R.O.I's CEO Tom Vaughan Draws THE LINE Away From John Woo's LAND OF DESTINY (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Ever since someone started thinking about sending Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo to the American Old West when the Transcontinental Railroad was still under construction, I have been overly-excited about it. Ever since then, we have been getting all kinds of rather confusing news and rumors but nothing about the film itself getting started. We heard the project has been pushed back again and again - because of strike in Hollywood, 9-11, over budgeting, script problem... We heard the male Caucasian lead starring with Chow Yun-Fat has been shifted from Russell Crowe to Hugh Jackman to Nicolas Cage to... We heard the title has been changed from THE LINE to MEN OF IRON to MEN OF DESTINY to LAND OF DESTINY to...

Now Tom Vaughan, CEO of R.O.I Films, sent me a letter trying to set everything straight. According to him, LAND OF DESTINY and THE LINE are two unrelated projects and his company owns the rights to the latter one.

Here is what he said:

People have been reporting this story incorrectly for over a year now. I have never corrected anyone before, but your website seems to have such a genuine affection and excitement for the films you discuss I thought you might be in interested in the real story.

There are two films.

THE LINE is one project.

LAND OF DESTINY/THE DIVIDE (It goes by a few other titles as well) is another.

These are two separate projects. They are not the same script.

THE HISTORY::

THE LINE is a fairly traditional western with a non-traditional Chinese lead. It takes place around the building of the transcontinental railroad (there are only so many ways a Chinese man makes sense in the old west) and is a story about revenge, friendship, family and moving on. Chow Yun-Fat was attached to star in this project as well as Terrance Chang to produce along with Dan Halsted. It's a strong script and widely hailed through town. It was set up at Propaganda. Propaganda is no more, and the script is no longer set up anywhere. This is because...

LAND OF DESTINY is a drama about a Chinese immigrant working on the transcontinental railroad. John Woo attached himself to direct. When Woo decided he wanted to direct this film, Yun-Fat and Chang promptly dropped out of The Line and over to LAND OF DESTINY.

By all reports, the script for LAND OF DESTINY is a disaster. So is the financing. It's a mess. One "go" picture went to two dead pictures because Woo wanted to direct a drama on the transcontinental railroad instead of a traditional action/western. Everyone seems to be in agreement that Woo has earned the right to do whatever he wants so there have been few complaints that I know of.
LAND OF DESTINY rides on a few factors to see if it will ever get made. First, the financing. Second, if the script can be fixed. Third, can the budget be dropped down to a level where it makes sense. And Fourth, whether they can team Yun-Fat up with a big enough American star whose schedule coincides with the first three factors (Nicolas Cage is no longer a definite).

THE LINE is  a smaller film, but more overtly commercial and will have to wait until a another Asian star appears and is interested.

THE CONFUSION:

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reported on the sale of THE LINE to Propaganda Films with Chow Yun-Fat to star. No one reported of his exodus to the LAND OF DESTINY. Many months later Daily Variety reported on Nicolas Cage coming on board to LAND OF DESTINY. Daily Variety asked themselves, "How many Chinese westerns can there be with Chow Yun-Fat attached that use the transcontinental railroad as their backdrop?"

Not unreasonably, they concluded that the two projects were one in the same and then promptly gave me writing credit for LAND OF DESTINY, a project that I had nothing to do with.

Throughout the web, the projects were reported as one and that only the title had changed.

I thought this might be of interest.

Best,

Tom Vaughan
R.O.I. Films

R.O.I Films Official Site

John Woo's LAND OF DESTINY Delayed (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

According to Chinese media, shooting of John Woo's historical railroad epic LAND OF DESTINY (working title) has been postponed. He said, because the budget was over 100 million, he had to make sure everything of the project working correctly. Now they are still working on the script and preparing for some "big scenes across several states."

LAND OF DESTINY is set in the 19th Century during the construction of America's first transcontinental railroad. Chow Yun-Fat and Nicolas Cage will play two rail workers immigrated from China and Ireland.

John Woo	Terence Chang
Photos: About.com

Variety reports MGM has picked up rights to script BLIND SPOT with director John Woo and producer Terence Chang. In this thriller, set in Washington D.C., a man is wrongfully accused of a crime. Sounds a lot like MINORITY REPORT.

The current project Woo and Chang are working on is LAND OF DESTINY (aka. "THE DIVIDE", "MEN OF DESTINY", "MEN OF IRON" and "THE LINE"). The pre-production is reportedly slowing down due to a soaring budget, John Woo is keeping BLIND SPOT as a backup alternative, which should have a smaller budget. However, according to Production Weekly, the script of LAND OF DESTINY is currently getting a polish by Christopher McQuarrie (THE USUAL SUSPECTS) and shooting  will begin September 23 in Colorado.

WINDTALKERS, the latest John  Woo, cost MGM over US$100 million but only managed to earned less than US$50 million.

Thanks to Cass

John Woo's Dreaming About Even More Movies (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

In recent years, John Woo has rarely shown up in Hong Kong and each time he shows up in Hong Kong, John just couldn't stop talking about what movies he wants to make. In addition to a Hong Kong/US cop flick with Michelle Yeoh or even Zhang Ziyi, a musical, a female version of FACE/OFF, another ONCE A THIEF action, and a Western, he has told Oriental Daily what else he wanted to make - a film version of ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS, a historical drama about modern China's founding father Dr. Sun Yat-sen, and a remake of his mentor Chang Cheh's classic CI MA.

John Woo also promised the beach scene with Nicolas Cage and Emily Mortimer in WINDTALKERS, which has been cut from the theatrical version, would be included in the DVD. He said the scene was vital to the whole movie, which showed great passions between two lovers. But he had to delete it because his original cut was 2 hours and 30 minute long, too long to be greenlighted by MGM. 

Photo: About.com

More On John Woo THE DIVIDE/LAND OF DESTINY (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

Disney has already picked up this project, which will be produced by Propaganda Films. The script is originally written by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary, and was rewritten by Tom Vaughan. This project will not be a Hong Kong gunplay plus American Western, but rather a pure drama set in the background of the construction of America's first transcontinental railroad.