Flatland: The Movie
I don’t know how I missed this, but it appears that Edwin Abbott’s Flatland (the inspiration for Rudy Rucker’s novel, Spaceland) has been turned into a thirty minute film. There’s a trailer available at the site, with colorful squares and triangles.
There Will Be Mischief
Variety has an early review of There Will Be Blood — the forthcoming film matchup of Paul Thomas Anderson and Upton Sinclair. “Magnificently strange” is certainly a good sign. And the film appears to maintain the playful experimentation established in Anderson’s last film, Punch Drunk Love, kick-starting with “an electronic sound that soars to an almost unbearable pitch,” which throws the film’s first fifteen minutes into a narrative without dialogue. There’s also a score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. I wasn’t really on the fence in terms of my curiosity, but now I’m extremely intrigued about what Anderson has concocted here.
Jeff Bridges as Graydon Carter?
Variety: “U.K. law firm Davenport Lyons brokered the deal with majority funder Aramid Entertainment backed by hedge fund coin. Project, reputedly carrying a $20 million budget, is also being developed with the U.K. Film Council, Film4, InTandem Films and the Irish Film Board….Cast for ‘How to Lose Friends and Alienate People’ includes Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Jeff Bridges as Vanity Fair’s flamboyant editor Graydon Carter.”
Is a Little Seen John Barth Film Adaptation a Lost Masterpiece?
Bold words from Lee Hill:
I know this is a minority view, but I think End of The Road is some kind of masterpiece, a tattered signpost pointing to a road not taken by American cinema. The New Hollywood of the late sixties and early seventies, like most new waves, promised more than it could deliver. As great as the work of Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg was in the seventies, their politics was often safely couched in genre or pyrotechnical display. If Road had been even a modest success, Avakian might have joined Robert Altman or John Cassavettes in creating a more rigorous brand of new American cinema.
Interestingly, the film was written by Terry Southern. Sadly, it appears unavailable on VHS and DVD.
One Thing’s For Sure: It Won’t Be Filmed in a Basement in Terre Haute
Richard Ford’s Frank Bascombe trilogy will be turned into a miniseries, encapsulating all three novels. (via Slushpile)
Philip Roth Goes Hollywood
Variety reports that Philip Roth’s The Dying Animal is headed for the big screen, with Nicholas Meyer scripting and Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson starring. Meyer previously wrote The Human Stain. No word yet on whether Meyer will be addressing David Kepesh’s previous existence as a human-sized mammary gland, but Lakeshore, the company behind this production, is also trying to get a film version of American Pastoral off the ground with director Phillip Noyce attached. So while Noyce may not be much of a breast man, we can only hope that Meyer is.
Clive Owen as Marlowe?
Coming Soon: “Children of Men producer Marc Abraham has revealed to The Courier-Journal that he will reteam with that film’s star Clive Owen for a feature adaptation of one of Raymond Chandler’s short stories. Owen will play the private detective Philip Marlowe.”
First-Person Shooter Knockoff Meets Flaacid Oliver Stone. Terrific. What a Way to Kill a Franchise!
Variety: “HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin’s bestselling fantasy series ‘A Song of Fire & Ice’ into a dramatic series to be written and exec produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. ‘Fire’ is the first TV project for Benioff (’Troy’) and Weiss (’Halo’) and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will write every episode of each season together save one, which the author (a former TV writer) will script.”
The Baroque Miniseries Cycle
Reuters: “Sci Fi Channel has teamed with George Clooney to develop a miniseries set in a futuristic civilization. ‘Diamond Age’ is based on Neal Stephenson’s book ‘The Diamond Age: Or a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer,’ which the author will adapt for the six-hour TV version.”
But No Calvino?
A list of unfilmable novels. (via Romancing the Tome)
Simon Pegg & Toby Young?
The IMDB reports that Simon Pegg is pegged to star as “Sidney Young” (legal problems?) in an adaptation of Toby Young’s How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. (More here.
Pornographer’s Poem
Michael Turner’s The Pornographer’s Poem, one of the first LBC nominees, is being turned into a movie. Maybe. The project’s been on hold for sometime. And the director attached is Jeremiah (Benny & Joon, Christmas Vacation) Chechik. Which suggests an approach that takes no chances. (via Reverse Cowgirl)
What They Film About When They Film About Carver
The Age serves up a list of films slicing up Raymond Carver’s stories. (via Slushpile)
Literary Adaptation Bread
KTLA: “Galled by decades of this kind of equation, New York publishing houses have launched ventures intended to get a bigger piece of the Hollywood action. And who could blame them? Publishers almost never control the film rights to the books they put on the market.”
