Larry McMurtry Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Father Knows Best' Getting Made Over For the Big Screen
Filed under: Classics », Comedy », Deals », Scripts », 20th Century Fox », Family Films », Newsstand », Remakes and Sequels »
I thought the television-into-movies trend was going to die in the 90s after Inspector Gadget, The Mod Squad, and Lost in Space annoyed the crap out of everyone. A last gasp like Josie and the Pussycats was understandable, but it's kept on going, and it doesn't get any better. Most of them are a Bewitched level of quality that makes Miami Vice seem like Chinatown.
But Hollywood is just going to keep on trying, and the latest to get the makeover treatment is Father Knows Best. According to Variety, Fox has bought the rights and set Chad and Dara Creasey down to write a script. The film will be a contemporary version focusing on a father whose modern day parenting style clashes with that of his traditional father ... and guess who's coming to live with them and clash over which father knows best? Yep. I expect this to be Gran Torino meets Meet the Parents.
Apparently, every studio has tried to get Father Knows Best on the big screen. It's Fox's turn now, but Universal tried in 1994 with a script by Larry McMurtry(!) and Diana Ossana of Brokeback Mountain. When that fell through, it went over to Paramount who tried to turn it into a Tim Allen comedy.
But Hollywood is just going to keep on trying, and the latest to get the makeover treatment is Father Knows Best. According to Variety, Fox has bought the rights and set Chad and Dara Creasey down to write a script. The film will be a contemporary version focusing on a father whose modern day parenting style clashes with that of his traditional father ... and guess who's coming to live with them and clash over which father knows best? Yep. I expect this to be Gran Torino meets Meet the Parents.
Apparently, every studio has tried to get Father Knows Best on the big screen. It's Fox's turn now, but Universal tried in 1994 with a script by Larry McMurtry(!) and Diana Ossana of Brokeback Mountain. When that fell through, it went over to Paramount who tried to turn it into a Tim Allen comedy.
Todd Field Tears Up Little Children
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », DIY/Filmmaking », Harry Potter »
Todd Field's adaptation of the novel Little Children by Tom Perrotta posed a lot of problems as he tried to cram the entire novel into a feature film ... so he rewrote it, literally. He hated the ending, and made some major changes, collaborating with Perrotta, who also shares a screenwriting credit on the film. They both worked together to make significant changes in order to adapt the book for into a film.This isn't the first adaptation for either. Field wrote and directed Oscar-nominated In The Bedroom , which was based on an Andre Dubus short story. However, Dubus died two years before the film came out, which made it impossible for Field to colloborate with him. Perrotta's novel Election was adapted into a movie written by director Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Perrotta didn't work on that script, however, since it was the first one of his novels to be optioned, and the movie development went into high gear and was in theaters only a few months after the book came out.
New On DVD - Bee Season, Brokeback Mountain, The Chronicles Of Narnia
Filed under: New Releases », DVD Reviews », New on DVD », Home Entertainment »
• Bee Season - Richard Gere as a rough-boy sailor in An Officer and a Gentleman? OK. Richard Gere as a singing and dancing attorney in Chicago? Convincing enough. Richard Gere as a Jewish husband (of Juliette Binoche) and father exploring the mysteries of God through the flawless spelling of his daughter? Oy. Many parts of this existential drama about the ways in which a brilliant 11-year-old (Flora Cross) affects her family are sketchy, as no one of the characters is well-drawn enough for us to care about them too much. Genius was captured far better in films like Little Man Tate and Searching For Bobby Fischer.
Terry Gilliam goes west
Filed under: Action », Drama », Deals », Fandom », Newsstand »
His spirit perhaps broken (Perhaps, I said.
Perhaps.) by the failure of Tideland and
the critical scorn heaped upon The
Brothers Grimm, Terry
Gilliam wisely took note of the fact that it was a western that magically changed Grimm Brother #1, Heath Ledger, from a bland lightweight into an acting deity. It also
surely didn't escape the director's keen eye that the screenplay for said western was co-written by one Larry McMurtry. Perhaps seeking a similar salve to his own slightly
downtrodden career, Gilliam came up with a tale that just might fit the bill - either that or he just, you know, liked
a book. Whatever the reason, his next effort will be an adaptation of Anything
For Billy, a McMurtry novel about Billy the Kid. The story is told through the eyes of a newspaperman from
Philly who goes west in search of adventure, only to find it in the form of Mr. The Kid. (And no, they don't fall in
love. That's a different movie.)No information is yet available about when Gilliam hopes to get this project off the ground, but we can be pretty sure the result will be fascinating. Even when it's bad, Gilliam's work is never boring, and he's bound to have his own, distinct take on the American west.
Golden Globes: Best screenplay shocker!
Filed under: Awards »
Ha ha, just kidding. Guess what - Brokeback Mountain won! Get used to it. (But how on earth did they
manage to overlook Noah Baumbach for The
Squid and the Whale? That screenplay's won a lot of early awards. Color me both peeved and confused.) Trophies
for Larry McMurtry, the king of the modern western novel, and writing
partner Diana Ossana. Ossana reads a boring, very gracious speech
while McMurtry stands there looking at his feet. Then he gets to talk and thanks the lawyers, his son and grandson, and
his typewriter, "surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius." He's used it for 30 years, in a
successful effort to avoid the evils of technology. Nice. I've always respected him based on reputation alone, but that
was awesome - classy, simple, funny as hell. So that's what a good writer sounds like.
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