Obviously, the studio has rather high hopes for The Legend Of Tarzan as they’re releasing it in the height of the summer blockbuster season. They’re hedging their bets that it will be able to swing from vine to vine for several weeks and not only amass a healthy box office return, but will also kick start a brand-new franchise that will prove to be very, very lucrative.
All of that was thrown into a bit of chaos just a couple of months ago when rumorsemerged that Warner Bros. wasn’t completely happy with what The Legend Of Tarzan’s production had left them with. This issue wasn’t helped by the revelation that director David Yates had moved onto Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them just after The Legend Of Tarzan’s post-production had begun.
But all of these problems dissipated with the release of the stunning first trailer forThe Legend Of Tarzan, which suggested that the blockbuster will be a moody, thrilling, and action-packed waltz through the jungle and a modern examination of the titular character and his doting wife Jane.
But what else do you need to know about The Legend Of Tarzan? Well, luckily, you can have a look through our handy guide below to learn about the blockbuster, which could be the surprise hit of the summer.
The Story
Rather than starting at the origins of Tarzan in the jungle and working forward in a linear fashion, writers Adam Cozad & Craig Brewer and director David Yates have decided to begin The Legend Of Tarzan with Alexander Skarsgård’s titular character as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke. In fact, according to the synopsis for The Legend Of Tarzan, it has been years since Lord Greystoke lived in the jungles of Africa. Instead, he has since become gentrified and he now has a nice, casual life alongside his wife Jane Porter (Margot Robbie) in England. But it wouldn’t be a Tarzan film if we didn’t see our muscle-bound hero amongst the green and gorillas. And after being invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary for the British Parliament, Lord Greystoke is thrust back into the life he left behind and begins to turn back into Tarzan. He's a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge that has been orchestrated by Christoph Waltz’s Captain Leon Rom, a sneaky Belgian. The first trailer for The Legend Of Tarzan suggests that most of the action is going to take place in the jungle, with its plot also seemingly revolving around the myth of the man that has built up since Lord Greystoke moved to England. Which was probably pretty obvious from the film’s title.The Writers
Warner Bros. has been plotting a Tarzan reboot since back in 2003. John August tried to bring to life a modern-day big-budgeted adaptation, while Guillermo del Toro, John Collee, Stephen Sommers, and Stuart Beattie each worked on different variations that were inspired by Pirates Of The Caribbean and would incorporate parkour and high-energy action. Finally though, Warner Bros. decided to hire two writers, Craig Brewer and Adam Cozad, to write separate drafts for The Legend Of Tarzan, which have now seemingly been merged together. This is also a ploy that Warner Bros. used for Wonder Woman. Out of this writing team, Craig Brewer has found the most success, having previously written and directed Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, and Footloose. Meanwhile, Adam Cozad is hardly a novice to the screenwriting game, with his previous screen-credit coming in the shape of 2014’sJack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Obviously it’s impossible to know if this approach will produce cinematic gold, or an uneven and truncated final product. That’s why the appointment of the perfect director was key. Luckily Warner Bros. got someone who has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt straight from the Hogwarts megastore.The Director
More than any other, Warner Bros. is famously a studio that likes to maintain their working relationships with writers and directors. So, when they were after a mainstream director to oversee their Tarzan reboot and, hopefully, the first installment of many in the franchise, it was hardly surprising that they turned to David Yates. Yates reportedly beat The Hunger Games’ Gary Ross and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang’s Susanna White to claim the job, and you can imagine that his main selling point was his work directing the final four Harry Potter films, The Order Of The Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 andPart 2. David Yates’ role in stabilizing the Harry Potter franchise and building it to a rousing conclusion, while at the same time bringing a solid tone and getting increasingly impressive performances from Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, often goes unmentioned. But Warner Bros.' decision to have him oversee both The Legend Of Tarzan and the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is proof that they noticed. The first trailer for The Legend Of Tarzan teases that David Yates has only grown more confident with his action set-pieces and set-ups. While Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them doesn’t look half-bad, either.Tarzan
Alexander Skarsgård has been tasked with playing the titular character in David Yates’ new incarnation of Tarzan, with the 39-year-old True Blood and Generation Kill actor beating out the likes of Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, and Charlie Hunnam to take the part. Rather alarmingly, there was previously a rumor that Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was going to dive head first into a cinematic career with the role, but that, thankfully, proved to be unfounded. There was actually precedent for such a casting, though, as Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan in over 12 films between 1932 and 1948. Despite the past, thankfully Warner Bros. recognized that an actual actor was needed for the part, and the Swede soon set out on a rigorous four month training regiment to get his body in tip-top shape. Talking about his version of Tarzan, Alexander Skarsgård explained to USA Today:Obviously, since most of his career has been spent working in television, there are still some concerns over his leading man credentials. But, there’s no denying that he certainly looks the part.
No comments:
Post a Comment