Category Archives: The Movie

Fox Considering New ’24’ Miniseries

Well, this is an interesting development, after the Movie appeared dead in the water, apparently ’24’ might have a future back on TV…

“The clock may start ticking again on Fox. I’ve learned that the network is looking to bring back its signature real-time drama 24 as a limited series. Kiefer Sutherland is in talks to reprise his Emmy-winning role as Agent Jack Bauer. No deals are in place, but Fox is eying 24 as part of its recent push in limited event series.” ~ Deadline.com

We’ll be keeping a keen eye on this one, in the mean time sound off in the comments, do you think it’s a good idea or should it be a Movie or nothing?

’24’ Movie ‘Not Happening’

Antoine Fuqua the director previously attached to the ’24’ Movie has recently given the following update on the ’24’ Movie…

“Yeah, that’s not happening. I don’t think it’s gonna happen at all, definitely not with me, … I met with Kiefer, Fox wanted to do it, it was a matter of his schedule before he went off to do his new show. … I don’t think he was able to get a proper agreement with Fox. The time just passed, and I went off to go to what I was doing.”

Thats from indiewire.com

So it seems that the ’24’ Movie is as far from happening as it’s ever been. On a tangentially related point, it was today announced that fans of the long cancelled TV Show ‘Veronica Mars’ have the opportunity to make that shows long hoped for film version a reality by backing a Kickstarter Campaign, and it’s well on it’s way to being funded, reaching half it’s goal in less than 12 hours, they even found a location to finish filming. Speaking of location, where was the movie the silencing filmed? It’s likely a few people are watching this campaign with interest to see how well it goes.

Film to Start Filming in April 2012?

After a long period i’m breaking radio silence to bring you the news you’ve been waiting for….

The clock has started on 24, the feature version of the Imagine Entertainment/Fox series…..The goal is to get the film into production to match Sutherland’s availability, which begins in April … and it is certainly good news for fans of the show who were beginning to fear the project wouldn’t happen. – Deadline.com

Indeed I’d started to think it was unlikely, but it appears Fox is happy with progress being made on the polish of the script so it may finally happy. More info can be found in the Reuters video at the bottom of this article, which features Kiefer talking about the film at a recent DVD launch in Tokyo.

More info as we get it.

 

Movie set for 2012 release? – Kiefer & Grazer

Brian Grazer whose production company Imagine Entertainment produced the show has tweeted…

“Got off the phone Keifer yesterday and we are very excited about producing the ‘24′ movie for next year.”

Kiefer has also within the last month told TV show “The View” that the film would be released in 2012.

A note of caution, while all this sounds very positive, it should be noted that there is no firm word on a script, since Fox vetoed Billy Ray’s script and until a script and plot have been signed off then any greenlight from Fox and release date is probably provisional.

As ever more when we get it.

Kiefer On Twitter

A couple of days ago Kiefer joined Twitter as @RealKiefer, we can be sure it’s him thanks to Twitters “verified” service. So far he’s mostly be posting about the play he’s doing, but last night be responded to questions about the 24 Movie by saying he “hopes” production will begin in January next year, and that Tony Scott maybe directing.

That particular tweet is here: http://twitter.com/RealKiefer/status/43440084694990848

CTU: Provo Available on Youtube

It’s been a while since we’ve had anything newsworthy to post, my apologies for not posting more regularly with news on the 24: Movie, unfortunately the only news is, their is no news, and it didn’t seem worthwhile posting until I have something slightly more up beat to discuss. So i’m pleased to tell you that I bring you news of “A ’24’ Film” (Just not “The ’24’ Film”).

A few years ago during the longer than normal break between seasons 6 & 7 due to the WGA writers strike, I posted several fan made efforts to help us all get our fix. By far the best of these was CTU: Provo, a feature length film which tells the story of a terrorist threat to Utah posed by Tree Hugging Eco-Terrorists & 70’s Teen Idols turned bad and the efforts of CTU’s regional office in Provo to stop them. (You can read my original review here).

CTU: Provo has in the last few days had something of a re-release on Youtube (after originally only being available via direct download and bit-torrent). You can watch check it out the YouTube channel here or the first part is embedded at the bottom of this post.

To get the full scoop on the re-release (and I have to admit to help push anyone who hasn’t already seen CTU: Provo to give it ago) we had a chat with Alan Seawright, one of CTU: Provo’s Stars, who also happens to have been it’s Director, Co-writer & Producer.

24fans: So Alan, Have I missed anything out?
Alan Seawright: Also editor, and I did 211 VFX shots!  Most of them are not good. 😉

24fans: Why the push to get people watching CTU: Provo now?
AS: The push to get CTU:Provo noticed now is this: it’s our first step to global domination!  My business partner (Daren Smith, CTU’s Sound Designer) and I tired of trying to get movie funding through traditional sources.  It’s been a 3-year slog with basically nothing to show.  So we’re going with the crowd-sourcing model.  We’re going to build a following on YouTube, you can also get cheapest youtube.com views at the best price and our next major project will be a feature that will be released initially as a web series.  We have some really exciting projects lined up for the future, and we’re now in an age where we don’t need big Hollywood studios to give us the go-ahead, then muck up our ideas.  And that’s really only gotten worse in the last year or three.

