Ernest Hemingway Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Everyone's got their niche -- that little slice of the pie that they command -- but it's not often that this niche traverses a wide range of historical icons from almost every part of life. In the beginning one would never have imagined that Kirk Ellis, the man who jumped onto the scene with 1988's Nightmare at Noon, would soon enter the world of biopics, or that he'd get handed the reigns of some doozies.

After a run of easily forgotten fare, Ellis found his niche. He started with a television biopic on The Beach Boys, followed it up with The Three Stooges, Anne Frank, and Judy Garland (the last as producer). There was a bit of a lull after that (besides Into the West), but in 2008, the guy got his big-deal mojo -- that miniseries we all loved called John Adams. Now, it looks like the world is his oyster. He's writing the upcoming Jackie Robinson film, and as IMDb shares, he's also involved with 1776 (Nathan Hale and the Revolutionary War), Escape (Carolyn Jessop and her escape from FLDS), and The Worst Hard Time (people in the Dust Bowl).

What else could they possibly pile on? How about our short-sentenced wonder Ernest Hemingway? Remember that A.E. Hotchner adaptation in the works? Variety reports that Ellis is going to adapt it. It's a good call, but that's not all -- the piece also says Ellis is adapting American Tabloid, a cross between fiction and reality, and Blood and Thunder -- a drama about Kit Carson and the Navajo Wars.

Is there anyone this man couldn't or wouldn't handle? He's pretty much running the gamut, the Superman of historical screenwriting. So, I ask you: Any icons you'd like to see him take on?

As soon as the name of an old icon enters the wind, it's only a matter of time before another Hollywood group gets a whiff and starts up a competing feature, or mind-melds with an international subconsciousness and starts one up unknowingly. Just last month, word hit that Ernest Hemingway was getting a biopic, and now THR's Risky Biz Blog says another is on the way, and they already have a star in mind.

It appears that Andy Garcia is cooking up a feature called Hemingway & Fuentes that he'll write and direct, and Anthony Hopkins is tentatively attached to star as Papa. Garcia hopes to grab Fuentes, and Annette Bening might sign on to play Mary Welsh, Ernest's final wife. Hilary Hemingway, niece of Ernest, is teaming up with Garcia to write the script, which will revolve around Hemingway and his friend, Gregorio Fuentes, captain of the writer's beloved fishing boat, Pilar. But Fuentes is also a little something more than that -- some rumors say that he's the man who inspired The Old Man and the Sea.

Like the other project, this feature will focus on Papa's later life, but Garcia says it will be an historical drama, rather than a biopic, delving into Hemingway's psyche, his relationship with Fuentes, and his deep love of fishing. I'm happy to see so much attention being paid to the writer, but it's an incredible shame that it's all being focused on his struggles with depression and subsequent suicide. There are a million other stories to be told -- from his writing adventures overseas, stateside, and in Canada, to his crazy collection of wives, the war, how he was raised (which gives a lot of insight into his writing), and his times in places like Key West.

At least it will be interesting to see how Hemingway's male friendships evolve into different features.

I love my Papa. (Well, I love my Papa too, but in reference to this post, I'm talking about everyone's Papa -- Ernest Hemingway.) And now he's getting his very own biopic! Huzzah! The Hollywood Reporter posts that A.E. Hotchner's biography Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir has been optioned by The Gotham Group and producer Kevin Fortuna.

This won't follow his war years, his newspaper days in Toronto, or his wives -- instead, it focuses on Hemingway's final 14 years, as told to and experienced by a friend. (Hotchner and Hemingway were close -- partaking in everything from childhood reminiscing to running with the bulls in Pamplona.) It'll also be something like a sequel, in that Hotchner also wrote the 1962 film Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man. Unrelated, but still steps in one literary life -- and how great is it to get a story of a writer that's not all about romance and sexual dysfunction? I was beginning to think Hollywood didn't have it in 'er.

