Great new Golden Era movie: The Aviator

[MK]

I was over at Western Costume the other day and they had a lot of great looking wardrobe on racks tagged for The Aviator. I asked about it and was told the movie had just wrapped. I did some digging and this is what I came up with:

Release Date: December, 2004 (wide)

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.), Alan Alda (Senator Brewster), Alec Baldwin (Juan Tripp), Kate Beckinsale (Ava Gardner), Cate Blanchett (Katharine Hepburn), Frances Conroy (Kit Hepburn), Willem Dafoe (cameo), Kelli Garner (Faith Domergue), Sam Hennings, Ian Holm, Danny Huston (Jack Frye), Vincent Laresca (Jorge), Jude Law (Errol Flynn), Josie Maran, Matt Ross (Glenn Odekirk), Nellie Sciutto (Nadine Henley), Adam Scott, Justin Shilton, Brent Spiner (Robert Gross), Gwen Stefani (Jean Harlow, Chris Ufland, Rufus Wainwright

Director: Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Bringing Out the Dead, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Casino; his latest film before this is Gangs of New York)

Screenwriter: John Logan (Bats, RKO 281, The Time Machine; cowriter of Gladiator, Any Given Sunday; Star Trek: Nemesis is next up before this; he also has The Last Samurai coming, and Gladiator 2 in development)

Director Note:

4/01/02 - This project was started by Michael Mann, who originally was hoping to direct DiCaprio himself. Scorsese will instead be at the helm, making it two movies in a row that he's done with the star, after Gangs of New York.

Based Upon: This film is based upon the early career of tycoon Howard Hughes (1905-1976), whose career spanned across everything from oil (which he cared little for), film, casinos, and aviation, as he turned millions of dollars into billions...

Premise: Focusing on his early years (from the 1930 production of 'Hell's Angels' to the 1947 test flight of the Blue Spruce, when he was 42), this is the story of how young Howard Hughes transformed a small fortune into a massive one. The son of the Texan inventor of an amazing drill bit who died when he was 18, leaving him with 75% of the "Hughes Tool Co.", Howard Hughes (DiCaprio) quickly moved to Los Angeles to become a Hollywood film producer, where he helped launch the career of Jean Harlow and other starlets, and producing such classics as Hell's Angels, The Front Page, Flying Leathernecks, and Scarface (the 1932 original), eventually owning RKO Pictures. Hughes' legend came not from focusing on just Hollywood, however, as he simultaneously branched into industry after industry, including aviation in 1932 (including TWA Airlines), and during WWII, defense, leading to the creation of the (infamous) Spruce Goose, a flying boat of immense size. After WWII, Hughes' expansions continued, with an electronics company that was integral to the evolution of the satellite, and Hughes' several Las Vegas casinos (though this film may be ending before he moves there). This film will also focus on Hughes' romances with Hollywood stars like Katherine Hepburn (Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Beckinsale). (Huston plays the president of TWA; Baldwin plays the president of their competitor, Pan Am).

Filming: Production started on July 7th, 2003 in Montreal on a budget of around $108 million, and then moved to Los Angeles in September, 2003. Filming wrapped up on November 17th, 2003 after 91 days, going just one day over schedule due to a fire at one of the sets caused by the recent California wild fires.

I think this one is going to be a fantastic film.

 

[ITG]

Does this Western Costumes place sell the costumes or store them for film companies?

 

[MK]

Neither. They rent them.

 

[Imahomer]

Well, I'll be interested to see the movie. If it's done well, it should be a great story. I'm not a Leonardo DiCaprio fan, but you can't have everything. I'm hoping he will surprise me, it's happened before.

 

[mmarosy]

Access Hollywood had a quick snippet on this a few weeks ago. It showed footage of DiCaprio in a Fedora climbing into a plane. The story was more about the production moving because of the wildfires burning down an airfield set than the movie itself. Leo's lid looked pretty cool in the clips.

Mike

 

[Imahomer]

I was watching a recent, but favorite movie of mine last night. It features a lot of hats and they are for the most part pretty worn hats. I'm sure others have seen Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

 

[PrettyBigGuy]

Since this is Warner Bros. film, I spoke to our client about it this morning. He said that we should start getting key art for it early next year. It's funny that MK should post this today because I just watched The Rocketeer last night and it got me thinking about Howard Hughes. I really must get back to Portland to visit my brother (and see the Spruce Goose)!
PBG

 

[mmarosy]

Originally posted by Imahomer
I'm sure others have seen Oh Brother Where Art Thou.

