UK film, TV and theatre company Stagescreen Productions begins shooting The Young Cleopatra, the first in a series of historical features, in Egypt on November 4.
The shoot will take place at the Egyptian Media Production City (EMPC), a partner in the project, and on locations in Alexandria and around the Nile.
The $3m film, billed as the story of how " young Cleopatra, Princess of Egypt, fights for her life, discovers love, and emerges as a goddess", is directed by Richard Platt. DoP Ken Brinsly will work with a largely Egyptian crew.
The EMPC has sales rights for the Arab world, and a 25% share in world rights outside the UK and Australia.
"We could shoot anything in Egypt," said Stagescreen founder and producer Jeffrey Taylor, who is now casting in London for the lead roles. "If you're looking for exotic locations, it's the place, and it's inexpensive."
Taylor, whose previous credits include Gurinder Chadha 's What's Cooking? ( with Lionsgate, 2000), is planning to shoot around half his Young Legends series in Egypt.
Youssef Cherif Rizkallah was appointed head of the international sector at the EMPC in January this year, charged with cutting the red tape and competing with Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan as a destination for foreign crews.
The EMPC became a free zone four years ago, but Egypt has struggled to shake off its reputation for unwieldly bureaucracy and censorship. Rizkallah emphasises that the process has become more streamlined.
"We've been in a slight slump for a few years – films like The English Patient, which went to Tunisia, and The Mummy, could've been made in Egypt," he told Screendaily. "We hope that The Young Cleopatra and other productions will give a clear sign to producers that we can accommodate these kinds of films."
John Heyman's $120 million production Nefertiti is scheduled to begin shooting in spring 2008, although the deal with the EMPC is yet to be confirmed.
" John Heyman's $120 million production Nefertiti is scheduled to begin shooting in spring 2008, although the deal with the EMPC is yet to be confirmed ."
I am wondering if this project is ever to be carried out. With regards to some articles I found on the web it looks like it was already delayed ..... hm.
Yes, but I suck at debating.
Posted by Doug M (Member # 7650) on :
Of course they will do ANOTHER film on the life of the NON EGYPTIAN Queen Cleopatra. Out of ALL the NATIVE Queens of Egypt, the only one they have EVER done movies and plays about is the one who is EUROPEAN. That in itself says everything. How many plays, movies, books and so forth have been done about this same Queen? It isn't like she was the GREATEST Queen in Egypt anyway.
And don't hold your breath about a Nefertiti movie, she is too close to being BLACK and her family was too close to being black to allow them to trump her and her family as being WHITE. Which is exactly why it is easier to do a film on Cleopatra, as it serves the interests of glorifying whites and white history, without being bogged down in "racial" debates.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
I take it this is the same Cleopatra movie discussed before.
As for why the fixation on Cleopatra out of all the Egyptian queens, well that issue was discussed before as well.
Posted by Tigerlily (Member # 3567) on :
Actually Djehuti I believe these two movies are 100% different projects.
While the film you provided a link to will be a wayyyy bigger production with Scott Rudin as Producer. And seriously Columbia Pictures will pop out an epic movie where $3m as budget are probably just enough to pay for the extras, their food and coffee or something like that!
"...There's no timeline on the project, but the novel, from publisher Little Brown, will not be available until 2009..."
I wonder, you think it's possible for the French movie Princess of the Sun, to come out in American theaters? At this point, I doubt it. So perhaps they will have it available on DVD instead.
Posted by Tigerlily (Member # 3567) on :
So, Djehuti, you are into animated movies?
Seriously that's the first time I hear about the film; btw it was not shown in German cinemas.
But look what I've found:
La Reine Soleil
News postée le 9/7/2007 à 23h59 par Tsuka
"Le long-métrage d'animation français La Reine Soleil (Philippe Leclerc) sortira le 4 Octobre 2007 en DVD chez France2/France3 Distribution dans une édition simple comprenant un documentaire sur les coulisses du film."
Looks like it will be available for purchase in France beginning of next month - strangely Amazon.fr doesn't list it yet.
I don't think it will be distributed worldwide in different languages.
Posted by kenndo (Member # 4846) on :
The movie called the egyptian had Nefertiti and akhenaton has being white.
There was another one in the 80's as well,but that was a kid going back in time to help king tut.THAT MOVIE was made by ron from the happy days tv show.
