Okay, this topic will bring much controversy, but here's a chance to voice your opinion. Do you want Clive Cussler to win the lawsuit and thus bring a stop to the movies? Or do you want him to lose and have more Dirk Pitt movies? Hmm :unsure:

I would personally like to have some more Dirk Pitt movies. How about you?

I would also like to have more movies made, but I would like Clive's wishes to be respected. Even though I admire him greatly, I still think that more Dirk Pitt movies should be made. Sahara was a load of fun! beer:

Why not have both!!! Dr. C should be respected and he should have final approval of scripts. He can suggest actors. th:

As I understand it, the court case is about Dr Cussler wanting his movie rights back. Once he has them back he can then sell them to someone else. It is thus possible to have both, he wins and us seeing more Dirk Pitt movies.

I just believe that someone who breached a contract, should not be allowed to get away with it.

I think there is a way for everyone to win. Clive certainly doesn't need 110 million U.S. dollars. It would definitely help him with his projects and whatnot, but that is just an absurd amount of money for these kinds of damages. Plus, if I were another movie company I would be very reluctant to want to work with him as it could turn out to be much more expensive and difficult, as we're seeing now.

They need to settle the lawsuit for a reasonable amount of money, with CC once again having script approval. He needs to understand what his readers (and viewers) want, and work to the best overall conclusion possible.

Personally, I want to see more movies made. I also want good men to get what they deserve. Both can happen, but compromises must prevail over hard-headedness.

$0.02

Erik

Any recent news about the lawsuit?

Oh yes, more movies please! th:
...with Matthew, Steve and William H. :P
I love ya Clive, but come on! I mean, the only reason I'm a fan today is because of the movie(Sahara)...and I KNOW I'm not the only one.

I am a fan Because of his Intelligent fiction. Would like to see that adapted Intelligently into a movie. But if I have to, an action packed Adventure will do. p:

I also would like to see more movies but as most people are saying to have CC wishes respected. I have an idea. Clive should work with a screenwriter he knows to write the script himself. I am an aspiring screenwriter and trying to sale one of mine. Maybe I should write it, send it to clive, and have him correct it or make changes. I can dream!!

Ben

Screw Disney and the Eisner's. They always seem to muddle things up. I think Cussler should win the suit, and then perhaps get a partnership going with Robert Rodriguez. You saw what he did with Sin City. Word for word and scence for scene verbatim. He even had Frank Miller as a co-director. I hope that there could be the same kind of relationship there between Cussler and Rodriguez. Either do that or make it into an HBO series. I could definitely see eight episodes running an hour each for one season for each book, and maybe even some new adventures developed for TV. That is the only way I can think of fitting everything into the story without cutting out a bunch of the good stuff like Sahara did.(WHERE WAS GIORDINO SHOOTING MELIKA!!!!???)
Alas, I live in a fantasy world, but if some women in New York can win the lottery twice, then maybe there's a shot for this. :lol:

I disagree. I want more movies, but the movie barely followed the book. They cut important parts, and made it all so stupid. I actually didn't mind the actors except that Rudi was wrong. A sniveling little weakling he is not! Massarde was wrong also, but he was only in that one book. Such a good bad guy. The kind of guy you love to hate, and they turned him into a sniveling worm. In the book, he was evil but he was always in control and even after being tied out in the sun at the end, he kept control of himself. Dirk and Al come out like superhuman being who can get shot at, but never hurt or hit. They aren't gods, they're men. Extraordinary men who put aside their wounds and persevere. I'm willing to set beside disbelief, but there is a limit. No body can shoot that badly! Where did the Turags (is that how the tribe name is spelt?) come into the book. They played a fair role in the movie, but only receive a passing reference in the book. Eva is not with them when they jump on the train, and where did the camels and the desert clothes come from. Where was Tebezza? The entire story was based on finding the Texas (a minor sub plot in the book). I've said it before and I'll say it again, you don't base a movie on a sub plot. You cut the sub plots and stick to main plot. The contamination was thrown in there ackwardly, and in general nothing was the same. The Calliope! A high tec boat used to track the contamination. Now Admiral Sandecker's private boat, which they have to beg to use to go on a treasure hunt. Dirk came off as an ditz who believes in things with no solid backing. He's right in this, but the Dirk in the book isn't like that. He loves adventure- yes. Loves a challenge- of course. Sometimes sees things that others don't, but never does he have nothing to go on. In the book, Dirk scoffs when he hears the story of the Texas making it to Africa and particularly when he hears Lincoln was on it (I wasn't shocked that the last part was cut out. A fun, but unneccesary sub plot that was cut to make the movie fit.) I could keep going on, but I won't. Clive should win. Tell the director to next time at least read the book before he/ she tries to make it into a movie.

