Newly formed Pendragon Pictures is gearing up to produce a new rendition of the H.G. Wells classic War Of The Worlds. Described as a non-campy, live action production, the latest version will be directed by Timothy Hines and produced by Susan Goforth.
Financed through an array of sources anchored with venture capital, Pendragon Pictures’ production will be the first ever to feature the ten-story tall alien fighting machines.
“I’ve always wanted to see a movie version of War Of The Worlds with the massive fighting machines with their tentacles and poison gas deployment weapons striding down city streets, sending people fleeing in terror,” says Hines.
Susan Goforth will star in the 2 hour plus motion picture along with a cast of television personalities and unknowns.
“The movie is the star,” declares Hines, who feels that casting major star talents would take away the edge of reality for the audience. “When H. G. Wells wrote the first ever story of intelligent global alien invasion back in 1898, it struck a cord of terror in the imaginations of readers the world over.
“Likewise, when Orson Welles broadcast the story in the nineteen-thirties, people believed they were hearing of a real invasion. We, in a sense, are doing the same thing, on a much more massive scale.”
Goforth is equally enthusiastic. “Response to our screenplay has been overwhelmingly positive. The aliens in War Of The Worlds are not just creatures in big fast mindless lumbering machines.
“They are devious and cunning and know how to use propaganda to turn humanity against each other. Everyone has come away from the script telling us that when we film this story, it will be the most frightening movie ever made,” added Goforth.
The $42 million dollar production will utilize state of the art effects and will be shot in the new CineAlta HD system George Lucas used for his upcoming Stars Wars installment.
Hines and Goforth are currenlty structuring worldwide distribution. “We are in no hurry to fill up the distribution slate,” says Hines. “We don’t need it for financing and the freedom is uplifting. Being a large scale independent allows us the opportunity to do the picture for all the right reasons.” War Of The Worlds will premiere at Cannes 2003.
