Dan Weiss is the New Pen Behind 'The Game'
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Deals, Scripts
You might have thought all hope was lost for Neil Strauss' womanizing tome The Game to hit the big screen, but now it's back. Last year, Columbia nabbed the book and gave it to Chris Weitz (About a Boy) to adapt. Weitz moved on to The Golden Compass, and the adaptation of The Game was left high and dry. Now Spyglass has nabbed the rights and has tapped relative-unknown Dan Weiss to adapt it. (Variety says he's behind some rewrites for flicks like Halo, as well as an HBO pilot.) Producer Andrew Miano says that while Weitz was the main guy, Weiss has been around since the beginning, and "his perseverance and love for the project continued to impress me." Is he a man in need of some womanizing himself?If you're not familiar with the book, it's about an average Joe who gets the help from seduction "experts" to become the world's best pickup artist. His main guide, Mystery, uses the mantra: "find, meet, attract and close," while others are monumentally creepier -- like a guy who uses hypnosis as part of his plan to get women in bed. I haven't read the book, so I'm waiting to see if it can pull off the sleaze like, say, Roger Dodger did. On the other hand, I'm apprehensive since Campbell Scott's film had him as a pathetic womanizer facing a bunch of strong and powerful women, whereas The Game seems to rely on naivete.
Sidenote: On his website, Strauss claims to be leaving the seduction scene forever, after he gives out some sort of secret "LAST GIFT" to his VIP e-mail list. Hurry now, before the secret is gone forever and life is never the same!!!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-23-2007 @ 10:37PM
Bus said...
I have read the book, and did find that it was a good read and would hope you would give it a read before you post further articles. And, though your article insinuates that it's naive and probably less intelligent women that are preyed on, my personal experiences have been very far from that.
What I enjoyed most about the novel is how people with below average skill in social situations are given help to become the person they want to become. If they happen to be a sleaze that uses and abuses women, it happens, but a majority do really want to meet one girl to settle down with. Just as well, those that don't want to learn and better themselves really do stay in the same social cliques and still spend nights playing video games only talking the talk.
Picking up women takes certain skills that those whom didn't fit into the correct social setting in their development, would be left without. But, why should these people have to suffer standing in the corner at parties and feeling left out at bars. They work hard, gain the skills, and are able to play the game with everybody else.
I hope whomever is writing the screenplay doesn't 'hollywoodize' the screenplay and keeps it at the core beliefs that the social norms of relationships are there for a reason, and that reason is because they're how things work the best. We all know of the stereotypical bar goers, but the alphas are not the majority and shouldn't be held to be the norm.
Down with Tom Cruise.
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8-24-2007 @ 6:51PM
b0ring said...
For a decent perspective on what the movie should be, look at "Swingers". The cool, popular guys take their lovesick friend under their wing and teach him how to get girls. Infact, forget "The Game", just watch "Swingers" if just for that glorious answer-machine scene.
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