Telling The Howard Hughes Story
The man who brought us
"Goodfellas," "Raging Bull," and the "Color of Money" now has his
sights set on aviation.
Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator" began principal photography July
7 at Mel's Cite du Cinema in Montreal for Initial Entertainment
Group. A Forward Pass Inc./ Initial Entertainment Group production
starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the film will be distributed in North
America by Warner Bros. Pictures/Miramax Films and by Initial
internationally.
"The Aviator" stars Leonardo DiCaprio. It is produced by Michael
Mann, Sandy Climan, Graham King, and Charles Evans Jr. Mr. Scorsese
directs. Exterior sequences will be filmed on locations in Los
Angeles.
Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin
and Jude Law co-star.
Featured are Matt Ross ("Down with Love," "American Psycho"),
Adam Scott (TV's "Six Feet Under"), Danny Huston ("Birth"), Alan
Alda ("What Women Want," TV's "MASH"), Ian Holm ("The Lord of the
Rings," "The Sweet Hereafter"), Kelli Garner ("Confessions of a
Dangerous Mind") and No Doubt's Gwen Stefani.
An original screenplay
by John Logan, "The Aviator" tells the story of aviation pioneer
Howard Hughes (DiCaprio), the eccentric billionaire industrialist
and Hollywood film mogul, famous for romancing some of the world's
most beautiful women. The drama recounts the years of his life from
the late 1920s though the 1940s, an epoch when Hughes was directing
and producing Hollywood movies and test flying innovative aircraft
he designed and created. A daredevil pilot, the most famous flyer
since Charles Lindbergh, Hughes became a major force in commercial
aviation. He was a mythic figure in the America of his day, imbued
with an aura of excitement, glamour and mystery.
"The Aviator" looks at Hughes' emotional life, and his love
affairs with two Hollywood legends, elegant, Yankee-bred screen
star Katharine Hepburn in the 1930s, and the sensual and luminous
screen beauty of the 1940s, Ava Gardner. It also chronicles Hughes'
struggle with his physical disabilities and phobias, and with his
increasingly erratic, obsessive-compulsive behavior that leads him
ultimately to isolate himself from his associates and withdraw from
the world.
Martin Scorsese is the director of over twenty-five films
including "Mean Streets," "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "The Color
of Money," "GoodFellas," "The Age of Innocence," "Kundun,"
"Bringing Out the Dead" and "Gangs of New York," which was
nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best
Director.
(DiCaprio as Hughes? Where was Johnny Depp? He looks
great with a pencil-thin mustache -ed)