American History X - The Weird Story of a 20 Year-Old Cult Classic

In 1998, New Line Cinema brought us the brutal, hard-hitting tragedy American History X. The film starring Edward Norton portrays the savage world of skinhead neo-Nazi gang culture in California in the late 90’s and the horrific ideas that it represents. The movie gained cult status and has been ranked at #33 on IMDb’s Top 250 list.

The story is loosely based on the life of Frank Meeink, a reformed white supremacist who was arrested at age seventeen for the armed kidnapping of a rival gang member and spent three years in prison in Illinois. During his prison time, Meeink found common ground with African American inmates and after a brief return to his old life upon his release, he found he had grown past his prejudice and turned to lecturing against white supremacy, hate and violence in schools.

The story explores the warped logic and values rampant in neo-Nazi culture, following white supremacist gang leader Derek Vinyard (Norton) and his battle against his own vicious ideology. After shooting dead two African American men he catches breaking into his car, Vinyard is sentenced to three years in prison, during which time he experiences a new perspective as he befriends black inmates and is victimised and violently attacked by white ones. His younger brother Danny, played by Edward Furlong (Terminator 2), begins to walk the same line, under the venomous influence of neo-Nazi kingpin Cameron Alexander (Stacy Keach) and is acting out at school. After Danny turns in an essay arguing for Adolf Hitler as a civil rights hero, his teacher Doctor Sweeney (Avery Brooks) assigns him a new project; to write a piece reflecting on how his life was affected by the events leading to his brother’s incarceration.

American History X began shooting in March 1997 with a production budget of $10 million. The project started under the direction of music video and commercial director Tony Kaye with a screenplay by David McKenna (Blow, S.W.A.T.). After Joaquin Phoenix turned down the role of Derek Vinyard on the grounds that the film’s subject matter was too intense, the part was offered to Edward Norton, against the wishes of the director. Norton accepted the job for around a fifth of his usual ‘$1m per film’ rate and even passed on a role in Saving Private Ryan to make time for shooting which was later offered to Matt Damon instead. Norton shaved his head and piled on an astounding twenty-five pounds of muscle for the role, as well as spending hours in makeup before each of several topless scenes perfecting his Nazi brand tattoos. He was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his efforts and his outstanding performance in the film.

Some famous filming locations were also briefly used in the movie. Sharper-eyed viewers may recognise the diner towards the end of the movie frequented by the Vinyard Brothers, as Johnie’s Coffee Shop on Wilshire Boulevard, L.A., the very same diner from The Big Lebowski, City of Angels and the opening scene from Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 cult classic, Reservoir Dogs. Danny Vinyard is seen attending Venice High School, California, the set of TV series Glee and 1978’s definitive movie musical Grease.

The controversy began during post-production when two director’s cuts were rejected by New Line. Editor Jerry Greenberg was drafted in to collaborate with Norton on the third and final cut. Director Tony Kaye was outraged with the final edit claiming it completely changed the film’s tone and message and attempted to disassociate himself with it altogether. He tried invoking the so-called ‘Alan Smithee pseudonym’, a device used by the Director’s Guild of America to replace a director’s name in the credits when they are able to prove that their creative control over a project has been overthrown. One condition for the support of the DGA in matters such as these is that a director must not publicly disparage the project which Kaye had already done on several occasions and as such, his request was denied.

After Kaye heard that the film was to be premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, he immediately boarded a plane from Germany to protest the release and force festival organisers to pull the film from the line-up. He filed a $200m lawsuit against New Line Cinema demanding that his name in the credits be changed to ‘Humpty Dumpty’ as a protest. The lawsuit was crushed shortly afterwards. Executives at New Line had tried to call a meeting with Kaye to calm the situation. Kaye responded in the form of an eccentric stunt, arriving at the meeting with a priest, a rabbi and Buddhist monk he hired to support his case. Kaye created a documentary about the fiasco with New Line and the DGA entitled Humpty Dumpty, but it was never released. His relationship with Hollywood remains fairly rocky to this day and he wouldn’t finally agree to watch the released cut of the film until 2009. His real name is still on the credits.

American History X remains a cult classic with a fascinating plot and an even more fascinating behind-the-scenes production story. The brutal reality of racism and gang culture makes for an emotional rollercoaster of a movie. At some points, the film is downright disturbing and upsetting, but it is a reflection of the awful truth; an ideology that has repeatedly led to the worst atrocities in human history. It’s a fantastic watch but do approach with caution. It’s not an experience to be taken lightly!

Pirates of the Caribbean: A Classic Franchise 15 Years in the Making

The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie The Curse of the Black Pearl directed by Gore Verbinski, was released worldwide on July 9^th, 2003 and jumped straight into the hearts of viewers with its intricate story and adorably eccentric characters. Five movies and fifteen years later, the franchise has pulled down almost $4.5 billion worldwide against a total budget of just under a billion and a half and has been nominated for eleven Oscars, two Golden Globes, thirteen MTV Movie Awards, five BAFTAs and an award from the prestigious Screen Actors’ Guild for Johnny Depp.

The franchise is based on a series of theme park attractions at various Disney resorts, the first of which was opened at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1967. The idea of making a movie based on the theme park ride was first spawned in the early 1990’s by Shrek screenwriters Terry Russio and Ted Elliot. Their idea was to put a supernatural edge on a story based around the Golden Age of Piracy, a genre that had somewhat fizzled out of the Hollywood trend. Disney grabbed the idea with both hands and drafted Jay Wolpert (The Count of Monte Cristo) to write the script for The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2001.

