RICHARD BRANSON AND MCG WANT TO VISIT 1492 / WHEN COLUMBUS SAILED THE OCEAN BLUE

I have trouble seeing how this work. Will Colombus be daydreaming of awesome fight scenes while waiting for the wind to start blowing?

Another great article Elisabeth, and an interesting prospect for a movie. I'm guessing "300-style" must mean digital backgrounds to save money and not, as we can only dream, 12 foot tall Native Americans and monster-buffaloes, all scored to Nine Inch Nails.

...though boy do I disagree with you about the Virgin Trains.

I wish I had thought of 12 foot tall Natives...

You can disagree if you come visit me, and ride an RTD lightrail with me. We should try to get to a movie on time, and then laugh when it doesn't show up because RTD didn't feel like running that day.

I kept hearing how bad the tube, the trains, and the buses were. But you don't know what a miracle it is to actually have these things show up, and then take you somewhere.

Our public transport belongs in a Soviet republic circa 1976. It's that bad.

Dear god that sounds awful.

Awful.

Well it looks like Branson is actually turning into Hughes (as you say), he has gone mad.

I expect him to anounce "Virgin Germ free rooms" any time soon and specially branded Pee jars.

I was going to photoshop him into Christopher Columbus, but when I found that photo, I realized I didn't need to ....

The entire movieweb seems to have had the same idea, I noticed it's the photo de jour. I always think I'm being so goddamn clever.

Ether way it's still a great Article.

Thanks, Ken. You guys are being way too nice to me, and I'm not going to complain.

He's lacking in the female department, though. He needs to, at least, steal Monica Belucci from Cassell and have a long relationship with Kate Blanchett (meta!), in order to compete.

No thanks nessary Just keep writing awesome articles.


Stelios, I would not expect Branson to limit himself to just two women. If he is going full on Billionaire playboy then I demand a Hareem from him, nothing less.

It's not about the numbers, Ken. He needs high profile Hollywood girlfriends if he's to emulate Hughes.

I dunno... he's pretty good, but I'm not sure that he's my FAVORITE instigator of genocide.

Fun fact: I went to a high school that was named after the guy that first proposed and popularized the idea of giving Smallpox-infested blankets to the native Americans. He's kind of a local hero. So as you can imagine, he has a special place in my heart*.

*yyyyyeahno

What a great article, Ms Rappe. I too can't help but like Branson (against all my better instincts), and admire his dedication to advancing space tourism (though I think he should have a 'coupon day' -- in the words of Donald Gennaro JD) as well as his generally affable and charismatic persona. I support your idea for a "virgin train" line, though it's kind of sad our own government isn't already in the train business. Oh well..

Anyway, 1492COP is a flawed film, but all I really need to see on the subject unless you're going to make a movie that goes to great lengths to expose the true depths of his villainy. A "300" version of story of the rape of the New World? Yeah, no thanks. Columbus isn't a hero of any kind, and I resent the idea of him being sold to the American public as a 15th century Italian Leonidas. I like that Branson is making movies on his favorite topics, I've long suspected that's what I'd do with a billion dollars (The first movie I'd make? ROME. Actually, I'd finance a whole series of movies set in the ancient world), but I just wish he'd picked a different one to start with

PS I'd totally be down for a Leif Erickson movie though!.

The article itself is a win. Elizabeth's pieces are becoming my favorite on this site. She has the good writer's talent of making shitty or boring stories interesting

The news, on the other hand, is crap-tastic. McG filming a 300-style movie about Columbus? It has 'glorious train wreck' written all over it.