Posted by Yonis (Member # 7684) on :
quote:Originally posted by Doug M:
And don't hold your breath about a Nefertiti movie, she is too close to being BLACK and her family was too close to being black to allow them to trump her and her family as being WHITE. Which is exactly why it is easier to do a film on Cleopatra, as it serves the interests of glorifying whites and white history, without being bogged down in "racial" debates.
"she's black...she's white.. to light tooo dark blah blaa yaada yada"
quote:Of course they will do ANOTHER film on the life of the NON EGYPTIAN Queen Cleopatra. Out of ALL the NATIVE Queens of Egypt, the only one they have EVER done movies and plays about is the one who is EUROPEAN.
Because those who invest in the movie are more interested in the greco-roman period, if "blacks" are concerned about the fixation of this period and wanted to produce a movie of the dynastic period then who's there to stop them or complain about it, atleast it would be a better investment than Pootie Tang Posted by xyyman (Member # 13597) on :
WOOORRRRRD!! I agree with you Yonis. . .. this time. They have the money they can make what ever they want to entertain themselves. Aa has the money also and are entertained with . . . . .See some of my earlier post.
quote:Originally posted by Yonis:
quote:Originally posted by Doug M:
And don't hold your breath about a Nefertiti movie, she is too close to being BLACK and her family was too close to being black to allow them to trump her and her family as being WHITE. Which is exactly why it is easier to do a film on Cleopatra, as it serves the interests of glorifying whites and white history, without being bogged down in "racial" debates.
"she's black...she's white.. to light tooo dark blah blaa yaada yada"
quote:Of course they will do ANOTHER film on the life of the NON EGYPTIAN Queen Cleopatra. Out of ALL the NATIVE Queens of Egypt, the only one they have EVER done movies and plays about is the one who is EUROPEAN.
Because those who invest in the movie are more interested in the greco-roman period, if blacks are concerned "about" the fixation of this period and wanted to produce a movie of the dynastic period then who's there to stop them or complain about it, atleast it would be a better investment than Pootie Tang
Posted by xyyman (Member # 13597) on :
Infact. Instead of doing all those protest/marches/demonstrations outside King Tut exhib etc they should protest/demonstrate outside those black producers/studios and demand some decent/uplifting films.. . .with action to entertain and draw the crowds.
Some much nonsense is produced by these bleck studios.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
quote:Originally posted by Yonis: ...if "blacks" are concerned about the fixation of this period and wanted to produce a movie of the dynastic period then who's there to stop them or complain about it, atleast it would be a better investment than Pootie Tang
ROTFLMAO
Yonis you are hilarious! By the way, so was that movie. Posted by Willing Thinker {What Box} (Member # 10819) on :
If you ask me, Cleopatra is over-rated, and Nefertiti is to, for some supposed reasons I think you all know.
I guess there just aren't too many black people that care about AE enough to make an ancient Egypt movie.
Posted by Tigerlily (Member # 3567) on :
Halle Berry to star in a Nefertiti epic?
I've seen media reports dating back to 2005 announcing the same.
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: I wonder, you think it's possible for the French movie Princess of the Sun, to come out in American theaters? At this point, I doubt it. So perhaps they will have it available on DVD instead.
The DVD is now available at Amazon.fr in PAL format.
Whoa, that would be a really good look. Thanx for the link!
Posted by sportbilly (Member # 14122) on :
Hollywood is so arrogant, I can assure you they'll make a movie about Nefertiti, then cast Halle Berry in it, and then surround her with a bunch of white folks anyway.
And we all know why Cleopatra is so celebrated in Euro circles. She was undoubtedbly Greek, she had a fling with Caesar Agustus and to these folks that's like a wet-dream come true.
A movie about Tut? No way, especially not with the pure hell blacks raise whenever Tut gets bleached. In fact the entire 18th Dynasty is now about to be abandoned, which means don't expect to see a movie about Hatshepsut anytime soon either.