In 2002, the script was taken back to the drawing board and finally rewritten by rookie screenwriter Stuart Beattie who later went on to pen neo-noir crime thriller Collateral starring Tom Cruise, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra in 2009. The script was fused in with Russio and Elliot’s ideas on a Supernatural theme which grabbed the attention of acclaimed producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a Hollywood figurehead who had previously rejected the script. The studio finally settled on the collaborative screenplay and on Johnny Depp to play Jack Sparrow despite previous interest in Matthew McConaughey, Christopher Walken, Cary Elwes, Michael Keaton and Jim Carrey for the lead. After signing Gore Verbinski to direct the movie in May of 2002, Disney were all set to begin filming.

As all fans will already know (although I’m going to explain it anyway because I personally love the movie), the plot of the first instalment follows Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith in the service of the British Navy at Port Royal who is hopelessly in love with Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), daughter of the Governor (Jonathan Pryce). All hell breaks loose when notorious pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) infiltrates the fort to commandeer a ship of the fleet and is captured and imprisoned by newly appointed Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport) The fort is later attacked by a crew of undead pirates aboard the legendary Black Pearl under the command of Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) who captures Miss Swann and sails away into the night. Turner and Sparrow team up to steal the fastest ship in the fleet and with a rag-tag band of pirates they hire on the Isle of Tortuga, they set out to break the curse and reclaim the Governor’s daughter.

The Curse of the Black Pearl has become one of the world’s favourite feel-good movies of the early noughties. It made only $46 million in its opening weekend against a budget of $140m and viewership slowed gradually, although by the time the movie left cinemas in January of 2004, it had grossed over $300m in domestic sales and an impressive $654m worldwide. The adventure of Jack Sparrow and his band of pirates was an instant hook amongst fans who cried out for a sequel.

The crew signed on for two more films that were to be shot back-to-back and a new serial story beginning with Dead Man’s Chest began development in June 2004. The sequels would follow some new characters in a totally new supernatural setting and introduce the legendary ghost ship The Flying Dutchman along with its captain Davy Jones. The movie and its sequel were released in 2006 and 2007 respectively. With a combined budget of $525 million, the two sequels made a combined total of just under $1.3bn worldwide.

Two years after the release of At World’s End (2007), Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer decided that although the trilogy was over, a new spin-off story introducing new characters could well work. Elliot and Russio began working on a script based on the novel On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. Disney bought the rights to the book and the movie began to take shape. With a net budget of $378.5 million, the film holds the record for being the most expensive movie ever made and pulled down just over $1bn at the worldwide box office.

During this time, crew were made aware that Disney planned to release another two instalments back to back. This plan was scrapped late in 2011 and it transpired that only one more film was currently being considered. In July 2014, a new script by Rush Hour 2 & 3 writer Jeff Nathanson, featuring a fresh new villain and the return of Will Turner, was given the green light by Disney execs and production began. The film was released in July 2017 and attained just $172.5 million in domestic box office takings against a colossal budget of $230m.

The Pirates of the Caribbean series has certainly had its ups and downs but I think we can all agree that it’s an exemplary marathon-worthy franchise of easy feel-good films perfect for those moments we all have that require a return to a DVD we’ve already seen ten times before. We never tire of these movies. They’re fun, they’re dramatic, they’re complex and simple in equal measure. They’re easy to watch over and over again, reliving the exploits of lovable, endlessly entertaining characters. Fifteen years later, it’s still a big franchise favourite. Break out the boxset, crack open the family-sized bottle of coke and the giant bag of crisps, put your feet up and enjoy the adventure all over again!

Jon Kasdan Confirms Indiana Jones 5 Script with Hilarious Tweet

Jon Kasdan is well known for his hilarious tweets and this time he’s really outdone himself responding to a fan’s question about Indiana Jones 5. Multiple sources have confirmed that the co-writer of 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story is rewriting the script for the upcoming sequel and filming is expected to begin in April 2019.

The fifth movie in the Indiana Jones saga was originally expected to be released in 2020 but has since been delayed amid news that screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible) has been replaced by Kasdan who is now re-writing the film’s much-anticipated screenplay. Should the movie be released in 2021 instead, it will mark forty years since the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, the first movie in the series.

A fan on Twitter enquired as to whether Kasdan truly was to write the new script. Kasdan’s reply was pure gold as he used a quote from Raiders to make his point, explaining that Lucasfilm has “top men” working on the screenplay. Fans will easily recognise the illustrious quote from the end of the movie. As Indy enquires of Major Eaton as to what will become of the treasured Ark, concerned that it will fall into the hands of inept bureaucrats, Eaton replies that he has “top men working on it”. A top-secret crate is then seen in a large warehouse, locked up and hidden away, presumably never to be opened again.

Kasdan hails from a family of household names. His Father, the legendary Lawrence Kasdan co-wrote several instalments of the Star Wars saga as well as the first movie in the Indiana Jones franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark and 1992 romantic thriller The Bodyguard starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. His brother is Golden Globe nominated writer-director Jake Kasdan, one of the great minds behind Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and the director of 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

To have come from such a talented family and whilst being an exemplary writer and director in his own right, it will certainly be interesting to see how Jon Kasdan approaches a script for the Indiana Jones saga. Steven Spielberg is set to direct the sequel and it will, of course, star veteran actor Harrison Ford who will be returning to the screen as the legendary Indiana Jones for the first time since 2008’s The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.