Timeline Expected Release Date U.S. : 2002/ 2003
Expected Release Date U.K. : 2002/ 2003
Expected Rental Release Date :

Timeline Cast : Paul Walker, Gerald Butler, Frances O' Connor.
Director : Richard Donner
Written By : George Nolfi
Producers :
Other Known Crew Members:

Timeline Based On : The novel by Michael Crichton.
Premise/Synopsis : Time travelling thriller where a group of Yale students travel back in time to the year 1357 to rescue a history professor.
Genre : Action/ Thriller

Official Site :
Fan Sites : TheTimeLineMovie.com
Trailer :
Released By : Paramount Pictures

Status : In Development

How excited are we : 8 Out Of 10


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Latest updates

22nd May 2002: Timeline Update:
Just received word from Matthew over at TheTimelineMovie.com that he has posted a couple of pics from the set of Timeline. They feature a medieval castle, surrounded by a string of tents. Check them out at the site.


13th May 2002: Timeline Update:
Anna Friel has been talking to Sci Fi Wire about her new movie, the Richard Donner directed Timeline, based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton.

[Donner & Crichton] promise a realistic look at the time period, without all the glamorous movie trappings sometimes associated with medieval drama. Friel added, "We're not allowed to use the word 'time machine' in it, because then it becomes one of those time movies. [Donner] is making it very realistic. There's lots of gore, and it's a real representation of the time."

As for how the gore and research affect her performance, Friel could not say, since she only recently began work. "To be honest, I've only done two days' shooting, and I don't really want to go into too much detail," she said. "It's going great. I'm really enjoying it. It's the biggest set I've ever been on, the $80 million-budget thing. Lots of jumping into the waterfalls and sword fighting and horse riding. It's great." Read the full article.

5/4/02
Those kind folks over at Latino Review have posted a script review of timeline. The screenplay is written by George Nolfi, based on the novel by Michael Crichton. Here's a taster with SPOILERS!

"The action begins again at the archeological digging site of Castlegard. Here, the young students hope to uncover the secrets of the French/English battle of 1357 AD in order to please their mentor, the Professor, who has left them in charge of the dig so that he might pursue his own secrets. While excavating, Marek and Kate explore a previously hidden chamber sealed for hundreds of years. Just before the chamber collapses (of course), they grab a strange piece of glass and some papers. Upon closer examination, they discover the strange glass is one lens from bifocal glasses and the paper is a handwritten "HELP!" letter written in the year 1357 AD and signed by the Professor? Enter the ITC Corporation headed by a man named Robert Doniger".
Full review here.


1/3/02
Variety reports that Frances O' Connor is in negotiations for a role in Timeline opposite Paul Walker and Gerard Butler. The A.I. actress will play "one of a group of archaeology grad students who become trapped in 14th century France when they venture there to retrieve their professor."


27/2/02
Variety reports that Industrial Light & Magic are to create the effects for Timeline, the Richard Donner helmed movie adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel. This was posted on Coming Soon earlier today.

"The trade adds that the project is considered small for ILM, requiring few major computer-generated sequences other than set extensions of castles and the creation of locations to resemble 14th-century France".

Timeline starts shooting in April.


30/1/02
The Stax Report posted a review of the screenplay for Timeline. Here's part of the review,

Timeline is a time travel adventure that opens in the 21st century and then journeys back to 14th century France. An academic/archaeological team working on an excavation of medieval ruins in France discovers that their mentor, Princeton University professor Edward Johnston, has somehow traveled back in time to the 1300s. His disappearance is tied to the Bill Gates-like magnate of the ITC Corporation, Robert Doniger. Without revealing too many spoilers, it turns out that Doniger has discovered time travel and has been sending people back in time on various missions. (I won't tell you why.) (full review here)

Filming is scheduled to start in April.


Updated : 25/7/01
Richard Donner is to direct this, the latest Michael Crichton novel to be adapted into a film. Crichton has apparently sold the script to Paramount for nothing, but demanded a 15% cut of the profits up to $15 million.

Filming is scheduled to start in the first part of 2002 for a possible late 2002 release. As we know Donner can work fast if he has to, Lethal Weapon 4 only started production in the January of 1998, and released in the summer.

The only confirmed cast member at the moment is Gerald Butler (seen in Dracula 2000, or Dracula 2001 for all of us in the UK).

Date Page Created : 25/7/2001 Date Last Updated : 22/5/2002

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