And as for blacks taking control of our own historical inheritiance, I've said for the longest time it would be great if Oprah Winfrey, Robert Johnson and Tyler Perry stopped for a moment with the vanity projects and created a real, honest-to-goodness moviemaking venture. Together they represent something like 5 BILLION dollars! And they can't put their heads and wallets together long enough to make one eigthy million dollar movie? I'll never forget when I saw michael Jackson's Remember the Time video, and when I saw Iman as Nefertiti and Eddie Murphy as...whomever and Magic Johnson and Tiny "Zeus" Lester et al, I simply marveled at it all and said, "Hell, it even FEELS right!" For the first time in my life the Egyptian wall paintings had come to life. I never got that feeling from The Ten Commandments or The Mummy. Now if Michael Jackson of all people could do that, why can't Oprah, Johnson and Perry? They've got no excuse!
Speaking of which, for most people, ALL they know about Egypt they learned from the movies. You ask them, "why do you think the ancient Egyptians were white?" They say, "Well, I saw the Ten Commandments, and they were white in that." All most people know is what they've seen in the movies. Until blacks establish the truth in popular media we'll be stuck making glacial progress in the halls of academe. And granted we are making strides in intellectual circles --never forget that, we are WINNING this debate! Already the focus of white creative types and intellectuals is turning toward calling Greece THE greatest civilization, and portraying the now "darkened" Egypt as nothing more than a trial run for the greatness of Athens. I'm already seeing this process of shifting the focus beginning. The folks who have historically denied Egypts' African roots clearly know their cause is lost. Give it ten more years and it will be official. But we'd a hell of a lot farther along if we took control of the tools that Eurocentrics have been using.
Until then, we'll occasionally have some high-minded whites, still holding the fantasy of a white Egypt in a death's grip, vomit some production out every once in a while.
Well, at least in The Mummy Stephen Sommers got the (ancient) Medjay correct, they were Nubians, and in the movie they were portrayed by black men. Of course Oded Fehr's lighter version was the one they used for the "modern" version of Medjay. Can't win 'em all.
Posted by Willing Thinker {What Box} (Member # 10819) on :
Over on Nile Valley alTakruri suggested it was possible Billy Bob Thornton might be in the movie.
ROFL!
THAT would be funny, yet IMO the straw that breaks the camel's back regarding any hopes of Follywood ever making a descently accurate film on ancient K-M-T.
quote:Until blacks establish the truth in popular media we'll be stuck making glacial progress in the halls of academe.
I wouldn't say THAT. LOL. I'd say we'll be making glacial, or perhaps a bit faster, progress in popular belief.
I wouldn't say we haven't made progress at all. Just not in the mind of Follywood and ignorant people.
Posted by sportbilly (Member # 14122) on :
quote:I wouldn't say we haven't made progress at all. [/QB]
Neither would I. As I said, we're winning this debate, but I do feel we're not taking the most expeditious route. Oh well, we'll get there...eventually.
BTW, I have really taken a shine to Egyptian history of late, though I'm begining to take an interest in their contemporaries as well, like the Ethipoians and the Nubians and want to know more about that their civilzations had, the "splendor" of their empires, as they say.
In my excess of zeal I've also made the mistake of reading a few "novels" about Egypt. One of them had a blurb on the back from Stephen King praising it, King's one of my favorite authors so I figured the book had to be good, right? Boy, was I wrong! At the risk of turning this thread into some kind of book review, please allow me to regale you with some of the utter tripe I've encountered while "reading up" on Egypt for fun and profit. The book is called, The Quest, a novel about ancient Egypt, by some chump named Wilbur Smith, and in it he portrays the Egyptians as having pale white skin and blonde hair. As his Egyptian protagonist goes on his "quest" into the African interior he is guided by a group of black warriors, and they come upon a group of even darker sub-humans, who apparently are kind of proto-blacks of some sort --the author goes to some lengths to make that point clear. This is but the beginning of offensive perversions. The protagonist, who is into his sixties, falls madly in love with a 12 year old girl, he's a castrated sorcerer who some group of Egyptian doctors use implausibly modern biological knowledge (including in-depth knowledge of nerves, neurons and skin grafting) and surgical techniques to magically grow back his castrated plumbing, (they do it using goop made from the bodies of slain babies) which the protagonist uses in his fight with some witch (pale-skinned with blonde hair) who has been making the Nile dry up and generally annoying the Empire --she's also responsible for the dead-baby goop and wants the elderly protagonist as her helpmate/sex slave so she can suck his powers out of him --perferably by way of his newly restored. She's the ultimate temptress, of course, so he HAS to go confront her directly, unarmed, alone and (I SWEAR I'm not making this up!) he has to literally screw her to death. Apparently it's the ONLY way to defeat her. I didn't know if the whole book was supposed to be some sort of self-conscious parody, but if it was supposed to be taken seriously...then maybe I need to write a novel, because apparently they'll print any old crap these days. Did I mention the book is one of a series of worldwide bestsellers? It should be noted the author, Wilbur Smith, is 74 years old, but looks like he's ninety! He was born in Africa, one of the many British colonists who've plagued the continent, and apparently has maintained all his white colonial baggage. If ever a person looked as rotted and rotten on the outside as they surely are on the inside, he does!
