A ‘reliable source’ (as they are known in the trade) has told us that Stephen Fry has now finished the script for the remake of The Dambusters, and it is now in the hands of Peter Jackson’s Wingnut Films. It is not yet clear what will happen next, as the New Zealand-based outfit is still hard at work on the post-production for Hobbit Numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and so on, and so on. (How many more of these little blighters are there?)
Casting the film should be the next step. If we hear of agencies getting calls looking for 133 young men with a mixture of accents then we will let you know.
Dambusters Blog 
‘CHINESE TORTURE’ I call it !–a morsel here a tit-bit there
Delighted….one step closer. Still seems a long way off though.
Well, better late than never.
My kids have seen the Hobbit and liked it. I am now somewhat fearful of Jackson’s current project of remaking Dam Busters (a 1950s classic with superb acting, great script and authentic aircraft). The five minutes of special effects in the original version could use a remake, but for the rest, I fear seeing RAF pilots with flowing white beards and furry feet, “We shall strike with the aircraft of Lancaster, and the bomb of Barnes Wallace with which we will destroy the Dams of Ruhr!” Oh well.
Finished script is 100% better than an unfinished script.
The casting is going to be very difficult, presuming of course that Jackson makes the film with actors matching the age of the real individuals. Many people don’t realise that Guy Gibson was only 24/25 at the time of the raid, and many of the aircrew were younger still, despite their experience. Who has sufficient ‘star’ clout in that age bracket these days, and could carry the film? George Lucas showed how easy it is to get it massively wrong when he chose Hayden Christiansen to play Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise : I watched one on DVD the other day and had forgotten how absolutely dreadful he is – he simply can’t act, as his career since has shown. The original is such an iconic movie that it’s a thankless task in any event, but I’m certainly looking forward to seeing it, and he CGI will, if nothing else, be outstanding I’m sure. Stephen Fry as Barnes Wallis perhaps?
It can be done with young actors. Richard Thorpe played 22 year old Henry Maudslay. When the Dam Busters was released in 1955 Thorpe was 23 so presumably younger when it was made ie. about the same age as Maudslay at the time of the dams raid..
Hello. I’ve just stumbled upon this blog as my late father was Richard Thorp, and he was very excited towards the end of his life about the Dam Busters remake, so much so he was trying to make contact with Stephen Fry with a view to consultation/involvement. I wasn’t even aware that such a thing was even happening but reading through this fascinating blog has brought me up to speed. It’s a shame he passed away (May last year, just before this post) before the announcement that Fry’s script is done. I have some of his original call sheets and photographs from the set which may be of interest. He once met Maudslay’s parents on set, who were totally freaked out by his resemblance to their son!
It’s taken longer for Mr Fry to write the script than World War 2.
It’s a good job it didn’t take Barnes Wallis as long to invent the bouncing bomb as it’s taken Fry to write the script!