I love it! The box car scene towards the beginning cracks me up everytime. This'll have to be a DVD I add to my stable.

Mike

 

[MK]

Has anyone seen anything .....like photos from The Aviator ?

 

[The_Edge]

Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes and Gwen Stefani as Jean Harlow arriving at the premiere of Hell's Angels at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Initial Entertainment Group's drama "The Aviator," directed by Martin Scorsese and distributed in North America by Warner Bros. Pictures / Miramax Films and internationally by Initial. Photo by Andrew Cooper, courtesy of Initial Ent. Grp. / Warner Bros. / Miramax.

And this photo as well.

 

[Dr. J]

Gwen Stefani looks great!

 

[havershaw]

I love Gwen Stefani. (My wife understands.)

I actually had spoken with the prop supervisor of this film quite a few months ago (maybe a year or so?). I'm a big fan of the Ambassador Hotel in LA, which was one of Howard Hughes' temporary residences, as well as the home to the famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub, another frequent haunt of Hughes' (I'm some thing of a Hughes buff as well). The hotel is closed to the public now, but it originally opened in 1919 and was pretty much THE place to be seen in Hollywood. Quite a few Oscar ceremonies were held in the Cocoanut Grove (including the one where they introduced the statuette, as well as the 'Gone With the Wind' Oscars, to name a few), and really, if you were anyone in Hollywood, that's where you went. It was a beautiful place. Anyway, I'm a huge Ambassador collector, and though I'm not sure how I got involved, they called me to provide some Cocoanut Grove and Ambassador Hotel 30s-era ashtrays, matchbooks, and napkins, for them to replicate en masse. I asked why they weren't filming at the real Ambassador Hotel (which, while there have been many changes, would not have been difficult to for them to restore to the key locations to their former glory), and he said that filming in LA was just too expensive, and that it was easier to just build everything in Canada. In fact, I recall he specifically mentioned that it was cheaper for them to rebuild the entire outer court of Grauman's in Canada than it was for them to shoot for even one day at the real Grauman's. Sad, because nothing would have been better than for them to have restored the Cocoanut Grove to its original 1930s splendor and then leave it that way! (I doubt they would have, but it would have been an improvement on its current 1969 countenance.) Kind of a bummer that California is losing so much of its location business to the Great White North.

As a side note, Gwen looks exactly the same in the new No Doubt Video for 'It's My Life.' And that one WAS shot at the mighty Ambassador! (You can see the wonderful art deco clock that adorns the main entrance when she's exiting the hotel with the bass player.) But the whole video is super 1930s. (it's worth checking it out for Gwen alone, if you ask me.)

 

[The_Edge]

"The Aviator" trailer on-line

"The Aviator"

The quality isn't that great but it's a nice glimpse at the film anyway.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

Looks good to me.

 

[MK]

I am still having trouble seeing Leo as Howard Hughs.......but I am REALLY excited about this movie!!! :clap

 

[Imahomer]

Originally posted by MK
I am still having trouble seeing Leo as Howard Hughs.......but I am REALLY excited about this movie!!! :clap

LOL!!! MK, that's going to be the real hard thing for me with this movie. I'm really looking forward to it, but did they have to cast him as Howard Hughs?????

 

[Andykev]

I CAN'T wait until DECEMBER!!!!!!:rage:

I love Leonardo...and Kate (hot babe, hot babe)

Airplanes, mystery, vintage.....wow!

I will be first in line for the opening. And WILL buy the DVD.....

Oh sweet ......

I love it when they do "period" films, from MY PERIOD! SO Period, the END!! Love it!

 

[Canadave]

You guys are optimistic. Isn't anybody worried about Hollywood screwing it up?:cry:

David

 

[STHill]

Oh yeah, I EXPECT Hollywood to screw it up. But, you know, every now and then, they get it right, in spite of themselves(Saving Private Ryan, Twelve O'Clock High, Das Boot, a few more). To be honest, Leo actually resembles the young HH to me. Who knows. Hope for the best.

 

[MK]

I think this could be on the level of Tucker or The Untouchables .