Latest news with #TheJackal
Scottish Sun
07-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Woke red tape stops British armoured vehicle-maker raising funds in the City
A BRITISH firm behind an in-demand armoured military vehicle dubbed 'The Jackal' is urging ministers to clear away red tape so the business can thrive. Devon-based Supacat says it is 'fighting a bit of a battle' to access finance — despite the popularity of the 7.6-ton bruiser which can tackle the roughest, bumpiest terrain. Advertisement 5 The Jackal, which Sun Business Editor Ashley Armstrong took for a spin Credit: Neil Hope 5 The Sun's Ashley at Supacat, which exports worldwide, making around £40million a year Credit: Neil Hope 5 Supacat is shunned by some investors, who consider defence firms unethical Credit: Neil Hope The Jackal, which Sun Business Editor Ashley Armstrong took for a spin, can carry 2.1 tons of cargo, such as missile launchers, medical supplies and drone killers. Supacat — which exports worldwide, making around £40million a year — recently won a new contract from the British Army. But it is shunned by some investors, who consider defence firms unethical as they do not have 'B Corp' status. CEO Nick Ames said the defence industry has not been 'top of the popularity tree' for more than a decade. Advertisement READ MORE BUSINESS NEWS WAT A MOVE Anthony Joshua in talks over 'serious investment' in ex-Premier League club And he said Supacat was unlikely to list in London to raise funds. He added: 'The City has for years said we, 'Don't do that sort of thing'. You'd like to see a lot more activity and liquidity on the AIM (Alternative Investment Market). You're more liquid as a business.' 5 CEO Nick Ames said the defence industry has not been 'top of the popularity tree' Credit: Neil Hope With global politics becoming increasingly fragile, the Government plans to increase military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP within two years. Advertisement Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defence Secretary John Healey have pledged to give more of the Ministry of Defence budget to smaller British companies, such as Supacat. The firm, which employs 250, is known to many because Jeremy Clarkson uses one of its ex-Army six-wheelers to get around his Diddly Squat farm. Phil Applegarth, head of Supacat, said: 'For the first time in our lives defence spending, which has always been cut, is rising. Keir Starmer must hike UK defence spending soon to have any credibility & ditching woke nonsense can help fund it 'To get in on this ride up we need skilled people, enthusiastic people who aren't frightened to go and join defence firms rather than be shoe-horned into B Corp. Advertisement 'There is a real sense of pride in working on what we do. We're making something that is vital. It's keeping our forces safe.' He added: 'We need to build up capability now to be the deterrent that prevents a potential war.' Mr Applegarth said the defence industry was waiting for the Government to outline its Strategic Defence Review, which is delaying investment. He added: 'There seems to be a desire to wait rather than keep going and then change. Advertisement 'You're hearing a lot of top-level speeches saying, 'Prepare, prepare' but the best we could have is longer-term contracts. The longer it is, the more we can invest in resources and skills. 'The current spiky ordering doesn't help as we have to keep getting fresh prices from the supply chain — switching the supply chain on and off rather than keeping it warm and running.' BAE TO RECRUIT 2,400 WORKERS DEFENCE giant BAE wants to hire 2,400 apprentices, graduates and undergrads this year as it gears up to meet soaring demand. It has also shrugged off the threat of President Donald Trump's tariffs, insisting it builds systems for the US Department of Defense in its US factories with a domestic supply chain. BAE said yesterday it expected to grow sales by up to 9 per cent and earnings 10 per cent as it wins more contracts for combat aircraft and vehicles, missile systems, artillery, sensor technology and drones. WIND AXE BLOW FOR GREEN ED 5 Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's wants to quadruple the number of offshore wind farms by 2030 Credit: Getty THE Government's Clean Power push looks increasingly far-fetched after a Danish firm axed a major offshore wind project, blaming higher costs. Advertisement Orsted said it will not go ahead with its Hornsea project, where 180 wind turbines off the Yorkshire coast were to power millions of homes. It is a blow to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's desire to quadruple the number of offshore wind farms by 2030. Orsted's chief exec Rasmus Errboe said that the project was unlikely to provide value for money because of 'increased supply chain costs, higher interest rates and increased execution risk'. Andy Mayer, analyst at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: 'It is a reminder of the folly of legally binding climate targets. Advertisement "The Government's plan to decarbonise the power grid by 2030 denies real trade-offs between lower emissions, energy security and affordability.'
