Pendragon director speaks

The mailing list of the H G Wells society was privy to the following fasinating missive from the director of the forthcoming War Of The Worlds movie.

H. G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS will have a major world theatrical release on 30 March 2005. There is no winner or loser concerning Pendragon and Paramount. The winner/loser scenario might be true if both films were coming out at the same time. Whereas Pendragon's version will be released a full three-months in advance of Paramount's version, there is no direct toe-to-toe competition. Indeed, the release of Pendragon's version supports the release of Paramount's version.

Our distribution is a consortium of distributors of which more are signing on every week. The date posted on our website, 30 March 2005, is the worldwide release date. Some minor adjustments may be made country to country, based on a variety of factors relating to individual distribution contracts within each region.

The post-production of H. G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is an exciting, amazing and challenging experience. Each day, as scenes are cut together, another piece of Wells story comes to life. At present, we are cutting together and placing effects in the Shepperton shoreline sequence. Retakes and miniature photography will conclude in December on schedule.

In answer to your question put forth by some of the fans as to how we are recreating Woking, most of the structures from the correct time period in Woking were leveled in the 1960's in massive revitalization projects. Sadly, buildings dating back as far as the 1600's were leveled to make way for modern developments. Some period buildings were rebuilt as replicas with modern materials. Many turn-of-the-century houses and inns remain and were usable. However, much of turn-of-the-century Woking had to be recreated through CGI and miniatures. We used many reference source materials, archived photos and history books about Woking, some of which are only available in Woking and its nearby regions.

I must return to the editing suite at this time.

Best regards,

Timothy HinesDirector, H.G. WELLS' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

Extra Extra (well, actually a 1000 extra)

The news just keeps flooding in from the location work on the Cruise version of WOTW.
The saratogian reports that upwards of 1000 extras are to be recruited for scenes to be filmed soon. Athens deputy mayor Andrea Smallwood had this to say. 'They're bringing in a 168-foot ferry,' Smallwood said. 'People will run down Second Street onto the boat.'
Is this to be the movies take on the Thunder Child chapter of the book, in which terrified refugees take to waves and are defended from the Martians by a warship? It's the sea in the book and a river at Athens, so either this is an example of the "re-imagining" of the book, or some CGI magic will be at work in post production.

War Of The Worlds teaser trailer is up

Pendragon Films have issued a teaser trailer for their version of The War Of The Worlds. The trailer is high on melodrama and low (well, totally absent) on Martians. Kudos to them though for what looks to be a picture perfect retelling of the book. Should be very interesting to see it go head to head with the Cruise version.Trailer can be found here.
http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/wotw-hinestwo.htm

First picture of Cruise filming WOTWs

The New York times has snagged a shot of Cruise filming for the new movie. No sign of Martians yet and who are these guys he is with. Local resistance fighters perhaps?

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Signs of war !!

This from "northjersey.com" on the filming thus far in the Ironbound section along a portion of Ferry Street.

"The street scenes have reflected the havoc of an all-out invasion, with rubble scattered about, a crater in the ground and windows being blasted out of prefabricated houses, according to production sources and witnesses lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Cruise and many extras have been spied running for their lives before the rolling cameras since filming commenced Sunday."

War Of The Worlds filming

Thanks to an informant I learn things are well under way for the new movie.
"I LIVE IN NEWARK, NJ. AND JUST THREE BLOCKS AWAY FROM MY HOUSE STEVEN SPIELBERG AND TOM CRUISE AMONG OTHERS ARE FILMING WHAT IS GOING TO BE A NEW VERSION OF WAR OF THE WORLDS. I CAN'T WAIT FOR IT TO CAME OUT. JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS. THEY ARE ALSO SHOOTING IN BAYONNE, NJ."