The Coming
In this drama directed by Geiwitz, a reporter receives information that a man who claims he is Jesus Christ being held in a mental ward. When a miracle happens at the hospital he finds himself between the man’s disciples and the hospital establishment. Starring Marcus Christian, Dave Ellis and Leanna Foglia.
Sweeney Todd
Combining classic Burton horror and gore with Broadway showtunes, Burton releases Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baren Cohen, the film depicts a barber who kills his customers and puts their bodies into meat pies. Time magazine rates the film an A-minus.
Redacted
De Palma directs this film based on a true story about American soldiers raping and murdering a young Iraqi girl during the occupation. The film is made using a pastiche approach, incorporating news reports and Youtube footage liberally. Patrick Carroll, Rob Devaney, and Izzy Diaz star.
I guess I’ve always been controversial.
Good Cop, Baby Cop
McKay once again directs Ferrell and daughter Pearl in this short for Funny or Die. McKay also stars as a policeman alongside Henchy. Pearl appears as “The Confession Maker” as she interrogates Ferrell’s character.
The Black Dahlia
De Palma directs this film based on a novel by James Ellroy, which is loosely structured around the facts of the real life Black Dahlia murder case. When a woman is found cut in half, two cops try to solve the mystery. Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, and Scarlett Johansson star.
I tried to stay very close to the Ellroy book, and, if it got a little too complex, so be it. That’s the way he told the story. I did not try to straighten out any of the kinks or curves.
The Terminal
Spielberg directs this drama about a man from a foreign country trapped in an airline terminal for a very, very long time. During his time there he meets new friends, deals with tragedy, and falls in love. Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Chi McBride star.
It was going to be a tremendous performance opportunity for Tom [Hanks], and I wanted to be in on that, around that … I wanted to be in his zone
Kill Bill: Volume 2
Tarantino completes “The Bride’s” saga with Kill Bill: Volume 2. The story brings an end to The Bride’s quest to avenge herself upon Bill, and provides more back story to the events surrounding her tragic bridal party. Top-billed by Uma Thurman and David Carradine, the film also stars Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Sonny Chiba, and Chiaki Kuriyama.
…Vol. 2 was just more, you know, business as usual. You’ve got two people sitting in a room talking. That’s what I’m more famous for.
Howl’s Moving Castle
Miyazaki’s second literary adaptation, Howl’s Moving Castle, is released to mixed reviews. The story follows a young girl named Sophie after she is cursed by a witch and becomes an old woman.
We don’t know why, but it had very extreme reactions: people who really loved it, and people who didn’t understand it. It was a horrible experience. I’ve been so tired out since Princess Mononoke.
Kill Bill: Volume 1
Tarantino releases Kill Bill: Volume 1. This martial-arts-driven film tells the story of The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, as she seeks revenge on the group of assassins that buried her alive after her bridal party. The film stars David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox, and Lucy Liu.
I want to top expectations. I want to blow you away. It’s that kind of movie.
Catch Me If You Can
Spielberg directs the true story about a likable young con man, and the FBI agent who attempts to track him down. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the con man, and Tom Hanks plays the agent.
I committed to directing Catch Me If You Can not because of the divorce component, but principally because Frank Abagnale did things that were the most astonishing scams I had ever heard. And I’m a big fan of scams.
Minority Report
Spielberg directs a science fiction film thriller starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton. The film is set in a futuristic world were special psychics called “precogs” inform police about crimes before they are ever committed.
I went to Scott Frank for the screenplay. He wrote Get Shorty and Out of Sight. I gave him the original short story by Philip K. Dick and he said he didn’t know anything about science fiction. I said, ‘Let me worry about the sci fi element. Just write a terrific detective yarn’.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Spielberg directs this science fiction film based on a screenplay by Stanley Kubrick. A young boy who is actually a robot lives in a futuristic society where machines have become essentially sentient. Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, and Frances O’Connor star.
I would speculate that Stanley [Kubrick] would have made and told much the same story I told because I based my screenplay on a 90-page treatment [concept] Stanley had prepared from all of his own ideas.
Spirited Away
Miyazaki’s most successful movie in the West, Spirited Away, is released. The fantasy tale follows a girl named Chihiro as she attempts to save her parents in a world of spirits.
After I started production, the key animator, the art director and the producer came out on holiday with me and we had this blackboard and tried to draft out which direction the film was going in. I explained, “I think we’ll be able to do this kind of story, with this kind of ending,” and then Suzuki-san (the producer) said: “Ah. That will take three hours. I don’t want to make a three-hour movie!”
Mission to Mars
De Palma directs a science fiction adventure film about crew of astronauts on a rescue mission after the disastrous failure of a manned trip to mars. Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise, and Don Cheadle star.
Well I had to come up with a whole other way of doing things because of the weightlessness. And the whole thing about outer space is that there’s no up and down. So I had to think of ways to convey that to the audience.
Undercover Angel
Stoller directs this comedy, starring Dean Winters as Tyler, a writer who has lost his motivation. Then he becomes the unwilling babysitter of a ex-girlfriend’s girl, only to find out the child is his. Co-starring Yasmine Bleeth and Emily Mae Young.
Jackie Brown
Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, is released on Christmas Day. The crime-driven story follows Jackie Brown, played by Pam Grier, a flight attendant involved in cash smuggling. She attempts to take off with half a million dollars of her boss’s money. Led by Samuel L. Jackson, the film also stars Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, and Bridget Fonda. On Samuel L. Jackson’s character:
Ordell was all my mentors as a young man growing up. Ordell was who I could have been… if I didn’t have artistic ambitions. That was it. If I hadn’t wanted to make movies, I would have ended up as Ordell.
Saving Private Ryan
Spielberg directs this World War II drama starring Tom Hanks. Noted for its realistic battle scenes, the film follows a group of soldiers after the Normandy landing, searching for a missing paratrooper.
When people see World War II movies, they expect to be entertained. If they see a Vietnam movie, they expect to be shocked. But World War II has become fun: They want a big action-adventure. But it wasn’t an adventure. It was a war.
Amistad
Spielberg directs this historical drama based on a true story about a successful mutiny that occurs on a slave ship leaving from Cuba. The men and women onboard the ship are captured on the United States, off the New England coast, and held as escaped slaves. A large portion of the movie plays out as a courtroom drama, showing the trial that occurred after their capture. Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, and Anthony Hopkins star. About showing the film to his children
They walked out of Amistad. I lost my whole family. All my young kids, you know. I wouldn’t ever show them the middle passage and I didn’t let them see the very beginning and they were bored by the legal stuff. They left.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Spielberg directs this sequel to the 1993 hit. A group of researchers are dispatched to another island where a second group of dinosaurs have been left to flourish undisturbed since the events of the first film. Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, and Pete Postlethwaite star.
…with Lost World, I hadn’t directed for three years so I wanted to do something I felt secure making. I didn’t want to make a serious picture like Schindler’s List.
Princess Mononoke
Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s most expensive movie, Princess Mononoke, is released. The story follows a young warrior as he is entangled in a conflict between nature and humanity’s industrious ambitions.
I think I really exhausted the animation staff with this film. I knew that was gonna happen, but felt that we had to do this. But when I finished, I didn’t understand it: “What did I make?!” At first I decided, “This is something children shouldn’t see,” but in the end I realised,”‘No, this is something that children must see,” because adults, they didn’t get it — children understood it.