December 30, 2008

Baz's GREAT GATSBY, The Birth of BENJAMIN BUTTON, etc.

Xan Brooks argues that The Great Gatsby may be the great unfilmable novel of the 20th century (I know some of you agree with this assessment) and he's a tad ambivalent about whether Baz Luhrmann can make something of it. Brooks also asks a great question: Who would you cast as Jay Gatsby? (Read the article.)

Speaking of Fitzgerald, you probably heard that THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is loosely based on a short story by F. Scott. Not knowing about the short story when I first saw the trailer, I immediately thought of Andrew Sean Greer's marvelous The Confessions of Max Tivoli and wondered if it was at all related. Here's the scoop from Greer.

Stephen Fry, aka Jeeves, (listen to his latest podcast, this one on language, here), is set to play Mr. Bennet in JANE AUSTEN HANDHELD. According to IMDB that project will "[re-tell] the story of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice through the lens of a fly-on-the-wall documentary crew."

6 comments:

  1. The Great Gatsbys always bomb on film, but I do have fun watching them fail. (Let's hope Baz keeps it in the Jazz Age...if nothing else, it'll be great eye candy.) Also, note to Baz: Kidman's too old to play Daisy.

    Jane Austen Handheld: Regency Period meets The Office. I love it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous10:04 AM

    Benjamin Button (movie) was very Fincher-esque... almost as good as his other stuff if not for some nagging plot holes

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just can't work up any enthusiasm for Benjamin Button. I have a feeling it's a victim of The Mr. Holland's Opus syndrome.... i.e. it looks too annoyingly sappy (yes, even for me).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the comment Coffee Fiend... Maybe I will check it out this weekend and see if it is almost as good as Fight Club and Se7en.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11:47 AM

    I loved Benjamin Button - I'm even going to see it again tomorrow. Something bleeds from Fitzgerald's original short story into the movie but, it's a very loose portray of the written work.

    ReplyDelete