24fans: Did CTU Provo succeed as well as you’d hoped?
AS: CTU:Provo was hugely successful in some ways.  It’s gotten me a fair amount of work in the intervening 3 years, and the majority of people who I’ve heard from that watched it really enjoyed it.  In some ways it was disappointing however.  We didn’t end up distributing it the way we wanted because of some concerns we had with FOX, but YouTube offers us a handy way around that

24fans: What is your favourite part of CTU Provo?
AS: It’s hard to pick a favourite part of the movie.  We worked (played?) so hard on all of it, it’s kinda just amazing we pulled it off.  On the other hand I know how I would improve basically every single aspect of the film, so it’s hard to look at the movie and be satisfied…  if that makes sense.

24fans: Just about, are their currently any plans for a direct follow up?
AS: We don’t have any plans for a direct follow-up to CTU:Provo right now.  Especially since most of our cast has graduated from university and are spread out around the country now. Jono is still close by so if there are suddenly tens (or hundreds) of thousands of fans clamouring for it, there could certainly be further adventures for some of the cast.

24fans: What kind of positive effect has it had on your career?
AS: My career hasn’t exploded, but I’ve been lucky to work on some great local shows.  I’ve actually gotten much more editing work from it than I have directing work. I have been able to direct some local commercials, a short film that screened for 384,000 people at my alma mater’s American football games over the course of a season.  Nothing quite like hearing 64,000 people cheering for something you made!

24fans: What are Telekinesis up to?
AS: Telekinesis have a bunch of ideas for short films that we’re going to start releasing either every week or every other week starting in April.  I have a large project for a client I’m finishing up, and Daren is on tour with The Neon Trees (as their sound engineer).  Ryan Croker (my co-writer on CTU:Provo) lives nearby and will be contributing his golden pen occasionally.  Then the crowd-sourced funding, a few features, world domination, and a new golden age for human civilization.

24fans: What did you think of how the real show ended? & Season 8 in general.
AS: To be honest, I felt that ’24’ kinda went out with more of a whimper than a bang.  I didn’t watch Season 8.  Seasons 6 & 7 were such disappointments that after watching the 4 hour premiere for Season 8, I had no interest.  Sad to admit, I know…

24fans: Given that, are you eager to see a 24 Film?
AS: I’d love to see a ’24’ film that gets back to the show’s roots. But whatever direction it takes, I’m going to the midnight opening.

24fans: Finally, what’s your must see TV now 24 has finished?
AS: There aren’t any hour-long dramas I’m religious about now that ’24’ and ‘LOST’ are done.  My wife and I love ‘CHUCK’, but that’s a dramedy.  ‘COMMUNITY’ may be the best show on TV right now.

So there you have it, now you’ve had the inside scoop, unplug the phone, grab some popcorn and sit back and enjoy part 1 of CTU: Provo. Now Dammit!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CRZQfocSmQ[/youtube]

Fade To Black. The Finale Reviewed

What made ’24’ great was taking an idea so simple people couldn’t believe it hadn’t been thought of before, and doing it perfectly. The simpler a situation the show was depicting, the better it was, the purer it was.

Day One, A Federal agent is torn between his duty to protect a Senator, and his duty to protect his family. That’s all Day One was. Try as you might you won’t be able to come up with a similar one sentence description for Day Eight. Certainly there are parts which have been just a simple, the most simple an idea was Jack’s fight for justice during the last 7 hours. Which is why these last 7 hours where the best of these last 24. Why certain parts of these last two where so touching, emotional and even moving, whilst others where simply plot.

Everything involving Jack and Chloe was terrific. Logan was mostly the usual delight to watch. The action, as so often in these final episodes was tense and dramatic. Unfortunately however a number of other moments either fell flat or where horribly guilty of missed opportunities.

The show almost tortured those final moments at the UN podium until Taylor pulled out. How much better, more dramatic and hopeful would it have been if Taylor, looking resolved, steely, but oddly calm walked up to the podium after the others had signed and made a speech mirroring her Inauguration speech seen in Redemption, declaring her values of openness, peace and understanding – those which had lead her to seek high office, and whilst the initial work done in forging this peace her guiding principles meant she would unfortunately not be able to sign the treaty.

However in the places that mattered there was very little too complain about. These two hours wrapped up the Day 8 story nicely and neatly. But why then do I still feel a little reserved in my judgement?. Perhaps this is why…

The end of 24 needs to deal with what happens to those who go down that road. Can they turn back? Can there be a happy ending? Or is there simply a dead end?

I wrote that 6 months ago when looking back on 7×24 and looking forward to Series 8. Previously i’d written how 7×24 should be the last we saw of Jack Bauer, (and possibly 24) as it was the most perfect closure and judgement Jack was ever going to receive. The viewer could decide whether Jack died quietly and peacefully with Kim by his side or if simply the Jack Bauer we knew died on that hospital bed and a different man woke. Nothing in the past 24 episodes has fundamentally changed that opinion, most especially because we are no nearer an answer to the key question I pose above.

Perhaps it is an unanswerable question, perhaps that is precisely the point.

Overall a very fine end to the day, if only a satisfactory end to the show as a whole.

Best then perhaps that 8×24 is not “goodbye”, but merely “fair well, for now”.

In the meantime, back to the boxsets it is, and I would like to salute everyone who has contributed to the show these last 9 years.

Thank you very much for so much fine entertainment.