The Nathanson Draft

torao

Moderator Emeritus
ifmagazine.com reports on something Nathanson said in a recent interview with the LA Times:

Carl Cortez ifmagazine contributor quoting and retelling the interview said:


"ANOTHER 'INDIANA JONES' SCRIBE SPEAKS OUT ON BEING REJECTED FOR 'INDY 4'"
I find it a bit misleading to compare this situation to the one with Darabont. I guess it would be helpful to read the full LA times article to know what Nathanson actually said and felt about the rewrite. After all it would be interesting to know to what extent and why (due to Lucas' demand? why?) the rewrite was ordered. I mean...rewriting isn't really an unusual thing to do in the industry...
 

Dr.Sartorius

New member
Correct me if I'm wrong but Nathanson's script WASN'T rejected. I thought Spielberg said he hired David Koepp to tweek it or alter it.
 

fedoraboy

Well-known member
Dr.Sartorius said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but Nathanson's script WASN'T rejected. I thought Spielberg said he hired David Koepp to tweek it or alter it.

Yes, i heard this too, I thought Nathanson was getting a 'Story' credit, alongside Lucas, while Koepp got the screenwriting credit...
 

torao

Moderator Emeritus
well...that's what I meant by my last paragraph. it's basically a different situation. but then...i wonder to what extent nathanson will get credit...
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
The complete story:
------------
'Indiana Jones 4' is taking its toll
Two weeks ago, when Oscar-nominated writer-director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") described his experience working on the latest, long-in-the-works Indiana Jones episode as "a tremendous disappointment and a waste of a year," another A-list screenwriter heard this cri de coeur and quietly sighed in recognition.
Jeff Nathanson, who had previously written "Catch Me If You Can" and co-written "The Terminal" for the Jones films' director, Steven Spielberg, was hired after Darabont to take another crack at a new story for the iconic adventure series.
"That's one of those movies that got me into the movie business, was watching 'Raiders [of the Lost Ark],' " says Nathanson, who most recently penned the third "Rush Hour" film. "So I had, like, the greatest year of my life. I had so much fun."
But Nathanson's efforts ultimately ended just as Darabont's did — with producer George Lucas passing on his screenplay despite Spielberg's blessing. Lucas' curmudgeonly rejections were perplexing to everyone, since reviving the beloved billion-dollar franchise had been on his, Spielberg's and star Harrison Ford's agendas for at least a decade.
Nathanson has no idea how much of his draft is left in the greenlit script, which is the work of Spielberg's frequent closer David Koepp ("Jurassic Park," "War of the Worlds"), but he seems to have taken the whole thing in stride.
"When you're working on a blockbuster-sized film, it's always a struggle," says Nathanson, who managed to survive "Speed 2: Cruise Control" and previous "Rush Hour" experiments. "It really is like moving mountains. And if it were easy to move mountains, the Swiss Alps would be in Westwood and all the agents would ski at lunch."
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
Jeff Nathanson's Involvement

I was hoping we could shed some light on this bloke Nathanson and his involvement with Indy 4. I think now story credits are going to Lucas and Nathanson according to what I saw on Good Morning America and from what some of you have said. Does anybody know anything about his Indy 4 treatment(s) and or screenplay drafts??? It would be interesting to know what he broght to the project, even if he is not officially credited.

100 posts... finally.
 

sandiegojones

New member
My guess is he did a final pass through on the script (minor revisions) but rather than getting a co-screeplay credit he's listed for story. My guess is that he came in after Darabont since Spielberg had worked with him recently on a few different films.
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
Actually Wikipedia says that after Lucas rejected Darabonts draft...
"Jeff Nathanson was hired in October 2004 to write a new draft,[42] which was set around 1949.[43] Completed a year later, the script was handed over to David Koepp."

Does any one know anything else about Nathanson's treatments?
 

oki9Sedo

New member
I believe he has a story credit along with George Lucas in the official credits, with Koepp the only screenplay credit.
 

