Adaptation Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I implore any prospective or fledgling screenwriters out there to see the new documentary Tales from the Script. And afterward, if you still feel like attempting to break into that highly competitive and rarely rewarding side of the movie business, then it's possible this is indeed the right dream and career for you. As Taxi Driver and Raging Bull scribe Paul Schrader says in the film, "if you can be happy doing anything else, do that."

Tales from the Script is basically just a supplement to the recently published book of the same name by Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman (or vice versa, the book can be seen as the companion piece to the film). Hanson also directed the documentary, which features interviews with a number of celebrated screenwriters, including Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) and William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), as well as lesser-knowns like low-budget action scribe Michael January (CIA II: Target Alexa), Golden Age Oscar-winner Melville Shavelson (Houseboat) and My Favorite Year screenwriter Dennis Palumbo, who ultimately quit the field and became a psychotherapist.

Palumbo may be the only one who quit, but at times the other talking heads in the film seem to be on the verge of doing the same. Honestly, the whole point of the film appears to be a response to a statement from John Carpenter, who was one of Hanson's first interviews. He says that "if you knew what was gonna come, you wouldn't do it." Well, kids, here's what terrible things came with the careers of your favorite screenwriters: starvation on the way to success, starvation after success, lack of respect, lack of control, lack of credit, unwanted credit and disheartening interactions with anyone from Uwe Boll to Steven Spielberg.

Well, we got a hearty turn-out for the first round of our Geek-Off Tournament, and today, as promised, we present the other half of the slate for your picking pleasure.

Again, to prevent any sort of monopoly, we've only selected one character per movie -- the only pick this really seems to have any bearing on is Revenge of the Nerds (and, from the look of things, maybe The Goonies too), but your vote counts whether it's for the ensemble or just for that one character. (We honestly wouldn't know which one you're voting for anyway.)

So run down these match-ups, free free to link to this showdown on the social network of your choosing, and in a few days, Peter Hall will be bringing you the first of our elimination rounds based on the results. Let's get clicking!




Louis Skolnick (Robert Carradine), Revenge of the Nerds vs. Prof. Julius Kelp (Jerry Lewis), The Nutty Professor

I guess it's a moderate spoiler to admit that tonight's Cinematical Seven was intended to correspond with today's home video release of the Sam Rockwell sci-fi drama, Moon, but even if I've tipped you off as to what the movie reveals within twenty minutes, I hope that not knowing the exact how's and why's of his situation intrigue you enough to still check it out. The reason I and others were so high on it was because Rockwell gave such a uniquely multi-layered performance as his lonely astronaut that I wanted to celebrate other notable dual performances by a single actor.

For the record, I've left off David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers because, well, I haven't seen it yet -- nor Multiplicity, while we're being honest here -- and I opted to exclude split-personality performances, similarly impressive though they may be (after some reluctance, I just had to take A History of Violence out of the running before all sorts of Jekyll/Hyde-esque condemnations came my way (Viggo's great in that all the same)).

As usual, your comments/suggestions are welcome, and as usual, we didn't snub anyone or anything on purpose. Except for the Eddie Murphy romps. They'll probably get their own Cine 7 someday.

After honing her skills in front of the camera, actress Jodie Markell ("Big Love") chose to make her directorial debut with a rather daunting project that began, long before she was born, as a rare and long-forgotten film script by A Streetcar Named Desire playwright Tennessee Williams. Years after Williams' death, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond – conceived to be directed by Elia Kazan decades ago – marks the return of Southern Gothic romance to the big screen, full of Tennessee Williams's signature melodramatic flavor. (Read Jenni Miller's review here.)

The films alights on Fisher Willow (Bryce Dallas Howard), a spoiled Southern belle who returns from abroad on the eve of the Great Depression and bristles against the social ranks of Memphis high society, even as she attempts to re-enter it. The script has the markings of a Tennessee Williams story -- a mad heroine, romantic longing galore, and plenty of cruel, fickle moments between Fisher and the object of her affection, the enigmatic Jimmy (Chris Evans).

Cinematical spoke with Jodie Markell about the road she traveled to bring The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond to the big screen.

Earlier this month we told you that "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz was scripting an absolutely for-reals, big-screen Arrested Development movie, and that he would direct it himself. Speaking at a writing panel this weekend at the Austin Film Festival (where he appeared alongside Steven Zaillian and AD executive producer Ron Howard), Hurwitz dropped a few more hints about what exactly we might be seeing plot-wise, and it sounds like somebody in the Bluth family (or heck, maybe all of 'em) will be heading to prison.

Honestly, it's hard to tell what Hurwitz meant when he briefly gave in to moderating producer Marcia Nasatir's prodding at the "Art of Storytelling" panel in Austin. According to Austin 360, "Hurwitz relented to Nasatir, and said that there would be a heavy jail presence and then made jokes about the inclusion of TARP money, a nod to the inability of a film to be as timely as television due to lag times in production and release."