But where's The Garden of Eden? Remember that one? The excellent posthumous Hemingway novel turned into a film starring Mena Suvari as the gender-bending Catherine Bourne? It screened in Italy for the RomaCinemaFest, and according to IMDb rumors, Sam Goldwyn viewed it, requested changes, and is pondering distribution through Miramax. But still, nothing. Hopefully this project will have an easier time making it to the screen.

Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown. I set out to get you with a fine tooth comb..

Okay, sorry. I couldn't resist. Like Ryan back in January, I had to start this with a little "Islands in the Stream," Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers style. (Btw: Did you know it was written by the Bee Gees?) Anyhow, back in January, we learned that Tommy Lee Jones was circling a new adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's first posthumous novel, Islands in the Stream. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that Jones has signed on to adapt, direct, produce, and star in the project, which will be presented to buyers at Cannes.

Stream follows an American painter, Thomas Hudson, tucked away in the Bahamas. Through three acts, the reader is introduced to Hudson's life, from the arrival of his sons to his island getaway, to alcoholism and naval reconnaissance during WWII, to Hudson's desire to pursue a ship of German soldiers who killed an entire village. At one point, there was also a fourth part, but it was removed and became the epically popular The Old Man and the Sea.

First of all, I fully understand when the trades choose to not truck with online outlets reporting scoops based on inside sources, because more often than not, the outlet in question is relying on educated guesswork. A persistent rumor, a talkative production assistant, a secretary that noticed a big star coming in and out of the office, etc ... you know the drill. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter are legitimate reportorial outlets that have strict journalistic processes and can't afford to get it wrong, and so forth -- I get all that. I have a degree in journalism. What I do not get is why Variety would be running the Mena Suvari/Hemingway casting news this morning as if I didn't report six weeks ago that Suvari told me to my face she'd been cast. And not just myself -- she used the junket for the indie film Brooklyn Rules to announce to one and all that this would be her next project and that she was completely locked in.

Let's assume that they don't just take an actor's word that they've been cast in a project -- okay, fine, but they wouldn't call the actor's representative for confirmation? And let's say they did that, and it turned out the actor spoke too soon and the deal wasn't really done -- when they finally did confirm it to their satisfaction, they don't credit the original source? Or maybe they didn't even see my story, right? Well, no, that's not credible either, because it was picked up by a number of large online outlets, including JoBlo, DarkHorizons and others. All together, the exposure we gave that story was enough that if it wasn't noticed by the trades then they are the ones who are out to lunch. What they're doing in this case is simply pretending that the online film journalism world doesn't exist, and shame on the online outlets that are reporting their story as if it's first-run news. I won't bother pointing them out, but you know the usual suspects. Will Variety have the decency to contact me about this matter and at least explain their policy?

Last week, Mena Suvari told Ryan during a press junket that she would be in the upcoming adaptation of the great, unfinished Ernest Hemingway novel -- The Garden of Eden -- news that I couldn't be happier about. The picture is to be helmed by John Irvin. He hasn't done many high-profile films lately, but he is the guy behind the 80's film Hamburger Hill, so hopefully he's got the chops for the project. Now Variety has fleshed out the cast for us. Besides Suvari, there is Jack Huston (yes, of the Huston dynasty), Caterina Murino (Casino Royale) and Richard E. Grant (do I need to explain who he is!?).

As Ryan said last week, the storyline is a love triangle between an ex-pat (David) and wife (Catherine) traveling through Europe, and a woman named Marita who they both fall for. It's also an interesting and pretty progressive look at gender bending that Hemingway started to write just after the end of World War II. Throughout the novel and affair, Catherine experiments with masculinity -- wearing pants and getting her hair cut, as well as saying things like: "I'm a girl. But now I'm a boy too and I can do anything ..." Heck, the gender-bending even extends into the bedroom. This novel undoubtedly has its roots in Hemingway's own childhood, where his mother would dress him in girl's clothing. Of course, as Variety describes, Suvari will be playing Catherine and Murino will be playing Marita. Sliding the men into their roles should be easy enough, I imagine Huston will play David, and Grant will take on Colonel John Boyle -- an acquaintance of the couple. The film will start production this month in Spain, and hopefully release will come soon after.