Even more interesting is Random House putting up half the money for literary adaptations in a deal with Focus Films. One possible side effect: Does this mean more faithful literary adaptations or greater control? Or does it mean business as usual?
The Moral of the Story: Lose the Guillotine, Lose the Audience
Guardian: ” They sat in their seats and hooted and whistled and shouted and slow-clapped. It felt as though the audience was providing the ending that Sofia Coppola was too decorous to show, bringing down the guillotine on a rather silly, spoilt little film. Marie Antoinette is a poodle-brained period fancy. Part curtsy, part style spread, it tells the tale of a beautiful queen and the lovely parties she attends. If ever a movie deserved to be thrown to the mob, it is this one.” (via Romancing the Tome)
“The Book of Revelation” Film Adaptation
Maud Newton points to this site, which contains a trailer and information on the film adaptation of The Book of Revelation. Thankfully, the movie is being made in Australia, as opposed to Hollywood money, which will preclude the likely NC-17 rating it will be saddled with once it hits the States.
About a Boy
Chris Weitz, who in 2004 committed the grand contumelies of kicking Tom Stoppard off the project and nixing all references to God, is now back on the His Dark Materials film project. I fear the worst. (via Ghost in the Machine)
Keira Knightley + Ian McEwan = Recipe for Disaster?
Romancing the Tome observes that a film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s great novel Atonement is in the works. Attached to the project is Joe Wright and Keira Knightley, the team behind last year’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation. Knightley is playing Cecilia. Even stranger, Rue McClanahan is involved. It seems strange to me that Wright seems single-handedly committed to classing up Knightley’s career. Maybe it’s just me, but compared with, say, Sarah Polley five years ago, I really don’t see her as an actor of considerable heft.
At the Beverly Hills 90210 of Madness?
Cthulu + Tori Spelling. (via Warren Ellis)
Excerpt from Upcoming “Atlas Shrugged” Script
Starpulse: “After years of delays, Ayn Rand’s famous novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ is being made into a feature film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, according to media reports. Lionsgate Films bought the rights to the film version of the 1957 novel, considered in many polls to be one of the most influential books in history. According to Hollywood trade paper Variety, the Mr. And Mrs. Smith co-stars, who are both fans of the Russian novelist, would play the lead roles of Dagny Taggart and John Gault. [sic]”
Return of the Reluctant has obtained an exclusive excerpt of the upcoming Atlas Shrugged script, which was reportedly written by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie themselves.
INT. TAGGART TRANSCONTINENTAL OFFICE — DAY
Taggart is bent over the desk. Galt is behind her.
Your name is neither Jen nor Aniston. She is not selfish enough.
That’s why you came to me. It is the natural way of things.
If you do not give into your latent selfish desires, I will impregnate you again. Say it! Say it!
Who is John Galt?
That is quite a witticism. Again!
Galt handcuffs Taggart’s wrists.
I can’t hear you. If you do not have a response, I must ask you to whimper. I am an intense man, Dagny. Do not test me.
Who is John Galt?
Do you feel pain?
Yes. Pain is the best thing for America. Pain is the best thing for me, and therefore for America. We can build railroads. We can accumulate capital.
I am satisfied that you have come to terms with this concept. We can do more. This is a battle of wills. Who’s your daddy, Dagny?
John Galt!
(via Bookdwarf)
Screenwriters Not Nominated for Oscars Are Still on Safe Ground
Daniel Clowes on the Art School Confidential film adaptation and more: “But, of course, there’s some human instinct that takes over at the very last minute. As the envelope’s being opened and all of a sudden it occurred to me that without a doubt we were going to win and I was just stricken with panic. I don’t think I’ve ever been more terrified in my life. I was so happen to hear the words ‘Akiva Goldman.’” (via Fantagraphics Blog)
Beatrix Goes Hollywood
Book Standard: Renee Zellweger to Star as “Peter Rabbit” Writer Beatrix Potter.
Excerpt from Beatrix screenplay:
INT. FARM — BEATRIX’S STUDY — 1904 — DAY
Norman Warne walks in, holding a glass of sherry. Beads of sweat drip down his forehead.
Beatrix is writing.
He tightens his cravat.
Beatrix drops her quill into the inkwell and continues writing.
Beatrix sets down her quill and smiles at Warne.
