Why were people like Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones, etc. - The Haunting (1999) Discussion

[–] GunHillTrain 10 years ago

I'm reminded of this quote from the late Peter O'Toole: "And if there isn't a good part, then I do anything, just to pay the rent. Money is always a pressure. And waiting for the right part - you could wait forever."

I've seen the shooting script on-line, and it doesn't seem that promising. But the film was produced by DreamWorks SKG, which was flying pretty high at the time. I think everyone knew the sets and special effects were supposed to be the real stars (unlike the actor-driven 1963 version).

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[–] MicahFish 10 years ago

Which is all too bad, because if I had that talent/star power, (however you want to see it), I'd be trying to do something a lot different.

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[–] GunHillTrain 10 years ago

You mean if you were part of DreawWorks - a director or a producer? Actually, to do something different, maybe less in the way of money and resources (I don't mean acting resources) should have been available for it. It's really a smaller-scale story pumped up to summer blockbuster status.

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[–] MicahFish 10 years ago

Right. Was going for if I had talent, starpower, etc. in my grasp.

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[–] GunHillTrain 10 years ago

You might want to read The Devil's Candy which is about Brian De Palma and the making of Bonfire of the Vanities. De Palma seemed to have it all within his grasp and things went awry anyway.

I think the hardest thing for him was having to recut the movie after test audiences didn't like it. And it still failed at the box office.

http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Candy-Anatomy-Hollywood-Fiasco/dp/0306811 235/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389116508&sr=1-1&k eywords=the+devils+candy

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[–] MicahFish 10 years ago

Oh very cool. Totally something up my ally. Thanks.

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[–] quumpher 10 years ago

It's soft, yet strong, and thoroughly absorbing.

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[–] zilla7777 8 years ago

Like Bounty? You know....the quicker-picker-upper.

The flat-brimmed baseball cap is the modern-day dunce cap.

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[–] forthesafetyofpuppies 10 years ago

Estimated budget: $80 million.

___
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpUWrl3-mc8

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[–] RbSnedlap 9 years ago

Just remember that the 1963 version has a reputation as being one of the best `Haunted House` films ever made and the original story its based on is widly respected.
They wouldn`t have known until they were actually shooting just how much of a mess the director and screenwriters were making of it.
Here`s a direct quote from Lilli Taylor (Nell) about this film.

"When I talked to Jan de Bont and saw the script, my impression was that it was going to be a remake of the original. The original was really scary. It was good. That's what I thought we were going to do. With that same information, I'd do it again but, obviously, the final product did not turn out to be what I thought it was going to be."

"Any plan that involves losing your hat is a BAD plan""

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[–] GunHillTrain 9 years ago

Major spoilers:

It may be a matter of taste, but two versions of the script are on-line and it seems this movie was going in the wrong direction long before shooting started. Among other things I'm referring to the idea of Hugh Crain's ghost returning at the end and Nell defeating him in a heroic confrontation. (Obviously none of that is in the novel or the '63 version.)

http://www.horrorlair.com/scripts/The-Haunting.pdf

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/the-haunting_production.html

Even the first one of these has Nell saying things to the ghost like:

"Guess she decided not to put up with your s_____ anymore . . . Come on. Let's find out who's gonna be boss around here now."

I couldn't imagine Julie Harris being given lines like that in 1963.

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[–] MicahFish 9 years ago

I could be sympathetic with that if they said they hadn't read the script. The script itself was just awful. Dialogue, story, etc.

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[–] enriquesinghjr 9 years ago

Zeta Jones probably signed up for this before becoming ultra famous and being 'discovered' by Steven Spielberg for The Mask Of Zorro/Entrapment, so she probably did this for little money (compared to what she would have gotten had she done this movie at the height of her fame during the Traffic-Chicago period).

Liam Neeson even though an established actor, was nowhere near as popular as he became a decade later with Taken and all of these action movies that he's making now... also take into consideration that he is good friends with Spielberg, with whom he had collaborated on Schindler's List, who was also the owner at the time of the recently launched Dreamworks Studios... plus that the original The Haunting is considered one of the best horror movies of all time, which probably gave him some trust in the project.

The most popular actors back then in the late 90s that used to command over 20 million per movie were Julia Roberts, Mel Gibson, Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt... most of them are not that relevant today, perhaps only Pitt.

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[–] MydnightRose 9 years ago

I've also wondered why 2 big names signed on to this, if they read the script and it was what was put on screen thEn they had to know it would be crap. I always think of Zeta jones being a big name although she didn't become that until Zorro. Liam was freakin Oskar Schindler so it's hard for me to think he was that had up for money, especially when he signed on to Star Wars...also crap but not as bad as this.

Brian Kinney & Justin Taylor

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[–] GunHillTrain 9 years ago

Spielberg had directed Schindler's List and he was also was one of the founders of DreamWorks, the studio producing The Haunting. I would guess this was a large factor in Neeson accepting the role. Both he and Spielberg probably imagined that this was going to be a "prestige" picture, not just any old horror movie (although it turned out to be more like the latter than the former).

Also the 1963 Haunting was considered a classy movie, with people like Julie Harris, Claire Bloom and Robert Wise involved in it.

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[–] ToHelenBackAgain 9 years ago

Initial scripts aren't always the same as final shooting scripts. I'm no expert in the field, but I'd guess they're probably usually not. Apparently the script they got when they signed on looked good.

If the IMDb Trivia section for the film is accurate, the first draft of the script was by Stephen King, and was later adapted into Rose Red, which, while not a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, was considerably better than this. If that's what the actors initially read (I don't know), I can see how that would have looked a lot better than what they wound up with.

Damned shame, isn't it? Criminal waste of an excellent cast.

"This is a problem that requires two minds with but a single malt."

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[–] GunHillTrain 9 years ago

[Major spoilers]

It seems like the second version of the script (November, 1998) has the main outlines of the 1999 version in place. I'm speculating that the filmmakers found the novel and '63 film a bit too downbeat - and maybe too slow - for modern audiences and figured they'd "punch" it up for the summer blockbuster market (which didn't exist in 1963). Anyway, the material is there in the second script: Hugh Crain coming back as some kind of demon, his climatic battle with Nell, and so forth.

You could even argue that the filmmakers did go far enough into action-adventure wildness, assuming that's where they wanted to go. Remember when Nell is using a board to bang away at that griffin statute (or whatever it is)? Maybe it would have been fun to see her blow it away with a shotgun. Maybe it would have been satisfying to have her actually survive the climax.

It might not have been a particularly subtle movie that way, but the audience would have felt justified in what it spent on popcorn.

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[–] tolla36 8 years ago

Simple answer. Actors are umemployed most of the time, so its a job for money to pay the bills, oh yeah & boredom.

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[–] rc1990 8 years ago

The story sounds great on paper I guess.. It's more the (very) poor CGI and filmmaking.

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[–] 8 years ago

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