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Story Behind How A Cancelled Bruce Willis Rom-Com Forced Him To Make Two Of His Career's Biggest Hits
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. As a professional movie fan, excitement surrounding a roster like the 2025 movie schedule means anticipating the arrival of both projects and talent heading to the big screen. It's been that way for a while, and I have to admit that as a kid, looking forward to a new Bruce Willis movie was pretty sweet, considering movies like The Fifth Element and The Jackal were square in young Mike's wheelhouse. But there's a movie that never got its chance in the sun, and it's all because of a perfect storm of imperfect creative differences forcing it to be cancelled. Yet through a story that saw the Die Hard legend basically being forced into a deal that was less than ideal, the result saw two classics we still consider as some of the best Bruce Willis movies becoming a living, breathing reality. The only reason I know of Broadway Brawler's existence is because of Channel Serfer's 'The Death of Cinergi Pictures' video. A deep dive into how the production label that partnered with Disney on films such as Judge Dredd, Deep Rising, and other more mature fare collapsed, this tale is one of the cornerstones of how that demise came to be. Which is weird, because when trying to imagine what this Bruce Willis movie would have looked like, I could kind of see it working. Our basic setup is recounted on Broadway Brawler's Wikipedia page in some pretty broad strokes. All we really know is that hockey player Eddie Kapinsky (Willis) is retired and trying to start a romance with a character played by Maura Tierney. Admit it: this concept harkens back to Willis' days on Moonlighting, allowing the action star to dabble once again in the rom-com format that helped make him. Alas, on February 28th, 1997, Broadway Brawler came to a halt after just 20 days of shooting. Per a 1997 report from Variety, the collapse of Broadway Brawler came after, according to director Lee Grant, Bruce Willis simply didn't show up for work on the Wilmington, Delaware set. What's more, Grant was apparently fired on that same day, along with several other crew members on the project. Lee Grant's husband, and Broadway Brawler producer Joe Feury, summed up the situation in this passage from a letter to the town of Wilmington: (via Delaware Online) The way it ended was a nightmare. After 20 days of shooting, we knew that we were making a wonderful film, but Bruce wasn't happy. So, the production was closed down. The wreckage that was left after two years of our work is so shocking that as I write to you, the full impact of it still hasn't hit. Allegedly, there were several Broadway Brawler crew members that the Die Hard star did not get along with; Lee Grant and her husband being two of the most notable. By the time the picture had shut down, 'more than half' of the $28 million budget (worth roughly $53 million in 2025) was spent, according to the Variety piece cited above. Though that wasn't until after Mr. Willis supposedly tapped an old friend from his Moonlighting days to try and right the ship. After the alleged troubles between Bruce Willis and his Broadway Brawler crew, the 12 Monkeys actor had what he thought was an ace up his sleeve. Recounted in The Los Angeles Times' 1997 story 'The Fight Over 'Broadway Brawler',' Willis had tapped director Dennis Dugan to step in and try to get things back on track. Personal connection aside, that's a choice that I think anyone would stand by; given that Dugan's big hit for 1996, the Adam Sandler classic Happy Gilmore, swam in very similar circles. However, this hopeful replacement saw only one day of action on set, which officially sealed Broadway Brawler's fate as lost media gold. Cinergi Pictures' decline was all but certain at this point, and Disney was looking to recoup its losses, which almost came through a lawsuit against Bruce Willis himself. In the aftermath of cancelling Broadway Brawler, the final matter that needed to be addressed was how Disney would be made whole for the money they'd spent. Again, 'more than half' of the aborted romantic comedy's budget was blown, and that's pretty huge for something that was never completed. As you'd imagine, this is yet another one of those situations where it's good to have friends, and as recalled by Deadline in a 2010 report about a later Bruce Willis deal, that pal would come in the form of former Fox chairman Joe Roth. That man just so happened to be the chairman of Walt Disney Studios during Broadway Bomber's embattled tenure, which positioned him to make this infamous deal: Facing a lawsuit and on the hook for the $17.5 million cost to scrap the movie, Willis was persuaded by Roth to make a three-picture deal, the smartest decision the actor made outside of saying yes to Die Hard. Willis replaced Sean Connery as the star of Armageddon, getting around $3 million upfront (the rest of his usual payday offset the Broadway Brawler costs). OK, while I'm definitely going to put a pin in the story of how Sean Connery was being pitched for Armageddon, that deal sounds like a definite downgrade. But at the same time, at least we weren't talking about a classic Marvel Cinematic Universe-style contract. Three movies would be nothing in the grand scheme of things, and they definitely beat Mr. Willis' other choice of going to court. The reporting above noted that it was a pretty smart move, which would be proven over the next two summers at the box office. When you hear a star like Bruce Willis has been backed into a corner on 'contractual obligations,' the movies that result are almost always assumed to be horrific. But surprisingly, two of the New Jersey-native's biggest successes came out of this twist of fate. You see, if Broadway Brawler hadn't failed, then Mr. Willis may have never made Armageddon, The Sixth Sense, and Disney's The Kid. Without a question, the first two titles are included on anyone's list of favorites from the Willis filmography, and rightfully so. Especially since Ben Affleck's infamous Criterion commentary for Michael Bay's 1998 blockbuster is just as beloved as the film itself. However, as someone who has seen all three, I'd definitely encourage you to check out The Kid, as the light-hearted comedy scratches a similar itch to the one I mentioned when pondering Broadway Brawler's big 'what if.' As curious as I am about what this cancelled rom-com would have looked like, I don't think we're ever going to see that footage for ourselves. Which means that the only traces of this unfinished Bruce Willis movie remain solely on Broadway Brawler's IMDb page, through alleged set images and a mock-up of an Eddie Kapinsky trading card. There's still a little hope, though, at least if director Lee Grant's remarks to Variety in 1997 still hold true, closing the book on her own involvement with the project, Grant discussed the results of those 20 days of filming by stating, 'I'd love to edit it together.' In a post-Coyote vs. Acme world, stranger prospects could be proposed. Even outside of the losses and disagreements that came out of Broadway Brawler's aftermath, it's hard to argue against this being a best-case solution to a worst-case scenario. Sadly, Bruce Willis' 2022 retirement, due to his diagnosis with frontotemporal dementia, means that the action-comedy icon will never work again. And while there are a lot of negatives in this story, perhaps the greatest is that we'll always be missing out without that trademark Willis charm flashing on our screens.
