ICARUS / THE KILLING MACHINE (Dolph Lundgren, 2009)

[Jack Caine]

Any news on this movie, fellas? IMDb has virtually nothing on information for this, but I guess that's because Dolph's put CP and Expendables on the top of his time at the moment.

[Jox]

Dolph has started prep in Vancouver, he's doing UNISOL III and is gonna come back to start shooting ICARUS last week of March.

[Mosquito]

Wow, exciting! Wonder how big his part will be in UniSol 3. Determines if I'm going to watch the complete movie or rather just the Dolph clips later.

[Nathan]

Great, nice to see this one finally get it's turn. Can't wait to see the first pics. I also like the idea of him filming it in Vancouver. Ironically we will probably get news about Icarus before US-3.

[Jox]

As to be expected, the director of photography is Marc Windon, after he did such a good job on CP (which Dolph said it was really shot and framed for the big screen).

[Nathan]

And I hope there is a small chance it might get there in some form because it looks like a proper MTV style action movie. I hope that Icarus is filmed more in the style of The Mechanik though, gritty rusty colours, lots of natural beauty or maybe something along the lines of Payback with Mel Gibson, a very grim looking movie with lots of nice black and blue colours. Time will tell but Dolph's directorial movies always have that "look" that no other DTV movies have.

[Jox]

ICARUS definitely sounds like it's gonna be more gritty and in a different vein from CP (the subject matter alone calls for it). As much as CP can somewhat be paired with THE DEFENDER, ICARUS seems like it's gonna be closer to THE MECHANIK (and I don't think he even consciously planned it this way, the next project in line is another kind of (modern day) western like was MISSIONARY MAN!)

[Nathan]

Ahh so it's the western about someone being escorted across the border by Dolph and them being chased by bad guys!! Awesome!! Hopefully that will shoot late this year then. I didn't actually realise that the original title for MM was Black Chrome, that is one fucking awesome title, hopefully he will use it for another project. After the modern western I really hope to see the Brazilian bare-knuckle fighting drama so next time you meet with him Jox, drop a hint eh...

[Jox]

ICARUS is in the Directors Guild of Canada production listing
http://www.dgcbc.com/productions.pdf

Part of the Low Budget Agreement with the DGC (meaning budget of $5,000,000 or less).
Shooting dates scheduled March 23rd - April 17th.

[Nathan]

Hmmm that's not a very long time...I think probably CP had more filming time and a higher budget right?

[Jox]

That's the average 4 weeks but I don't think it has as much big set pieces as CP. I don't know what was the exact budget of CP but maybe not that much in the end (just did it by cutting corners, saving money here and there, and Bulgaria is cheap anyway)

[Warchild]

Dolph deserves bigger budgets, i mean he as proven he is a good director, if they would at least give him 10 million to make a movie, he could bring familiar faces, better locations and alot more.

[Jox]

I agree, but unfortunately having directed a few movies doesn't mean much, and even renown directors have to fighting their battles and especially now with the economic situation (didn't I even hear Spielberg and Jackson needed to look for more funds to do their TINTIN?). Companies who could give Dolph more money don't even consider working with him (still a has been by most Hollywood standards) or take advantage of him (i.e. Sony on MM) and the others don't see the point in putting more money since that's less profit for their pocket (they think)... I haven't read the script but from what I know Dolph can deliver a great movie on this budget, it's just a matter of the support he has behind...

[Warchild]

Didn't Missionary Man brought profit, it had too, because Missionary Man was the first movie since The Last Warrior to be on the top 50 rental charts. Does Dolph even knows how much profit they make, from his movies. If they made alot of money on Dolph's last movie, then dolph should try seeking other studios for bigger budget.

[Jox]

Didn't Missionary Man brought profit, it had too, because Missionary Man was the first movie since The Last Warrior to be on the top 50 rental charts.

It sure did bring profit especially since it was made for a rather lower budget than usual (+Sony was producing and distributing so they controlled the rights worldwide and made a real bargain then)

Does Dolph even knows how much profit they make, from his movies. If they made alot of money on Dolph's last movie, then dolph should try seeking other studios for bigger budget.

I don't know if he knows, that's actually something I wanna ask him. But this issue must be more complex than just how much the movie made and seeking/demanding more budget or looking for another studio (which wouldn't necessarily want to put more money). Budget is a battle of every minute from prep to the last stages of post-production. I think Dolph will only have shot at getting more after this year, if COMMAND is successful, after UNISOLS but moreover when/after THE EXPENDABLES is released.