What historical events or people would make a good film?

Apparently Willem van Oranje looked like a Hollywood action star in his youth◊, and everyone likes a good revolution movie.

Seriously, though, I'd love a movie about Ibn Battuta.

edited 14th Oct '15 10:39:09 AM by KnownUnknown

The WWII Battle of Caen.

Wernher von Braun, creator of the Saturn V rocket.

They can use the Tom Lehrer song in the credits.

Götz von Berlichingen: An imperial knight of the Holy Roman Empire[[note: which, as Voltaire said, wasn't holy, nor roman, or an empire]] who fought in many wars, lost his arm, got an iron prosthetic arm that could be used to hold shields and pens, and kept fighting in wars until he died peacefully in his bed at an age of about 80 years.

Koreshiga Inuzuka was a Japanese war criminal who escaped charges because he had assisted Jews in resettling in China while it was part of the Japanese Empire. What's funny is that he was an Anti-Semite: he thought the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was legit, so he figured that the Jews had some natural economic prowess they could lend to the empire's economy (though they would have to be kept under surveillance lest they take over the government ). The movie could be called 'Fugu' because that's what he called them, after the puffer-fish dish that tastes great if prepared correctly, but kills if any mistake is made.

Goodness, WWII really did bring out the craziest of humanity.

edited 4th Feb '16 9:32:31 PM by Tuckerscreator

Lots of historical figures that already have one or more movies could do with one that isn't heavily exaggerated.

I'm sure Wong Fei-hung's life was interesting enough without him and his dad helping Batman Iron Monkey fight a disgraced Shaolin monk.

edited 4th Feb '16 10:02:52 PM by Eagal

A movie about Tallulah Bankhead would be interesting. She was quite a character.

Frederic Bruce (Fyodor Fyodorovich) Tomas was born in rural Mississippi to former slaves in 1872, left for Chicago as a teenager and trained as a waiter, and travelled to Europe where his understanding of people and business together with ambition and hard work made him prosper once out of the States' racism (each nation in Europe had its own prejudices, but not against Negroes). He helped run one of the biggest entertainment venues in Moscow from 1912.

He was caring if stern to his employees and family but ruthless and manipulative to businesses and governments, often flouting the law. He married twice for convenience then genuinely fell in love, and the rift with his wife would cause trouble when he escaped Russia. His biggest flaw was he believed himself master of his own destiny; but the society in which he had everything invested collapsed and became Bolshevik rule, under which as a wealthy entrepreneur he was once more a targeted pariah. He narrowly escaped to Turkey, where he made a valiant attempt to rebuild but ran bankrupt and his family was left scattered.

I went through Vladimir Alexandrov's biography of him, and I was struck by the sociological look at racism and its persistent, pervasive nature as much as bringing a great person to life. It could be the material of a great film, but you'd need period settings of a string of major cities (at the very least Chicago, Paris, Moscow and Constantinople) and masterful compression to carry across what this book does.

Is it OK to post here or should I make a new thread?

I've been recently doing a Plato binge, and it makes me believe a Law Procedural based on the Apology Of Socrates could be, if expanded to cover more of the trial than just Socrates' defense arguments, a very striking film that could produce some interesting commentary on the current trend of making trials and politics more about spectacle and "fuck the other side" than about actually reaching a fair veredict or electing the most capable person for the job.

I saw a UFO. make a movie about me

The 1842 retreat from Kabul. The british army (along with a lot of civilian) was forced to retreat from the occupied Kabul and to reach the fortress of Jalalabad, 90 miles away, through many high mountain passes, without weapons and almost without food, continually attacked by afghan guerrillas. Of sixteen thousand people only one European and a few Indian arrived at Jalalabad.

The posthumous trial of Pope Formosus. And 'posthumous' means that his corpse was actually disinterred, seated in the middle of St. Peter's Basilica and put on trial.

The Armenian Genocide. Turkey likes to pretend it never happened despite most of the world (officially or unofficially) acknowledges it.

A proper big budget film set around the real events of the Scottish Wars of Independence, with all the real guys popping up, including Andrew Moray, who never got a look-in in Gibson's take on the story.

Had this idea from a discussion in the Diversity thread about films about people with disabilities/the rarity in which they are actually played by actors with a disability.

There's a 17th century Dutch artist Hendrick Avercamp whose become increasingly popular and who was mute and possibly deaf and mute and it would be interesting to explore someone succeeding despite a disability, especially in an early modern setting. One thing cool about the time period and what he painted is that it was the Little Ice Age and he painted all of these winter landscapes on which people ice skated and traded.

Also, like Brugel, he liked painting a lot of "naughty" details into scenes of activity. One of his signature things is women falling over on the ice and mooning. So I'd picture a biography of him having a humorous tone.

edited 6th Dec '16 5:05:51 PM by Hodor2

There is a movie about the Armenian genocide coming

Has anyone ever thought about doing something with the Peloponesian War? You would think one of the greatest conflicts of Ancient Greek history would lend itself to some drama.

