The Link (To Be Retitled)
Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 8:00PM The Guardian I have to admit I'm mystified by this MPAA ruling against TWC's The Butler using that rather generic title. They'll have to rename it but any random search on IMDb will prove that a ton of movies have the same title. Why is it an issue this time - especially with a century separating the titles?
Variety The Venice Film Festival will open with Gravity (albeit out of competition). Nice get there on the Lido
Empire Steven Spielberg beats Robert Redford to the rights to remake The Grapes of Wrath which is a pity really because Redford wanted to make it into a miniseries which would at least not be competing directly with the 1940 film classic
MPAA is excited about the Veronica Mars movie with this pic from the set. Confession: I have never been able to tell the cast members of this series apart. (I'm having the same problem with the third season of Teen Wolf in which all the women except Lydia have long dark and relatively straight hair)
Tribeca Joe Reid picks the five best performances of the year from Brie Larson to Greta Gerwig
/Film looks forward to The Wizard of Oz 3D/IMAX makeover with a trailer
Playbill asked readers which films Disney should give the Broadway stage treatment to. Good, unexpected and terrible choices mingle among the suggestions. FWIW I could totally see Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Hocus Pocus working theatrically. You?
Reader Comments (9)
I am kind of in love again with the miniseries format. It's just perfect for some stories, and even with the John Ford movie being on of the best movies ever, a miniseries would be a perfect choice to remake it, just like Mildred Pierce was. A new and fresh version that didn't want to be the unbeatable classic.
I loved Top of The Lake (in spite of the awful ending and the unbrave was-it-incest subplot), Mysteries of Lisbon and Carlos, three miniseries made by movie directors. The format is a perfect combination of the brave television we have been seeing lately and the talented auteurs-moviemakers that would never commit to a regular series.
I agree with Cal. If what Spielberg is saying about the future of the big screen is true, I'd happily pay subscription fees to give directors like Jane Campion hours and hours to develop more novelistic story arcs. Besides, too many great shows like Damages sell themselves short with 13-episode commitments and subtle stylistic inconsistencies between directors and writers. Condense and unify all the excellent television series, I say.
I agree with most of Joe Reid's list of great performances. As much as I loved Greta Gerwig in FRANCES HA, I'm wondering if hers was really a "performance" or more akin to her real persona.
For the next Disney on stage (not to be confused with Disney on Ice!) I vote for MULAN, THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, and possibly POCOHANTAS. I grew up loving BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, but having seen it recently, it's a bit dated and the music doesn't feel Broadway-ready.
Also, yes to the mini-series! Some stories are just begging to be told in long-form.
Nat, have you read The Grapes of Wrath? Ford's film is good, but not a good adaptation of the actual book. Looking forward to seeing how Spielberg (or whoever he anoints to direct it) does with making a more literal adaptation of the novel.
Given how much Spielberg has had a recent Ford streak (Hello War Horse and Lincoln). To say he will not have the Ford adaptation in mind and more of the book (which by the way is so politically charged for its era there may have been a reason for Ford to not be completely faithful) in mind may not be wise.
I prefer adaptations to transpositions. Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce did not win over a lot of people who are attached to the Crawford/Curtiz film and he most certainly did go near word-for-word on that one.
I find it more interesting when gifted directors really make something of their source material be it Kazan's East of Eden (talk about not a faithful adaptation), Kubrick's The Shining, and how PTA made Upton Sinclair's Oil! into There Will Be Blood.
I also hate how the justification of books/comics having movie remakes are justified by 'We plan to be more faithful' which seems in vogue and also outright lies (Total Recall remake, anyone?). The biggest praises about The Hunger Games from people I know was how 'faithful' it was to the book. Well, that does not necessarily help moviegoers who are seeing the movie cold and want to enjoy the movie on its own terms.
Sorry for the rant. I just want to know where there was an attitude that a movie must be beholden to its adapted text and why it should matter?
Hi CMG, I think a lot of the outcry over faithless adaptations has to do with the beauty of the source material. I don't think anyone should care if a film version of The Hunger Games hews closely to the book. In much the same way, The Godfather and Jaws were loosely drawn from pulp fiction. But Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath is a masterpiece, and moviegoers want a director who is going to treat the novel with intelligence and consideration. It still should be made into a movie, and that requires adjusting for the cinematics, but the text is admired for a reason. And that should be respected.
Comic book remake:
I'd kind of want a filmmaker to, at the very least, do an age accurate Dick Grayson. Whether that ultimately means he's a twelve year old helping out Batman in Gotham as Robin or is, explicitly, a twenty-something patrolling Bludhaven as Nightwing doesn't matter. I can just imagine the opening dramatic monologue for the latter:
"My name is Dick Grayson. For the past decade or so, I've been engaging in superhero work. You'd know me as Robin. I initially worked with Batman and later was the leader of the Teen Titans. After they kicked me out (twentieth birthday, after all), I've been moving from town to town, doing test runs with various police forces until I find a town that needs me. And, right now, this is my thirtieth town in less than two years. Hope, maybe, I finally bust out the costume."
Grapes of Wrath is perfect for movie-goers who crave well-made dramas like starved animals in the dessert suddenly finding a well. Put Chastain, Fassbender, Streep and Benedict Cumberbatch in it. We already know that they will be some of the favorite immortal actors when singularity dawns.
Disney films that need to be on stage: Mulan, Hercules, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hocus Pocus.