21 April 2003
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Which director will get the flick?
IT could be one of the greatest Hollywood stand-offs – Oliver Stone and our very own Baz Luhrmann.
Both men are sticklers for detail. Both like a big budget to play with.
But the telling similarity is that both are making films about Alexander the Great – and that's what has the whole of Tinseltown intrigued.
Who shall emerge the victor – Baz or Ollie?
At this stage, it's too early to call. But one thing on which almost everyone agrees is only one Alexander the Great film has a chance of succeeding.
Stone's version – starring Irish bad boy Colin Farrell – appears to have jumped from the blocks early, with pre-production photography already under way and the cameras expected to roll in September.
Luhrmann, who has secured Leonardo diCaprio for the role of Big Al, is expected to yell "action" in November.
He has just returned from Jordan, where he was scouting locations for the film, using the Jordanian royal family's helicopter.
But this is where it all gets a bit tricky.
While Stone appears to be slightly ahead in terms of production, it amounts to nothing because both films are slated for a June US release date.
Both films have ballpark budgets of $200 million – so something will have to give.
Number-crunching producers from both the Luhrmann and Stone camps will be well aware that there won't be enough room in the box office for two epics based on the same historical figure.
The Tinseltown talk is that one of the projects will have to be pulled.
Time will tell which one that will be.
The Daily Telegraph