User:Casseb/Panzer 88

Panzer 88 is an upcoming WWII supernatural action thriller film, set to begin production in early-to-mid 2011 and start filming in September 2011, with plans to complete and release the film in 2012. Peter Briggs is set to direct and the film's crew will include Gary Kurtz as the lead producer.

Development
Screenwriters Aaron Mason and James Cowan wrote a screenplay entitled "The Wraith" in early 2001. The project was initially seized upon by legendary visual effects artist Stan Winston, although the trio were unable to come to financial terms at that time.

The genesis of the project was originally a character piece about a German Tiger tank that broke down in the Russian arctic plains during World War II. Tensions mount between the crew as cabin fever set in, turning the men against one another. Mason and Cowan added the supernatural element of a creature stalking them to subsequent drafts, and this intriguing angle attracted Winston's interest.

The project then languished for a decade. Studio development executives showed interest during this time, but insisted the German tank crew in the story be updated to American, and the conflict changed to either the Afghanistan or Iraq conflicts. Mason and Cowan resisted such notions as fundamentally misunderstanding the concept and rationales behind the storyline.

A chance meeting with Mason and Peter Briggs in early 2008 led to Briggs optioning the property. Briggs' commitments to another film project, Mortis Rex, delayed Briggs from concentrating on Panzer 88 until 2009, when he and Mason performed a substantial rewrite over several months. A coincidental meeting in London with Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz in August 2009 led to his boarding the project. The movie was formally announced in worldwide trades on February 7, 2010.

At the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010, Briggs and Mason spoke about the genesis of Panzer 88 on a panel, where Briggs inadvertently mentioned the involvement of Peter Jackson's Academy Award winning Weta Workshop.

Kurtz discussed his involvement with Panzer 88 in a Los Angeles Times piece in August 2010, saying “It’s a good, good project, you haven’t seen anything like it for a while.” In the same article, it was formally revealed that Weta Workshop and Richard Taylor were involved in the project. Taylor was quoted as saying; “It has been fantastic being involved in the early stages of a project that has already had such a significant body of preparatory production work done. It seems that Gary and Peter have explored all production scenarios and analyzed all and every film-making option in an effort to produce an epic film on a respectable budget.”

Pre-Production
Briggs travelled to New Zealand from September to December 2010 to scout locations and start budgeting, working out of Weta Workshop and Park Road Post. On November 16, 2010, Briggs appeared on TVNZ's Good Morning, where he suggested that should the project be based out of New Zealand, it may shoot at Wellington's Avalon studios.

An official Facebook page for the movie opened on January 4, 2011, featuring advance concept art from the movie.

On April 24, 2011, over the Easter Weekend in New Zealand, a highly-accurate and to-date unknown Panzer IV replica tank took part at the bi-annual Classic Fighters airshow held at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. Given that Peter Jackson loans much of his aircraft and equipment collection to the event, there was immediate speculation on internet military forums that this was a Weta Workshop replica built for Panzer 88.

Casting
On November 18th, 2011, the official Facebook page for the movie revealed that producer Gary Kurtz had engaged the services of casting agents Ros and John Hubbard. A further post on December 7th, 2011 mentioned that Kurtz and director Briggs had had a casting session with the Hubbards in London, and that "production just moved to a higher gear". A previous post on November 7th hinted at "one major cast member already mooted."