The Peloponnesian War works better as the backstory — aside from the early Athenian victories and their devastating defeat at Aegospotami, it wasn't a particularly dynamic, epic conflict. The Athenians, for example, mostly just stayed behind their long walls. A more interesting time period, in my opinion, would be its aftermath — the Thirty Tyrants are installed, and Athens becomes a Spartan client state, but Thrasybulus and a band of Athenian exiles gather an army, march to Piraeus, and eventually, reach a settlement with Pausanias to reestablish democracy in Athens.

I kind of want more stories set during more obscure wars, to be honest. When was the last time we had an English language film set during the War of the Spanish Succession, for example?

edited 7th Dec '16 10:56:49 AM by CrimsonZephyr

I'd love that Socrates film.

Speaking of philosophers, I'd like a film about Wittgenstein. Maybe a full biopic, or concentrating on some slice of life, such as the infamous poker incident.

The Russian civil war had some interesting episodes for more or less traditional war films in unconventional setting. For example, the Czechoslovak Legion that controlled the Trans-Siberian Railway with armored trains and then evacuated through Vladivostok to new declared independent Czechoslovakia. Or during the summer of 1919, the British had a RAF seaplane squadron operating from a small Finnish village, bombing Russian warships in Petrograd in a daring under-equipped operation. Or British Major Bruce ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewen_Cameron_Bruce ) who apparently captured a whole city with a single Mark V tank.

The post-WW 1 period was also quite interesting overall. In Italy there was Gabriel D'Annunzio; a poet, a nationalist, a mystic, a fighter plane pilot and a modernist who was a weird precursor to Mussolini and Italian fascism. In one of the strangest episodes of his life, he conquered the city of Fiume and declared himself its Duce. I wouldn't cast him as a hero, but he would make a very convoluted villain.

Also, I don't think there has been a great film about set around the birth of the heavier-than-air aviation. Maybe follow the life and struggles of the Wright brothers after the first success at Kitty Hawk? The competing claims by Santos-Dumont and others, the patent lawsuits, in the end Wilbur dies.

edited 11th Dec '16 11:45:51 AM by maus42

I'd be a lot more interested in a film about Santos Dumont himself. A more obscure figure with a more tragic story (not making a dime of his invention, comitting suicide after seeing his planes used for war).

I'd love to see a tv series or film about African American expats who lived in Paris during the 20s and 30s. It could be an ensemble that focuses on writers and musicians, maybe a mix of real people like Josephine Baker and James Baldwin along with fictional characters.

Three movies related to Joan of Arc (four kind of) and two others that I just have right now.

St. Joan of Arc (epic)

A complete story of her from childhood to her sainthood. I would want the film to be as accurate as possible (still have the angels/saints). I would like to cover her famous moments as well as the moments that get skimmed over most of the time. After Joan’s execution, it cuts to everyone's reaction to her death. Then cut to the end of the war where the king visits town and orders for a retrial. Following that is montage of depiction of Joan in pop culture (like Henry VI) as well as notable mentions of her in history. It would include brief scenes of the miracles that made her a saint, WW 1 soldiers praising her and ending with the canonization of her as a saint ( I'm thinking of something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25wf1sUFiKY ) A post credits would have Carl Theodor Dreyer approach Maria Falconetti to play Joan in The Passion of Joan of Arc (due to the importance of that film)

Length: 218.7 min (3h 38 min based on the average of 4 epics)

-Childhood: 20 min

-After-Childhood to pre-orleans: 37.5 min

-Orleans: 48.3 min

-After Orleans to Capture: 53 min (Intermission after the coronation)

-Trial: 50 min

-Road to Sainthood: 10 min

times mostly based on averages from other Joan of Arc films and can be subject to change

Budget: $170 million (based on the average of 10 epic films, higher than 6 of them)

Needed Revenue before breaking even (generally): $340 million

The Retrial of Joan of Arc

An adaptation of the book The Retrial of Joan of Arc and research of the trial that cleared Joan's name. Would cut out some of the parts that are just recreations of her life since it would be unnecessary.

Length: 80 min to 140 min (based on the first trial movies and the page count of the book)

Budget: $18 388 455.84 to $41 847 918.86 ($18.4 million to $41.85 million)

Needed Revenue before breaking even (generally): $36 776 911.68 to $83 695 837.72 ($36.8 million to $83.7 million)

The Miracles of Joan of Arc

Movie based on the miracles that made Joan a saint. See the process the Catholic Church goes through to canonize saints and the miracles themselves.

Length: 110 to 120 min

Budget: $18 388 455.84 to $41 847 918.86 ($18.4 million to $41.85 million)

Needed Revenue before breaking even (generally): $36 776 911.68 to $83 695 837.72 ($36.8 million to $83.7 million)

The Visions of Simone Machard

An adaptation of The Visions of Simone Machard play. Taking place during World War 2, the main girl has dreams of being Joan of arc.

Length: 98 min

Budget: $17.7 million

Needed Revenue before breaking even (generally): $35.4 million

Hana's Suitcase

An adaptation of Hana’s Suitcase play and real life story of Hana Brady. Another real life girl from World War 2 with an object attributed to her.

Length: 88 min

Budget: $17.7 million

Needed Revenue before breaking even (generally): $35.4 million

edited 24th Jan '18 10:04:33 AM by GeoffJack

One of my probably-never-to-be-finished projects is a screenplay that’s a comic retelling of the events of the Star Route Scandal. Trying hard to make it not too much like The Producers.