In Contention

Tag: F. Scott Fitzgerald

  • Fitzgerald biopic gets an upgrade

    I must admit my heart sank last year when it was announced that Nick Cassavetes was slated to direct “The Beautiful and the Damned.”

    The story of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unhappy, alcohol-fuelled marriage to the Zelda Sayre, the schizophrenic socialite who became the embodiment of Flapper glamour, it should, by rights, make for pretty powerful cinema. With “Benjamin Button” on everyone’s minds at the moment, and the intriguing possibility of Baz Luhrmann filming “The Great Gatsby,” the moment is ripe for a Fitzgerald study on film.

    Cassevetes, however, was hardly a safe pair of hands for the project: his first two features were patchily promising enough, but “John Q,” “The Notebook” and “Alpha Dog” inspired little confidence in his abilities. So I’m thrilled to hear that he is out, and that John Curran, a far more interesting (and suitable) filmmaker, is now on board.

    Curran’s last two films, 2004’s searing “We Don’t Live Here Anymore” and his exquisite 2006 follow-up, the Maugham adaptation “The Painted Veil,” were both among the most undervalued films of their respective years. The latter, in particular, demonstrated a fine grasp of the period, and literary sensibility, that is necessary to take on Fitzgerald as a subject.

    Keira Knightley is still attached to play Sayre; there may be grumbles about the young Brit beauty doing yet another period piece, but it strikes me as smart casting, and a formidable challenge for the actress. If she pulls it off, it could bear more fruit than her recent attempts at Oscar-chasing. No word yet on who’s playing Fitzgerald, but if anyone’s listening, might I suggest Ryan Gosling?

  • 12/7 Oscarweb Round-up

    A.R. Rahman• Pete Hammond reports on the week that was, including a lively “Seven Pounds” Q&A session. [Notes on a Season]

    • Jeff Wells responds with a second-hand swipe at the film. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • And Steven Zeitchik breaks embargo, writes up a positive assessment. [Risky Biz Blog]

    • Tom O’Neil points out how Oscar success for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” could finally be F. Scott Fitzgerald’s warm Hollywood welcome. [Gold Derby]

    • Hat-tipping A.R. Rahman’s collaboration with M.I.A. on the “Slumdog Millionaire” soundtrack. [Vulture]

    • David Carr talks to “Doubt” scribe and helmer John Patrick Shanley. [New York Times]

    • Heath Ledger wins his first award of the season. [New York Daily News]

    • Roger Ebert offers up the 25 best films of the year. [Chicago Sun-Times]

    • The Times goes longer. [The Times]

  • Fitzgerald’s agonizing beauty

    Cover of The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonI sat down last night to spend a half-hour with F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”  It’s been ages since I first gave the story a look and I don’t even think I ever read it throughout until yesterday, but the measured simplicity of it all was striking.

    I don’t count myself one of Fitzgerald’s followers.  I don’t find myself attuned with whatever it is that makes legions of readers consider “The Great Gatsby” to be the greatest American novel, for instance.  I typically find myself leaning toward Hemingway’s brand of the mundane instead, but that’s neither here nor there.

    The structure of “Button” is what stuck out to me.  The strange sort of insight into the stages of one’s life and how Fitzgerald flipped those notions on its ear is incredibly effective.  By the last page, I had that knotted feeling in my stomach, the kind you get after you know you just experienced something that is much more than yourself.  The truth apparent in the final moments, the skewed vision of a life at its end, it was almost too much.

    And I imagine Eric Roth’s adaptation is just as in tune with these notions, albeit in an expanded (well…greatly expanded) format.

    Additionally, the trailer for the film seemed to carry across a similar structure that stuck out to me the moment I saw.  I didn’t know how to address it at the time but reading the original work last night hammered it home.

    All things considered, I think “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” might be my most anticipated film of the upcoming Oscar season.  It seems the easy choice, the obvious one.  No one can argue with the apparent artistry on display from what we’ve seen so far and I find myself watering at the mouth the more I consider its potential.

    I also find myself thankful that a guy as savy and complex as Roth is the one to take the story to adapt the tale for the screen.  Of course he would.

    Roth’s screenplay wil be reviewed here at “Page to Screen” on Tuesday, August 25.