At yesterday's Brooklyn Rules press junket, Mena Suvari, who plays the uptown girl who falls in love with Freddie Prinze Jr's Brooklyn tough guy in the film, was eager to talk up her upcoming projects, including Day of the Dead. I asked her if she gets to turn into a zombie in the film, to which she replied: "No, I play a corporal in the Army and I save the day!" She also said that she worked six day weeks on gun training and did all her own stunts. She also told me that she will be in director John Irvin's (Hamburger Hill, Next of Kin) upcoming adaptation of the Hemingway novel, The Garden of Eden. Set in Spain, the story is about an expat American and his wife who both fall in love with a beautiful young woman named Marita -- the part Suvari will presumably play. "It's very deep. It's a Hemingway story, it's one of his last stories and its a very complicated piece," Suvari said. "We're shooting in Spain and it takes place in Spain and the south of France. I'm very excited about that."

I also asked Suvari about her very, very brief part as Richie Berlin in Factory Girl, and whether it was all that was left of something more substantial: "They took a couple things out, but there were so many cameos in that movie that were taken fully out ... they weren't in the movie," Suvari said. "They had me come in and shoot some extra footage that didn't go in there. Richie Berlin wasn't a huge fan of Andy Warhol, so she wasn't so much in the Factory. And I didn't really know what they were doing with it and with the character. Richie never really wanted to talk to me ... I had to dig to do my research. But she talked about how she felt like she was the only one who really cared about Edie, so they tried to play that up in the film and add a couple of things, and then they did a different route with Edie, making it more of a narrative, like when she's talking about it in the hospital, all of that was added later. They just went a different route." Stay tuned for a full Brooklyn Rules report.

It was almost a year ago that Martha Fischer covered the upcoming labor of familial love -- The Best Time of Our Lives. Written by Sharman Macdonald, the film covers the explosive romantic rivalry between poet Dylan Thomas, his wife, his childhood friend and love and her husband -- and it stars Macdonald's daughter and famous female pirate, Keira Knightley. Mum recently spoke to the Guardian and not only debunked the lesbian rumors that surfaced recently, but also mentioned her next project. In what is quickly becoming a theme, Macdonald is working on a romantic slice of writer Ernest Hemingway's life. X-Files star Gillian Anderson had initiated the project, and Macdonald is hoping that she'll still be interested in starring.

Gearing up to finishing the first draft, the screenplay features the relationship between Papa and his third wife Martha Gellhorn. This was after Elizabeth Hadley Richardson, who was the grandmother of Margaux and Mariel, and Pauline Pfeiffer, who pulled out Hemingway's "last cent" after the creation of the first residential pool in Key West. Gellhorn was a writer and war correspondent who traveled with Ernest in Europe during the late 1930s. They married in 1940, and their brief and tumultuous marriage dissolved during the second World War. (You can read more about Gellhorn and her thoughts on Hemingway here.)

Anderson only has one movie in the works right now, so barring some unforeseen complications, I can't see why she wouldn't still be interested in the project. Now we have Thomas coming to the screen and Hemingway. Will Macdonald continue the soap opera-reminiscent writer theme? Who would she center on next? Perhaps she could switch it up, drop the soap opera and conquer the tragic love story of Gore Vidal and Jimmie Trimble.

A few other odds and ends of interest today:

• Oscar nominee David Strathairn has been added to McG's untitled movie about the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed much of the Marshall University football team. Strathairn, who is expected to play the university president, joins Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox in the cast.

• According to its director, Anthony Hopkins' previously-announced Papa (in which the actor was to play his doppelganger Ernest Hemingway) has been pulled. Roger Donaldson, who just directed Hopkins in The World's Fastest Indian, claims that the movie never even got to pre-production: "There were too many problems with the rights and the financing, and the schedules mean it won't happen."

• Moviehole reports the totally unsubstantiated rumors that Kiefer Sutherland has a contract with Fox for not one, not two, but three whole 24 movies, the first of which will start shooting some time next year. Oh, and Bruce Willis wants to be in it. If either story turns out to be true, we'll let you know.