DIAMOND DOGS (Shimon Dotan & Dolph Lundgren, 2007)

[dolphage]

The way Diamond Dogs turned out there is no way Dolph is going to agree to do a sequel to it. If the script is that great then they could rewrite it to not be about Xander Ronson and go ahead with it. Let Diamond Dogs rest in peace (and shame).

[Jox]

Both DIAMOND DOGS and TUMBLING DICE scripts (DD turned out 10% of what the script was) were great, really well written and could have made some of the best adventure flicks for Dolph. I don't know who has the rights for TD now, either the producers bought it and still own it, or they paid for an option on it and depending on the terms might still have that option or the option ran out and it went back to the writer. Being a work for hire (the writer was paid to deliver five treatments for Dolph vehicles and write the scripts for the two chosen, being DD and TD), I'd say either Moonstone (Etchie Stroh) or Cinequest (Shimon Dotan), still holds the rights to the TD script.

That said, the reason DD turned out the way it did was because of the way the production was handled in China, not getting the funds and support (competent crew) promised and a whole lot of other matters. So TD taking place in the city of Shanghai, it wouldn't be safe to take a bet the same couldn't happen on TD. Dolph still considered directing TD shortly after DD wrapped but I guess he dropped the idea quickly. What is surprising is that Moonstone had very successful experiences in China with movies Chen Kaige movies TOGETHER and the big budget THE PROMISE, so it's not like they didn't have experience there and I don't know what went wrong and how they got to get such bad crew on DD...

[Warchild]

That's too bad TD did not happen, like i said Ronson is a likable character in my opinion, because he had humour something Dolph rarely plays in his movies.
If we don't see Ronson in the near future, i hope Dolph plays a character similar to Ronson in another adventure somewhere in China or Nepal or maybe Middle East, Saudi Arabia , different locations

Sometimes it takes a couple times watching the movie to like it. I know i liked it and I watched it again today.

[Jox]

DD finally released in Japan on February 19th

[Nathan]

Haha, that's pretty awesome. Only they've put DL's head on the bad guys body. Works well though, Japanese covers are always cool.

[Jox]

[dolphage]

Haha, that's pretty awesome. Only they've put DL's head on the bad guys body.

I know, it's such a cooler outfit though. Goes well with the shaved head.

[irma_gedden]

That's too bad TD did not happen, like i said Ronson is a likable character in my opinion, because he had humour something Dolph rarely plays in his movies.
If we don't see Ronson in the near future, i hope Dolph plays a character similar to Ronson in another adventure somewhere in China or Nepal or maybe Middle East, Saudi Arabia , different locations

Sometimes it takes a couple times watching the movie to like it. I know i liked it and I watched it again today.

It's too bad DD didn't turn out the way it should have because I like Ronson too and was disappointed to hear that Dolph is probably not going to revisit the character. I understand the reasoning, but I even managed to get used to the shaved head!

[Jox]

DIAMOND DOGS will be released on Blu-Ray (and DVD) in Sweden on November 10th
http://www.discshop.se/shop/ds_produkt. ... uray&&ref=

[savagesketch]

Now what's the story behind this one...? I know Dolph took over for Shiman Dotan after so long as director and directed some of the movie. About how much of it is Dolph responsible for directing?

And, I also remember that this was supposed to be the first of a planned series with the second film featuring Ronson to be titled Tumbling Dice. Obviously, plans for it fell through. Was this because Diamond Dogs was a somewhat disastrous experience, and a sequel seemed almost pointless?

[Jox]

Isn't that said in the previous threads already?

Dolph took over after only two or three days of shooting, about how much of it is he responsible for directing? Good question, but first of in this case directing is a big word for just what seemed to be blocking the scene, shooting it and run, for the sake of making something out what they had.

Here's are some thoughts shared by one of the actors in the film:

After arriving in Inner Mongolia, we began shooting the on 1st or 2nd day, had no rehearsals, no discussions regarding our roles or the movie's dynamics, and had only one 'partial' read through of the script before filming.  Each day, we shot five scenes (an unbelievably large number, as you know, compared to most films) and had no real rehearsals - ever.  As well, as Shimon stayed on as producer and Dolph became the director (that's what actually happened, so you know, and it happened the 2nd or 3rd day), what transpired was that there was no real director as far as the actors go.  Dolph did a great job of directing the events, angles, details, etc, under difficult and unprepared circumstances, but there was never any work or discussions or rehearsals with the actors. None. In filming, before each scene, we would block the movement and sometimes 'rehearse', which meant say your lines, often with no emphasis but to insure we all know our cues, and often the 'rehearsal' (done maybe 50% of the time) was filmed and that was sometimes the only shot.

[...]

Also, the budget was messed up and a problem, there were many production headaches I won't go into as they didn't really concern me, and the conditions were very distracting- no hot water in the hotel, horrible food, (Dolph, of course, NEVER  ate the food everyone else got, and you can't blame him!) nothing to eat or drink on the set, no chairs, no warm coat at midnight on top of  a mountain in freezing Mongolia, etc. Some of the actors were really going crazy, causing scene after scene on the set and off, to the point where there were almost some fights.  Fortunately, I was not involved in any of that and it never really got out of hand.

[Jox]

"Dolph and Barry Evans in Inner Mongolia...Discussing how many pages to take out of the script."

[Jox]

DIAMOND DOGS will be released on Blu-Ray (and DVD) in Sweden on November 10th
http://www.discshop.se/shop/ds_produkt. ... uray&&ref=

[hansson55]

Is this blu ray a different cut? Its 4 min longer then the dvd

[Jox]

Its 4 min longer then the dvd

Because Blu-rays run at the right speed, whereas PAL DVDs run at 25 frames a seconds so that's what cause the 3-4 mins difference