Warbird Information Exchange

What happened to that AVG film project that was supposed to start filming in the Mexican desert around 2000 to 2001? It was announced right around the time Pearl Harbor came out.

Obviously the project fell through, but what was the real reason it didn't get made?

John-Curtiss Paul, I'm assuming that the movie prodution company contacted you guys about using your P-40's. Any info you can share?

In my opinion, the numer of a/c available isn't the decider when choosing between real iron vs CGI. It's more like which is cheaper, less hassle, less dependent upon weather, insurance, mechanical troubles etc.

If you were to do a movie about the Black Sheep, what would be your story arc? What would be the main theme? Would it be about his life from early Marine Corps through the Japanese prison, onto post war drunkeness and then sobriety?

Would it be Boyington's last line in his book:

"Show me a hero, and I'll prove he's a bum."

??? hahahahaha

Well, seeing as how it's Hollywood, they always love conflict, and the triumph of the human spirit. It certainly wouldn't get made with the intention of a semi-accurate historical docu-drama in the vein of Tora, Tora, Tora, as much as we want that. You could probably sell the idea to Hollyweird by concentrating on Boyington's drinking problems and his internal personal demons. Combine that with the combat zone and how successful VMF-214 was, and I think you have a winning combination for an interesting storyline to both screen writers and the general public.

I hate to say it, but I think the days of historically accurate war movies, where the combat or airplanes are the main focus are long gone. Hollywood would never support another Tora, Tora, Tora.

Wait... you're saying Baa Baa Black Sheep wasn't accurate?



I'd love to see Ron Moore take a trip into WWII and see what he does with it. The new Battlestar Galactica is one of the greatest TV shows... ever.

Ernie Gann's book: Gentlemen of Adventure. It's got all the Follywood necessaries, plus a great plot that rolls through the decades of aviation development.

Roger Freeman's book, Wolfpack Warriers has all the ingredients of a good movie. Heck, just a biographical movie about Hub Zemke would make for good watchin...

Zack

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Volunteer Coordinator/Curator - Military Aviation Museum - Virginia Beach, VA
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How about a remake of the Dambusters raid??

Oh yeah...already in the works with Peter Jackson....

Can't wait!

Mark

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Mark Morris

Okay, I'm probably going to get flamed for this since it's not a Warbird related movie (although there were some fakie Zeros in it), but I was watching Operation Petticoat the other day (only saw about 15 minutes of it though ) and got to thinking that a remake of it would be neat to see.

Robert Downy Jr., as the playboy Lieutenant, Tommy Lee Jones as the Captain, and Jessica Simpson as the bumbling nurse........well, you get the idea.

Gary

Steve Hinton mentioned at the Chino airshow media day a couple of weeks back that the forthcoming George Lucas Tuskegee movie 'Red Tails' is currently planned to be all-CGI, with no flying sequences at all planned using actual P-51s! Steve did say, though, that 'we're trying to get him to change his mind'

Agree with corsair166b story about the 5th Air Force in the Pacific, look at the mix of acft you could slam into that, and the characters...Who would portray Pappy Gunn? Kenney? Training flights down around Brunswick, GA, all that low level stuff.. .dangerous , but way cool to see and experiance ...dangerous sucks but it would be a cool story, perhaps it could include Gunn's theft of B-25s from the Aussies

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Kind Regards,
Gary Lewis
J.A.F.O.

Mmmm...Hows about "Sleds"....Showing both sides (thems an' usuns) during some of Habu's missions? Mebbee a scene or two of an "unstart". See if Hollywood's got enough deep pockets to reactivate one of NASA's birds for it.....

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Bob

a WWII bomber crew made up of female pin-ups. Follow them as they battle and love across europe!

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EVERYTHING that CAN fly should be ALLOWED to FLY!
IWO JIMA'S best narative..."GOD ISN'T HERE"
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P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget.

Story ARC (Plot) is the key here. Profiling a squadron over the course of the war is very hard. Memphis belle works because the plot is the last mission - of course they packed every conceivable event that happened to b-17 crews into one mission, but that is cinema. That is why a specific event is much easier to write for the screen - like the Yamamoto mission.

CGI vs. real aircraft is about money, ease, availability, etc, but it is also about control. Filmmakers like Lucas are more about control - having the scene exactly like they want it - as opposed to dealing with surprises and authenticity. But over using CGI losses the majesty of these machines and there visual impact. One of the reasons (in a long list of reasons) that the last three star wars films are horrible is the overuse of CGI.

Authentic aircraft add more to a film than CG aircraft. For example:

Final Countdown vs. Top Gun. The images of real F-14s firing missiles at zeros (t-6s) is far superior to the models used in top gun - albeit a lot of authentic footage is in top gun and the zero explosion was a model in Countdown. But in countdown look at the cockpit footage, the refueling scene, the amazing inverted dive that looks like the f-14 is going to hit the water - all gorgeous.

Apocalypse Now Vs. We Were Soldiers. The build up to the attack on point Charlie in Apocalypse is probably one of my favorite images in cinema - Wagner blaring and the hueys coming over the beach. Makes the CG Hueys in We Were Soldiers look completely ridiculous.

Battle of Britain Vs. Pearl Harbor. Dont really need to say much here - cartoon planes flying around at jet speeds with Ben Afleck giving us a play by play of his heroics... And then the amazing scenes of a 2 section scramble in Battle of Britain.

Its safe to say because we are warbird enthusiasts we want to see the real deal, but I also think as a filmmaker it is well proven that by the above films that authentic aircraft are much more visually stunning and cinematic than CGI.

You're my new hero.

Operation Petticoat would be good too! As long as it doesn't end up like the Wild Wild West remake/fiasco/horrible abomination.

We did get contacted about using the P-40's in the AVG movie....as far as I know it's a project that has been shelved until further notice. That's all I know. We don't hear anything in the movie business until Steve H. fills us in!

JC