New Sink the Bismarck Movie may be reality

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Archdude

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EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has just optioned Bismarck, the Black List script by neophyte scribe Jared Cowie. Temple Hill partners Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen are attached to produce, and Benderspink will universal-pictures-logo-2013__140130232555__140321183123-275x141__140404181950be exec producers. Cowie is a London-based litigator specializing in multibillion-pound banking litigation, and he’s chosen a weighty premise for his first script. Logline: During the darkest hours of WWII, a British naval officer, raw from the loss of his ship, is thrust into the thick of the hunt for the most formidable Nazi battleship to ever set sail: the Bismarck. The project is based on a true story, and the scribe is repped by Benderspink and Jeff Frankel. Jon Mone is overseeing for Universal.

Universal | Deadline
 
Archdude said:
EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has just optioned Bismarck, the Black List script by neophyte scribe Jared Cowie. Temple Hill partners Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen are attached to produce, and Benderspink will universal-pictures-logo-2013__140130232555__140321183123-275x141__140404181950be exec producers. Cowie is a London-based litigator specializing in multibillion-pound banking litigation, and he’s chosen a weighty premise for his first script. Logline: During the darkest hours of WWII, a British naval officer, raw from the loss of his ship, is thrust into the thick of the hunt for the most formidable Nazi battleship to ever set sail: the Bismarck. The project is based on a true story, and the scribe is repped by Benderspink and Jeff Frankel. Jon Mone is overseeing for Universal.

Universal | Deadline
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Well, Universal Studios are less than an hour drive from the Battleship Iowa in San Pedro. There might be a good chance she will be a stand-in for either the DKM Bismarck or the HMS Rodney. Rodney was the closest ship to the Bismarck and one German shell went right through the bridge without exploding. Aboard the Iowa we have a British Battle Ensign autographed by the British sailor who was at the helm of the Rodney when the shell went through.

We have had a number of TV shows filmed aboard the ship. At least two episodes of "NCIS Los Angeles" has been filmed on her but supposedly she was an Aircraft Carrier. Also 3 or 4 episodes of "The Last Ship" had the Iowa as a stand in for a Kirov class Cruiser.

This would not be the first time an American warship played the part of a German ship. In "Pursuit of the Graf Spee", the USS Salem was the stand in. Some viewers said that the only real error was that the Salem has two forward turrets while the German Pocket Battleship had only one forward turret.

But thats both true and false. The Germans actually built a second false forward turret out of wood, canvas and cardboard tubing so she would look like an American cruiser at a distance. The German crew were also scrounging up material to build a false second stack. But the Bristish cruisers Exeter, Ajax and Achilles "rudely" interrupted the German artwork.

Hmmm. I wonder if the studio would need some of our crew and volunteers act as German Kriegsmarine. Why not? While desert training at Fort Irwin my tank had German insignia taped on it and later I played a brutal German soldier who had to beat a man to death with his Mauser rifle. Fortunately I had no lines to speak because most of the German I know should not be said in mixed company.
 
Yea Rusty she was the Kirov class Battleship :slap:. Although I guess since you can't ignore the turrets they made the change to make it sound better. The Texas would be a good candidate for the Bismark as she has a general layout of the Bismark. Hopefully they don't butcher the movie...
 
Personally I'm hoping they go the Otoko-tachi no Yamato route and build a 1:1 scale partial set and CGI the rest of the ship.

I guess it'll all depend on how big the budget is and where the movie is shot (labor expenses).
 
TopHatter said:
Personally I'm hoping they go the Otoko-tachi no Yamato route and build a 1:1 scale partial set and CGI the rest of the ship.

I guess it'll all depend on how big the budget is and where the movie is shot (labor expenses).
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I agree with the CGI work. And if they want to build up a 1:100 scale model of the Bismarck one of our Pacific Battleship Center founding members has a model ship shop with the fiberglass molds. He's only a 10 minute drive from my house.
 
