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So Richard Donner is directing a Lethal Weapon sequel


Jay

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https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/1159593-richard-donner-confirms-he-will-direct-lethal-weapon-5

 

“This is the final one,” Donner said. “It’s both my privilege and duty to put it to bed. It’s exciting, actually… Hahaha! It’s the last one, I’ll promise you that.”

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Thanks for posting this, @Jay.

He's ninety years old, for cryin' out loud!

Hee, hee, that's makes him (probably) the world's oldest working director.

Honestly I wish him, the crew, and all concerned, the very best.

Just make it better than 4, OK? :)

...and bring back E.C.

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Yeah, I heard about that. Great stamina from Donner! Bring it on!

 

(btw, I did an episode on music for Donner films awhile back -- in Norwegian, but you can scroll through the talk to get to the music as if it were a playlist. What an impressive roster of composers he has!).

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Saw this on Reddit the other day, my first reaction was happiness that Donner is still keeping well. 

 

Was never into this franchise though. I preferred its era peers instead. 

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3 minutes ago, Thor said:

(btw, I did an episode on music for Donner films awhile back -- in Norwegian, but you can scroll through the talk to get to the music as if it were a playlist. What an impressive roster of composers he has!).

 

Oh yea, you could make a super fun compilation of scores to Donner films.  Goldsmith, Williams, Barry, Grusin, Zimmer, Kamen, Elfman, Newman, Mancina, Burwell, Tyler, oh my!

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6 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Hee, hee, that's makes him (probably) the world's oldest working director.

 

He's only a couple of months older than Clint Eastwood. But he still has a way to go to Portuguese arthouse director Manoel de Oliveira, who passed away at 106 in  2015, but worked untill the last. I don't think anyone will ever "beat" that record.

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Dammit, I just bought the "complete" Lethal Weapons blu-ray box!

 

1 hour ago, Thor said:

 

He's only a couple of months older than Clint Eastwood. But he still has a way to go to Portuguese arthouse director Manoel de Oliveira, who passed away at 106 in  2015, but worked untill the last. I don't think anyone will ever "beat" that record.

 

Who knows when Spielberg is going to direct that Edgardo Mortara movie.

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22 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

I've found that someone finishing the work after a composer's passing, rarely works out, at least in film music terms. I did not care for Horner's MAG 7 with Franglen completing it, nor did I care for BACK TO GAYA with those composers. I consider WOLF TOTEM Horner's final, "proper" work (not a big fan of LIVING IN THE AGE OF AIRPLANES either, no), and I consider OPEN RANGE Kamen's "proper" final work. 

 

That being said, I'd certainly be open to an Eshkeri/Clapton score for LW5 (I consider Eshkeri the best of those; Neely is hit/miss and Elhai, I know only as an orchestrator -- not familiar with the others).

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2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I watched the first three Lethal Weapon movies and parts of the fourth back in 2019. They're fine, not amazing but very watchable.

 

Second one was the best

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3 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Dammit, I just bought the "complete" Lethal Weapons blu-ray box!

 

That's the reason I don't want this movie made, it'll look out of place in my DVD collection because it won't fit into my existing boxset.

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8 hours ago, Edmilson said:

That's a great question, who will score the fifth movie? Who can copy Kamen's style? 

 

The post Kamen Die Hard sequels did have Beltrami actually utilizing his material, but I suppose people here want someone with a more consistent discography. Can't say I'm familiar with the original 4 scores to make a pick, but given Donner's track record, I'm sure he'll get an interesting choice.

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Looking at current action movies, the 4th LW was actually quite alright. Lots of hand-made action set pieces, and a Riggs who finally had to acknowledge that he is now in fact too old for this shit.

 

I can't imagine what a 5th movie can bring to the table. I can see Gibson still kicking ass (although he had to be doubled in a lot of the 4th movie's fight scenes already), but Glover is really just an old man now.

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8 minutes ago, Laserschwert said:

Looking at current action movies, the 4th LW was actually quite alright. Lots of hand-made action set pieces, and a Riggs who finally had to acknowledge that he is now in fact too old for this shit.

 

I can't imagine what a 5th movie can bring to the table. I can see Gibson still kicking ass (although he had to be doubled in a lot of the 4th movie's fight scenes already), but Glover is really just an old man now.

 

Half the time in 4 it wasn't even Mel Gibson!

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7 hours ago, Laserschwert said:

Looking at current action movies, the 4th LW was actually quite alright. Lots of hand-made action set pieces, and a Riggs who finally had to acknowledge that he is now in fact too old for this shit.

 

In the 5th LW, Riggs will have forgotten everything from the 4th LW, and thinks he isn't too old yet.

 

7 hours ago, Laserschwert said:

I can't imagine what a 5th movie can bring to the table. I can see Gibson still kicking ass (although he had to be doubled in a lot of the 4th movie's fight scenes already), but Glover is really just an old man now.

 

He'll be replaced by Donald Glover wearing prosthetics.

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8 hours ago, The Big Man said:

 

Half the time in 4 it wasn't even Mel Gibson!

Was it maybe just a scheduling problem? I know that him shooting Payback was at least the reason he hadn't had time to grow his hair longer.

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28 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

By the way, does anybody know what happened to the announced Rush Hour sequel?

 

Not sure how that is related to Donner, but I wasn't even aware they were developping a no. 4. It could be that Brett Ratner's standing currently isn't the best in the Hollywood community after the #metoo scandal. Warner Bros. severed ties with him a couple of years ago, for example.

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18 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Not sure how that is related to Donner, but I wasn't even aware they were developping a no. 4. It could be that Brett Ratner's standing currently isn't the best in the Hollywood community after the #metoo scandal. Warner Bros. severed ties with him a couple of years ago, for example.

Yes, my trains of thoughts are a little chaotic these days. When I saw this thread I immediately thought about my favourite buddy movie franchise.

 

Leathal weapon was never really my cup of tea.

At the time when I saw the first three films I had an issue with this self-justice spirit of them, the cops taking the law into their own hands and so on. Was a problem for me at the time.

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Yeah, I like the RUSH HOUR movies too (especially the two first), and a couple of other Ratner movies (RED DRAGON, THE FAMILY MAN, TOWER HEIST), regardless of the metoo controversy.

 

By the way, in case it hasn't been pointed out -- it's been 14 years since Donner last directed anything (16 BLOCKS in 2006). It's pretty impressive to make a comeback after 14 years, and at age 90. I was impressed when Richard Stanley returned to the director's chair after 23 years with COLOR OUT OF SPACE, but he's still relatively young in comparison.

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Just now, Jurassic Shark said:

I guess he's one of the few good directors that haven't fallen victim of metoo yet.

 

And if there had been anything in the past, they'd all be dead by now. 

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26 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

What? Are you suggesting that if Donner had any victims, he'd silence them for good?

 

No, more that he's so old, he'll have outlived most by now if there had been any.

 

Donner is not generally considered part of the 'movie brats'. He's considerably older than them, and has had more of a 'journeyman' career; a capable craftsman who's made some great movies, but who doesn't have a lot of auteur marks.

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39 minutes ago, Thor said:

I was impressed when Richard Stanley returned to the director's chair after 23 years with COLOR OUT OF SPACE, but he's still relatively young in comparison.

 

I loved that, best loony sci-fi I've watched in ages. Awesome soundtrack on it. 

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