Page by page translation. No, of course not. Never happen. Only a few scenes actually came from the book. Hollywood rewrote Sahara, and I did expect better than that. I took a few friends(one had read the book, two I was trying to talk into reading the books) and they all thought it was the biggest piece of crap. One of the friends who hadn't read Cussler before finally agreed to give the book a chance after I bugged her consistently to try it- and it was much harder now because she kept saying "You mean like that movie". She couldn't believe they were supposed to be the same thing). Now you're going to say that they're just a few people and that's true, but her reaction shouldn't have been so shocked at how different they are. The Lord of the Rings were fine translations. Read the books and you'll see things were cut, but the story is still the same. More than a few scenes should have come over in Sahara. They cut where they had no right to and basically rewrote it. They want to put out another stupid action adventure flick then fine, but don't say its Sahara because it was barely loosely based around. We don't have to accept everything Hollywood does. I think it has now been proven that some directors know how to read and can do a decent translation, that will be exciting on the movie screne without losing the book. Why should we settle? I want more movies, but they should at least try.

My problems with Sahara are the same ones most others have. Characters are all wrong, (i.e Rudi), major plots were totaly ignored and cut out (i.e, the contamination plot, Kitty Mannock), and the feel of the movie is all wrong. Sahara was not, in my opinion, a complete action, shot 'em up fest as they made it out to be. No Cussler novel is totally like that, I think. No, the feel should have been more along the lines of Raiders of the Lost ark, as Clive wanted RTT to be.

On a personal note, Hollywood should take the risk and make RTT again as well, because I'm sure a lot of fans find it hard be content with the version they gave us in 1980. I for one will not count that adaptation as part of the Dirk Pitt franchise of films, and I'm sure a lot fans wouldn't either. But both that and Sahara could have been loads better

Back on topic, I won't side with Cussler, because I do feel some of this action he's taking is unwarented. However, I can't side with Hollywood because this should have been better. I can only hope that the issue is somehow settled so that we get another Pitt movie, with Hollywood hopefully taking everything into considertion and making it as it should be.

They found during test runs that audiences did not like the Kitty Mannock scene. It took too long to get into the movie and while it's ok for a book to have two prologues, rarely do movies have even one anymore, let alone two. Therefore, because the Texas prologue dealt with the main plot and the Kitty Mannock one was simply an add-on, they cut her out in order to get to the actual movie more quickly and to keep the general (read: non Cussler fan) audience interested.

It's not a matter of pacing. It's the overal feel. I see Raiders with a sort of mysterious, adventerous feel to it. And besides that, there are no huge shoot outs that come off as WAY over done like in Sahara, and the hero doesn't seem so invincible as they made Dirk and Al out to be. As someone else posted, they're humans too.

For crying out loud, Al runs through a stream of bullets directly ahead of a sharp shooter, and he doesn't catch a single shot, and all he does is run forward.

No one who knows how to use a gun could possibly have that bad of aim. Likewise, no one with the expirience Al has in the story would run straight out in front of said sharpshooter.

If it were a scene in the book, you know Al would have probably been wounded. Not fataly, but enough to temporarily put him out of commision, at least. I think Hollywood took it a bit over the top with certain things like that. Not that it's always a bad thing to do, but it just didn't seem to smart with this kind of story.

The biggest problem was the fact that they changed the entire focus of the story and thus forcefully made certain people out of character. Not just Rudi, either. Dirk came off as a treasure hunter, or better yet, just going after the Texas for the gold, not so much her actuall historical value, something that would have been of more importance to the real Dirk Pitt. To paraphrase Gene Seagram from the RTT movie, he seemed more like a pirate in the begining. Had they stuck with the true main plot, stopping the contamination, I feel the characters would have been a bit better portrayed. The Texas could still have been a fun bit in the beginning and in the end, but that's all. Just a sub plot, as it should have been. But instead they totally reversed it, and for me it sort of ruined things because I went in thinking I knew what to expect storywise.

I'll give them this, they showed the friendship aspect between them rather well, as well as their resoursefulness in the end. The firing of the cannon on the Texas seemed to me like something only Dirk Pitt would be crazy enough to try.