Daily Record
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Documentary charts rise of boy from West Lothian village to terrific Hollywood movie director
Michael Caton-Jones directed a number of big screen movies such as Memphis Belle, Rob Roy, and The Jackal The life of an award winning Hollywood movie director from Broxburn is being celebrated in a new documentary. Michael Caton-Jones: This Broxburn Boy's Life is a co-production between the two Scottish production companies; Partickular Films and Two Rivers Media. The 67-year-old grew up in the West Lothian mining village before moving to London, and studying at the UK's National Film School. His first feature. Scandal, about the Profumo-Keeler sex scandal, became an international hit and put him in high demand. He went on to direct a number of successful big screen movies including Memphis Belle, Doc Hollywood, Rob Roy, The Jackal, Shooting Dogs, Our Ladies, and Basic Instinct 2. Another film he directed – This Boy's Life – saw Leonardo DiCaprio in his first major film role, with Caton-Jones instrumental in his casting. The Scottish production companies collaborating to produce the documentary about the West Lothian man have announced that actor-producer Matthew Modine and Adam Rackoff's Cinco Dedos Peliculas production company have boarded. The documentary includes interviews with Caton-Jones and those who worked with him throughout his career, including David Putnam, Tim Roth, Letitia Wright, Ron Perlman, Ewen Bremner, and David Hayman, as well as never-before-seen archive material from Caton-Jones' 40-year career. Executive Producer is Alan Clements (Special Forces: Most Daring Missions narrated by Tom Hardy; Dogs of War; Cassius X: Becoming Ali; Killing Escobar). Alan Clements, Managing Director of Two Rivers Media, said: 'Not only is this film the story of how a young, working-class man became one of the most exacting directors in the business, it tells how Hollywood embraced this driven Scot. "We are delighted to have secured so much unique and exclusive material with which to tell this inspiring story. It is also fantastic to be working with Matthew and Adam, whose collective experience will be a huge asset to this project.' Cinco Dedos Peliculas is a film and new media production company co-founded by actor-producer Matthew Modine with producer and former Apple marketing executive Adam Rackoff. Modine and Rackoff have executive produced a number of award-winning films, documentaries, and animated features. Their recent documentary, Downwind, chronicles the fallout from decades of nuclear bomb testing on American soil and is narrated by Martin Sheen and features Michael Douglas, Lewis Black, and John Wayne's son, Patrick. 'I'm excited to have this opportunity to introduce Michael Caton-Jones' body of work to a new audience while also reminding folks what a terrific filmmaker he is,' said Matthew , who played Captain Dennis Dearborn in Caton-Jones' second feature, Memphis Belle. 'To this day, Rob Roy remains one of my favourite movies of the 1990s. The end sword fight might be the most realistic ever put to film,' added Modine's producing partner, Adam Rackoff. 'Michael Caton-Jones' life and filmography deserve the documentary treatment and I'm thrilled to help bring Joseph McLean's and Alan Clements' vision to the screen.' The Caton-Jones documentary is directed and produced by Joseph McLean (River City; Cows Cash & Coverups) of Partickular Films. He added: 'This Broxburn Boy's Life is a celebration of the talent and determination that led Michael from his home town to Hollywood. The calibre of talent we have on-screen is testament to Michael's success story and the relationships he formed over the course of his career. "We're delighted to have Matthew and Adam onboard as Executive Producers and we've already discussed some exciting plans for filming in New York and LA.' Also onboard are Emmy award-winning composers Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly of Hart Reilly Music, whose recent credits include the Roger Moore documentary From Roger With Love.
