A little over ten years ago, Martin Scorsese teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio for the second time to bring the extraordinary life of Howard Hughes to the big screen. A billionaire, tycoon, inventor, filmmaker and undeniable genius, Hughes suffered from crippling OCD and spent many years as a recluse before his death in 1976. Needless to say, his life was ripe for the Hollywood treatment, and although he was clearly the inspiration for a number of fictional characters (Ironman being just one example) and had been portrayed in several low-key efforts, it was a matter of time before someone attempted to tell his story on a suitably large scale. Several filmmakers including Warren Beatty put considerable effort into trying to produce a Howard Hughes biopic, and one of them was Christopher Nolan; he has been quoted as describing his Mr Hughes screenplay as one of the best things Ive ever written and wanted Jim Carrey for the lead, but the project was shelved when Scorseses film moved into production and ended up cornering the market. The Aviator was very successful, earning over $200 million at the box office, garnering 11 Oscar nominations and taking home five awards. Still, although The Aviator was a fine film and missing out on his dream project left Nolan available to revive the Batman, it is a shame we will likely never see his take on the remarkable life of Howard Hughes.
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
