Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, Matthew McConaughey Team for Iraq War Pic 'Thunder Run'

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/gerard-butler-sam-worthington-matthew-mcconaughey-thunder-run-254231



Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, Matthew McConaughey Team for Iraq War Pic 'Thunder Run'
Simon West is set to direct Freedom Films' motion-capture action thriller.
October

Lather up the beefcake! Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey are teaming up for Thunder Run, an all-CG 3D action thriller being made by Freedom Films.

Simon West is set to direct, according to Freedom Films, while Hyde Park International is handling international sales and launching the title at AFM.

The movie is adapting the novel Thunder Run - The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad, by Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent David Zucchino. Robert Port, who won an Oscar in 2003 for best short documentary, and Ken Nolan, who co-wrote Black Hawk Down, penned the script.

The project aims to recount the capture of Baghdad by American forces at the start of the Iraq War in 2003. The three-day assault was referred as a “lightning strike” or “thunder run.” The producers want to paint “the harrowing picture of the soldiers on the front lines and the realities of modern warfare.”

The Graphic Film Company has been tapped to utilize proprietary facial-capture technology it used on West’s upcoming Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D movie along with the motion capture technology used in Avatar, said Freedom Films.

Producing are Freedom Films’ Brian Presley, along with the company’s Carissa Buffel and Kevin Matusow as well as Jib Polhemus of the Graphic Film Company.

The trio's work will consist mostly of voicework but there will be green-screen aspects as well.

“What we capture in our cameras will be them,” Presley told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’ll have a stylized effect to it but we are shooting them. We’re not ageing them down like Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy, it’ll be them for two hours in a highly intense tank battle.

“The scope of the movie is going to feel huge and thegoal is to appeal to the Call of Duty world. It’s not going to have a video game world feel but to have a stylized look to it.

"We’re locked and loaded and will shoot next year."

Thunder Run is repped by Gersh with CAA also coming on board to rep the movie. Gersh also reps Freedom Films.

Butler is repped by CAA and Alan Siegel Entertainment, Worthington by CAA and Anonymous Content, McConaughey by CAA and attorney Kevin Morris. West is also repped by CAA.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Butler-McConaughey-Worthington-Suit-Up-Mo-Cap-Iraq-War-Thriller-Thunder-Run-27579.html


Butler, McConaughey And Worthington Suit Up For Mo-Cap Iraq War Thriller Thunder Run

The onslaught of Iraq War and Middle East thrillers continues. On the heels of the announcement that Into the Blue director John Stockwell plans a Navy SEALS picture documenting the men who took down Osama Bin Laden – on top of Kathryn Bigelow’s in-development killing Bin Laden thriller – we’re now hearing three hunky Hollywood stars are suiting up for a 3D, all-CG military action picture for director Simon West.

Thunder Run would adapt Prize-winning correspondent David Zucchino and Mark Bowden’s book of the same name that documents U.S. forces as they infiltrated and took over Baghdad at the onset of the Iraq War. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey are on board with West’s project, and reportedly will use the same type of facial-capture technology and motion-capture tools that were utilized by James Cameron for Avatar. Along those lines, the trade says Thunder Run will mainly use the trio’s voices, though each will have to do some green-screen work.

“The scope of the movie is going to feel huge and the goal is to appeal to the Call of Duty world. It’s not going to have a video game world feel but to have a stylized look to it,” said Brian Presley of producing partner Freedom Films.

