Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) what could be ...

PinkyPromise · 23-07-20, 07:18

I have found some concepts art from the first movie. It turns out that the first movie was going to have 3 tombs!

1 Tomb: China.

https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36181.html

Lara arriving in China by motorcycle

https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36024.html

Lara would face a large statue of the Buddha

2 Tomb: Siberia

https://www.yourprops.com/copy-artwo...1-YP37270.html

The tombs in siberia would be frozen ships

https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36178.html

3 Tomb: Venecia

An underground tomb reminiscent of the Greek levels of TR1. The planetarium was in a kind of amphitheater.

https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36179.html

https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36180.html

https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36175.html

What happened then?

All this was changed in the production of the movie. China did not allow filming the movie and they switched to Cambodia.

Also (I imagine that in order for the movie to be shorter) they decided to join the last two tomb. Turning two magnificent temples into a Disneyland attraction in that temple in Siberia that we saw.

I think the original ideas were better. I think the planetarium in Venice would have been great and would have made more sense in an environment of the ancient Roman culture.

The blame for the changes was on Simon West.

Ellioft · 23-07-20, 07:35

So I have talked with a lot of screenwriter about that but apparently China was scrapped because this was too expensive to shoot and the great wall offered only one big visual element. They could've tried to made the Great Wall in Scotland but that part was supposed to be shoot in Winter wich doesn't rejoice Simon.

The second Tomb in Venice was scrapped because Paramount didn't wanted (since the first day they received the franchise from Core and Eidos) to invest that much in the movie. Also according to some storyboards I have seen the planetarium was supposed to be underwater.

The third part with the boat in Siberia wasn't an actual tomb but a place where Lara and Powell were supposed to first after a race in sleight at the end of the movie.

The real persons to blame are the Paramount

PinkyPromise · 23-07-20, 07:38

It's sad. I think the concepts looked great and the tombs would have been better. I always hated the planetarium's tomb. It didn't make sense and it was too much of a fairground attraction. But as a Roman Tomb it looked great. TR 1 vibes.

Ellioft · 23-07-20, 07:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkyPromise

It's sad. I think the concepts looked great and the tombs would have been better. I always hated the planetarium's tomb. It didn't make sense and it was too much of a fairground attraction. But as a Roman Tomb it looked great. TR 1 vibes.

That's always the same story with concept art in medias the look amazing. But the final didn't translate that much.

Yeah the planetarium is only that a planetarium.

Trenton · 23-07-20, 08:31

These are great to see. Thanks for posting!

The TR2 vibes with China and the great wall could have been awesome. They clearly liked the idea of Lara motorcycle riding the Great Wall enough that they brought it back for CoL. I quite like the Cambodia location we ended up with though. But still it would have been nice to see how the China sequence would have turned out.

Frozen ships in Siberia gives ROTTR vibes.

Interestingly this was done in the National Treasure film a few years after the first TR.

And yeah the underground tomb in Venice really gives off some strong TR1 vibes for sure. Too bad we never got to see that one.

BTW does anyone know if there exists any early drafts of the screenplay out there that contains some of these sequences?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellioft

That's always the same story with concept art in medias the look amazing. But the final didn't translate that much.

Yeah it’s always like that with concept art unfortunately.

Portugalraider · 23-07-20, 08:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trenton

BTW does anyone know if there exists any early drafts of the screenplay out there that contains some of these sequences?

Ellioft is definitely the guy for you, here

Ellioft · 23-07-20, 09:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Portugalraider

Ellioft is definitely the guy for you, here

Ahaha you're too kind

Well I have various previous scripts from this movie

The one written by Brian Friedman who takes place in South America and Lara is looking for Eldorado

The second one is a Steven De Souza draft who was strange some of the sequences have been copy and paste for the beggining of the Cradle of Life. Lara is searching for the great Library and Alexander the Great knowledge.

The third one is written by Patrick Masset and John Zinman and make Lara searching for the shield of Achille all around the globe.

The fourth one is written by Michael Colleary and Mike Werb and it's basically the same story but in a lighter tone. This script was originally approved by the Paramount and greenlighted by Eidos.

The five one is the screenplay for the LC TR movie written by Patrick Masset/John Zinman/Simon West with revisions from Laeta Kalogridis and I have two version of them they are almost the same but one have reduced the interactions between Hillary and Bryce. The have more moments when Lara and Bryce explain their process to find the Cambodia temple, a new climax who's taken place on a ship, a new first between Powell and Lara across the timelines when Lara was young. All the deleted scenes are also there. Most importantly a crucial scene when Richard explain to young Lara the whole Illuminati/Triangle of the light story wich doesn't appear in the movie and was scapped because of budget.

But unfortunately I can't share for the moment any of this scripts with you or anyone because my website is in re build with a modern structure. But once it's done all the scripts will be available for free for all

I didn't find any script that take place in China but I know Lara was supposed to battle the Terra Cota army.

unfortunately. Also there's one written by Sarah B Charno
at the same time as the one written by Friedman (the two where chosen by the Paramount and the best one was supposed to be the final screenwriter but that was scrapped) when I only have the informations about that it was supposed to be : The first one was about the planetary alignment and an ancien evil Lara was supposed to defeat and the second one was about the Babylon gardens. Also there's one with Lara beeing pregnant with an alien baby but we don't know who was written that.

Tonyrobinson · 23-07-20, 09:50

Let's not forget the infamous scene in an earlier script where Lara is tied up and has no weapons and has to crush spiders under her breasts.

