Brad Pitt joins the 'Z' list
HOLLYWOOD heart-throb Brad Pitt looks as dashing as ever in spite of his straggly grey beard as he prepares for his new film role playing a Westcountry-born explorer.
Pitt will play Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett, who went missing in the Amazon in 1925 as he searched for a ancient civilisation. Colonel Fawcett was convinced a lost city, which he called "Z", existed somewhere in the Mato Grosso region of the South American rainforest, but he, along with his son who accompanied him on the expedition, vanished and has never been seen since.
He was born in Torquay, Devon, in 1867, and in 1886 received a commission in the Royal Artillery and served in Trincomalee, Ceylon, where he met his wife before going on to work for the British secret service in North Africa.
For decades, explorers and scientists have tried to find evidence of his party and the Lost City of Z, including author David Grann, whose 2009 book – The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon – revealed new evidence of how Fawcett died and that the city may have actually existed.
Fascinated with the story, Pitt's Plan B production company and Paramount Pictures bought the rights for a film based on the book, in which Pitt stars as the legendary explorer.
No release date has yet been given for the film, but it is currently in production and could be released later this year or early in 2011.
Colonel Fawcett and the stories surrounding the Lost City of Z inspired his novelist friend Arthur Conan Doyle and became the basis for his book The Lost World.
The colonel is also believed to have been an inspiration for Indiana Jones, which could explain why Pitt jumped at the chance to make the film – and star as the hero.
A source close to the actor said: "Brad didn't need too much convincing as he wants to be known as a movie adventurer like Harrison Ford."
Pitt, 46, has been sporting the beard since September last year when he started growing it for the new role.
2 Comments
by Freddy, London
Thursday, January 28 2010, 9:31AM
“There is no getting away from it, the Fawcett story is fascinating. It's sad in a way that if the expedition returned safely without finding the Lost City of Z, Fawcett may have been forgotten, However, with their disappearance they have in a way, been immortalized, capturing the imagination of many as to what happened to them.
As to David Grann's book, yes it was well written and kept me turning the pages, although I did flip past some of the Grann parts as I thought there was just too much about Grann's personal expedition into the jungle, that to me got in the way of the what should have been the main Fawcett story.
The payoff of what grann's reports as the possible Lost City of Z is not believable to me, but that is my personal opinion.
I want to read a book that actually discovers the Lost City of Z. I want to find out out exactly what the lights that never went out were. Something that Grann doesn't achieve in his book. But all may not, like the City of Z, be lost, as a new book called Amazon Adventure by Ben Hammott is due for release shortly. http://www.fawcettadventure.com (Fiction) The book actually continues Fawcett's journey into the jungle from Dead Horse Camp, Fawcett's last known possession, to reach the Lost City and to go inside. If handle well it should be a good read. I have read Hammott's previous book, Lost Tomb of the Knights Templar. It about solving clues in an old church to find some 2000 year old artefacts, chests of gold and a tomb with a mummified corpse. It was one of my best reads of 2009, so I have no doubt that Amazon Adventure will do the story justice. (http://www.benhammott.com)”
by Ben Hammott, London
Sunday, January 24 2010, 1:27PM
“There is no getting away from it, the Fawcett story is fascinating. It's sad in a way that if the expedition returned safely without finding the Lost City of Z, Fawcett may have been forgotten, However, with their disappearance they have in a way, been immortalized, capturing the imagination of many as to what happened to them.
The story, if handled correctly, will make a great film, let's hope Hollywood can bring it off.
I have a new book about Colonel Fawcett that continues his journey to the Lost City. It is called Amazon Adventure.
For those who are interested here is the link: http://www.fawcettadventure.com
Coming in 2010 the new novel that continues Fawcett's quest to find his Lost City of Z
The date is 1925
The location is the Amazon Jungle.
Colonel Percy Fawcett, his son Jack and close friend Raleigh Rimmell, are looking for a lost City rumoured to be
hidden in the unexplored regions of the cannibal inhabited jungle.
Dead Horse Camp is situated at the boundary of unexplored territory. Ahead lay the unknown, danger, and perhaps a Lost Civilisation.
The three explorers enter the jungle never to be seen or heard from again. Until now!
Present day - New information that reveals what befell the Fawcett expedition reaches the civilised world. A team
is put together to travel to the Amazon jungle. Their task is to unravel the mystery and find the Lost City of Z.
But the journey to the Lost City is just the beginning. Inside lurks danger and a secret those guarding it will kill to protect. Survival will not be easy, escape impossible.
Fawcett's adventure continues in AMAZON ADVENTURE Journey to Colonel Fawcett's Lost City”