ROTTEN TOMATOES: "Vendetta" Team Took Over Kidman's "Invasion"?

"Vendetta" Team Took Over Kidman's "Invasion"?

by Scott Weinberg | April 05, 2007

Seems like we've been hearing about upcoming sci-fi flick "The Invasion" for a pretty long time now. You know the one: It's the fourth adaptation of Jack Finney's "The Body Snatchers." Directed by "Downfall" helmer Oliver Hirschbiegel, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Remember that one?

Well, it seems that not only did Mr. Hirschbiegel have some real trouble getting acclimated to the Hollywood work, but also that the "V for Vendetta" squad (director James McTeigue and writer/producers Andy & Larry Wachowski) came in for re-shoots -- and ended up remaking almost the entire flick.

Ms. Kidman suffered a minor injury during those re-shoots, but according to one report, McTeigue and the Wachowskis pretty much commandeered the whole project, which could make for some interesting battles with the directors' and writers' guilds, should the filmmakers opt to go in that direction.

Either way, another new rendition of Finney's classic tale is always something worth talking about. (Earlier versions: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978), and plain old "Body Snatchers" (1993).) Whether or not the backstage drama will damage the final product remains to be seen. "The Invasion" is scheduled to open on August 17th.

Source: Collider.com

Related Items

Movie:	Body Snatchers
	Invasion of the Body Snatchers
	Invasion of the Body Snatchers
	V For Vendetta
	Downfall
Celeb:	Oliver Hirschbiegel
	Jack Finney
	Nicole Kidman
	Larry Wachowski
	Andy Wachowski
	Daniel Craig
	James McTeigue

(1-10 of 10 posts) | Reply

Iamcool2007 writes:
on Apr 05 2007 01:23 AM

[b]WILL SUCK!!![/b]
i mean reshot he entire movie DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how much did this crap cost???

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red_wine writes:
on Apr 05 2007 02:33 AM

This is seriously bad news. Reshooting is dicey at best, I always think it takes away something from the movie but reshooting almost the entire movie, thats certainly trouble. Either the movie was really bad or it was too arty to sell itself.

And yes the movie has been around for a long while. Daniel Craig finished shooting...atleast for the first cut...before starting Casino Royale. So we are talking about 15 months. But still I'll watch this movie. I adore Nicole Kidman. I'll watch anything she's in.

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Arturious writes:
on Apr 05 2007 03:56 AM

I rather like the V for Vendetta team. I trust them completely and I thinked they probably made it infinately times better than what it was going to be.

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blindraven writes:
on Apr 05 2007 04:50 AM

The idiotic thing is that Collider who actually reported this stated that the problem Warners has with the movie is that it was not made as a summer movie, they saw the cut Hirschbiegel delivered as artsy, talky and not much of a summer tentpole. If this is the movie they got then Hirschbiegel delivered EXACTLY what he said he would in the pressconference pre-shooting. He said the movie will be very character driven, claustraphobic and not an action or special effects movie and this according to Collider, whom everyone is quoting is what he delivered. The original release date was never summer, it was a November 2006 movie but Warners wants to have a summer hit so they rewrote 2/3rds of the movie, adding ACTION SCENES. The Wachowski Bros. have their talent in style but they don't have anything on what Hirschbiegel can do with claustraphobia and dialogue and that's what Invasion is about not some silly action scenes or CGI. Did they see The Experiment, Downfall before they hired Hirschbiegel or was Joel Silver too busy trying to jump on his critical acclaim bandwagon and then offered him the job? An artsy, talky movie does NOT a bad movie make especially if that was what you commissioned.

While the Wachowskis and McTeague were taking over this director's work, what did Warners think of The Reaping? oh, right, it was designed as a summer movie, filled with special effects. Well, it is on 8% on RT. No wonder Warners don't know if they are coming or going. If the movie fails, it will be their own fault and not Hirschbiegel and his actors because they delivered according to reports. I hope one day, we see Hirschbiegel's version probably superior movie.

Here is Collider's article that everyone is quoting:
http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp/aid/4017/tcid/1

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blindraven writes:
on Apr 05 2007 04:51 AM

It cost just $50m.

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WiseGuy writes:
on Apr 05 2007 07:24 AM

I'm still pretty excited about seeing this movie. James McTiegue and the Wachowskis gave us a great V for Vendetta last year and going off of the way that movie turned out I have a lot of hope for this Invasion movie.

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lrm8 writes:
on Apr 05 2007 07:58 AM

i like the vendetta team but i hate to see reshoots or anybody cutting in on what should be a single vision of a movie (i think the "best" example would be Mr and Mrs Smith, which apparently went through so many reshoots and cutting up in the editing room, it didnt even have a plot by the end). the worst thing that could happen to a movie is for people to try to make it something its not. we'll see if this thing is any good.

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Zap Rowsdower writes:
on Apr 05 2007 09:24 AM

Sounds like the Exorcist prequel problem all over again. At least they didn't bring in Renny Harlin.

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unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Apr 05 2007 09:41 AM

I really like Hirschbiegel, I thought he did a great job with Downfall. So this is crap that they brought in the Vendetta team(dissapointed, didn't think it was that great of a movie at all) to mess with his version which I'm sure was probably better.

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JustAnotherName writes:
on Apr 06 2007 01:02 AM

[b]And it will go like this...[/b]
Nicole Kidmans charachter will be running, investigating, fighting, killing, blah blah blah and she will live through it all because she found their weakness and defeats them.

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