Ellioft · 23-07-20, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tonyrobinson

Let's not forget the infamous scene in an earlier script where Lara is tied up and has no weapons and has to crush spiders under her breasts.

I think it's giants centipedes (so yirkkks) but it's only one who infiltrate under her shirt. But other than this scene this script is my favorite it's the one written by Colleary and Werb who were big fans of the game. Sure sometimes it's cheesy but fun.

They have understand the problem with Paramount who didn't know what kind of movie to make not too Indiana Jones and not James Bond.

Trenton · 23-07-20, 10:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ellioft

The one written by Brian Friedman who takes place in South America and Lara is looking for Eldorado

The second one is a Steven De Souza draft who was strange some of the sequences have been copy and paste for the beggining of the Cradle of Life. Lara is searching for the great Library and Alexander the Great knowledge.

The third one is written by Patrick Masset and John Zinman and make Lara searching for the shield of Achille all around the globe.

The fourth one is written by Michael Colleary and Mike Werb and it's basically the same story but in a lighter tone. This script was originally approved by the Paramount and greenlighted by Eidos.

The five one is the screenplay for the LC TR movie written by Patrick Masset/John Zinman/Simon West with revisions from Laeta Kalogridis and I have two version of them they are almost the same but one have reduced the interactions between Hillary and Bryce. The have more moments when Lara and Bryce explain their process to find the Cambodia temple, a new climax who's taken place on a ship, a new first between Powell and Lara across the timelines when Lara was young. All the deleted scenes are also there. Most importantly a crucial scene when Richard explain to young Lara the whole Illuminati/Triangle of the light story wich doesn't appear in the movie and was scapped because of budget.

But unfortunately I can't share for the moment any of this scripts with you or anyone because my website is in re build with a modern structure. But once it's done all the scripts will be available for free for all

I didn't find any script that take place in China but I know Lara was supposed to battle the Terra Cota army.

unfortunately. Also there's one written by Sarah B Charno
at the same time as the one written by Friedman (the two where chosen by the Paramount and the best one was supposed to be the final screenwriter but that was scrapped) when I only have the informations about that it was supposed to be : The first one was about the planetary alignment and an ancien evil Lara was supposed to defeat and the second one was about the Babylon gardens. Also there's one with Lara beeing pregnant with an alien baby but we don't know who was written that.

Thank you for this insight Ellioft.

Interesting to see some initial ideas that ended up in the films in different forms. Like using the Alexander the Great in CoL and also featuring terra cotta statues in the Shay Ling hideout, although not battling them (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor stole that idea

).

Good thing they didn’t use the one where Lara is pregnant with an alien baby though. The writer must have been a fan of the Alien films or something.

I’d love to read these scripts when you get your website up.

23-07-20, 07:18	#1
PinkyPromise Archaeologist Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 2,216	Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) what could be ... I have found some concepts art from the first movie. It turns out that the first movie was going to have 3 tombs! 1 Tomb: China. https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36181.html Lara arriving in China by motorcycle https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36024.html Lara would face a large statue of the Buddha 2 Tomb: Siberia https://www.yourprops.com/copy-artwo...1-YP37270.html The tombs in siberia would be frozen ships https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36178.html 3 Tomb: Venecia An underground tomb reminiscent of the Greek levels of TR1. The planetarium was in a kind of amphitheater. https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36179.html https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36180.html https://www.yourprops.com/Concept-ar...1-YP36175.html *What happened then?* All this was changed in the production of the movie. China did not allow filming the movie and they switched to Cambodia. Also (I imagine that in order for the movie to be shorter) they decided to join the last two tomb. Turning two magnificent temples into a Disneyland attraction in that temple in Siberia that we saw. I think the original ideas were better. I think the planetarium in Venice would have been great and would have made more sense in an environment of the ancient Roman culture. The blame for the changes was on Simon West. Last edited by PinkyPromise; 23-07-20 at 07:26.

23-07-20, 07:35	#2
Ellioft Professor Join Date: Sep 2017 Location: France Posts: 3,915	So I have talked with a lot of screenwriter about that but apparently China was scrapped because this was too expensive to shoot and the great wall offered only one big visual element. They could've tried to made the Great Wall in Scotland but that part was supposed to be shoot in Winter wich doesn't rejoice Simon. The second Tomb in Venice was scrapped because Paramount didn't wanted (since the first day they received the franchise from Core and Eidos) to invest that much in the movie. Also according to some storyboards I have seen the planetarium was supposed to be underwater. The third part with the boat in Siberia wasn't an actual tomb but a place where Lara and Powell were supposed to first after a race in sleight at the end of the movie. The real persons to blame are the Paramount __________________ Be positive DAMMIT ! Last edited by Ellioft; 23-07-20 at 07:39.

23-07-20, 07:38	#3
PinkyPromise Archaeologist Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Spain Posts: 2,216	It's sad. I think the concepts looked great and the tombs would have been better. I always hated the planetarium's tomb. It didn't make sense and it was too much of a fairground attraction. But as a Roman Tomb it looked great. TR 1 vibes. Last edited by PinkyPromise; 23-07-20 at 07:39.

23-07-20, 09:50	#8
Tonyrobinson Tomb Raider Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Devil's Pit Posts: 19,999	Let's not forget the infamous scene in an earlier script where Lara is tied up and has no weapons and has to crush spiders under her breasts. __________________ Does anybody really read these?!