What I wouldn't give for SOME writer to craft a novel about Egypt, (Hint, Hint, we got PLENTY of damned good knowledgeable folks on these boards right here who know how to string some sentances together) and not insult my intellegence with a bleached Egypt, blatantly racist condescension for blacks and idiotic attempts at white self-aggrandizement. Oh, and a half-decent story wouldn't hurt either!
Posted by Willing Thinker {What Box} (Member # 10819) on :
quote:Originally posted by sportbilly:
quote:I wouldn't say we haven't made progress at all. [/QB]
Neither would I. As I said, we're winning this debate, but I do feel we're not taking the most expeditious route. Oh well, we'll get there...eventually.
Haha, I'll have to give you that.
quote:BTW, I have really taken a shine to Egyptian history of late, though I'm begining to take an interest in their contemporaries as well, like the Ethipoians and the Nubians and want to know more about that their civilzations had, the "splendor" of their empires, as they say.
In my excess of zeal I've also made the mistake of reading a few "novels" about Egypt. One of them had a blurb on the back from Stephen King praising it, King's one of my favorite authors so I figured the book had to be good, right? Boy, was I wrong! At the risk of turning this thread into some kind of book review, please allow me to regale you with some of the utter tripe I've encountered while "reading up" on Egypt for fun and profit. The book is called, The Quest, a novel about ancient Egypt, by some chump named Wilbur Smith, and in it he portrays the Egyptians as having pale white skin and blonde hair. As his Egyptian protagonist goes on his "quest" into the African interior he is guided by a group of black warriors, and they come upon a group of even darker sub-humans, who apparently are kind of proto-blacks of some sort --the author goes to some lengths to make that point clear. This is but the beginning of offensive perversions.
LOL oh NO!
quote: The protagonist, who is into his sixties, falls madly in love with a 12 year old girl, he's a castrated sorcerer who some group of Egyptian doctors use implausibly modern biological knowledge (including in-depth knowledge of nerves, neurons and skin grafting) and surgical techniques to magically grow back his castrated plumbing, (they do it using goop made from the bodies of slain babies) which the protagonist uses in his fight with some witch (pale-skinned with blonde hair) who has been making the Nile dry up and generally annoying the Empire --she's also responsible for the dead-baby goop and wants the elderly protagonist as her helpmate/sex slave so she can suck his powers out of him --perferably by way of his newly restored.
ROFL!
Sounds like a mistake indeed, but it also sounds hilarious
... though that baby shyish sounds disgusting.
quote: She's the ultimate temptress, of course, so he HAS to go confront her directly, unarmed, alone and (I SWEAR I'm not making this up!) he has to literally screw her to death. Apparently it's the ONLY way to defeat her.
Eww, this ninety-year-old goon sounds like a sicko.
quote: I didn't know if the whole book was supposed to be some sort of self-conscious parody, but if it was supposed to be taken seriously...then maybe I need to write a novel, because apparently they'll print any old crap these days. Did I mention the book is one of a series of worldwide bestsellers?
What? How silly!
quote:What I wouldn't give for SOME writer to craft a novel about Egypt, (Hint, Hint, we got PLENTY of damned good knowledgeable folks on these boards right here who know how to string some sentances together) and not insult my intellegence with a bleached Egypt, blatantly racist condescension for blacks and idiotic attempts at white self-aggrandizement. Oh, and a half-decent story wouldn't hurt either!
Less that's for danm sure, I wish one of us had the time or money to make an good novel of tha sort...
Undoubtedly the first person to do so will be African American, African, or from elsewhere in the diaspora.
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