Pendragon Pictures’ principals are concerned over a rumor that production of “War of the Worlds” is about to resume on October 8th. Director Timothy Hines expresses dismay at the rumor, “It is absolutely not true that War of the Worlds is about to resume. The reality is that we are massively reworking the script in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster and we will not be able to go before the cameras for a little over a year.” The Pendragon principals lost a close friend and investor in “War of the Worlds” in the World Trade Center attack.
Timothy Hines goes on, “It has been a very difficult time for everyone. The whole world was touched by the WTC experience. For us personally those planes slammed directly into our lives. We lost a very close friend and have been in mourning. We also watched portions of our fictional screenplay being played out on September 11th. I knew immediately we couldn’t do War of the Worlds as conceived. It was a strange time. I found myself weeping on the phone with Michele Jeffers at Foundation Imaging. They were great in that they wrote off some of the effects work we had built for War of the Worlds. The fans of War of the Worlds will be very pleased with the direction we are taking, but I won’t just slap it out there. War of the Worlds deserves care and time and there is no other way I could do it.”
Pendragon Producer Susan Goforth adds, “The script has to be rewritten from the ground up. This new version will be a true and accurate adaptation of the Wells classic story placed in its original 1898 setting. It’s been emotionally difficult for us to see sets and thousands of preparations scrapped. But Timothy has made the right choice.”
In the interim Pendragon Pictures is going into production with another science fiction fantasy feature film entitled “Chrome.”
Director Timothy Hines explains, “We had planned to announce our new production of ‘Chrome’ in a few days, but this rumor has forced our hand. ‘Chrome’ is a very elaborate large scale science fiction that we have been planning to roll in on the heels of War of the Worlds. On assessing the best course, we realized that much of the work we had done for WOTW was fertile ground to lay in the production ‘Chrome.'”
“We already had a design team working on ‘Chrome’ and we had a full production crew and many creative artists assembled, so we have just sort of taken a little pause and moved forward with the new production,” comments producer Susan Goforth.
“Chrome” is a live action science fiction fantasy motion picture set in the future about a race of slave robots oppressed by a Nazi-like totalitarian society and the hero robot that appears to lead the mechanical slaves to freedom. Timothy Hines elaborates on the film, “‘Chrome’ is a fantasy film, far removed from the events of today. Everyone who has read the script has told me how breathtaking the story is and how when I make this film it will be like nothing anyone has ever seen. I admit that ‘Chrome’ contains much action. But ‘Chrome’ isn’t about the flying body jet chases, the mountains of stunts and the animatronic robots. ‘Chrome’ is about prejudice and freedom. The story is what matters to me. It is what drives me. The characters and how they feel and how they think and what forces them into action is what is important to me.”
“Most everyone has seen ‘Blade Runner’ and ‘Alien.’ I didn’t want ‘Chrome’ to be a retread of the same designs and flavors we always see on the big screen. ‘Chrome’s’ design team is unique. Designer Bryan Randall for instance, is in his own world. When I offered the chance for him to lend his pen to the design of ‘Chrome,’ he jumped at it. He said the script of ‘Chrome’ is totally aligned with his visions and I knew what he meant. He’s kind of crazy in the way I am in that it’s about the project, not the deals.”
Hines won’t say much more about the ‘Chrome’ storyline at this time. He will only say, “Science fiction and fantasy fans will get what they have been waiting for with the movie ‘Chrome.’ An intelligent science fiction that also contains large portions of action.”
‘Chrome’ is scheduled to go before the cameras December 3rd, 2001.
For more info, go to the official Pendragon Pictures web site.
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