Today's Blind Items - The Bridge
After two massive bombs this past year, this studio is really desperate for a hit. They have a franchise that is solid gold but has run into big issues while filming in Europe. They got shut down in Rome and had to rebuild part of Rome on a soundstage which was ridiculously expensive. The head of the studio's European division hired two "producers," one of whom is the mistress of the President of a country. Yes, he calls her his stylist, but please. The studio and the producers want to blow up a bridge. These two "producers" with the connection to the President of the country are supposed to help. The bridge is 100 years old. The town where it is located told the studio to go to hell and gave it a higher conservation level just to make sure it couldn't be blown up. So, the studio threw even more money at the federal government and President of the country. They want to blow up the bridge. The President gave permission to blow up the bridge and work has begun to blow it up. The head prosecutor in the country is investigating the bribes and corruption but will probably be bribed themselves. The studio also paid to make sure no negative stories about the bridge or even stories about the bridge show up in the media. When the A list mostly movie actor makes his rounds of the the talk show circuit to promote it, do you think anyone will ask him about it? Nope. They are all cowards.
Warner Brothers?
ReplyDeleteMI7 Cruise
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ReplyDeleteGee corruption in the Italian government, who knew?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what CGI is for?
ReplyDeleteMission Impossible 7 for the movie
ReplyDeleteSo then paramount pictures for the studio. Rhythm section bombed bad
ReplyDeleteSo is the bridge in Italy or some other country? Sounds like Russia.
ReplyDeleteIs Mission Impossible still gold ? Next Bond movie perhaps?
ReplyDeleteAssholes. Yet another reason I won't pay a cent to watch these stupid movies.
ReplyDeleteJustice League would be the Warner franchise, not sure which if any, filmed in Rome but Warner Bros Studios had a brutal 2019 BO season
ReplyDeleteMI 7 was filming in Venice and Rome before shutting down for three weeks due to the virus. They moved filming to Surrey, England.
ReplyDeleteParamount's box office bombs so far this year - The Rhythm Section and Like A Boss.
ReplyDeleteOk let me just say something here: I know that for Americans a 100 year-old bridge sounds very old, but it isn't. Especially not in Italy, and even more especially, in Rome, where you have landmarks, roads and aqueducts that are THOUSANDS of years old.
ReplyDeleteA 100 year old bridge is not a big deal. It was built around the 1920s, and I highly doubt we are talking about some Art Deco marvel. Italians couldn't give two shits about a bridge built that recently.
So I'm side eyeing this entire blind.
@Superfly
DeleteI’m American & a 100 year old bridge does not sound old to me.
My home town has bridges that were built during the Great Depression.
I also paid attention in school & learned there are countries that have existed longer than America. I’m sure those countries have bridges.
Superfly,
ReplyDeleteI suspect that just below the surface, sentimental attachment or history has very little to do with the situation.
I used to work in a city that was separated from its suburbs by a pair of bridges. Neither was particularly historic or an example of great architecture. A proposal was launched to replace the oldest of the spans and it was met with fierce resistance, not because anyone felt passionately about the bridge, but because everyone affected [commuters and store owners] didn't want to see everything routed through either the bridge on the south end of town which would get backed up like crazy during rush hour or the next bridge to the north that was 25 miles away on bad riverside roads.
Blowing up the bridge without a working plan to quickly replace it at little or no cost to the residents would be a non-starter practically anywhere. Bridges get positioned where they are needed because they are expensive and time consuming to build.
All of that said, Italy has a load of opposition parties and press. If this moves forward without buy-in from the locals [not the politicians, the locals], there will be major stink in all of the opposition press. It will likely get loud enough to attract notice from outsiders.
@Superfly
ReplyDeleteIf the country is Italy, there's also the issue of the President having very little power, apart from appointing the Prime Minister. Actually, outside of France and a few Eastern Europe countries, the head of executive power is the Prime Minister or Chancellor or whatever the title for the head of government is. The President in most European republics has barely more political leverage than a king or a queen and doesn't get invited to political summits.
So, either it is Eastern Europe (the franchise won't go back to France that soon, as part of M:I6 took place in Paris) or the blind item is written with a very American "sensibility".
Suggested decode strategy.
ReplyDeleteFind a franchise movie that has been partially filmed in Rome, has two producers, one of whom is a female "stylist" or fashion consultant; then connect the producer to a politician.
The blind mentions Rome, so it seems kind of an easy guess for the answer to be Italy. Maybe some other country?
ReplyDeleteNot true one bit that Italians would not care about a bridge built in early 1900s. This was a country heavily bombed during WW2. Important bridges that survived that war were lifelines and have historic meaning beyond immediate artistry, and many are incredibly beautiful. If the community is trying to save the bridge, it’s significant. If they just wanted a bribe, they wouldn’t have changed the designation, putting the issue in public eye - they would have just named their price. And about a hundred years in Enty speak could be anything from 100- 120y old - so, built before one or both world wars. Any bridge that has survived this long and is wanted for special effect, such that rebuilding in a controlled setting is not palatable to producers, should be off limits to such senseless destruction.
ReplyDelete@Superfly... I get that, but the town did NOT want it blown up, so why should it be so weirdo Tom Cruise can make more money?
ReplyDeleteThey better keep their stinking phalanges off the bridge in Mostar. My grandson is going off that one when he turns 18.
ReplyDeleteThe new Batman movie with the vampire guy.
ReplyDelete@ Superfly good catch! I was in places in Europe where there are 4 and 500 year old bridges that are landmarks but something built 100 years ago in Europe could be a throw away in many ways and mean nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe only movies that Cruise does make money is the mission impossible movies. And people are afraid to ask him things because the church is always close by.
ReplyDeleteI hope the lead prosecutor of which ever country the bridge is in doesn't find himself suicided for looking into the corrupt government.
ReplyDeleteEither Enty's trying to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge, or someone sold it to him.
ReplyDeleteAdd up all these expenses and risks and how does it comes to less than the usual CGI methods?
The only answer here that makes sense to me is Unknown's.
ReplyDeleteI can def see Italians being upset at re-routing for a year while a new bridge is being rebuilt.
Italy is in dire need of money, especially right now. Of course they would happily sacrifice a 100 year old bridge for a large sum of cash, they have tens of thousand of other bridges, much older. This is not about a bridge. And if you believe it is, I got a bridge to sell you.
It is moronic to say that a 100-year-old bridge means nothing to Italians.
ReplyDeleteA 100-year-old bridge in Italy has seen both world wars; it has been crossed by Germans, Americans, partisans and fascists; it has been used by French and Austro-Hungarian armies.
Many of Italy's bridges were designed by the greats of the world such as Palladio.
Italy holds dear to its heart and feel great fondness for its bridges. In fact, Italians feel such affinity with their bridges that those damaged during any war have been rebuilt to former glory.
Towns, villages and cities grew around rivers/water source. The bridges were built before paved roads came into being. They are still the only way to get from one side of the town to the other.
Shame on Tom Cruise if it is MI.
It can't be Italy, because the BI says the country in question is a Federal Republic, which Italy is not. In fact there are only two countries in Europe that have both Presidents and a "Federal Government" and those countries are Germany and Austria.
ReplyDeleteAlso, a bridge built circa 1920 or slightly earlier is not considered old here in Europe, 1920 is considered recent/modern!
This item was obviously written by someone who knows SFA about Europe. Laughably fake.
Matrix 4/Keanu Reeves/Germany?
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