I’m going to be honest, sweeping war epics don’t do a thing for me. Or rather contemporary war epics don’t do a thing for me. I can happily get on board when it’s something like 300 or even TROY, something with swords and javelins, but the whole soldiers and guns thing just doesn’t rev my engine. It might be because I’ve seen too many films like WINDTALKERS, I don’t know. But I do understand why people appreciate them, which is why I report that ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT has been optioned by Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson with plans to turn it into a big budget Hollywood epic.
Stokell (the ex-managing editor of the Washington Post) and Paterson are penning a screenplay based on the 75 year old novel that has a “gritty, journalistic approach”, using the novel as merely an inspiration and so probably going in a different direction to the previous adaptation, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, which was itself an Oscar winner. Stokell says “We plan on recreating the spectacular visual ambience of trench warfare – miles and miles of desolate, bombed out and cratered landscape – we also intend to add more texture and emotional layering to the overall story”.
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed