Upcoming Movies Part II: The Return (no longer upcoming)

Amistad

This is the second installment of my Upcoming Movies page. This one is a little late, but better late than never. The selection for Part II is Amistad, the true story of an 1839 mutiny onboard a Spanish slave ship bound for the northeast coast of America. A lot of the film will be in court, just one more court-room drama for McConaughey to add to his list. The real trial resulted in the acquittal of the slaves, so one would assume that this adaptation would follow the same path.

The cast for this gargantuan movie event includes:

Academy Award winner, Sir Anthony Hopkins plays John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United States, and at the time in which this movie takes place, a prominant lawyer, who defends the slaves accused of mutiny on the Amistad
Matthew McConaughey, winner of the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance for his last court-room drama, A Time to Kill, as Baldwin
Two time BAFTA Award winner, one time Broadcasting Press Guild Award winner, and one time Oscar nominee, Nigel Hawthorne, from such other films as Watership Down, Demolition Man, The Madness of King George, and Richard III, as 8th President of the United States, Martin Van Buren
Three time Oscar nominee and two time Golden Globe nominee, Morgan Freeman as Joadson, one of the mutinous slaves from the Amistad
Oscar nominee, Pete Postlewaite as the prosecutor of the slaves
and Stellan Skarsgard from movies such as The Hunt for Red October, Breaking the Waves, and the upcoming Good Will Hunting as Tappan

The screenplay for this film is written by David H. Franzoni, who wrote the story for Jumpin' Jack Flash and Steven Zaillian, winner of the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Schindler's List, and Academy Award nominee for the 1990 movie, Awakenings. Zaillian was also involved in the writing of Searching for Bobby Fischer, Jack the Bear, Clear and Present Danger, Twister, and Mission: Impossible

This picture, budgeted at $40 million, was directed and produced by Steven Spielberg. The last historical drama he directed was the highly acclaimed Schindler's List, which came out in 1993, the same year as Jurassic Park which he also directed. Earlier this year, Park's sequal, The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released, and now Amistad. Coincidence? You decide.

The composer involved with this project is John Williams II, who is credited with the musical composition for over 120 films and television series from the early '50's straight through to the second Star Wars trilogy beginning in 1999.

Amistad, produced by DreamWorks SKG, the infant production company with The Peacemaker already under its belt, and Prince of Egypt and Mousehunt still to come, is planned to be released throughout the United States on December 12. It was filmed on location all throught the original New England colonies: at the Massachusetts State House in Boston, the State House in Providence, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, Newport and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Mystic Seaport, Connecticut.

I also have a few stills from the film:

And some quicktime movies:

And a screensaver:

ScreenSaver

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