need to show a bit more ambition, or maybe they just get a kick out of pissing us off?
Or the 800MHz iPaq?
Yes, I'm pissed off because my stories got rejected, then
Yes, feel free to mod me down, but this is just my humble opinion.
De Niro is obviously not a scientist, and obviously could not play one. It is possible to play someone more stupid convincingly, but not someone smarter. Give it up, Bob, don't make a stupid movie. Stay with what you know.
On the other hand, Bob, if you are reading this, and you are serious about doing Feynman, I will coach you in how to act like a scientist. The training will take up to five years, and when it is finished, you will be a scientist, so it won't be difficult to act like one.
Ever see 'Awakenings'? (Robin Williams & De Niro)
It has a similar story, only it's a guy who comes out of a coma only to figure out that he'll be going back in before too long.
I think it would be a bit too similar - I already get those two movies confused at times...
Cheers,
Jim
-- My Weblog.
This is a one-time movie idea, no need to remove. According to S.1618 this is not spam.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
But does that description really fit cowboy neal?
So, in 1894, he built a turbine-powered boat, the Turbinia. This was the first high speed boat, 103 feet long, only 9 feet wide, with three propeller shafts. (Think PT boat.) Nobody else had motorboats faster than about 12 knots back then. The Turbinia could do 34 knots.
Parsons hired an aggressive captain to pilot the thing and snuck it into the crowd of small boats watching a review of the British fleet, a naval parade with the top officers of the British Navy and the Queen watching. Captain Leyland waited for the right moment as the Fleet passed by, and then made his move. For the first time ever, a large group of people heard the terrifying whine of big turbines winding up to speed. The Turbinia unfurled a red pennant. She then went zooming through the fleet, and nothing the Royal Navy had could catch it. One Navy ship fired a gun, but the Royal Navy of that era couldn't hit moving targets. (That's another story, and it too has an engineering hero.)
Parsons was briefly criticized for this by the Royal (British) Navy, but when the Prussian Navy expressed interest in the technology, the Royal Navy stopped griping and started buying Parsons turbines.
Riding on the Turbinia was dramatic. Flames from the stack, spray everywhere. She had a rough ride, but you got there in a hurry. Pictures and contemporary descriptions exist.
The Turbinia herself had a successful career. She cruised to Paris, operated in the North Sea, was widely demonstrated, and is now in a museum at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Now that's a science/technology story good for a movie.
Good idea. Too bad it's too late to mod this up some.
I like my women like my coffee... pale and bitter.
I had a double bill last night. The Man who would be King, on TVO and Infinity on the CBC. Infinity was good. Of course there were no car chases or anything like that. But a fair number of real incidents from his life made it into the movie. I'll forgive the Brodericks for the liberties they took. (Mathew Broderick directed as well as starred. His mother was credited as the writer.
I thought Broderick did a pretty good job of capturing Feynman's playful character. I wouldn't mind him doing another movie from later in Feynman's life. Although the pinched a few from his later life. Mind you they left out the whole safecracker thing, which could almost make a movie all by itself.
One of the question discussed here was how intelligent does an actor have to be to convincingly play a scientist, to our exacting standards. I'd say Broderick managed it.
It was my impression that Lieghton did more than merely transcribe Feynman's stories. Leighton had been Feynman's protege from his teenage years -- lucky stiff. He had probably heard most of them dozens of times. I imagine he did a fair bit of polishing.
These two statements are not contradictory:
1 - Math is the lingua franca of science.
2 - Math is not science.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.