Cannes Film Festival 2013

Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof give us a sneak peek inside their sci-fi project '1952'

A single Twitter photo, but so many clues

<p>That's Brad Bird at the International Spy Museum in Washington talking to Hiestand Mendez, former head of the CIA's department of disguise and clandestine photography. BECAUSE THAT IS AWESOME.</p>

That's Brad Bird at the International Spy Museum in Washington talking to Hiestand Mendez, former head of the CIA's department of disguise and clandestine photography. BECAUSE THAT IS AWESOME.

Credit: Kevin Wolf/AP Images

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The teasing has begun.

There are not nearly enough Brad Bird films in the world.  I just went and counted, and it's still way less than 1000, a situation I find completely unacceptable.  As long as I've been writing about movies online, I've been writing about Brad Bird movies.  I would still call the coverage I did on "The Iron Giant" some of the best stuff I've ever published, and it's been a real pleasure catching up with him on "The Incredibles," "Ratatouille," and "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol."  In addition to have a remarkable story sense and a great knack for comic timing, Bird just plain loves movies, and that love informs pretty much every scene of everything he's ever made as a director.

Knowing there is a new Brad Bird film in development has me anxious enough.  I want to know everything, but I don't want to know anything.  I would love to see the whole thing right this second, but I'm terrified that I'll ruin it for myself as I cover it between now and whenever it finally comes out.  For the most part, Bird's been playing mum, and even as people have been clamoring for him as one of the best possible director choices Disney could make regarding the new "Star Wars" movies, he's been hard at work on "1952," a film that Damon Lindelof and Jeff Jensen are currently writing for Bird to direct.

I like that combination.  I have a lot of problems with "Prometheus," but everything I've heard about the production of that film would lead me to believe that most of my problems originated with Ridley Scott, and that Lindelof was there to execute Ridley's ideas.  Like many screenwriters, Lindelof only looks good if the director looks good, and the director only looks good if they have a strong script to direct.  Lindelof and Bird and Jensen have been working on this one for a while, and I'm excited to see what results from the collaboration.  Now that George Clooney's attached to star, that's one more big brain in the mix, and I really hope they come up with something great.

That's where the teasing comes in.  See, there's a backstory to the film, and today Bird dropped a big piece of that backstory on Twitter as a single photo.  The story is this:  Damon Lindelof found a box at Disney, and when he opened it, the contents of the box were so fascinating that he spun a story out of it, and that story is what he and Bird have been working to prepare as a film.  I don't think a word of that is true, but I think it's a great way to kick off the premise of a film.  If you're curious to see what sort of clues might exist, take a look at the photo below:


I see Walt Disney, I see an old reel of Technicolor film, I see envelopes and a record and little files full of stuff and what might be pieces of a camera.  And sure enough, right there on the front of the box, it just says "1952."

We're a long way from this one hitting theaters, but I love that they're starting to play the game now.  Bird must be feeling pretty confident that he's making this one if he's starting to Tweet about it.  I look forward to figuring out the mystery at some point in the future, and for now, tell me… are you interested yet?

"1952" is set for release during the Christmas season of 2014.

 

Drew-mcweeny-sm
Drew McWeeny
Film Editor
A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.

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  • Default-avatar

    Mojo CoCo

    maybe it's some kind of scifi story about Walt's inspiration to build the park.

    January 24, 2013 at 2:41AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Beef Supreme

    Is that Jeff "Doc" Jensen, EWs former resident "Lost" obsessive?

    January 24, 2013 at 12:21PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Old_bill_closeup_talkback_profile

      DKT Yup :)

      January 24, 2013 at 3:00PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      filmboy That is who I thought it was. Wow, good for him. It appears it does pay to write online.

      January 24, 2013 at 3:28PM EST
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    Paul

    Can anyone confirm if this is true? Read on down.

    http://www.featurefilmcasting.com/2013/01/disney-casting-child-and-teen-lead.html

    January 24, 2013 at 2:24PM EST Reply to Comment
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    filmboy

    While the story about the box Lindelof found is both interesting and whimisical, I have to agree with Drew that it is not true at all.

    However, that doesn't really matter to me as I am just excited we are going to get a new Brad Bird film. Wish it was Star Wars, sigh. But it would appear that is just not going to happen.

    Some have speculated that 1952 is going to be a film about Walt Disney and the creation of Disneyland. But with the Disney produced Saving Mr. Banks coming out this year, with Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney, I doubt 1952 will be about Disney at all.

    For me the most interesting thing in that tease was the copy of Amazing Stories from 1928 that is buried beneath photos. That copy has stories written by some of the most prominent writers of Sci-Fi. H.G Wells, Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith, and Philip Francis Nowlan.

    Nowlan's story titled Armageddon 2419 is in this issue and was the first story to feature Buck Rogers, whose name was Anthony Rogers in Nowlan's story. It was changed to Buck a year later. I would say search on the above to get more info on this story by Nowlan.

    My belief is that Nowlan's story or Buck Rogers himself will be the basis for the film Bird and Lindelof are making. We know this film is a sci-fi film and Buck Rogers clearly falls into that territory.

    I think a new Buck Rogers movie could work. Many people are not even aware of the stories about the character written by Nowlan and some have forget completely about the television show about the character that aired decades ago. So the timing might be right on this one.

    The man out of time theme has been played out in alot in film, but with Bird at the helm I think he can inject new life into that idea. Besides how cool would it be to see George Clooney as Buck Rogers?

    Anyway, that is my theory for now. Looking forward to more teases from Bird on this in the near future.

    January 24, 2013 at 3:45PM EST Reply to Comment
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    starway2001

    It's Buck Rogers.

    January 24, 2013 at 6:43PM EST Reply to Comment
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    Paul

    So no one read the article I linked? It pretty much comes right out and says what the movie is. (if it's to be believed)

    January 24, 2013 at 8:54PM EST Reply to Comment
    • All_purpose_icon_talkback_profile

      drew I read the link. It's speculation, and it's not new speculation. There's nothing there that is based on an actual official synopsis.

      January 25, 2013 at 7:52PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      Paul Okay, thanks for confirming that. Well I absolutely love mystery marketing such as this. Can't wait.

      January 25, 2013 at 8:41PM EST
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    ushaped

    I'm happy Brad Bird is making a new film but I'm not really interested in the tease. My interest is usually predicated on knowing some details to get excited about.

    January 24, 2013 at 9:52PM EST Reply to Comment
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    cosmicdust

    Looking at the box of goodies, those are no camera parts, Drew. It's an exhaust nozzle, perhaps for a jetpack, or something? I've noticed that IMDB has now retitled the film "Tomorrowland". I'm inclined to lean towards the suggestion that it might be Buck Rogers, because "Tomorrowland" would certainly fit Buck's tale, but there is one exception...I'm not sure how Walt Disney would figure into that. Fun to think about. Cannot make out the print on the record, nor on the box in the back corner by the record. Wish I had a hi-res shot!

    February 11, 2013 at 12:52PM EST Reply to Comment

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