JMS on dreams coming true and the future

[Jan]

Just found this over on the moderated newsgroup:

Title: from jms
Author: "jmsatb5@aol.com" <jmsatb5@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 22:36:00 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <b4acccc9-8f4e-443c-ac62-53bb55bd0282@w5g2000prd.googlegroups.com>




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It?s been a while, I know...but things have been awfully crazed at
this end of the modem.

I was there for the premiere of Changeling (no the name isn?t going to
change) at Cannes, and it was, overall, perhaps the most surreal
experience of my life. I was ensconced at the Hotel du Cap
overlooking the French Riviera, just abaft from Clint Eastwood and
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt and Mick Jagger (who came to dinner with
the bunch of us that Friday) and surrounded by sights I could never
have imagined myself seeing. Day-trip drives into the South of France
for shopping, into Monaco and Monte Carlo where I dropped five hundred
Euros at the casino because, well, you pretty much have to...and the
premiere.

Imagine for a moment: a procession of twenty one cars preceded and
followed by French police running lights and sirens to get the
motorcade through the streets of Cannes en route to the press
conference and, several hours later, the premiere. A sea of popping
flashbulbs. Paparazzi and TV cameras and microphones, reporters from
all over the world, and everyone shouting questions, to look this way
or that way. The red carpet, long and broad as the ocean. The
theater, three thousand seats filled with tuxedoes and gowns and
stars. Smiles and tears at the right moments as the film rolled by.
A ten minute standing ovation. Proclamations and prophecies of
Oscars.

Surreal. Dream-like. Impossible. Was any of this really happening?
To me?

Impossible. But there it was.

Then: after more days of interviews and press and screenings and
stunningly positive, glowing reviews, on to Berlin, where my script
for Ninja Assassin was being filmed. Brilliant stunt work. Dinners
in the cool German evening. Then off again to London for meetings
with several production companies regarding TV projects, and a meeting
with director Paul Greengrass on They Marched Into Sunlight, for Tom
Hanks? company, before flying back to LA for four days of massive
jetlag.

Never give up, folks. Never stop trying. Never surrender dreams.

Because sometimes they come true.

Two asides before I crash.

First, on the plane ride home, I?d picked up the July issue of T3
Magazine, which contained in the mylar packet a subsidiary slim issue
about future tech and jargon and looked ahead to gadgets yet to come.
I meant to take it with me off the plane for research on another
project, but left it behind and it doesn?t seem to be available
anywhere here; I may have missed the issue. Point being, could one of
our UK friends scan that magazine (it was only like 20 pages) and
upload it to me? If you do volunteer, could you note it here first to
avoid lots of folks duplicating the efforts? Accept my thanks in
advance.

Second, keep an eye out for Daily Variety on June 19th. Another
surprise yet to come.

This is the dream. This is the fairy tale we all expect but so rarely
get. I am at peace. Go figure.

jms

Jan

[AaronB]

Originally Posted by Jan

Just found this over on the moderated newsgroup:



Jan

Any thoughts as to what the surprise will be? I'm thinking it's the Lensman announcement.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by AaronB

Any thoughts as to what the surprise will be? I'm thinking it's the Lensman announcement.

Could be one of the spec scripts he sold, too.

Jan

[glindros]

I'm really happy for Joe.

It's nice to see hard work pays off.


I wish he would comment on where all these projects leaves future lost tales.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by glindros

I wish he would comment on where all these projects leaves future lost tales.

Well, as of May 11, WB Direct to DVD division was jockeying for position with WB Features (which kept slouching away every time JMS mentioned "Total Creative Control). He left on May 18 for France, Germany and London, seemingly only getting home this past week. I doubt anything's changed yet.

I'm betting it's the project that's it's

One of the announcements he hopes to make in the next few weeks is a for a feature film that's "near and dear to the heart of every person in the room".