Heck, news people call cruisers or destroyers battleships, clueless. So the CGI people needs to do some homework.
 
I think most non military people consider frigates/destroyers/cruisers as battleships because they "go into battle"?? Hell the other day we were looking at my girlfriend's grandfather's medals and some old zippos of some of the ships he was on (which were very cool btw) and his wife (now widow) said "Yea the USS Connole was the last battleship he was on" :slap:. Her brother said something similar but he never cared about Bob's career anyways.

Anywho CGI is great but having a real baseline model is much better. Look at how real the original Jurassic Park is compared to the 3rd where alot more cgi was used. I like TopHatter's idea though it would make the movie look so much better but we'll see I guess.
 
85 gt kid said:
I think most non military people consider frigates/destroyers/cruisers as battleships because they "go into battle"?? Hell the other day we were looking at my girlfriend's grandfather's medals and some old zippos of some of the ships he was on (which were very cool btw) and his wife (now widow) said "Yea the USS Connole was the last battleship he was on" :slap:. Her brother said something similar but he never cared about Bob's career anyways.

Anywho CGI is great but having a real baseline model is much better. Look at how real the original Jurassic Park is compared to the 3rd where alot more cgi was used. I like TopHatter's idea though it would make the movie look so much better but we'll see I guess.
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Jeez, don't try to run that one past my mother (when she was still with us) or my wife. They'll both give you chapter and verse.
 
Ken_NJ said:
Being a model builder, I like the model idea. :biggrin:
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With an accurately built model, a better three dimensional computer scan of it would make the ship look full scale.

Oh yes. I get the hairs up on the back of my neck when people call a Destroyer or Cruiser a Battleship. Yes, they go into battle. But when people ask what I did at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, I tell them I worked on US Navy WARSHIPS. Well, plus a few Oilers, Supply ships, Hospital ships and even Tug Boats.
 
Ken_NJ said:
The graphics on more recent documentaries do not look so bad.

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Don't they have the battle backwards, though? I thought the British had the Germans on their port side. This video has them firing to starboard. And the opposite way for the Germans.
 
1960 Version ....

1960 Version ....

Netflix delivered tonight's entertainment, the 1960 version of the Bismarck.
I had not viewed the movie in several years and its been several more years since reading the book.
However it was noted from the recent discussion on this thread that certain Hollywood liberties were taken in the production of the movie.
Far from being a historian on the battle I hope the new release is more closely researched before production begins...... :confu:
 
blidgepump said:
Netflix delivered tonight's entertainment, the 1960 version of the Bismarck.
I had not viewed the movie in several years and its been several more years since reading the book.
However it was noted from the recent discussion on this thread that certain Hollywood liberties were taken in the production of the movie.
Far from being a historian on the battle I hope the new release is more closely researched before production begins...... :confu:
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Generally, when watching that first version of the movie, we weren't too impressed with the model ships. But we would watch it over again. And again.

Well, any movie with Dana Wynter in it is worth watching.
 
My big fear is that given the choice between historical accuracy (think Tora Tora Tora) and 'colour' (think Pearl Harbour :rolleyes:) Hollywood will always forgo accuracy for dramatic/romantic effect.
 
and the good Captain Shepherd ......

and the good Captain Shepherd ......

RustyBattleship said:
Generally, when watching that first version of the movie, we weren't too impressed with the model ships. But we would watch it over again. And again.

Well, any movie with Dana Wynter in it is worth watching.
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Note the Captain got the girl at the end of the movie, too!
 
Monash said:
My big fear is that given the choice between historical accuracy (think Tora Tora Tora) and 'colour' (think Pearl Harbour :rolleyes:) Hollywood will always forgo accuracy for dramatic/romantic effect.
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I do hope you washed your mouth out with soap after having mentioned that abortion!!!:biggrin:
 
85 gt kid said:
I think most non military people consider frigates/destroyers/cruisers as battleships because they "go into battle"?? Hell the other day we were looking at my girlfriend's grandfather's medals and some old zippos of some of the ships he was on (which were very cool btw) and his wife (now widow) said "Yea the USS Connole was the last battleship he was on" :slap:. Her brother said something similar but he never cared about Bob's career anyways.

