"All Quiet on the Western Front" Finds A New Voice

    Press release contact information:
Ian Stokell or Lesley Paterson
Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment Inc.
Voice: (310) 6993021 or (310) 9231052
E-Mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

"All Quiet On The Western Front" Finds A New Voice
Ex-Washington Post Managing Editor Takes Journalistic Approach

/24-7PressRelease/ - LOS ANGELES, CA, April 16, 2007 - The sentiments of the classic World War One anti-war novel "All Quiet On The Western Front" are as applicable today as they were more than 75 years ago when it was first published. That is why writer-producers Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson have optioned the world famous book with the intention of making it into a big budget sweeping Hollywood epic.

Stokell, for many years a managing editor and journalist with The Washington Post organization, believes that, for a new interpretation to work, the new screenplay requires a gritty, journalistic approach.

In writing the brand new script, Stokell/Paterson are taking a bold stance by using the novel only as a starting point.

Said Paterson, "By creating new storylines ourselves, we believe this modern rendition will encompass greater depth and historical context, but still remain congruent with the spirit of Erich Maria Remarque's work."

Stokell/Paterson plan on producing the film through their own production company, Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment Inc.

While a large emphasis will be on recreating the brutality and day-to-day horror of the trenches for the ordinary German infantryman, the intention is also to add substantially to the development of the main characters.

For Stokell/Paterson, realism is the key. Towards that end, they have already attached ex-US Marine Captain Dale Dye to the project as Senior Military Advisor to bring the harshness of life in the trenches to the silver screen. (Captain Dye was Senior Military Advisor on Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" and Oliver Stone's "Platoon" and "Alexander".)

The only time the novel has been made into a U.S. theatrically released film was in 1930, as one of the first "talking pictures," when it won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.

Added Stokell, "However, modern audiences are more cinematically sophisticated than those of 1930. As a result, while we plan on recreating the spectacular visual ambience of trench warfare - miles and miles of desolate, bombed out and cratered landscape - we also intend to add more texture and emotional layering to the overall story."

Tel: Ian Stokell 310-699-3021, or Lesley Paterson, 310-923-1052
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

About Sliding Down Rainbows
Sliding Down Rainbows Entertainment, Inc., is the film production company of writer-producers Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson. For further information, please contact us at (310) 699-3021 or (310) 923-1052

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