Ashutosh Gowarikar’s biopic on Gautama Buddha has a truly international crew. Even as a global search is on for a face to play Buddha, the director is in the process of assembling a dream crew to work on the film.
Sample this: David Ward, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for the Paul Newman-Robert Redford starrer The Sting, and received a nod for his work on Sleepless in Seattle, will be penning the screenplay for Buddha. Then there’s the executive producer of such films as I, Robot and Catch Me If You Can, Michael Shane.
Dileep Singh Rathore has been roped in as the line and co-producer. He has earlier worked on films like Blood Diamond. Karl Lindenlaub will be director of photography, while Nitin Desai is in charge of production design. The rest of the crew is as illustrious.
Ashutosh is quite excited by the near coup he has pulled off. “The past two months of pre-production have been exhilarating. This is the first time that I have done pre-visualisation for a film. The producers are leaving no stone unturned to give me technicians of my choice, which will help in recreating 500 B.C. accurately on screen,” he enthused.
Helping Ashutosh recreate 500 B.C. will be costume designer April Ferry. April has won at BAFTA and the Emmy Awards for her work on Rome, Free Willy and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Stunt director of films like X-Men: Wolverine, I, Robot, the Matrix films, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Thin Red Line, Crocodile Dundee and Mad Max, Glenn Boswell will work on stunts for Buddha.
Storyboard artist David Russell, who has contributed to Hollywood blockbusters like Star Wars, X-Men: Wolverine, Batman, Terminator II, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Tombstone, Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge, is also part of the team.
Buddha producer Dr Bhupendra Kumar Modi says, “We needed a a crew with a global sensitivity, one that could transcend language barriers, to work on Buddha. Only then could we hope to make a truly global film.”
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/mov2jpg-663