Ultimate Dolph

Things are definitely moving ahead...

March 16 start date?
https://productionlist.com/production/castle-falls/


Lunch with editor Katerina Valenti (WAR PIGS, RIOT, did uncredited work on LARCENY) who says she's 95% sure to join CASTLE FALLS...
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8sSSnAAqNd/





EDIT:
Missed that from last November's AFM:
https://www.filmfestivals.com/blog/amer ... 19_line_up

Hope this one moves ahead. Would be good to see him behind the camera again.

Article in The Hollywood Reporter.

Moltisanti wrote:Hope this one moves ahead. Would be good to see him behind the camera again.

I assume Adkins will clearly be the lead and Dolph have less screen time which must be convenient to him so he can have more room to focus as the director.

bomaz wrote:Article in The Hollywood Reporter.

We're missing a thumbs up in the emoticons


EDIT:

Castle Falls is an entertaining script with hardcore action, great characters and an emotional center of transformation and compassion."

Hoping that's really the case otherwise I don't see much difference with a DEFENDER or worse case-scenario, HARD NIGHT FALLING... Somebody please make heist and die-hard flicks go away, make them tank, FALLEN audiences change...

I'm encouraged to see that Baumgarten is one of the producers. The films he has produced with Lundgren and Adkins in more recent years (DAY OF RECKONING, SKIN TRADE, ACCIDENT MAN) tend to skew a bit better in the quality department.

Hopefully this has some nice action in it. It'd be good to see a proper Adkins and Dolph movie. The other flicks they've "starred in together" they haven't shared enough screentime. I'd be real happy with something on the level of Van Damme's Assassination Games but with a tad more action.

He's been Alabama now, so if they stick to a mid-March start date that makes just 4 weeks of hard prep...

Ad in today's Hollywood Reporter's EFM daily
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LwFAyK ... BsQ6k/view (issue PDF)

It’s because Dolph is directing is why I have a bit more faith in this project. To be fair, each of his directorial efforts have been tired story tropes already, only with Dolph adding his own flair and style to the proceedings. THE DEFENDER is his version of the “siege thriller”; THE MECHANIK is his version of the “70’s revenge thriller”; MISSIONARY MAN = “pale rider”; COMMAND PERFORMANCE = the “DIE HARD in a _______” trope... This could be good, so I don’t think it’s fair to necessarily write this one off just yet because it’s hitting the “heist” formula. As Blake Snyder proved in his book SAVE THE CAT, there are only so many original screenplay ideas...

Yes, but to me the likes of THE MECHANIK, MISSIONARY MAN, or like what seemed to be MALEVOLENCE have more character intimacy to them (and in them almost by default), it's not solely set pieces that focus on the selling point of "you'll see action scenes one after the other".

You can make these character pieces, even art-house, critically interesting films,that's what I'm trying to express... much harder and less likely to happen with the "all action" high-concepts.

And what interest me in the first place with any film of the "action" genre. Yes, there was his take on the material, but it was there on the page. Whereas heist, "terrorist", whatever set pieces flicks, it's even less likely to be there from the get-go, and you know right away the reason (more so today) they're green-lit is to avoid to go there which is a BIG mistake artistically/creatively in my opinion.

As much as I love THE DEFENDER, it does not have that and it's a miracle I get a kick out of it as much as I do. I barely enjoy cult-classics such as DIE-HARD as much as everybody else do because of that (I'm not afraid to say it and come out anymore). There's character moments and building and all, but it's rarely raw emotion or intimately scaled in those because scope takes over and becomes the main focus...

If we stick to Dolph's career, it's a huge problem with COMMAND PERFORMANCE except for some sparse (scarce? losing my Engish) moments that should have been given more importance for the film to make a stronger impact.

To me it's quite clear it's not pure coincidence if this gets rolling quickly whereas the same team couldn't make MALEVOLENCE (which they actually had actually launched publicly exactly 3 years ago at 2017 EFM)... You had a clear personal story versus some stupid rivalry between two criminal gangs who surely won't take the time to share their fears and feelings to each other... Here it's like they're going for their own little OLYMPUS/LONDON/ ANGEL/WHATEVER FALLEN flick (needless they're not my cup of tea).

There's a reason Clint Eastwood got more respect and acclaim for making his, and they were not THE TOWERING INFERNO.

Last thing, I don't seem to have the same sensibility as most action aficionados and I come from a country and and educational background of snobby intellectuals (even when it comes to critics of genre films) so that's where I am and always have been coming from, I don't know how it would have been like had I been raised and influenced by another mentality, another culture, and I'm sorry for that.

At this point, after the "movies" that he put out last year, I'm fine if he can just deliver a solid entertaining action film. I'd certainly love to see him get a more nuanced role like he had in CREED 2 but that's gonna be a tall order.

I'm really just trying to see him get away from doing movies with Chuck Liddell.

That's a given*...

I don't even dare go that route thinking about his recent (non-AQUAMAN/CREED) acting gigs.

*(Does he even always know in advance when Liddell he's gonna be cast as well? And he probably has not seen ANY of those titles except for WAR PIGS, which had actually had something to offer even though it has many problems)

As a new project behind the helm (and more so after 11 years without counting SKIN TRADE -that was shot 6 years ago already), the stakes, expectations and discussions have to level up. Surely at the moment that just a decent title is more than welcome, and I hope it's out question that his directorial career would fall that low, no matter how constraining the conditions are.

When the time comes, I just hope we can draw a coherent or consistent line/image out of his directorial career so it wouldn't be as uneven as the rest or without sense or meaning.

Berlin: Global Buyers Fall for Dolph Lundgren's 'Castle Falls' (Exclusive)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... ls-1280601

Shout! Factory picked up domestic rights to the actioner, which Lundgren will direct and is also set to star Scott Adkins.

Castle Falls, the Dolph Lundgren and Scott Adkins actioner, which Lundgren is also set to direct, has landed a number of international deals and found a home in the U.S.

The film – which VMI Worldwide launched at the European Film Market in Berlin – sold to Shout! Factory for the U.S., together with Koch Films (Germany), Leone Films (Italy), Program Store (France), Fox International Channels Asia Pacific (TV for Asia Pacific), SPI International (Eastern Europe, CIS, Latin America, India, Turkey), Phoenicia Pictures (Middle East) and NK Contents (South Korea).

EDIT:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ ... ly-1280641 (PDF)