I’m a big fan of Lynne Ramsay based on her first two films, Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar. The conversations about her third, We Need to Talk About Kevin, have been extremely tempting to read, but I’m waiting to delve into those until I’ve had a chance to see the film for myself. Suffice to say that the film is polarizing, and sounds like a distinctive piece of work at the very least.
The director has said that she is mulling two possible projects, a drama set in Glasgow, and a bigger sci-fi film. The prospect of the latter is one of the more exciting things I’ve heard in a while — a strong female director moving into sci-fi? Yes, please. Now it seems as if that sci-fi film is her likely next project, and it is a re-telling of Herman Melville‘s landmark novel Moby Dick. How’s that for a surprise? Read More »
We’ve wondered for quite some time what film Timur Bekmambetov might direct next. At one point, it seemed like he would follow his last movie, Wanted, with a direct sequel. But that is taking time to come together, and recently his prioritites have shifted to adapting the novel Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which he is also producing with Tim Burton. Now the director confirms that as his next effort, while offering updates on quite a few other projects to which he’s been linked. Read More »
It’s rare that I look at a TV project and wish that it were a $100m theatrical production instead of a much smaller television affair. I like seeing what creative teams can do with ingenuity rather than money, so almost never think something should be more expensive. But I do wish the $25m television version of Moby Dick, currently shooting, had more cash to work with. Oceangoing stories look amazing on the big screen, and we get so few of them. Still, with the cast assembled for this version of Herman Melville’s novel, I’ll take what I can get. Read More »
In what the trades are dryly referring to as a “reimagining” and “splashy,” Universal Pictures has hired Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch) to direct a new version of the literary classic, Moby Dick, that will “apply the visual flourish he displayed on the [studio's] summer hit Wanted.” So, 360 flips and Angelina Jolie’s ass? It’s pointless to feign outrage about this announcement (books, meh), but note that screenwriters, Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, have taken liberty with Herman Melville‘s opus, exercising the first-person narration of Ishmael so “the whale can fuck up way more shit, dudes.” They previously penned Accepted and the Olsen Twins’ New York Minute.
Also, Captain Ahab “will be depicted more as a charismatic leader than a brooding obsessive.” I’m no longer paraphrasing and you have to wonder if this choice was made due to the tepid fanboy reception of Peter Parker in Spider-Man 3. If you recall, Ahab’s Biblical emo-ness was a focal point…
All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby Dick.
No longer. As someone who enjoyed Wanted and anticipates the cinematic giant shark mind-fryer that is MEG, I guess I should propose an upside to blowing off dusty works of literature like NES cartridges and inserting them into Hollywood’s puckering slot. So be it. If the filmmakers rig Ahab’s peg leg into a 3D harpoon, that could be schweeet.
Discuss: The producers are the writers of both National Treasures and I Spy.