Smart idea. The Call of Duty franchise is massive, and no other film franchise has tried (or succeeded) to replicate the video game series’ appearances on screen. Though if you are going to get the likes of Butler, Worthington and McConaughey, you’d think you’d want to plaster their likenesses all over the screen. I’m also wondering if audiences are going to keep lining up for Iraq battle pictures. Something tells me the first ones out of the gate will be the most successful, so the race is on.

http://collider.com/gerard-butler-sam-worthington-thunder-run-matthew-mcconaughey/122962/



Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, and Matthew McConaughey to Star in 3D Motion-Capture War Movie THUNDER RUN


A trio of burly men have signed on to the Iraq war movie Thunder Run. Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington, and Matthew McConaughey are set to star in the action-thriller from director Simon West (Con Air). However, this isn’t your typical war pic, as Thompson on Hollywood reports that the film will be made using 3D motion-capture technology. The film centers on the 2003 capture of Baghdad, and is based on David Zucchino’s novel Thunder Run - The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad. Black Hawk Down scribes Robert Port and Ken Nolan are handling screenwriting duties, and the film has apparently been in development for five years. Freedom Films’ Brian Presley had this to say:

“[This will be the] first ever conventional war film made to utilize this revolutionary facial and motion capture technology and state of the art CG and 3D.”

I’m not exactly sure how they plan to make this movie not look like Call of Duty, but it’s certainly a unique idea. Since the motion-capture process necessitates a lengthy post-production, it may be awhile until we actually see the film on the big screen. Hit the jump to read the synopsis of Zucchino’s novel.

Here’s the synopsis for Thunder Run:

Even a very short, victorious shooting war against a disorganized, dispirited, vastly outnumbered and underequipped enemy is hell. That is the central message that Los Angeles Times correspondent Zucchino brings home startlingly well in this riveting account of the American military’s lightning capture of Baghdad in April 2003. Zucchino (The Myth of the Welfare Queen) is an experienced, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter, and he shows off his reportorial skills in this reconstruction of the “lightning armored strike” in Iraq that the military refers to as a “thunder run.” The narrative focuses on the men who commanded and battled in the tank battles as the Americans fought their way to Iraq’s capital city. It is often not a pretty picture, nor one for the faint of heart, because Zucchino unhesitatingly and graphically describes the violent and grisly fates that befell hundreds, if not thousands, of Iraqi Republican Guard troops and fedayeen militiamen, their Syrian allies (at the border) and the unfortunate civilians who were killed or wounded by the deadly high-tech American armored vehicles and their well-trained crews. He also does not shy away from intimately describing the deaths and injuries of American troops. The Americans who fought their way into Baghdad engaged in, according to Zucchino’s account, a vicious, if short-lived, war. While the Americans overwhelmed the Iraqis on the road to Baghdad, U.S. troops faced periodic stiff resistance; rocket-propelled grenades caused death and destruction among the crews in the Bradley fighting vehicles. Zucchino tells his story primarily from the American troops’ point of view, but does include a section describing the experiences of a Baath Party militia leader and some Republican Guard officers in this high-quality example of in-depth and evocative war reporting. [Amazon]

Now on JJ - no additional info though:

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/10/27/gerard-butler-thunder-run-sam-worthington-matthew-mcconaughey/

Gerard Butler Set to Star in 'Thunder Run'

Gerard Butler is teaming up with Matthew McConaughey and Sam Worthington for the upcoming film Thunder Run.

The all CG 3D action thriller “aims to recount the capture of Baghdad by American forces at the start of the Iraq War in 2003. The three-day assault was referred as a ‘lightning strike’ or thunder run,’” according to THR.

The mag adds that producers hope to paint “the harrowing picture of the soldiers on the front lines and the realities of modern warfare.”

The flick is based on the novel Thunder Run - The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad, which was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent David Zucchino and Mark Bowden.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/22240/worthington-butler-feel-the-thunder

Worthington, Butler Feel The "Thunder"

Three male leading actors so manly they can make other men pregnant just by looking at them - Gerard Butler, Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey - are all teaming for the 3D CG mo-cap action-thriller "Thunder Road" at Hyde Park, Freedom Films and Graphic Film Company reports Thompson on Hollywood.

Based on Davd Zucchino’s novel, the project is described as the untold story of the dangerous surprise assault and capture of Baghdad by American Forces at the onset of the Iraq War. The tone is a "harrowing picture of the soldiers on the front lines and the realities of modern warfare".

