News > Ang Lee Goes to "Woodstock"

Ang Lee and Focus Features president James Schamus will renew their long-standing collaboration with "Taking Woodstock," a true story feature set in the summer of '69. Schamus, a rather prolific writer in addition to a shrewd producer, will pen the screenplay based on a memoir written by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte entitled "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life."

This much Variety and Reuters agree on. But have a look at how differently they describe the plot of the film. First, Variety:

Set during the politically turbulent summer of '69, story follows an Everyman working at his parents' motel in the Catskills who inadvertently sets in motion what would become the generation-defining concert.

Meanwhile, the Reuters headline reads "Ang Lee Making Gay Woodstock Movie," followed by:

"Brokeback Mountain" director Ang Lee is returning to the gay genre with a movie revolving around the Woodstock music festival.

I know Netflix seems to think so, but I'm still not convinced that a lifestyle can be a genre unto itself.

"Taking Woodstock" centers on the colorful life of a Greenwich Village-based interior designer and part-time Catskills hotel manager who headed the Bethel, N.Y., Chamber of Commerce. He issued the permit for the legendary 1969 concert on his neighbor Max Yasgur's farm.

While Variety makes it sound like the film is about some Forrest Gump who accidentally helps put on the most famous concert of the 20th century, Reuters fleshes out the story and makes it clear that Tiber's experience with Woodstock wasn't actually very strange considering he probably issued hundreds of permits during his time with the Chamber of Commerce.

Variety reports that the film will not be about the concert itself, but rather it will center on Tiber and an ensemble of "colorful" characters.

-David Morgan