Beatrix puts her fingers to her lips, extending them as if rabbit teeth, and jumps across the room like a rabbit.
Beatrix sets down her fingers.
I Wonder How They’ll Do “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”
Monsterpiece Theatre: The Postman Always Rings Twice
Who Knew There Were Producers Willing to Green Light 1970s Race Allegory?
There’s a movie based on Bernard Malamud’s The Tenants starring Dylan McDermott, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Seymour Cassel? Wow! Must see!
Of Course Cut Into the Major Bank That Golden’s Making Off the Movie Rights and the Pride Will Dramatically Shift
Arthur Golden writes the Washington Post about the film version of Memoirs of a Geisha: “The criticism of experts in the geisha world, as recounted in Sarah Kaufman’s Dec. 15 Style article…had little effect on the pride I feel in Rob Marshall’s beautiful and moving film based upon my novel ‘Memoirs of a Geisha.’”
Gladwell to Change His Last Name to “Livewell”
Leonardo DiCaprio, Malcolm Gladwell and Traffic writer Stephen Gaghan. You’d think these three would have little in common other than Christian names with at least two syllables. But Hollywood, being a batshit crazy place, smells a hit. $1 million has been shelled out by Universal to Gladwell for the rights to Blink. Gaghan’s getting $2 million to write the screenplay. Never mind that the book isn’t a work of fiction and that there’s no narrative thrust to speak of.
No word yet on how much the hair stylist is getting to shape Leo’s hair into Malcolm’s badass fro.
Tideland: Visionary Filmmaking or Just Plain Bad?
While Galleycat is quick to point to some of the book-to-film successes at the Toronto Film Festival, the literary adaptation that has us interested is Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Mitch Cullin’s Tideland. Is this a comeback for Gilliam? Could it be that Gilliam has produced a film that is too sui generis? The early reports so far have been interesting:
- Cinematical: “[W]hile I found the film extremely easy to follow, there are definitely some uneasy scenes. But the result is what I believe to be a wonderful film as told through the eyes of a little girl with such an overactive imagination she can get through situations of death, mental handicap, drug abuse and poverty without batting an eye. This young charismatic actress is amazing and carries the whole film.”
- Screen Daily: “Tideland does look very beautiful, with Nicola Pecorini capturing some striking images of cornfields and countryside and the camera constantly prowling and tilting to emphasis the way reality has become skewered. The craftsmanship is small compensation in a film that is too often merely weird and uninvolving.”
- Reuters: “Terry Gilliam’s ‘Tideland’ provoked some of the strongest negative reactions. Told from the surreal point of view of the daughter of two junkies, played by Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Tilly, it inspired some 30 walkouts halfway through a press and industry screening.”
- The Boston Globe: “The movie’s a classic case of a gifted filmmaker’s obsessions finally sailing over the edge and taking him along, but as the prairie Candide at the movie’s center, 10-year-old Jodelle Ferland has a talent to make Fanning call her agent in alarm.”
- Indiewire: “…big-ticket items like Cameron Crowe’s ‘Elizabethtown’ and Terry Gilliam’s ‘Tideland’ sank like lead balloons.”
His Dark Adaptation?
Is there new hope for the film adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials? It would seem so. After seeing Tom Stoppard’s contributions eviscerated by Chris (American Pie) Weitz, only for Weitz to weasel out at the last minute, Anand Tucker is now on board to direct. Tucker made one of the best films of 1998, Hilary and Jackie. And anyone who can get Emily Watson and Brenda Griffiths to offer some of the best performances of their careers while also making a cello’s presence ominous has my unmitigated support.
Unfortunately, it looks like Weitz is still on board the project and while Tucker will be whacking the script into shape (with Weitz), Tucker has no screenwriting experience to speak of. If we can’t have Stoppard, then here’s hoping that Hilary and Jackie writer Frank Cottrell Boyce somehow becomes involved so that Weitz’s potential treacle might be kept under control. (via Ghost in the Machine)
Sin City: New Meaning of “Faithful Translation to Screen”
Yahoo has a fantastic slideshow comparing the Sin City panels to the film angles:
Cinematic Cockamanie?
It what might be the only bold move in Chris O’Donnell’s career, it looks like he’s set to star with Sarah Polley in a film adaptation of Will Self’s Cock & Bull, the infamous pair of novellas about a man who grows a vagina and a woman who grows a cock. It remains a mystery how such a film will get past the MPAA. Let’s hope that writer-director Matt Nix is, pardon the pun, ballsy enough to go for the NC-17.
