How odd is the new Cameron Crowe script that’s currently untitled (much like “Almost Famous” was originally scripted as “Untitled”)? Or at least, how different does it sound on the surface, right?
It seems that either Crowe has been doing some traveling, some research or both.
Eventually set in Hawaii surrounding an illegal satellite launch in the skies above the pacific island, the dramedy/rom-com centers on the Defensecon military contractor Brian Gilgrest (Ben Stiller) who has to navigate and juggle the politics of the bosses, the supernatural myths of Hawaii’s spiritual leaders, the emotions for his almost-ex-wife (not cast? or Reese Witherspoon?) and the tricky feelings he develops for this difficult military liaison.
Gilgrest, (to be played by Stiller – a casting move we don’t love) is a 37-year-old angry, frustrated and self-absorbed operative whose love and life has passed him by. His apoplectic nature gets the best of him in an arms deal in Kabul, Afghanistan. His buyers get pissed and a rocket launcher is fired nearby. He dies (or so everyone in the U.S. thinks) and has a funeral. Few people mourn him. A little Spielberg-ian film enthusiast shoots the entire not-so-somber event.
His only true friend is Jeremy. Now, note: GoneElsewhere have just reviewed the script too but they called Jeremy, “a military techie named Jeremy who lives in the caves of the Cheyenne Mountains who he’s only spoken with on the phone,” but Jeremy is actually a super-smart and highly aware computer. He’s almost Gilgrest’s Kitt to his Knight Rider. Yeah, it sounds a little retarded, but it’s not entirely off in the script.
Back to the story, shades of the opening of “Iron Man,” Gilgrest is found wounded, but alive and returns back to life stateside a few weeks later with a severe limp being his only visible worse for wear.
Friends, which ones actually exist, adjust to his ghost like return and after a few weeks he is reassigned to a covert satellite launch in Hawaii – familiar territory for the military attache. But this opportunity is a second chance gift. The deal in Kabul gone wrong is considered a major professional embarrassment which Gilcrest has to redeem himself of. This is his one shot at making good.
Attached at his hip in his military liaison Lisa Ng, an anal, humourless and by-the-book air force officer assigned to make sure all goes well with the satellite launch and keep tabs on Gilcrest. Could Ng be played by Reese Witherspoon? In the script it says she “looks nothing like her exotic name.” We were convinced at first that Witherspoon was playing his ex-wife, but since Witherspoon is supposed to be a lead and like Tracy Flick in “Election,” she’s good at playing anal-retentive, this must be her part. Ng’s role is much bigger than the ex-wife’s, but that’s one not entirely small either and plays a big part in the finale.
Now some of this sounds odd and not very Cameron Crowe, right? You’re not the only one that felt that way, for the first 20 pages we were kind of confused, not sure where this military angle was going (or why it was even here), and fairly disengaged from the whole story (it probably took us a few days to limp through that first quarter). But with the introduction of the hilarious Ng character, the story started to finally find its bearings..
Full of unintentional sexual innuendo and amusingly awkward statements (she repeats incessantly, “Thank you for the camaraderie, sir!” “I’m 1/8th Hawaiian, sir.”) Ng grates on Gilgrest from minute one and annoyed he asks to keep their sentences to a terse, five-word rule.
Meanwhile in Hawaii, Gilgrest’s ex-girlfriend has a nice family home with her monosyllabic-muttering husband Woody (not cast) and her precocious kids – the camera happy 10-year-old and the disaffected early teen.
Another large part of the story is Gilgrest’s (and the military’s) need to receive a critical blessing for the satellite launch from the local Hawaiian spiritual leaders who believe an ancient prophecy surrounding Hawaiian gods Lono and Pele is soon coming to pass. Eventually an offering has to be made to one of the Volcano’s that involved the local lore and as GoneElsewhere have noted, it’s shades of “Joe Vs. The Volcano.”
Ever the atheist and all-around skeptic, Gilgrest doesn’t believe in any of this hocus pocus, but years of politicking have taught him how to be diplomatic to achieve his goals. He’s also incredibly bright and spent major time in the state so he speaks the native language and is well aware of their myths and beliefs. So yes, something new to the Crowe oeuvre is a supernatural sub current of mysticism throughout that sometimes manifests itself as an intoxicating green mist and a spooky ghost of an old lady who roams the streets at night.
We could go on as the script is very rich in detail, but we’ll spare you any spoilers. Just note that the script is 144 pages which is much longer that your average script (100-120 is usually the norm).
For all the talk of mysticism, supercomputer friends, military politics and Hawaii spirituality at the heart of Cameron Crowe’s untitled is a very human tale that’s very “Jerry Maguire,” in its depiction of an asshole who wants to be a better man and faces a crisis of conscious and identity. Gilgrest can either perform his duty and put arms in the sky or take a leap of faith in the Hawaiian legends. Meanwhile he can reclaim the love of his life or pursue the uncharted possibilities and flirtations with Ng. But the past is more complicated than he thinks and outcomes are never as easy as one would imagine.
And despite all these aforementioned abnormalities, the script is pretty much vintage Cameron Crowe and pretty enjoyable once you get past the atypical elements at the beginning which admittedly had us thrown.
Soundtrack: Songs specifically written into the script are U2’s “Elevation,” The Rolling Stones’ “Prodigal Son,”a bootleg instrumental version of “She’s Leaving Home” by The Beatles, Cat Stevens’ “Don’t Be Shy,” “Let’s Go Out Tonight” by The Blue Nile, cheesy videogame classic, “Pac-Man Fever” by Buckner & Garcia, “Ribbon in The Sky” by Stevie Wonder, and snippets of “What’s New Pussycat” by Tom Jones, The Who’s “Baba O’ Riley.” Whether they make the final version or not, who knows, but Crowe doesn’t usually have a hard time clearing songs for his films.
According to the original Variety report on the film from June of this year, shooting on the project is supposed to start in January when Witherspoon and Stiller’s schedules open up. Scott Rudin and Cameron Crowe are producing the project.