Really, there are a lot of things I liked about Sahara, and I do agree that MM and SZ did well in the roles. And the part of me that watches it for what it is, a straight up action movie, can find it actually enjoyable. But there are still an equal amount of things I didn't like about it. As I said, I can only hope they make another so we can see how all this effects the product.

I might as well throw my two cents in. I find that there are two ways Hollywood makes movies about books. First, like Lord of the Rings, they take the book and write the script from the book. Movies like this are few and far between. I heard many complaints about the length of the LotR movies and how slow some parts were. Second, and Sahara is in this group, they make a movie based on the book. They use the characters and some of the plots, but the "feel" of the movie is different (to varying degrees). I personally enjoyed Sahara (the movie), but in a very different way than how I enjoyed the book. Very few movies based on books get grand reviews from the die-hard, own-multiple-copies-of-every-book fans. All in all, I would side with Clive since - from what I've read - the terms of the contract were broken. I wouldn't however, give him (did I read this right?!) $110 million!! Give him the rights back to his books, a little money to compensate him, and tell him to quickly get someone else to put his books onto the silver screen again. I don't want to have to wait 20+ years for another Cussler movie!!

They don't spend tens of thousands of dollars on crew, location, etc while waiting for script approval. The script comes first, then you get a director, then you choose actors (but you still don't pay them until they start), then you get locations, then you get props, etc.

The script comes first.

What is your point to all this? Sounds like to me you know something here and you're waiting for us to answer you. We are not Cussler and knowing that Cussler is loyal to his fans and his books I don't blame him at all for holding out and for being irate at the final product on screen of his book. If you are at all an author than you will understand all of this.

You are not going to find many people eager to share any news with you when you call their favorite author a "crybaby" with a "napoleon complex". Ever met him? I think not.

Jack DuBrul did say that there is an option on his first 3 books, so maybe Philip Mercer will be the next silverscreen hero. Jack did say that after everything Clive has gone through that he is hesitant however.

I think you hit the nail on the head with this one sentence. It makes me sorry for most authors that they have to deal with this kind of Hollywood nonsense, Clive included. But, this is why we have books, right!

I was at the premiere and I got to talk with Matthew and Breck (sp?) about the movie, Matthew was great but Eisner wasn't convincing me. I liked the movie, I didn't love it.


*DISCLAIMER* Please read Nick's original post, I cut most of it out and I'm focusing on this.

I just don't see why they had to go with a script he didn't approve, instead of just writing one that he would approve on. They had SEVEN tries for crying out loud. Just give the man what he wants (which they agreed to give him) and write a good script. Does that sound so hard? It seems like the writers were too bullheaded and full of themselves to do their job. Maybe it's just me...

Eric, all Hollywood writers are full of bull**** and usually work together as a committee. Very few writers work alone or occasionally you will have two or three writers who have a shared vision. That is the reason why you get so much dredge and schlock every year and very few good movies or tv shows.

Plain and simple... it does not matter how much stuff Clive demanded to have in the contract or the movie that is based on his book. The movie company agreed to give him final say on the script and it doesn't matter how many scripts it took to get there. Point is, they agreed, and they broke the contract. Yes, I would like to see more movies, but I believe in what's right is right. I think, come court date, Clive will prevail. He brought this up in conversation at my table during the convention and he seemed very encouraged about what's to come, so I'm glad for that. It will all come out in the wash.

Thanks Michelle. Did anyone happen to talk to him about how most people actually like the movie as a movie (not as an adaptation) and want more movies in the future? De he say anything about that?

I didn't hear him say anything like that and any Sahara collectibles were not allowed to be brought to be signed although some things were passed out when he was not around.

He goes to LA for court next week and has to live there as long as the trial goes on, could be up to 3 months. His health is not perfect and could be very draining on him. It's too bad all this had to happen. the contract was broken, not by Clive, and it needs to be rectified.

Michelle,

Pardon me for interrupting, but do you happen to know which court this trial will be held in LA?I'd appreciate any information you could provide.Thank you.



Matt

Does anyone else think that Nick Kitt is really Breck Eisner, Thomas Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John C. Richards, or James V. Hart?? :blink:

Haha, sorry. Just kidding Nick. beer:

Not even funny. Any Cussler you are not. yike:

Thank Heavens for this crowd I am not a Cussler.. If I was,there would be no lawsuit mess and you people wouldn't have anything to gripe about. You all would be telling each other how wonderful you are. (Cue heavenly music). Sorry I distrubed you.

