New Film

[Kevin O'Neill]

Hey Guys,

My name is Kevin O’Neill and I’m a filmmaker from Cork. At the moment I’m developing a new film about the Lusitania, which we plan to shoot next year.

What is the film about?
The film is about people. The people onboard the Lusitania and the people involved in the rescue operation after it was torpedoed and explores what impact it would have had on their lives.

What is the film not about?
The film is not about the great ship itself. Nor will it explore the possibility that she was carrying munitions. It will not go into possible reasons for the sinking or anything like that.


We hope to bring something new and tell a story that hasn’t been told before.

I’m sure we’ll be regular visitors here to tap into your great knowledge of the liner and the disaster that was her sinking.

So to kick things off. We won’t be doing anything in Titanic proportions, like building a replica. Therefore for scenes taking place in places such as on the decks we will need some other ship to double, are their any, ideally in Europe that would look something like what the Lusitania did?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[J Kent Layton]

Kevin,

This is an interesting project, and sounds like it has a lot of merit. Jim Kalafus and Mike Poirier are extremely knowledgeable on the people who were aboard, and they did the forward for my Lusitania book. If you drop me an e-mail through my web site, I will also be happy to help you out in any way that I can. Take care!

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

Just as long as you built a stunning replica of the 1st Class dining saloon... Then I can die a happy man. (Though a replica of the 1st Class lounge would just be cherry on top.)

As for using substitutes for the ship... Be careful, or your film could end up a campy patchwork ala "SOS Titanic."

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Nor will it explore the possibility that she was carrying munitions.<<

That may be hard to avoid since the ship was carrying some munitions and it really wasn't that much of a secret at the time. I don't know if the passengers were all that aware of it but the officers almost certainly would have known. Even if descreetly, this would have had some tounges wagging.

>>...are their any, ideally in Europe that would look something like what the Lusitania did? <<

You may well have to build some re-creations in order to pull this off. I'm not aware of any ship with Edwardian decor surviving to this day which even remorely resembles the Lusitania.

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

....When all else fails, use the Queen Mary. Though, in the end, it always ends up looking laughingly silly.

And no, you CANNOT get away with shooting interiors in an Edwardian period hotel. Some Titanic films tried it and failed miserably. (See "SOS Titanic" and "No Greater Crap... Err, Love.")

 

[Kevin O'Neill]

Thanks for the input guys,

>> If you drop me an e-mail through my web site, I will also be happy to help you out in any way that I can. Take care!<<

I might just take you up on that, thanks.

>>Just as long as you built a stunning replica of the 1st Class dining saloon... Then I can die a happy man. (Though a replica of the 1st Class lounge would just be cherry on top.) <<

We'll do our best.

>>As for using substitutes for the ship... Be careful, or your film could end up a campy patchwork ala "SOS Titanic."<<

This is something we want to avoid.

>>That may be hard to avoid since the ship was carrying some munitions and it really wasn't that much of a secret at the time. I don't know if the passengers were all that aware of it but the officers almost certainly would have known. Even if descreetly, this would have had some tounges wagging.<<

It may get a mention but it's not going to be the main focus.

>>You may well have to build some re-creations in order to pull this off. I'm not aware of any ship with Edwardian decor surviving to this day which even remorely resembles the Lusitania.<<

If thats what we have a do then thats what we'll have to do.

Also just to clarify it was exteriors I was looking for not interiors.

I’m not talking about a using it for a wide shot or anything, that wouldn’t work, more so for if there was a scene on one of the decks.

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

I don't know if this will be of any help, but the recent Discovery Channel docudrama was able to commission some excellent reproductions of the ship on a seemingly shoestring budget. Perhaps you could contact their people to see who they contracted for the sets (and hopefully you won't make the same mistake they did when they used Mauretania's photos for interior sets... D'oh!)

 

[Jeremy Aufderheide]

> a campy patchwork ala "SOS Titanic."

How is SOS Titanic "campy"? Because it was made in the 1970s?

The director did the best with the budget that he had and if you ignore the not-so-special effects, it's a good little movie.

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

C'mon! The acting, set design, script... It DEFINES 70s made-for-tv camp! And I mean it in the nicest way possible. ;-)

 

[Michael H. Standart]

>>Also just to clarify it was exteriors I was looking for not interiors.<<

Same problem I'm afraid. The design of the Lusitania was fairly unique in it's own right and wasn't duplicated anywhere except with her half sister Mauritaina. Unless you're willing to build a set, you'll have to do some green screen work and a lot of CGI.

 

[Jim Kalafus]

>How is SOS Titanic "campy"?

*Margaret Brown the lovable mental hospital escapee, as limned by Cloris Leachman?

*Jack Thayer and Milton Long ogling women in the Turkish bath?

*Susan St. James final moments onscreen?

It's a different SORT of camp than the Poseidon Adventure. It reeks of "earnest film making" camp, a la Al Pasino in Revolution, in which things are treated with the utmost seriousness, yet the end result is still risible. Shining Through is the crown jewel of that genre, but S.O.S. Titanic is a pretty good example. Not laugh aloud funny, but still camp.

 

[George L. Lorton]

Good Luck, Kevin on you Film! Hope everthing falls into place!

I don't remember SOS Titanic as campy but the title sounds kinda campy! But I remember the movie fondly. Of course I haven't seen it since I was 9 or so. My favorite scene is of the Survivors on Carpathia. Maybe because I don't remember any camp in that scene?

As for Shining though it was totally different from the Novel once the Heroine got to Germany and not really following the Novel before either so I agree that movie is camp and how! They should of just stuck to the novel!

Speaking of books to film that end up as camp there's also Scarlett which by not following the novel ended up as camp or crap! But I digress.

I still don't remember Titanic as camp but I haven't seen it in 22 years so I can go either way!

 

[Evgueni Mlodik]

Well, in its defense, "SOS Titanic" is camp by default, since it's a 70s primetime tv movie...

Anyway, back on topic....

 

[George L. Lorton]

I did not know that! Thanks Evgueni!

Yes, back to topic!

 

[Jim Kalafus]

LUSITANIA THOUGHTS:

Hey, Kevin. As Kent said, Mike and I have several hundred accounts from the first week or so after the disaster, most unpublished or not reprinted since 1915. The best advise I can give you is IGNORE ANYTHING WRITTEN AFTER ROUGHLY 1918. Most of the best known, oft quoted, facts regarding the disaster are either flat out untrue, or rather broad interpretations. What people said in the first few days, and what they said years or even decades later are often polar opposite. So, do NOT touch a single book. Begin contacting archives and get the original 1915 material.