ali wrote:
Also a note, I remember an off chance we encountered an interview with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's assist on zulm.net a while back - must be over ten years old now where VVC mentioned he was working on a concept for a movie about two chess players. It's taken that long from concept to different variations to a final movie being released in Jan 2016! That some development process time.
Ali
The following was posted in 2002:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1934&hilit=vidhuZoran009 wrote:
Finally, some body showed some COURAGE to RAISE their STATURES!!
http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2002/aug/21chopra.htm
'I have always intellectually dwarfed myself'
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's next project is a 'thriller of the mind'
Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra is excited about his latest venture, an English supernatural thriller Chess, with a tagline that goes '2 players, only 1 is alive'.
The film has two players are engaged in a tense game of chess. One tries to decipher the story of the other's death through the moves in the game. By the end of the game, and the film, the player is changed forever.
Chopra's principal scriptwriters are Suketu Mehta and Vikram Chandra. The latter is one of India's better-known writers and a frequent collaborator on Chopra's projects. Chopra is also married to Chandra's sister, India Today special correspondent Anupama Chopra.
Chess has been in the works for some 14 years, when Chopra wrote the first draft of the film's script. Over the intervening years and other projects, he decided Chess could not be made in Hindi. "I realised I had to make this film for a world audience," he told rediff.com. "I have always intellectually dwarfed myself in order to communicate to a large (Indian) audience, which I am not going to do with Chess."
The film is a landmark project for Chopra, a director who has been critically acclaimed for bringing a new grittiness to Indian cinema. He plans to make the film in the United States for an international audience. There will be virtually nothing Indian about the film, other than its director and the presence of actor Amitabh Bachchan.
"For me, Chess is really the liberation of my cinematic soul," said Chopra. A short silence follows, and then he laughs: "Not a bad quote, huh?"
When seen in the context of Bollywood, Chess is an unusual project. "Apart from one character whose grandfather was Indian, Chess is a totally American project," he says. "It will probably have only one Indian actor. I will make it so there will be an Indian sensibility, but it is for a world audience."
Chopra has also considered making it an independent project. He has raised about $3 million for the film. He says if he can raise another $7 million he may go independent. But considering that Columbia Tristar has "already shown interest" it may become a larger, more ambitious film.
"As hopes would go there is a role I'm hoping to get either Paul Newman or Dustin Hoffman to play," he says. So far the only actor who has committed to the project is Bachchan.
Edited By arsh on 1029951959
ali wrote:
Quote:
By the end of the game, and the film, the player is changed forever.
Hmmm... I remember VVC mentioning this film Chess in the zulm one and only Q & A in April 2001 - and reading back I think its contains a spoiler
o:
So read it at your own peril (second to last question) :p
http://www.zulm.net/modules....sid=185(or maybe not - reading too much into it
)
Ali [/b] [/quote]
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http://www.zulm.net/modules....sid=185Ali, the old link about April 2001 interview does not work. It will be interesting to see that interview if we can find the link.