If the lawsuit bothers you so much and is leaving a bad taste in your mouth about Cussler then by all means latch on to another author and read their books. Tom Clancy has quite a few movies out and and has written some great books.

Mr Clancy had a lawsuit going as well when they cast Harrison Ford in the role when Alec Baldwin decided to do a play and the studio wouldnt wait for Alec to return. Mr Clancy sued and learned to his horror that the studio held the rights to the actual CHARACTER of Jack Ryan. That meant that if Mr Clancy didn't sell them more books,the studio had the right to put the character of Jack Ryan in any story they wished. Mr Clancy folded for fear that the studio would make "Jack Ryan Goes to Paris" Jack Ryan Goes To the Moon"etc. That may be Mr Cussler's problem as well and if that is the case then thankfully McConaughey's love of Dirk Pitt would put him in decent stories.
I have really tried to explain all this to all of you,but when I do this crowd pounces like I attacked their grandfather. I spent two years in contract law in law school and, yes, I washed out !! But I know something about contracts. And I also wanted to alert all of you to not be lulled onto the idea that when Mr Cussler walks into a LA court room that everyone is going to bow down in awe.
Bristol Bay is going to come at Mr Cussler with everything they got and they just might prove they GOT final approval. Then what??
I don't have a bad taste in my mouth about this,I'm trying to interject some common sense
so all of you can understand a little more about law procedure which is what this is all this about.Contract law is not about what is morally right. It's about what's written on the contract and how it is understood by both parties.
And then I get called ignorant by someone who uses the name DirkPitt. How's that for irony?

Ouch Nikk. Did you ever stop to think that it might be your tone in your emails that I don't like. I have never called you any names nor attacked you but I have received numerous unkind remarks from you. Just pay attention to the tone of your posts and might see why I'm a little on the defense end.

Darling,
I never said YOU called me names!! A post by some guy who uses the name Dirk Pitt !!
Is that you ?!?!? Jeesh, I try so hard to make my posts clear and yet everyone misunderstands me !!

Oh we understand you and all I can say is ouch!!!

Well, I don't know what to tell you. What's with the "ouch"? I made one silly remark about you getting out and in the next line I said it was a joke. "Only kidding" was the very next line. I don't know who put the pea under your mattress but it wasn't me.

Some people NEVER learn Julie. Cue The Heavenly Music

Speaking of contracts, did you by any chance read the one for this forum, word for word when you checked the "I Agree" box? Cute comment about the pea but that isn't my line of royalty, if I remember the story correctly it was a princess right?

You dabbled in contract law correct? If so you should have some pull with some lawyer friends of yours and see what the trial will be about. Actually that just gave me a great idea!!

I think most of us here have the common sense to know that people are not going to bow to Cussler - in a court of law or anywhere else for that matter, I don't think that was ever suggested, unless I just missed it?? Which is highly likely.

I figured this thread was for people to discuss whether they wanted to see more movies along the Sahara vein or not, and my answer to that is: personally legal procedure never entered my mind, what happens in the court room, happens. Nothing anyone can do about it, but if it was up to me I'd like to see more DP movies that keep more in the vein of the book...not exactly the same obviously since that would be an unreasonable wish, even in my mind. ;)


That Dirk Pitt is a dangerous man, you should hear some of the things he's called me. :lol:

No good,Empress,the lawsuit is in LA. I live on the east coast,upstate New York,right where NIGHT PROBE happened. So if it's ever made into a movie and filmed on location,I guess we all will have a great time. I will,anyway.Speaking of cute comments, you posted some time ago that you would "whore" yourself out to be on the set of NIGHT PROBE. The less said about that the better since it's my neighborhood. Hey,those were YOUR words !!!!! But if all goes well in LA I guess we WILL be seeing NIGHT PROBE after all. You are right about the royality,but I didn't think it made a difference because you are so easily offended and can't take a little joke. And,loren1, there is nothing to learn,really,I am beginning to understand the people here quite well.(CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC). So,any lawyer friends I have are here in the east and they agree with me that is what probably WILL happen if Bristol Bay's lawyers are any good,which they are or this wouldn't be the start of a possible three month trial.

DO NOT EVER do my ship the injustice of misplacing her!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is not in Upstate New York, that would be the Doodlebug part of the story, and if I have anything to do with it she will not be filmed there. Get your facts straight before you ever post this kind of junk again. Do I make myself clear??!!!