Special Topics in Calamity Physics Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Half Nelson' Team Will Write 'Calamity Physics'
Filed under: Drama », Deals », Newsstand », Miramax »
The creative team behind the indie smash hit Half Nelson (the one where Ryan Gosling plays a crack-addicted history teacher) have decided to go back to school ... again; this time, according to Variety, Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden will adapt Marisha Pessl's novel Special Topics in Calamity Physics, with Fleck attached to direct and Boden on to exec produce. Pic marks the third project the duo have taken on since first making a splash with Nelson last year; prior to their work on Calamity Physics, Fleck and Boden will co-direct Sugar (based on a script penned by Fleck) in which a Dominican baseball prospect attempts to fight his way to the majors through the U.S. minor league system. Apart from that, they will also adapt and direct another high school-esque dramedy; Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story for Paramount.
Calamity Physics tells of a high school senior who, after spending each of her first three years in a different town with her highly eccentric on-the-go father, finally looks forward to settling down for a full senior year in a North Carolina high school. Eventually she befriends a group of fellow students (and geniuses) referred to as the Bluebloods, and from there it appears a teacher is killed and, before we know it, we're right smack in the middle of a murder-mystery. So much for that normal senior year, huh? Miramax Films and producer Scott Rudin will shovel this one out. Not sure which project they'll take on after Sugar, but having loved Half Nelson, I can't wait to see what these two have in store for us down the line.
Calamitous Book Optioned by Scott Rudin and Miramax
Filed under: Action », Deals », Mystery & Suspense »
Sometimes logic has no place in movies, which isn't necessarily good or bad. Some seemingly unfilmable material has made its way to cinematic gold, whether due to its sheer size or structure. Other books hand the plot over on a nice, silver platter, only to have it come across as total muck on screen. And, if the adaptation doesn't seem to be able to translate as a clear bit of fiction, there are a number of films that have successfully employed the use of on-screen chapter markers and other previously-thought-of-as-textual devices.Miramax's latest acquisition is, therefore, at a crossroads between the road of greatness and the road of wretchedness. Scott Rudin has just optioned the rights to Marisha Pessl's first novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. The woman definitely hit it out of the ballpark with her first published work. Before grabbing interest from Miramax, Calamity was listed in the Top Ten of 2006 by The New York Times. The novel centers on Blue Van Meer, a young intellectual and daughter of an academic who goes from moving from town to town to staying put in North Carolina -- which leads her into a murder mystery. The book is also infused with a slew of literary references from Shakespeare to Emilio Gadda. CHUD is definitely on-target with its Veronica Mars reference. Who cares about structure when you've got a tough teen detective?
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