Mutt Williams

New member
Jeff Nathanson's involvement was announced. He was hired in late 2004 if I remember correctly. He was suggested to George Lucas by Spielberg who worked with him before.

Only few months later Koepp was hired, which Spielberg mentioned him as his "closer". It was suggested by internet movie community that they scrap Nathanson's work and start writing fresh, and/or based on Darabont's.

But now, apparently, Koepp did the re-write based on Nathanson's screenplay. A screenplay who no one has any idea about.

Latest credit block:

creditsnewxy8.jpg


Note also that now they say "visual effects & animation by Industrial Light and Magic". There was no "animation" before.
 

HFFan

New member
Dr. Gonzo said:
Actually Wikipedia says that after Lucas rejected Darabonts draft...
"Jeff Nathanson was hired in October 2004 to write a new draft,[42] which was set around 1949.[43] Completed a year later, the script was handed over to David Koepp."

That's my recollection, too. He wrote a new draft and the next thing we heard was Koepp was coming in as a 'closer'. Obviously a lot of his ideas must have survived if he's been given story credit, but not enough to be given writing credit.
 

Dr. Gonzo

New member
I think it is interesting that Wikipedia says that Nathansons script was set in 1949... When did the roswell crash happen? It would be great to know more about his screenplay.
 

sandiegojones

New member
bergstrom said:
And yet Darabont still hasn't got a credit. No word on the arbitration process he was taking ?
I think Darabont is being a crybaby. This is how the business works! He's not the only writer to have turned in an Indy 4 script. I mean, Green Mile and Shawshank are good and I know he also wrote for Young Indy but they have no action. Koepp has written screenplays for Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, Panic Room, Mission Impossible, Carlito's Way and Spider-Man. I think he probably wrote the better script for this type of film. Plus, Speilberg and Ford stated they like this one best even though they also like Darabont's.

Plus, Lucas came up with the story idea. Maybe some things from Darabont's script were retained, but perhaps a lot of that stuff was already there before from other scripts or GL's outline.
 

sandiegojones

New member
Dr. Gonzo said:
I think it is interesting that Wikipedia says that Nathansons script was set in 1949... When did the roswell crash happen? It would be great to know more about his screenplay.
1947, but I don't think there's mention of the Roswell UFO, just Area 51 and most likely it won't be by name. Don't believe the fake synopsis you keep seeing.
 

No Ticket

New member
Mutt Williams said:
Note also that now they say "visual effects & animation by Industrial Light and Magic". There was no "animation" before.

I think if any of you REALLY believe there will be no CGI animation AT ALL... here in 2008... your kidding yourselves.
 

sandiegojones

New member
No Ticket said:
I think if any of you REALLY believe there will be no CGI animation AT ALL... here in 2008... your kidding yourselves.
yeah, but blue screen backdrops would be considered animation since they have to match it to live action. Still if we get anything like the ghosts at the end of Raiders you can bet they'd be CGI this time.
 

Mutt Williams

New member
Visual effects - set extensions, digital matte paintings, etc
Animation - CGI characters/creatures

All I'm saying is that ILM is doing a significant work to get that credit, meaning the supernatural part in this movie is quite demanding.

And that is not a bad thing for me. I'm confident that the animation will be used extensively only at the end like "Raiders".

They won't use "CG stuntmen", if anyone have any worries about that. I mean, just look at the list of stunt people at IMDB.
 

AHegele

New member
ILM always had huge involvement with the Indy series.

They said 70% of the effects will be practical, 30% will be CGI.

ILM still handles that 70%, just as they did with the models and miniatures in the previous three.
 

Indy Smith

New member
Mutt Williams said:
Note also that now they say "visual effects & animation by Industrial Light and Magic". There was no "animation" before.

So how do you suppose they did the face melting scenes in Raiders? I am sure Ainimation was a part of the visual effects of the previous movies.
 
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