Rollerball (2002)

Plot: The movie is based on the 1975 film by the same name. It's a futuristic society where nations have vanished but now huge corporations rule the planet. The sport of Rollerball is the most popular in the world. Jonathon Cross is the most popular player but he's starting to question the game and its meaning.

News:

23 January, 2002

Rebecca Romjin-Stamos spoke to SCI FI Wire about the film, having just seen it herself. "It's really fun," she said. "It's a little different from what I thought it would be."

"Everybody knows we went and re-shot some things. We shifted gears a little bit and made it more of an action movie and less of a satire, which is what it was before. I think the studio [MGM] and John McTiernan had to make a decision about who [adults or teens] they want to go see this movie. It's still great fun, but it's just not as thinky as it was."

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29 August, 2001

We have word from 'The Mole' on reshoots taking place:

They just wrapped late last week after about six or seven nights of reshoots in Yonkers, NY at the same stage on Tuckahoe Road used by "Thomas Crown Affair." They did interior roller rink scenes with outside exteriors of a small set resembling an industrial area in Russia. One scene was of one of the actors skating out of the roller rink into this industrial set with banners of sports companies like "K-2" as fireworks go off. heard they also had a scene of somebody throwing molotov coctails against the side of the building. The outdoor set I'm told, was also used last summer when they shot in Blaineville, just outside Montreal, Canada.

2 July, 2001

If you were dying to see this movie later this year you've got a bit of a problem. MGM has officially pushed the movie's release date from August 17, 2001 to an unspecified date in the first quarter of 2002.

"I think the movie has great potential," said Levin, who took control of marketing at MGM last week. "I know it's really kind of a last-minute decision to throw at a director, but (McTiernan) agreed to give me an opportunity to do this."

Levin denied that the movie was due to the film's poor quality. "It's not him; it's me," Levin said. He insists that the movie isn't a turkey. "Not from what he showed me," Levin said, "I was very happy."

McTiernan commented on the move by way of a publicist, "I'm very pleased with the studio's decision. It's exactly what I've wanted for some time. I look forward to working with Bob Levin and his team on the release of the film."

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2 January, 2000

The official site has opened wide with all sorts of photos and information. It looks like the website for a popular sports league. Among the goodies on display there is the teaser trailer. Below are the links to download it and a few stills from it.

• 4.1MB MOV Lo-Res
• 5.9MB MOV Hi-Res

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14 December, 2000

French Premiere strikes again, this time with shots from the set of John McTiernan's remake of Rollerball. The first shot shows a game of rollerball in action, with skaters skimming along the walls of the arena. The second shot shows Chris Klein as the popular player Jonathon E. The last shot is Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Aurora.

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17 October, 2000

The unofficial Rollerball website managed to snag several photos taken on the set in Canada by Sébastien Dion. Three shots show the arena, which appears to be far more colorful and complex than the arena in the original movie. The fourth shot shows a car from the movie. It looks suspiciously like Carroll Shelby's new concept car (Shelby built the original Cobra sports car) but I could be mistaken.

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3 August, 2000

The filming of John McTiernan's remake of Rollerball hit a big of a snag this morning. Fires have a way of disrupting filming. MGM released a statement regarding the fire.

Early in the morning on August 3, a fire broke out on the Rollerball set. Minimal damage was sustained and no cast and crew members were hurt, as the blaze occurred prior to the day's filming, which was due to begin at 9AM. The film's main set, the Rollerball track, was not damaged, although a minor set incurred some water damage. The company has been filming on the main track and has not yet filmed in the other set.

Albert Stringer, director of the Blainville Public Security Service, said that at 4AM, he received a report of fire at the Rollerball location, a former cement factory. He dispatched 40 firemen and they quenched the fire in less than an hour. The Blainville authorities, with the Rollerball production, are investigating the cause.

26 July, 2000

She may not have had much to say in X-Men, but Rebecca Romijn-Stamos certainly made a big impression with her roll as the sultry shape-shifter Mystique. Now she has turned that into another big role. This time she'll be strutting her stuff in John McTiernan's remake of Rollerball.

Romijn-Stamos "tested for the role only last weekend, following screen tests for a few other last-minute candidates as producers struggled to fill the film's last major role." She will playing the role of Aurora.

Filming starts today in Montreal. MGM hopes to release the movie next summer.

17 July, 2000

The 1975 movie Rollerball is being remade by producer/director John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator). The original told the story of a future society run by mega-corporations. To keep people happy they stage the game known as rollerball, a combination of roller derby and jai lai. The game's biggest star Jonathon E is encouraged by his team's owner to retire but he stubbornly refuses, wanting to know why. In that society the last thing the corporations wanted was a star, someone to stand out from the crowd and provide a beacon of hope. Jonathon was just such a person and they wanted him out of the way.

This new version was written by Larry Ferguson with a rewrite by the duo of David Campbell Wilson and Howard Rodman and yet another rewrite by John Pogue. Signed to star in the film so far are Chris Klein, Jean Reno and LL Cool J. Stax got a hold of the script and subjected it to his critical eye.

What little dialogue there is just isn't very good, mostly a lot of yelling and cliché "villain-speak." The character's relationships with each other were all underdeveloped; a father-son bond between Jonathan and Petrovich was hinted at but never really explored so that didn't quite work. I never really felt anything for Jonathan, and never really understood his feelings for his teammates since they're never given any dimension. When one of them was wounded or killed, I could see it coming a mile away. And the very last scene flabbergasted me. A certain character has arranged the fate of Jonathan and a friend of his but then pulls a complete 180? I can't really explain this in more detail except to say that it strained credulity and pulled me right out of the story.

To read the entire review, head to Stax's home at FilmForce.