"Black Hawk Down" scribes Robert Port and Ken Nolan are adapting the novel while "Con Air" helmer Simon West will direct. Freedom's Brian Presley says the movie will be the "first ever conventional war film made to utilize this revolutionary facial and motion capture technology and state of the art CG and 3D.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/2011/10/27/butler_worthington_mcconaughey_set_for_cg_3-d_thunder_run_true_story_from_b/



Butler, Worthington & McConaughey Set for CG 3-D Thunder Run: True Story from Baghdad Front Lines

As Marc Forster’s biopic Machine Gun Preacher stumbles at the box office and Ralph Fiennes’ upcoming Shakespeare drama Coriolanus is more likely to play for the Academy crowd than general audiences, Gerard Butler is heading back toward action fare. He’s set to star with Sam Worthington and Matthew McConaughey in Iraq war movie Thunder Run, a CG 3-D action-thriller from macho director Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider, The Mechanic).

Thunder Run is based on correspondent Davd Zucchino’s novel Thunder Run - The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad, which chronicles the true story of soldiers on the front line of this 2003 battle. Black Hawk Down scripters Robert Port and Ken Nolan are adapting the novel. More details below:

Freedom Films are producing alongside the Graphic Film Company. Hyde Park will handle international sales. Freedom Films’ Brian Presley says the film, which has been in development for five years, will be the “first ever conventional war film made to utilize this revolutionary facial and motion capture technology and state of the art CG and 3D.”

Thunder Run is the untold story of the dangerous and bloody capture of Baghdad by American Forces at the onset of the Iraq War. In April 2003, three battalions and fewer than a thousand men launched a violent thrust of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles into the heart of a city of five million, igniting a three-day blitzkrieg, which military professionals often refer to as a lightning strike, or “thunder run.” In telling the story of the surprise assault on Baghdad- one of the most decisive battles in recent American combat history—this movie paints the harrowing picture of the soldiers on the front lines and the realities of modern warfare.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=32348



b]McConaughey Going On Thunder Run
With Gerard Butler & Sam Worthington[/b]


While James Cameron has led the way in live-action uses for a blend of real actors and CGI, other filmmakers are now starting to embrace the idea, albeit with mixed results. The latest group hopping on the bandwagon is Freedom Film, which has engaged the services of Matthew McConaughey, Sam Worthington and Gerard Butler for Thunder Run.

Simon West, who knows his way around an action film (and is right now shooting Sly Stallone and co on the Expendables sequel), has been hired to direct. But the new movie will primarily be using a mixture of recorded voice-over and some green screen work to bring a 3D CG world to life. West has some experience of that too, having just made the primarily animated Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D.

Thunder Run will adapt Pulitzer Prize winner David Zucchino and Black Hawk Down book writer Mark Bowden’s book, subtitled The Armoured Strike To Capture Baghdad. The Black Hawk connection will continue as that film’s scriptwriter Ken Nolan has worked with Robert Port on the screenplay.

McConaughey, Worthington and Butler will play soldiers in a tank as part of the effort by American forces to capture the city in 2003. “What we capture in our cameras will be them,” Freedom Film’s Brian Presley tells the Heat Vision Blog. “It’ll have a stylized effect to it but we are shooting them. We’re not ageing them down like Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy, it’ll be them for two hours in a highly intense tank battle. The scope of the movie is going to feel huge and the goal is to appeal to the Call Of Duty world. It’s not going to have a video game world feel but to have a stylized look to it.”

The plan is to shoot the footage next year using a combination of the facial capture software used in West’s zombie outing with Avatar’s performance capture tech. Wonder if Worthington will be teaching seminars on how to adapt to it?

[quote="Dallas"]http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=32348

Quote :

The scope of the movie is going to feel huge and the goal is to appeal to the Call Of Duty world. It’s not going to have a video game world feel but to have a stylized look to it.”

They're trying to appeal to the video game crowd but won't have a video game feel. Does the general population like stylized people looks? So they're taking a real situation, writing a story into it, then cartoonizing the actors?

O. K. What. Ev. Er.