Anywho CGI is great but having a real baseline model is much better. Look at how real the original Jurassic Park is compared to the 3rd where alot more cgi was used. I like TopHatter's idea though it would make the movie look so much better but we'll see I guess.
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well, take a look at the movie Pearl Harbor, where part of it is filmed using the ships in the moth ball fleet in the West Loch, and other's filmed with I believe CGI. Being a Sailor with over 20 years experience in the Navy, and 13 years on ship, it ruins it for me, seeing 70's and 80's era ships being filmed as if they were pre WW2 ships..
 
dundonrl said:
well, take a look at the movie Pearl Harbor, where part of it is filmed using the ships in the moth ball fleet in the West Loch, and other's filmed with I believe CGI. Being a Sailor with over 20 years experience in the Navy, and 13 years on ship, it ruins it for me, seeing 70's and 80's era ships being filmed as if they were pre WW2 ships..
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Same thing in the TV mini-series "Winds of War" where Knox class Frigates are being "bombed" in Port Hueneme, California. The only part of the movie "Pearl Harbor" that was real was the B-17 that collapsed its landing gear and belly landed. It wasn't supposed to but it actually happened to one of the vintage planes used so the scene was kept in the movie.

But Hollywierd can be very cruel at times. In John Wayne's movie "The Horse Soldiers", one of the stunt men was to fall off his horse as if he was shot. Unfortunately he was getting a bit too old for stunt work and actually broke his neck and died right in front of the camera. The scene was kept in the movie.

Cornell Wilde also produced a movie made in Mexico and one of the Mexican SCUBA divers (doubling for another character) had his stomach ripped out by a shark. The photos were printed in "LIFE" magazine and the scene was kept in the movie.
 
Hopefully its full Hollywood and a squadron of F-15 fly in to save the Brits and sink the Nazi ship

Commander of the Hood blown up while drinking tea and eating jellied eel.

Captain of the Prince of Wales: "no matter old bean, the Hood has just sustained a flesh wound"
 
I just hope that this new movie will show the cold-blooded heartlessness of the British Admiral calling off the fleet from rescuing Bismarck's survivors because he thought he saw a periscope of a U-boat. Probably just a broom stick floating away. No U-boat commander would even THINK of attacking a fleet of ships that were in the process of RESCUING German sailors. Supposedly each U-boat had a Gestapo agent on board to take command if his party politics authorized it. But, he wasn't a sailor or a submariner. Submarines were small and crowded. Very easy to hit your head on the upper frame of a door (simulated by a crescent wrench).

True sailors and true airmen highly respected each other no matter what side they were on. Take the case of a B-17 bomber that was so shot up it barely stayed in the air and the pilot was going in the wrong direction AWAY from England. The pilot of a BF-109 Messerschmidt came alongside and signaled the bomber which direction to go and after the cliffs of Dover were in sight the German peeled off and merely reported he shot the bomber down over the English Channel.

Amazingly, years later, BOTH of those pilots personally met each other at some sort of military reunion.
 
RustyBattleship said:
True sailors and true airmen highly respected each other no matter what side they were on. Take the case of a B-17 bomber that was so shot up it barely stayed in the air and the pilot was going in the wrong direction AWAY from England. The pilot of a BF-109 Messerschmidt came alongside and signaled the bomber which direction to go and after the cliffs of Dover were in sight the German peeled off and merely reported he shot the bomber down over the English Channel.

Amazingly, years later, BOTH of those pilots personally met each other at some sort of military reunion.
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https://youtu.be/_8EkmyoG83Q
 
My neighbor a few doors down was on the Salem when they made that movie. He has some good stories about his time on the ship.
 
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