Over at Collider, Matt Goldberg wonders if the Bluth family real estate business could easily lead into a comical plotline about the current housing crisis. Methinks you're onto something, Matt. Might we see another Bluth in prison orange? If so, I vote for putting a Bluth other than George Sr. or Gob behind bars, because the last time Will Arnett went to the slammer, well... we got Let's Go to Prison. (I know I shouldn't punish the AD universe for that stinker, but the negative association lingers.)

So what do you think, Cinematicalites? What could Hurwitz's "heavy jail presence" mean for the Arrested Development movie?

It is inevitable -- any form of art will, at some point, turn inwards. Instead of focusing on other forms of life, the form will attempt to reveal itself -- whether exploratory and serious or sarcastic and mocking. In Hollywood, the camera has spun inwards countless times. Sometimes it's earnest, but most often it's a great serving of satire and irony.

There are a ton of great examples of this, from Boogie Nights to Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Strange Brew to The Big Lebowski. If I had 50 slots, I could make this comprehensive, but I only have seven. So you're getting the best mock-filled flicks of this century -- films ranging from the year 2000 all the way to 2008. Check them out after the jump, and weigh in with your picks below.

WARNING: The following videos are NSFW. They contain, among other things, violence and foul language. Watch at your own risk.

I know, I know: it's horribly unfair to compare every movie that uses multiple personality disorder as a plot point to The Three, Donald Kaufman's fictional screenplay in Adaptation. And I quite liked Identity, which was basically The Three made flesh. But I can never resist.

The Three, you'll recall, involved a police detective, a serial killer, and the killer's female hostage, who later turn out to be the same person. Frankie and Alice, a psychological thriller that Halle Berry will produce and headline, is more like "The Two": according to Variety, Berry will play "a young woman struggling with multiple personality disorder and torn between who she is and a racist Caucasian alter-personality that preys upon her mind." It's not clear whether this is supposed to be pure schlock or an attempt at metaphor. Either way: oh dear.

Variety has no word on who is writing or directing, which could have given us a hint of what to expect. I feel like a script has to exist, because I can't imagine anyone shelling out money for this project based solely on that goofy logline. I missed Halle Berry's last dramatic offering, the fairly well-reviewed Things We Lost in the Fire. But Frankie and Alice seems more in the vein of Perfect Stranger, anyway, and unfortunately I did see that one. It's hard to know what to make of this project, but there's a distinct possibility of a fascinating train wreck.

Yesterday we shared some news from Fango: Mick Garris out and Joe Dante in as director of the Thirst remake. That's all fine and good, but you might be wondering exactly why the director switch was necessary. Well, I'll tell you: According to the same Fango report, Mick Garris' next project will be (get this!) an adaptation of a Stephen King story! Fans of either storyteller could tell you that Garris and King have previously collaborated on Sleepwalkers (1992), The Stand (1994), Quicksilver Highway (1997), Riding the Bullet (2004), Desperation (2006), and the (eventually) upcoming From a Buick 8. So this news hardly comes as a big surprise.

I hate to admit that Bag of Bones is one of those King works that I just kinda breezed through and forgot about fairly quickly, but maybe I'll give it a second spin once Mr. Garris starts organizing his cast and crew. If memory serves, the tale is a gothic ghost story noir romance sorta thing. Definitely not among Mr. King's most "fantastical" stories, but a pretty good book all the same. (I think...) More word on the Bag of Bones adaptation when it becomes public.

There's a pretty informative story about how, after getting the gig to adapt his own novel The Cider House Rules, John Irving sat down feeling fairly confident, thinking something to the effect that "Hey, all I have to do is re-type who people are, what they do and what they say -- this'll be a breeze ..." and, after doing that with his novel, found he had enough screenplay pages ... for a nine-hour film. Adaptations are tough: What do you leave in, what do you leave out? Is fidelity the only true measure of worth, or can carefully-made changes actually improve the film version of a book? Below are some of my picks for the best adapted screenplays of the past ten years; as ever, this list is wildly subjective, and our ever-hungry comments section awaits your picks. ...

1) Jackie Brown (1997)

A great example of how tweaking a good book can make it even better -- Quentin Tarantino's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch moved the setting from one coast to another, changed the race of one of the leads -- and, by ignoring such petty details, wound with a film that completely nails the talky, criminal, human spirit of Elmore Leonard's amazing body of work. Leonard's work also gave Tarantino the first grown-up story he's ever worked with, and Tarantino stepped up to the plate and delivered -- as fond as I am of Pulp Fiction's incendiary inventions, I still think Jackie Brown is the better actual film.

2) Children of Men (2006)

Another case where the screenwriters modified much of the book to the improvement of the story -- P.D. James's novel takes place over a period of months, while Curaron's film speeds by over a few days like a fever-dream nightmare. There are other changes, too (Clive Owen's lead is no longer related to England's all-powerful Big Brother, but, instead, Danny Huston's minor functionary), but the decision to strip Children of Men down to a few nightmare days was incredibly insightful -- and made for an adaptation that works as an amazing film.