NEWS
DECEMBER 2ND, 2002
Today, I have added a brand new page to the website. Since it is going to take me a while to make the animated button in Cool3D and I want everyone to see it ASAP, I'll post the link up to access the page here for now. Expect frequent updates on this page in the coming days.
NOVEMBER 2002
Hey everybody!
Sorry for the lack of updates to the website over the past two months...Adrian has been very busy and I, myself, haven't been very well so I haven't been on the computer much at all.
Anyway, a couple of treats that Adrian e-mailed me yesterday...here is a picture of Adrian at the 'Pandora Directive' premiere and another pic of him with Aaron Conners, Chris Jones and wife, Rosemary Marks-Carr.
Enjoy!
NOTE: I have had to put the files into ZIP files since the pictures are too big to show in full on the News page.
https://www.angelfire.com/celeb/acarr/Adeat_Texpremier.jpg
https://www.angelfire.com/celeb/acarr/Texgroup.jpg
SEPTEMBER 2002
As September 11th is tomorrow, I am writing this today. To the day this is the anniversary of our first day shooting 'Mind Games'. I can't begin to tell you how surreal that day was. It was the most difficult time I have ever had directing any project, to encourage a cast and crew to stay and keep shooting a movie, when in the scheme of things seemed so insignificant. Selfishly though, if we had shut down production, that would have been the end of the film. Despite all the anguish, fear and anger, there was nothing we could do and secretly I think everyone was relieved to be away from any of the major cities (not their loved ones). For me, every time I watch the film 9/11 is vividly brought back to life and will forevermore.
I recently returned from an impromptu trip to Melbourne, Australia, to surprise my dad for his 90th birthday and the day prior was mum's 89th. Sadly, mum has Alzheimer's but she still shows of recognition but her condition is slowly deteriorating. Dad, on the other hand, is really with it, he's a bit like the Bionic Man, new eye lenses, new knee (waiting to do his second knee). An amazing guy!
While I was in Oz, I flew to Sydney and met with my manager there. We are developing several projects (too early to mention) to shoot Down Under. It will be nice to go home and demonstrate what I have learned these past ten years in the States.
I just finished co-writing the screenplay 'Scorpion-A Good Bad Horse' based on the novel by Will James (now in re-release) and developing 'The Edge Of Tomorrow' for writer Gary Rubin. I am currently co-writing two screenplays ' An Untitled Project for Ra' (aka The Mighty Rasta) and 'The Moonslayer', a horror thriller set in Sydney.
MIND GAMES
The film is finally complete, a year to the day we started preproduction. Those who have seen the movie really enjoyed themselves, laughing along with the picture, and not at it (phew!).
I have done my job, now it's up to the foreign sales agent and producers rep. to find distributors and get the film out there.
Check out the website for any info: www.mindgamesmovie.com
DOWN AND DIRTY
Over the next month, the producer will secure funding so that I can begin working on the storyboards. Shooting will start late this year or early 2003, in Australia.
ROSEMARY
Rosemary was hired to Line Produce 13, an independant film starring Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood and Kip Pardue, but will recieve a Co-Producer credit for her outstanding effort.
She is currently working as Assistant Location Manager on S.W.A.T. an $80 million big screen production starring Samuel L. Jackson (based on the popular television series).
BAFTA/LA
Over the next few monthd, I will be e-mailing Adele stills of guest speakers like Keiffer Sutherland/Heath Ledger/Dustin Hoffman.
***Adele is planning a celebrity photo page, showing off my photographic work.***
JUNE 2002
This year has been slow for me other than some writing work and completing my edit for my independant film, 'MindGames'. I have been developing other screenplays with different writers and having meetings to pitch projects. Some are moving forward but it is too early for me to comment on them. I like to encourage anyone working on keeping Tex alive and thus lent my voice to Episode 11 of Lombard Street - keep an ear out for it.
Last month, I directed a short, one-act play called 'Life As Art' as part of a fund-raiser for a non-profit performing group. Giving back to an industry that has been good to me.
I saw Aaron Conners briefly in May, he was in LA for the Electronic Expo. We caught up on Tex and other matters. Can't talk about this yet.
Meanwhile, Richard Norton has just returned from Zagrab having worked on a movie with Isaac Hayes and Lance Henrickson. Richard hopes his series "Sam Hill" will get the green light any day now.
Rosemary was the English lady on Ep #6 of the Tex Murphy Radio Show. She has been doing some prep work on a film project called "Ivanhoe" and is now Line Producing a movie called 13 starring Academy Award winner Holly Hunter. The project starts shooting in about 7 weeks. More on this as more cast are signed. I had my palm read while I was in Melbourne in January and interesting to note that not much would happen until about June. Then my work is meant to kick into high gear...guess we'll have to wait and see.
MIND GAMES (A.KA SOMETHING BORROWED)
The edit has been locked which means no more changes will made to the visuals of the picture. Now the sound post-production phase begins, thiss will take about 2 months. We begin by spotting where the music will, what type and for how long. Then we do the same for the sound effects and dialogue. When this is all completed and the sound has been edited and music recorded, we start the final mix - blending the various sounds. Optical effects and titles work has been carried out concurrently and now it is time to marry the picture and the sound together and voila! A movie.
