In Contention

Tag: Columbia

  • Is Dennis Lehane the new Jane Austen?

    Okay, perhaps not. Maybe more like the new Elmore Leonard. But the quintessential Boston writer is clearly Hollywood’s favourite author du jour. After the adaptations of “Mystic River” and “Gone Baby Gone” reignited the careers of Clint Eastwood and Ben Affleck, respectively, it seems the studios are snapping up his titles faster than he can write them.

    I hardly need to remind you about a little film coming up next year called “Shutter Island,” based on Lehane’s 1950’s-set suspenser. With Scorsese hoping for lightning to strike twice for him in Beantown, and Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow and Michelle Williams just some of the names on board, who isn’t excited about that?

    With less fanfare, but interesting nonetheless, we also have an upcoming adaptation of Lehane’s brilliant short story “Until Gwen,” with Josh Olson, the Oscar-nominated writer of “A History of Violence,” taking both scripting and directing duties on the project.

    Now Variety reports that the latest filmmaker to take on Lehane is Sam Raimi. Columbia has got in early and nabbed the author’s yet-to-be-published “The Given Day” for Raimi to direct.

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  • And the pointless remake of the day is…

    … “My Fair Lady.” Variety reports that Columbia is putting together a new version of the classic Lerner & Lowe musical, George Cukor’s 1964 filmization of which copped the 1964 Best Picture Oscar. 

    The studio is calling it an “update,” something of a misnomer considering it will in fact retain the 1912 London milieu of the original. Their reasoning for this move escapes me, but Columbia co-president Doug Belgrad claims:

    “This update will preserve the magic of the musical while fleshing out the characters and bringing 1912 London to life in an authentic and exciting way.”

    I thought we already had the various interpretations of Shaw’s “Pygmalion” (not least Anthony Asquith’s still-surprisingly-fresh 1938 film) for character depth, but apparently we need another. London theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh is also on board, and his justification for the project strikes me as even more tenuous than Belgrad’s. Apparently the story of Eliza Doolittle’s metamorphosis from Cockney guttersnipe to society belle “couldn’t be more timely in a contemporary world obsessed with overnight celebrity.” To which I can only ask, if the story is so relevant and contemporary, why not really update it?

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