Lee Hall Tagged Articles at Cinematical
DreamWorks Lighting 'Children of the Lamp'
Filed under: Action », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Deals », Scripts », Family Films », Newsstand », Dreamworks »
Just about every studio is still trying to find its Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter franchise, and here is DreamWorks' latest attempt. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they bought the rights to P.B. Kerr's Children of the Lamp series a while back. Lee Hall wrote a draft before the WGA strike, but the duty of adaptation has now been handed to Dave Guion and Michael Handelman. No time-frame or director has been set for the project. Children of the Lamp is a series of four books that deals with a family of dijinn (known casually to Western culture as genies) who disguise themselves as humans, but can still grant wishes to humans. It centers around two young dijinn twins, John and Philippa Gaunt (nice nod to the Plantegenets there), and their challenges adapting to the world of magic and wish-granting. While honing their skills, they must often confront the powers of evil in order to keep the balance between good and evil. Their adventures take them from their childhood home in Manhattan to the snowy reaches of Nepal.
Yes, it sounds more than a little like Harry Potter, albeit with more globe-trekking. Hopefully, that's just a misconception born of Wikipedia and not a reflection of the actual books. Has anyone out there in Cinematical comment land actually read them, and can fill us in?
Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller Do the 'Hippie Hippie Shake'
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Universal », Scripts »
The Dylan Thomas romance feature, The Best Time of Our Lives, hasn't even begun shooting yet and Cillian Murphy and new co-star Sienna Miller have already signed on for another film together, along with Max Minghella and Emma Booth. Instead of jealous husbands and romantic rivalries, they'll be doing the Hippie Hippie Shake. Sounds like saccharine sixties sock hop, doesn't it? Well, it makes more sense when you hear the full title of the memoir it's coming from -- Richard Neville's Hippie Hippie Shake: The Dreams, the Trips, the Trials, the Love-ins, the Screw Ups: The Sixties. Neville (Murphy) was the co-founder of Oz, a sixties re-plant from Australia that stretched artistic technique in magazines just as much as it stretched the limits of content. Just like Lenny Bruce was pestered stateside, Oz and its creators found themselves part of the longest obscenity trial of its time. In 1970, in an attempt to get back in touch with youth, they had a bunch of school kids edit an issue. Between the young help and the "obscene" content, they finally pissed off the Obscene Publications Squad enough and found themselves in court. Neville and the other defendants were first found guilty, but an appeal was successful -- as long as they stopped publishing Oz.
The film will be directed by Beeban Kidron, whose past films don't prove that exciting. She helmed To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. That being said, she also won a BAFTA award for a television adaptation of a Jeanette Winterson novel, so maybe she can make something better than her more bland cinema forays. On the other hand, Lee Hall, who wrote Billy Elliot, is adapting the memoir, so that should mean good things. The film gears up this fall.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