The new website is: www.mindgamesmovie.com
DOWN AND DIRTY
This project has locked the script - no more changes until we start pre-production. Over the next two months, we will be securing funding and working on storyboards. It is hoped to start shooting later this year in Australia.
BRITTANIA AWARDS [BAFTA/LA] BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS
George Lucas and HBO were honored with Brittania Awards this year. Last year, it was Steven Spielberg. I am one of the two official photographers for BAFTA and coming soon will be selected photographs I shot from this event. Adele is planning a celebrity photo page - showing off my photographic work.
MAY 2002
Just a quick note from Adrian...I found out a couple of days ago from him that 'Something Borrowed' has now had it's title changed to 'Mind Games'. Just a little tid-bit to tide everyone over until the next newsletter lands in my inbox sometime in the near future.
FEBRUARY 2002
Happy New Year to all those who check out the site! Hope you've all been following the fiurther adventures of Tex Murphy on his radio show.
2001 - thank God it's over. What a year that was - Writers and Actors strikes that never happened (but scared everyone shitless that they may as well have happened) and then the devastating and horrific terrorist attacks on 9/11. I won't dwell on the tragedy of that fateful day, so much has been said already, lest we forget.
So, what's been happening with me?
SOMETHING BORROWED
This month I am making some editorial changes to the feature film I directed last September. Hopefully, we can then move forward on the sound post production side of the film. You can check out our link to the movie or go to: www.somethingborrowedmovie.com .
THE SAM HILL CHRONICLES
The green light looks imminent for Richard Norton's series and he hopes to begin shooting in the latter half of 2002. This adventure series promises to be a big hit.
DOWN AND DIRTY
A crime thriller set in Queensland, Australia, which I hope to direct later this year. The stakes are high, the action is brutal, this is not a comedy. I am working with the writer (James Wulf Simmonds, The Sword of Bushido) to polish the script. It will be nice to bring my LA experience to bear on a film shooting in my native Oz.
SCORPION
I am currently developing the screenplay of the Will James novel, 'Scorpion - A Good Bad Horse' with a writer from Texas. The producer, Patrick Henry is co-producing the film with Rosemary, my wife, with me directing. We're hoping to get it up for production in 2003 with a second James novel in the wings.
THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE COMPANY
This is a new television series about to go into production and I have been approached to be one of the directors and hopefully Rosemary will be working on the production management side, more about this later.
A BLACK SUN ASCENDING
The Tex Murphy feature script is going out to several studios next week. Don't expect things to move rapidly. Getting a film project off the ground can take years, but we're optimistic it will be less than. Unfortunately, I cannot elaborate on other plans we have for Tex only to say a lot hinges on the fan base petition and fans response to the radio shows.
2004:A LIGHT KNIGHT'S ODYSSEY
The Large Format animation film I'm directing for writer/producer Harry Kloor, which stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Sarah Michelle Gellar among others, is progressing slowly and should be completed by the end of 2003.
DREW:A GENIUS IN OUR MIDST
The documentary about our close friend and artist, Drew Struzan, is still a wirk-in-progress. Drew has just completed the poster art for STAR WARS-EPISODE #2: ATTACK OF THE CLONES having recently completed HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. I remind you to look closely at the art, those portraits are NOT photographs but are hand painted by Drew. This extraordinary talent is appreciated by millions but goes unrecognized. Next time you look at the Harry poster or the new Star Wars, look a little longer and you'll be sure to get so much more out of the image.
DOWNWARD FACING DOG AND ROUGH TRADE
Both of these projects are very much alive and suffering the financial effects of 9/11. As the economic world recovers either of both projects could get the green light at any time.
OTHER STUFF
Rosemary and I returned to LA after a fruitful trip Down Under to visit family, friends and to check out the film scene. The main reason to go back was to see mom (88) and dad (89). My mother has altzheimers but she recognized us. You should have seen her face light up like a Christmas tree. Even dad was surprised. Her speech was impaired because of a stroke she had suffered a couple of years ago, but she managed to speak in short bursts and we reminisced about my childhood, the family and America.
While Rosemary visited her sister in Sydney and to see friends, I remained in Melbourne. I stayed with my son, Tony, at his house; he turns 30 on Feb 24th, makes me feel 50 years young! It was a blast catching up with work colleagues I hadn't seen in 6 years, but it reaffirmed my descision to make it in Hollywood. I was hoping to go to London this February with Rosemary and meet Adele but Something Borrowed reared it's head and I have to bow out. However, any one of the projects I'm working on could bring me to Europe so there's always hope I'll catch up with Adele and some of my English and Irish actors from The New Adventures of Robin Hood series.
Finally, you can check out my credits on the www.imdb.com site, and if you've seen any of the films I have worked on as director or editor, please post any comments, positive or negative to in the reviewer's comments, this is valuable feedback for future projects I make.
Well, that's about it for now. For me, it's back to the grindstone, and will endeavor to update the news more often.
