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Tuesday 24 April 2012

Supernova Production Timeline


January 29th 1998: James Spader ("Crash") is in advanced talks to star in the outer-space thriller "Supernova.'' Geoffrey Wright ("Romper Stomper") is slated to direct the film about a deep space rescue ship that answers a distress call from a damaged space freighter and is threatened by a dangerous being they encounter. The project is scheduled for an April shooting start.
February 1998: Vincent D'Onofrio ("Men In Black") joins the cast of the United Artists sci-fi action flick Supernova. "I play a guy who runs a ship through a computer," D'Onofrio said, "but [he] actually falls in love with that computer. Imagine HAL is a woman and you get the picture."
February 1998: Director Geoffrey Wright bails out of the project due to "creative differences," according to Variety.
March 1998: Walter Hill accepts to helm "Supernova."
March 17th 1998: Coming Attractions reports that Vincent D'Onofrio dropped out after Geoffrey Wright left the project.
March 29th 1998: Variety reports that Peter Facinelli, Wilson Cruz and Robin Tunney have joined the cast of "Supernova." Facinelli fills the important role of a disturbed freighter occupant who is rescued by a medical spaceship responding to a distress signal. Cruz has apparently landed the role of a computer engineer who's smitten with his handiwork - the role originally though to go to Vincent D'Onofrio. Tunney rounds out the latest cast additions as a paramedic working on the rescue ship.
April 1998: Robert Forster ("Jackie Brown") signs on to star in Walter Hill's outer-space thriller Supernova.
April 1998: Lou Diamond Phillips ("Courage Under Fire") has inked to star as a 22nd century medical technician in Supernova.
February 21st 1999: Director Walter Hill and United Artists have come to a sudden parting of the ways on the studio's big-budget sci-fi film "Supernova." Hill completed principal photography, and the film stars James Spader, Angela Bassett, Lou Diamond Phillips and Robert Forster. Hill wanted to do more shooting, and the studio wanted to test what it had before approving it. Hill did not want the film tested beforehand, and they disagreed strongly enough to finally agree on a parting of the ways. The director won't be back to finish the film, though it appears likely his name will still be on a film that the studio is bullish on for a fall release.
August 10th 1999: Francis Ford Coppola has turned his attention to saving MGM' troubled "Supernova." Coppola, along with MGM vice-chairman Chris McGurk, is overseeing a re-cutting of "Supernova" at his American Zoetrope facility in Northern California. The sci-fi thriller, which cost at least $60 million to make, has been languishing on the shelf since wrapping principal photography in July 1998. 'Supernova' has already been through at least two directors, Geoffrey Wright and Walter Hill. Hill, who departed the project acrimoniously after principal photography, may now put his name back on the film depending on Coppola's cut, Variety reports.
October 19th 1999: Cinescape Online reports that MGM is looking to sell 'Supernova.' The studio is expected to screen the film for potential buyers next week in Los Angeles. No specific reason for MGM doing this has been revealed.
October 21st 1999: THR confirms that Walter Hill will remove his name from the $60 million+ MGM release "Supernova." The film has been troubled from its outset, with Hill replacing original director Geoffrey Wright ("Romper Stomper") two months before the start of principal photography in April 1998. The film's shoot and post-production were marked by what one source described as "extreme creative differences" that culminated in Hill leaving the film after submitting an edit in February.

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