http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=20675

NICOLAS CAGE TO STAR IN UNTITLED WORLD TRADE CENTER PROJECT FOR PARAMOUNT PICTURES; OLIVER STONE TO DIRECT

Film is Based on the True Story of September 11 Rescue Operation

LOS ANGELES, CA, July 8, 2005……Academy Award®-winner Nicolas Cage will star in and three-time Academy Award®-winner Oliver Stone will direct an untitled World Trade Center project for Paramount Pictures. The film, a dramatic motion picture based on the true story of the rescue of two Port Authority police officers from the collapsed World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, will be produced by Double Feature Films’ Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher and former InterMedia Films chairman Moritz Borman. Debra Hill will also be credited, posthumously, as a producer. Andrea Berloff wrote the original screenplay. The film will be distributed by Paramount Pictures.

The film is the heroic story of the last two men, John McLoughlin and William J. Jimeno, rescued from the collapse of the World Trade Center. It follows the story of two Port Authority policemen who are trapped in the rubble during the rescue efforts. It also focuses on their rescuers and their families, who are attempting to find out what happened to the trapped men. The film is a portrayal of how the human spirit rose above the tragic events of that day.

Sgt. John McLoughlin, one of the two trapped officers, said, “I feel someone had to tell the story of the people who were in the Trade Center before and after it collapsed. It needs to be told how this horrific tragedy brought Americans and the world together to help those in need. The people involved in putting this movie together are truly making an extraordinary attempt to tell those stories and the stories of those who are no longer with us.”

William J. Jimeno, Ret. Port Authority Police Detective, added, “As a survivor of 9/11, I want people never to forget those that died from my department, the Port Authority Police of NY/NJ, and those from my fellow departments, the NYPD and FDNY, as well as all of the EMT’s and the civilians in NYC, in Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon. I know that with the talented cast of people that have been brought together by Double Feature Films to bring this film project to life, they will never be forgotten. It will also be a tribute to all those that gave everything they had to bring people home to their loved ones.

This film is also a testament to the good that we as human beings are capable of. I have all the confidence in the world that with such a great script that was written by Andrea Berloff and having one of the world's greatest directors Oliver Stone, who has served his country and knows the price of freedom, this film will be one that will live on for generations to come, not only in America but the world!”

Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures Motion Pictures Group, said, “This is a moving, personal story of courage and perseverance. The individual heroism and the collective human spirit portrayed in this project is storytelling at its finest. We feel fortunate, proud, and an enormous sense of responsibility making this movie at Paramount.”

Grey previously produced the award-winning documentary “In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01.”

Gail Berman, president of Paramount Pictures, said, “Nicolas Cage is a gifted actor who’s shown a special ability to connect with audiences everywhere with brilliant performances that always draw us into the inner lives of the characters he portrays. With a director of Oliver Stone’s caliber, the humanity of Andrea Berloff’s words will come to life. The combination of their talents is perfect for this incredibly poignant story.”

Oliver Stone said, “Andrea Berloff’s screenplay is one of the best that’s ever come to me out of the blue – I guess like that day. It walloped me – and many others – with its emotion and simplicity. Clearly, it’s a work of collective passion, a serious meditation on what happened, and carries within a compassion that heals. It’s an exploration of heroism in our country – but is international at the same time in its humanity.”

Cage plays Sgt. John McLoughlin, a Port Authority police officer. Brad Weston and Pamela Abdy will oversee the project for Paramount Pictures.

Shamberg and Sher, the Academy Award®-nominated producers of “Erin Brockovich,” “Pulp Fiction,” and “Garden State,” among many others, specialize in films about the times we live in. Borman served as executive producer of “The Quiet American,” and producer of “Alexander,” and many other films.

Paramount Pictures is currently developing plans for charity organizations working with the victims and heroes of 9/11 to benefit from this project.

Paramount Pictures is a part of the entertainment operations of Viacom, Inc., one of the world’s largest entertainment and media companies and a leader in the production, promotion, and distribution of entertainment, news, sports, and music.

Yeah, I read about this last night. Bet they release it on 9/11/06, and cash in on the 5 year anniversary.

soon or late someone would do a movie about 9/11

Maybe if we are lucky, Cage will die tragically during filming.

If we were lucky, would it really be a tragedy?

Come on, now: Cage was a grill man in Fast Times...

Tragic for him...lucky for the world.

I just threw up in my mouth a lot.

Oliver Stone is a good director, and I would like a fictional movie about 9/11. But this looks like absolute shit.

what do you mean by "good?"

By good I mean amazing.

oh, i thought you meant "washed up toolbox who pandered to the mtv crowd and ruined his career." whichever works for you, though.

How does he pander to the MTV crowd? The MTV crowd watches shit like The Fast and the Furious and You Got Served. I don't like the Video Music style editing he has been doing on his more recent films, but it is hardly pandering. As far as I know, Alexander didn't have Creed do the theme song and a dance sequence with Orland Bloom breakdancing.

i'm talking more about the early 90s, natural born killers specifically, although casting colin farrell to play alexander couldn't have been to make the best movie he possibly could have.

i heard IEB wrote the screenplay


ishtar is still the worst movie idea

Only in amerika.

How's pathetic (of them).

Cage is such a whore; he'll do any project for a buck.

c-

there's actually already been a couple of small movies related to 9/11, but nothing like this.

this is likely going to piss a lot of people off.

There was already a film made, a British one I think, about the actual terrorists. The Hamburg Cell or something like that. It wasn't to bad. This seems like a weird angle to take on it. And it doesn't sound like something Stone would do. I can see him building a whole conspiracy where the trapped officers were placed there by the Cubans, and the highjackers were really former Pearl Jam drummers.