As always,
Adrian (Dalton)
OCTOBER 2001
EXCLUSIVE! October 25th, 2001
Hey people!
Look what I just recieved from Adrian! A picture from his latest project, 'Something Borrowed' with him and his best mate, Richard Norton on!
Many thanks to Ade for making my day!
I have just completed directing the feature, 'Something Borrowed' which I shot in 18 days. I can't reveal the budget for contractual reasons but I can say it was under $3 million. I start the editing in a few weeks and should have the edit complete by early November for sound work to start. Taking Xmas into consideration, I expect that the film will be sound mixed late January and ready for screening early Feb 2002. I am hoping Matt (Tex Murphy) Heider will score the picture. Richard Norton's performance is nothing short of brilliant. He will surprise his fans and his nay-sayers. 'Something Borrowed' is a farce (comedy-drama) about con-artists and family values with a little amnesia thrown in to confuse everyone. So don't expect to see Richard karate chopping his way through the story. What his fans will see is his sense of humour very rarely caught on camera.
Rosemary and I took off for ten days at the end of shooting to dump any negative energy from the shoot. We went to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs, very relaxing.
We are back in LA rejuvenated and in the throes of getting one or two of our own projects off the ground. There's nothing to report on these, and not for some time. During the filming of 'Something Borrowed', Rosemary and I each recorded voices for the Tex Murphy Radio Shows (6 episodes thus far). The final voice of Louie was recorded this week so now it's i the hands of audio maestro John Clark at Microsoft. I think Matt is going to score some music for them as well. I'll let you know when they are set to launch. I had been working with Chris Jones on a project which sadly has been terminated. It was titled Guardian, a game based on the movie A.I., but because the film didn't perform as hoped at the Box Office the project was deemed too risky to proceed with financially. This goes to show the reason why Tex hasn't been relaunched and your signatures on the petition will be significant ammo for Chris to put Tex Murphy on the table again in front of the Microsoft honchos. That's about all the news for now but I will have plenty more in December.
Here is a link to the Hunger site for innocent Afghans. Please, make a donation...it is totally free and it helps young, Afghan children and their suffering families who wish the violence would stop just as much as we do.
Also, another charity that has been brought to my attnetion is the 'Save Tex Murphy' campaign. There is a banner that you can click to go and sign a petition to help get the P.I. back. We need 15,000 signatures and so far, have only around 2,500. Sign today or tomorrow!
www.geocities.com/texmurphy2002/petition2.html
AUGUST 2001
So far, there is nothing to report since Adrian seems to have mysteriously dissapeared for now so I will put some of the September news in this column if I can't get hold of him before the end of this month. Adrian, if you're reading this, man! Where are ya? We're missing ya here!
JULY 2001
I have been asked to direct a low budget feature film called 'Something Borrowed', a Hitchcock styled suspense film, think 'Spellbound' meets 'The Grifters'. A con game in which the audience will experience what it's like to be conned. I have just completed my director's pass on the script with the writer, and it will be sent to actors this week for comment...then it becomes a waitng game until the two leads are signed.
I have another feature to direct entitled 'Downward Facing Dog', an action-thriller to be shot in Lithuania later this year. It will star my mate, Richard (Big Jim Slade) Norton and will be produced by Rosemary Marks, my wife. Rona Waddington and a few of the other thespians from Robn Hood will turn up in various roles.
After these are shot, I have an erotic drama called 'Shadow Light' which Rosemary and I hope to squeeze in before Christmas.
It looks like 'The Sword of Bushido' will get the DVD treatment as well as being released for the first time in the United States. This version will be shorter and more exciting for today's audiences. There will also be a commentary by myself, Richard Norton along with a roundtable chat with Rochelle Ashana, Toshishiro Obata and Ross Berryman, the director of Photography. It is planned to have an exclusive of Richard Norton's very first screen appearance in a test film called 'The Bodyguards' shot back in 1977 when Richard had long, blonde locks...and way before the Kevin Costner/Whitney Houston film.
CHRIS JONES AND AARON CONNERS
I am in talks with Chris and Aaron about a new game project, which I cannot talk about, except to say it's not about Tex Murphy. Speaking of Tex, I do know the storylines for the next three games have been written; 'Chance', 'Polarity' and 'Trance'. There are plans afoot to bring Tex to the big screen, but details are being kept under wraps. Hopefully, this will spark Microsoft's interest in Tex to want to make the next three games.
RICHARD NORTON
Richard has his own television series in developement called 'The Sam Hill Chronicles', a period style X-Files set in New York circa 1902. For more information, visit Richard's website:
ROSEMARY MARKS
Rosemary has had a busy year with completing Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles as Production Coordinator, securing the rights to our next project 'Rough Trade' to shoot in early 2002. She recently Line Produced two films: 'The Black Magic', a horror thriller and Henry Jaglom's latest movie, 'Shopping'. She is now Line Producing 'Something Borrowed' whcih will mark our first time working together on a movie (other than meeting and working together on 'Quigley Down Under' - 12 years ago.). Rosemary will produce 'Downward Facing Dog' (the title was her suggestion and yes, it does refer to the yoga position) and 'Shadow Light'.
More news to come next month!
