kavalier and clay Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you're a fan of Michael Chabon's writing, you've no doubt read his Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. The book tells the tale of Sam Klayman, "little man, city boy and Jew", and his cousin, Josef Kavalier, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Prague. The two create a comic-book character called "The Escapist", a superhero who, through the pen of Joe Kavalier, takes on Hitler through the evil Iron Chain and their leader, Attila Haxoff. The story has golems, magic, comic books, miraculous escapes, and romance. What more could you want in a great story?

The movie adaptation of Kavalier and Clay has been listed on IMDb as being in "pre-production" forever and a day now, and a couple weeks ago, as Erik noted, Michael Chabon himself wrote an update on his website, indicating that the project will be green-lighted -- or not -- at a meeting "on or around 12 July 2006". Chabon also reported that Natalie Portman is a "strong likelihood" for the coveted part of Rosa Saks (the woman around whom the aforementioned "romance" swirls), that other casting is ongoing, and that animation tests are being run for the comic books sequences. Chabon also lists some "quick answers" that will only make sense to fans of the book: "Golem: yes. Antarctica: yes. Gay love story: yes. Ruins of World's Fair: no. Long Island: no. Orson Welles: no. Salvador Dali: yes. Loving reference to Betty and Veronica: no. Stan Lee: no."

Today I checked in on Chabon's website, and found some rather cryptic updates on Kavalier and Clay and another project that Chabon has been working, on Snow and the Seven:

Kavalier and Clay: Status: Complying With Polite Request To Stop Posting About It On This Website, Already.

Snow and the Seven: "They love you, but they want to go in another direction." "What kind of dir--" "More of a fun direction." "Oh."

I was unable to find any further info in culling the usual sites for Chabon updates, so I went straight to the source -- or the next best thing -- Chabon's wife, author Ayelet Waldman, who confirmed that Chabon has been replaced on Snow, although it's not clear with whom, and that Kavalier and Clay "has not been greenlit." Bummer on both counts. On the bright side, though, Mysteries of Pittsburgh is about to start principal photography in Pittsburgh, and "not yet been greenlit" is not quite the same as "dead in the water," so here's hoping that Kavalier and Clay will eventually get made, and made right.

As Martha reported last month, Michael Chabon's Mysteries of Pittsburgh is finally slated for production, and already there's controversy. The book, Chabon's debut novel, is a coming-of-age story, and while it lacks the polish and near-perfection of Chabon's later works, especially Wonder Boys and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, it's still an engaging little tale, brimming with the promise of Chabon's potential as a storyteller.

Now that the film is actually in pre-production, there was the little matter to sort out of where to film. One might think, since the title is Mysteries of Pittsburgh, that Pittsburgh would be the obvious location for the shoot. Pittsburgh City Councilman Doug Shields, however, is accusing Pittsburgh Film Office Exec Director Dawn Keezer of encouraging the producers of Mysteries to shoot the film in Los Angeles instead.

Why, one might rightly ask, would someone whose job is ostensibly to support filmmakers in shooting films in Pittsburgh be encouraging filmmakers to shoot in Los Angeles? Apparently, the Board of the Pittsburgh Film Office voted last week to allow Keezer to relocate her position (largely funded by the taxpayers of the state of Pennsylvania) to Los Angeles, so she can marry her boyfriend. Not that that's the sole reason why Keezer would encourage filmmakers to film outside of Pittsburgh, but it does seem a little odd that the exec director of an office promoting filmmaking in a specific city would be pushing for a film to shoot elsewhere. Fortunately, the producers of Mysteries decided to ignore her advice and, the shoot is set for Pittsburgh anyhow.

The film is being helmed by Dodgeball director Rawson Marshall Thurber, and cast at this point includes Max Minghella (Art School Confidential, Syriana) as the story's protagonist, Art Bechstein, along with Sienna Miller and Peter Sarsgaard.

[via The Amazing Website of Kavalier and Clay]