MovieChat Forums > The Last Express (1997) Discussion > Who should direct the Last Express movie...

Who should direct the Last Express movie?

posted 16 years ago by IceboxMovies
9 replies | jump to latest

I've been doing nothing but grimacing ever since I found out that Michael (vomit) Bay is going to be directing the Prince of Persia movie. Well, let's hope that Jordan Mechner actually turns into a smart human being for once and hires a much better director to make the Last Express movie, if it ever gets made.

Here's a list of directors whom I think would be excellent for the job:

Werner Herzog
Paul Thomas Anderson
Fernando Meirelles
Guillermo Del Toro
Alfonso Cuaron
Ridley Scott

Also, I might suggest Brian De Palma. Because of his fascination with Hitchcock, he might be able to add in some suspensful homages to another classic train story, The Lady Vanishes.

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[–] drazen-n 16 years ago

I also hope that the movie features an homage to that period, if it ever gets done, that is.

I'm sure that all of the directors above would do a great job. I'd go with Cameron perhaps, maybe he would do the same (I guess you could say "obsessive") thing with trains, as he did with Titanic. Remember, the music there was also great, it was of the time and fit nicely into the movie.

Heh, I always imagined Anna Wolff being played by Kate Winslet, don't know why.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] drazen-n 16 years ago

Yeah you're right, if a unknown actress gets chosen it would be a less distraction definitely. I'm with you about Jude Law, but I highly disagree on Leo, I think he is not mature enough to play Cath. But he would be a perfect match to me for Tyler, I think that he could pull out a fanatic who is into secret organizations like it's some kind of kids game.

I was thinking a bit on David Lynch. Sure that his movies are bizarre and disturbing, so the plot maybe wouldn't get across, but if he just "decreases" his weirdness (hehe) a bit, I think he might do an incredible job in sense of mystery, darkness, suspicious characters, betrayal, etc.

[–] IceboxMovies 16 years ago

Lynch is a possibility. Come to think of it, he actually has directed at least one big-budget project: Dune. At the same time, that film was at best pretty mediocre and Lynch has fared far better with the suspensful stuff.

I would, however, prefer for The Last Express movie to have a lot more suspense than action sequences. I would rather that the bulk of the film feature Cath sneaking into rooms, getting info, and just barely missing danger. If they decide to keep in that series of action climaxes at the end, they should probably limit them to only a certain number. The duels with the Serbs should make it look like the Serbs have an advantage, because in the game it seems like fighting them is a piece of cake (and that goes for the train-top duel with Vespa as well). If his everlasting fights with the Serbs go on for too long and are then followed by the showdown with Kronos, it would just be one monotonous use of violence after another in a movie that didn't have that kind of theme to begin with. It's terrible when a director who's working on a movie about suspense subcumbs to pointless fighting scenes after a while... sadly, that's probably exactly what Michael Bay will do with the Prince of Persia movie.

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"It's the frost, it sometimes makes the blade stick."

[–] vzyk 15 years ago

Nobody.
As I think of it, the idea of a film in which there wouldn´t be original actors, it is just unacceptable for me. I am sure I would be very disappointed... Of course I want wider recognition fot The Last Express, but I would not be happy to see it as a film or mini-series. Of course, for non-players it could be interesting. But I am too much linked to the original.
I would be happier to see another adventure game by Jordan Mechner, it doesn´t matter if it will be in 10 years on Nintendo or whatever. I just want to play something really REAL again.

[–] drazen-n 15 years ago

I agree with you. Obviously, the original actors are now already old to play their parts and generally it would take an enormous amount of effort to make it big as the game was. I doubt it would get the game more popular anyhow, it could be another block buster success but you would only see "inspired by the video game" in the credits, and no one would actually play the game afterwards.

I'm also very much linked to the original and I hope Mechner will do another adventure game to please all our eager TLE fans.

[–] TribeFan695 15 years ago

What about Richard Linklater? It would be pretty cool if it were filmed in rotoscope like the game.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] IceboxMovies 12 years ago

Verhoeven and Mechner want to film the movie in 3D, apparently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcXp3r63WIw

"What I don't understand is how we're going to stay alive this winter."