Jan

[glindros]

Originally Posted by Jan

Well, as of May 11, WB Direct to DVD division was jockeying for position with WB Features (which kept slouching away every time JMS mentioned "Total Creative Control). He left on May 18 for France, Germany and London, seemingly only getting home this past week. I doubt anything's changed yet.

I'm betting it's the project that's it's

Quote:
One of the announcements he hopes to make in the next few weeks is a for a feature film that's "near and dear to the heart of every person in the room".

Jan

So I guess Paramount is ditching JJ Abrams, and going with JMS' idea for Star Trek?

Sounds like someone's happy

Lensmen's not really a surprise anymore. My guess (and hope) would be either the WWZ director, or the remake of the "nearly legendary sci-fi film".s

ETA: Hmm... TV projects? Could be the mysterious project by "the group", couldn't it?

[Donald]

I'm really, really happy for him. I also can't wait to hear about his new project.

[PMvanova]

(caution, this may get lengthy, but I've been gone for a while)

Most of us have been with B5 from the start and have read all of Joe's struggles and fights along the way starting when he was in college.
'We' all have known how talented he is, and it's taken the entertainment world by surprise what we've known all along.
Years ago, he was marveling at how much B5 has influenced people from all walks of life, as well as how much his life has changed. Ten years ago.
Now look at him, this former fanboy turned writer, producer and creator of one of the top ten sci fi tv series of all time now... a name being spoken by some of the biggest names in the movie industry.
I tell ya, it makes me just burst with pride for him at what he's accomplished.
At a con years ago (don't remember which one but it was a while ago), he was relating about the college professor that told him his scripts would never amount to anything and how, when he got the B5 script sold (the details are hazy here, but I hope this is correct) he took the script and was going to find that professor. Well it turned out that the old codger had died and (hazy recollection again here) he found the grave where he was buried and scraped the dirt aside and planted that script on the old man's grave.
Wonder whether that professor and all the others that told him he'd never succeed are watching him now.

I will be going to ComiCon this year again and will be leading a standing ovation if no one else does when he walks in the room.
Speaking of that... they're going to have to get him an even bigger room this year! And security too.
Last year he was just an everyday 'Joe' walking around the con, recognized only by fans.
This year..he's still going to be an everyday 'Joe' but with a security guard.
Nah..he's still going to be an ordinary Joe...

I just couldn't feel more proud of him and if we never see anymore B5, I'm fine with that. We were there at the beginning... at the dawn of the Third Age of Joe's career.

Bravo Joe! Bravo!

[JoeD80]

Originally Posted by PMvanova

when he got the B5 script sold (the details are hazy here, but I hope this is correct) he took the script and was going to find that professor.

That seems a little odd that it would be a Babylon 5 script, considering jms had been writing scripts for television since 1983.

[Dan Dassow]

Originally Posted by PMvanova

...
Now look at him, this former fanboy turned writer, producer and creator of one of the top ten sci fi tv series of all time now... a name being spoken by some of the biggest names in the movie industry. ...

By Joe's own admission and in my humble opinion he still proudly considers himself a fanboy.

[Dan Dassow]

'WALL-E' bow kicks off Oscar season
First half of the year rarely yields Academy contenders
By Gregg Kilday and Carolyn Giardina
Hollywood Reporter
June 25, 2008, 10:18 PM ET

With Pixar's newest blue-chip animated movie "WALL-E" hitting theaters Friday, the 2008 Oscar race is finally off and running....

May's Festival de Cannes didn't do much to clarify the situation, either: Several promising foreign films aside, only Clint Eastwood's "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie, emerged as a mainstream contender...

At Cannes, "Changeling," Eastwood's period drama, drew appreciative reviews, putting it on the same award-winning track "Mystic River" followed in 2003. Jolie was hailed as a definite Oscar nominee for her performance as a single mother who fights the Los Angeles establishment; then again, prognosticators said the same thing about last year's "A Mighty Heart," though that one failed to secure her an acting nom. Writer J. Michael Straczynski, in a major change of pace for the creator of "Babylon 5," also could find himself courting awards consideration for his based-on-fact screenplay....