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- Latest Conflict, War and Culture Event
Acting, Doodling and Fighting: On the Front Line and the Road to Recovery for Armed Forces
22 November 2011Ross Kemp and Bryn Parry, Co-Founder of Help for Heroes, in conversation with RUSI Director-General Michael Clarke about their relationship with the military and how the front line affects everyone who goes to it.
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Previous Events
Hollywood: Fantasy Wars and Real Wars
17:30, 4 Jul 2011RUSI, Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET
Link to map: multimap
About the event:
How does the film industry deal with war in the twenty-first century? To what extent is the fantasy violence portrayed in films influencing how we see real wars? Do war films further our understanding of historical events and why do such films come in and out of fashion?
Two eminent industry professionals discuss at RUSI's inaugural Conflict, War and Culture Series.
The first is British film-maker Jon Amiel. After winning world-wide acclaim for his series The Singing Detective, Amiel has gone on to direct major feature films on both sides of the Atlantic including Creation, Entrapment, Sommersby, The Core, and Copycat. His recent television credits include The Tudors and The Borgias.
Amiel is joined by Dave Brown. Dave is President of Motion Pictures and Literary Development at Hollywood Studios International - one of Tinseltown's pre-eminent management and production agencies.
In a free-ranging discussion Amiel and Brown spoke about both the art and the business of making films about war and films in the current climate, dealing with history - whether it's the history of four or four hundred years ago. How do creative talents in the film industry see the issues involved in war? The effect on individuals? The role of war correspondents? How do film-makers judge their interpretations of history? How do studio heads and investment funds view them?
Two projects Jon Amiel has been working on for the past two years illustrate some of the difficulties confronting the making of war-themed movies. 105 Degrees and Rising is a Crash style movie set in the last tens days before the US withdrawal from Saigon. The project has created quite a stir in the industry and a good deal of opposition. A second project Breaking News has Diane Lane and Dennis Quaid attached to play veteran war correspondents forced to confront the changing realities of war and the changing roles of the journalists tasked with covering them.
Dave Brown has represented many of Hollywood's top writers, directors and creators of shows such as Dexter, Deadwood, NCIS and The Tudors. Early in his career, Brown was instrumental in negotiating and packaging the massive hit thriller film Saw. He set up The Knights Templar with client Adam Torchia at Universal Pictures with Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted). Most recently, Dave helped writer/director Don Handfield develop and sell his pitch Slingshot to Paramount Pictures with Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town) attached to star.
They discussed the way they approach the depiction of war and history on the screen; the fashions and the politics of the Hollywood film industry regarding war related pictures; and the relationship between 'Hollywood', directors and actors.
This event is the first in RUSI's initiative to look again at the changing relationship between contemporary conflict and modern western culture; to re-evaluate the way arts and media express themselves about history, conflict and war. With an exciting series of presentations throughout the year, RUSI designs these evening presentations to offer members access to major figures in art, media and the creative industries and to discuss with members of the military and security establishment the changing relationships between conflict, war and culture.
For more information about the Conflict, War and Culture initiative please click here
Event manager: Sophie Cordes, +44 (0)20 7747 4971
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