SKIN TRADE (Ekachai Uekrongtham, 2014)

[Jox]

Regarding the script, Dolph is like most directors and he will tweak it until the last day of filming but several drafts (including a close to shooting version) have been completed for sure. As far as Dolph told me, he already had the financing as of last year but sometimes these things fall out, or it's just that he couldn't start it earlier for various reasons (one was to save the summer for the TE promo, I suspect another would be finding the co-star he'll have for the lead). Anyway last I heard (during the holidays) they were looking to shoot this spring but that is to take with a pinch of salt as this is not locked.

[Nathan]

Thanks Jox

[Ivan Drago]

Maybe Dolph will shock everyone and get someone like Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr. for the lead.

[MFS]

Maybe Dolph will shock everyone and get someone like Johnny Depp or Robert Downey Jr. for the lead.

That would be quite a shock, indeed. Personally, I would like to see Dolph work with some really cool veteran actor, similair to Ben Cross who I believe co-starred with him in the Mechanic ... I'm thinking James Gandolfini, Ian McShane, or maybe Ben Kingsley. Someone with gravitas, who lends instant credibility, which would be especially great with a movie as promising-sounding as this one.

[Ivan Drago]

Just as long as Anchor Bay doesn't get ahold of this movie and renames it "Dolph Lundgren vs. the Skin Trade."

Would former big names who now headline direct-to-DVD movies like Wesley Snipes, Val Kilmer, Tom Berenger or Cuba Gooding Jr. help or hurt this movie if they were cast as the lead?

Or this would be a longshot, but Morgan Freeman now has a string of direct-to-DVD titles under his belt. Hell, his direct-to-DVD movie The Code with Antonio Banderas outrented the big studio movies when it came out.

[MFS]

Yeah let's save the Anchor Bay-ideas for later when we want to see Dolph vs a giant octopus, a giant crocodile, or maybe just a giant. I'm not ashamed to say that I'd love to see that!

In the DTV-world, I don't think any co-stars with name-recognition is a bad thing, and someone like Wesley Snipes would be perfect, if only he wasn't in jail ... But I'd "settle" for Morgan Freeman , who I agree it's a long-shot but not impossible to get, I even saw Kevin Bacon doing some DTV-movie just recently, with Academy Award-nominee Djimon Hounsou. In fact, anyone of those guys would be great.

[Jox]

And all those guys worked with Nu Image / Millennium before... Cuba Gooding Jr has been in his mind for either SKIN TRADE or WANTED MAN, and Kevin Bacon as well since some footage of him has been used in the "fake" pitch teaser trailer that was edited last year by his DP:

[MFS]

Wow, so they made a teaser trailer to pitch the project? Nice! Let's hope they round up atleast one "distinguished" co-star for Dolph, or if we're lucky, one for the partner and one for the villain. Wonder if that'll increase the chance of a bigger budget as well, wishful thinking perhaps.

[Krom]

I wish all the best, that trailer rocks!

[Jox]

Yeah although it's not gonna get the budget of the films that this teaser is edited from.

[Ivan Drago]

I'm sure Anchor Bay will give him a decent budget once they rename it "Cuba Gooding Jr. and Dolph Lundgren Fight Michael Madsen's Skin Trade," starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Dolph Lundgren and Michael Madsen.

[Ivan Drago]

Here are a few more actors who used to carry movies and now have more than a handful of direct-to-DVD titles under their belt:

Christian Slater
Harvey Keitel
Ray Liotta
Ron Perlman
Lou Diamond Phillips

Of those names, maybe Keitel could bring credibility to Skin Trade.

Or... how about Bruce Campbell?

[GeneralMcFaiL]

I understand DL probably did INK2 for a paycheck, but I wish he would have picked something that would have garnered a little more attention... I mean money is king in Hollywood and he was fresh of headline status in a movie that grossed 100 large... I know he wants Skin Trade to get done but it's going to be a while now before an audience as big as TE got will be able to see him on screen again.

[Jox]

The big question now is when THE EXPENDABLES II will be filmed upon which depend the production of SKIN TRADE being held before or after. Now US4 is to start soon and I heard there might be another acting gig in the work.

[Ivan Drago]

What would this next "acting gig" be? Replacing Til Schweiger as the lead in Uwe Boll's Far Cry 2?