David Chase's "Ribbon of Dreams"

[Glenn Anders]

The following item appeared in News from WENN, at the IMDb this evening:

SOPRANOS MASTERMIND CHASE REFLECTS ON THE BIRTH OF HOLLYWOOD

[16 March 2009 6:35 PM, PDT]

"The Sopranos creator David Chase is developing a new TV miniseries about the birth of Hollywood.

"The TV mogul is the brains behind RIBBON OF DREAMS, which will track the earliest filmmaking in California, beginning in 1913.

"Chase will write and executive produce the miniseries, as well as direct the first episodes. Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey, who executive produced THE SOPRANOS, will also serve as executive producer on the new miniseries.

"The miniseries will feature actors portraying movie mogul D.W. Griffith, John Ford, John Wayne, Bette Davis and others.

"The title of the HBO movie takes its name from movie legend Orson Welles’ description, 'A film is a ribbon of dreams.'"

The mention of John Wayne and Bette Davis suggests that RIBBON OF DREAMS might conclude with the coming of Talkies, but perhaps, if the reception is favorable, the timeline for the series could be pushed on to accommodate the meteoric arrival of Orson Welles in Hollywood, allowing him an opportunity to utter his famous description. That event could also provide a fine finale, or if RIBBON OF DREAMS becomes an unlikely rival to the success of THE SOPRANOS, launch a further exploration of Hollywood's history.

A later Reuters dispatch provides additional detail to support my initial surmise:

"The miniseries, "A Ribbon of Dreams" -- whose title comes from Orson Welles' observation that "a film is a ribbon of dreams" -- will begin in 1913 and follow two men, one a college-educated mechanical engineer, the other a cowboy with a violent past, who form an unlikely producing partnership.

"The duo will start off as employees of D.W. Griffith and then cross career paths with such Hollywood greats as John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis and Billy Wilder. Through the eyes of the two main characters -- as well as their offspring -- "Dreams" will chronicle the growth of the film industry from the age of rough-hewn silent Westerns, to the golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement, to television, and finally to the present day."

Sounds as if an alternate title may be: HOLLYWOOD GODFATHERS.

Glenn

[Terry]

Ribbon of Dreams is a great title.

If Welles is depicted, hopefully he's honorably represented. I like how both Tim Burton and Benjamin Ross presented him.


Terry

[Glenn Anders]

I agree on the title, Terry.

My mind has been playing with David Chase's choice of that title, and it occurs to me that Chase has given evidence in the past of his admiration for Welles and things Wellsian. For a start, at this point, he is a kind of a more "successful" Orson Welles who writes, produces, directs, and even acts, while commanding a salary of $15,000,000 a year. He has just completed an unprecedented seven year series, THE SOPRANOS, a television counterpart to CITIZEN KANE and THE GODFATHER. He grew up on classic movies, and obviously loves them, to a point that the vicious, crude Sopranos were movie buffs. Remember that, according to Peter Bogdanovich, Chase sought him out early in the Sopranos' saga, suggesting he liked him so well in a small part he had seen Bogdanovich perform that he might have a role for him in the series, and several years later, Chase called him to play Dr. Elliot Kupferberg. Then, consider Chase's choice of the title RIBBON OF DREAMS in a context of that controversial final episode of THE SOPRANOS in which the screen suddenly went to black as the Soprano family, ringed with enemies, sat quietly in a Jersey diner. Consider, then, another famous Welles quote: “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”

If I'm correct, we won't have to worry about Welles being "honorably represented." Chase will not sugar-coat Welles, if the mini-series gets around to him, but our man will have a significant function in the story, I'm sure.

Thank you for your response, Terry.

Glenn

[NoFake]

For Immediate Release:
DAVID CHASE
TO DEVELOP MINISERIES
ABOUT THE CREATION OF HOLLYWOOD
FOR HBO

March 16, 2009 -- David Chase, multi-award-winning creator of “The Sopranos,” is returning to HBO to develop a miniseries about the invention of cinema and subsequent growth of the Hollywood film industry, it was announced today by Richard Plepler, co-president, HBO, and Michael Lombardo, president, Programming Group and West Coast Operations, HBO.

Entitled A RIBBON OF DREAMS, the miniseries will begin in 1913 and follow two men, one a college-educated mechanical engineer, the other a cowboy with a violent past, who form an unlikely producing partnership and together become pioneers and then powers for a time in motion pictures.

Chase will write and executive produce the miniseries, as well as direct the initial episodes. Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brad Grey, who executive produced the landmark HBO series “The Sopranos” with Chase, will also serve as an executive producer on the miniseries. A RIBBON OF DREAMS will be an HBO/Paramount Pictures/Chase Films production.

The miniseries will follow the two main characters as they begin as employees of D.W. Griffith, and then cross career paths with John Ford, John Wayne, Raoul Walsh, Bette Davis, Billy Wilder and others who gave shape to Hollywood as it grew from the age of rough-hewn silent Westerns, to the golden era of talkies and the studio system, to the auteur movement, to television, and finally to the present day. A RIBBON OF DREAMS takes its name from Orson Welles’ description, “A film is a ribbon of dreams.”

Chase said, “It gives me pleasure to think of working, together with Brad, with HBO, again. These are all people who, obviously, occupy a special place in my heart.”

“For seven years, David Chase dazzled and entertained the world with ‘The Sopranos.’ He’s a remarkable talent,” noted Plepler, “and we’re very excited to be working with both David and Brad again.”

“The return of David Chase to HBO is great news for our viewers,” observed Lombardo. “The epic scope of this miniseries will provide the perfect setting for his remarkable creative gifts.”

“David is a master storyteller who has once again chosen a fascinating subject,” said Grey. “I am excited for this project as an executive producer, a friend and a huge fan of David’s, and am grateful to HBO’s incredibly talented leadership of Richard and Michael for partnering with us.”

Prior to creating “The Sopranos,” hailed as one of the most significant series in television history, Chase executive produced the series “I’ll Fly Away” and “Northern Exposure,” and created and executive produced the critically-lauded drama “Almost Grown.” Chase is also currently writing a feature film for Paramount Pictures. He is represented by UTA and attorney Michael Gendler.

Kary Antholis, president, HBO miniseries, will oversee the project.

[Terry]

I've still never watched The Sopranos, despite consistently hearing superlative things about it.

I'll take a look at it after I finish Battlestar Galactica this week.


Terry

[purplepines]

I feel the first season of Sopranos was the most consistent and original, and after seeing all of them, I think if I ONLY saw the first season, that would have been adequate [CRUCIFY HIM!].

[Wellesnet]

The last word on this was from 2016:
David Chase’s Next HBO Project Isn’t A History Of Hollywood (Oh, And Don’t Expect More SOPRANOS):
https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/04/15 ... dont-expec

"It was reported as kind of a history of Hollywood which it really is not, or at least that’s not what it morphed into. I decided that we didn’t really need a fictitious history of Hollywood because there’s so many real documentaries that you could never capture the scope in a scripted piece. But it’s really about three people who go through their lives in Hollywood and Hollywood isn’t the backdrop, it’s actually the environment and it doesn’t cover everything about Hollywood that ever happened."

As of 2019, the project's status is unknown. Chase is 74 now, so it's safe to assume it won't happen.

[tonyw]

Maybe it will be the equivalent of THE MALTESE FALCON leading to a search that wlll never achieve completion "'The stuff that dreams are made of."