[NYTr] "Pinkville" - Oliver Stone Plans New Film on My Lai Massacre

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

BBC - Aug 30, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6968356.stm

Stone signs Willis for next movie

Actor Bruce Willis has signed up to star in director Oliver Stone's
next film, which will be based on the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

Willis plays a real-life army general who investigated the murder of
hundreds of Vietnamese villagers by US soldiers.

Stone, 60, is said to be closing a deal with Hollywood film studio
United Artists, who will finance the project.

Called Pinkville, it will be Stone's fourth film set in Vietnam,
including the 1987 Oscar-winner, Platoon.

Starring Charlie Sheen and Forest Whitaker, the movie scooped four
Academy awards, including best director and best film.

Stone also won two Oscars for Born on the Fourth of July, which starred
Tom Cruise - now a co-owner of United Artists - while Heaven and Earth
won a Golden Globe in 1994.

Filming on Pinkville is likely to start next year with a budget of
about $40m (£19.9m).

Willis, most recently seen in Die Hard 4.0, will step into the shoes of
William R Peers, who was appointed to investigate the My Lai massacre
and its subsequent cover-up by the US Army.

More than 400 witnesses were questioned and 20,000 pages of testimony
taken before the inquiry reported its findings in March 1970.

Actor Channing Tatum, who appeared in Step Up, has also been lined up
to play a military helicopter pilot who curtailed the killing by
placing his craft between villagers and soldiers.

Iran plan

Meanwhile, the Iranian President has reacted to reports that Stone
plans to make a film about him.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "I have no objection, generally speaking, but
they have to let me know what are the frameworks."

In the past Stone has made films about former US presidents John F
Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

Ahmadinejad, a critic of US policy in the Middle East, swept to
presidency in 2005 pledging to share out Iran's oil wealth more fairly.

Since his election he has taken a tough stand on a number of foreign
policy matters, in line with his hard-line background.

His call for an end to the Israeli state and describing the holocaust
as a myth have drawn widespread condemnation from the West.

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Agencia Cubana de Noticias (ACN)
http://ainch.ain.cu/mailman/listinfo/ingles


Oliver Stone Plans New Film on My Lai Massacre

Havana, Aug 30 (acn) American filmmaker Oliver Stone will direct a film 
for United Artists about a massacre by US troops during the Vietnam War.

"Pinkville" will show the mass execution committed by a US military
unit in the village of My Lai in central Vietnam. This is the fourth 
full-length feature by Oliver Stone on the Vietnam War. The first three 
were Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven and 
Earth (1993).

United Artists has put up a $40 million US budget for the production, 
starring Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum, with a script by Nikko Alanne.

The massacre occurred on the morning of March 16, 1968, when more than 
100 soldiers flew into the town of My Lai, in the Vietnamese province 
of Quang Ngai, and killed 350 civilians, mostly women, children and 
elderly people.

The US army tried to hide the crime; however, it came out in public
opinion.

Oliver Stone has won two Academy Awards for best director with Platoon 
and Born on the Fourth of July.

culture/ycr/14:52 mdk/17:15

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VietnamNet Bridge - Aug 30, 2007
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2007/08/735706/

Oliver Stone to re-cover Vietnam War

VietNamNet Bridge – The director of well-known movies about the Vietnam
War like "Platoon" and "Heaven and Earth" will return to his favorite
topic in Pinkville, a new project about the 1968 My Lai massacre.

Stone is still negotiating with United Artists, which is expected to
spend US$40million on the new movie. Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum
have been invited for roles. The script will be written by Mikko Alanne.

Bruce Willis will play William R. Peers, who witnessed American
soldiers killing hundreds of Vietnamese civilians in My Lai hamlet in
the central province of Quang Ngai. 27-year-old Channing Tatum, known
for his roles in Coach Carter and Step Up, will play pilot Hugh
Thompson, who rescued survivors of the massacre.

After the success of last year’s World Trade Center, Stone at first
wanted to make another war piece about the pursuit of Osama bin Laden.
He changed his mind, however, and decided to film Pinkville, the title
of which is the name American soldiers called My Lai by.

(Source: Lao Dong)