Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Films, books and gossip
One of the best books in the world is Bernard Schlink's The Reader. It challenges tons of thoughts and attitudes about many things and, at minimum, makes you realize how difficult some moral and ethical choices can be, even for good people who have every intention of making good and correct choices and decisions. And it makes you see the tiny bits of frailty and vulnerability that we all have. It's an amazing book.
Not surprisingly, The Reader is being made into a film. Nicole Kidman was to play Hanna and Ralph Fiennes to play Michael. It is fundamental to the entire story that Michael was 15 when Hanna was 30 - it actually wouldn't make sense otherwise. As a result, in the "present" in the book, Michael is around 35ish and Hanna 50. Kidman would be hard pressed to look world-weary-though-appealing and 50 since she is actually 40 and doesn't appear at all world-weary. Fiennes could not possibly look innocent and sweet, except unctiously so, let alone 35, since he is actually nearing 50. It would utterly change (read: ruin) the story if they alter the ages, especially switching who's older and who's younger.
Anyway, it's all moot at the moment because Kidman has withdrawn from the project due to her pregnancy. (I'm happy for her though puzzled in a gossipy and completely rude way; it supposedly was she who couldn't have children with Tom Cruise and that's why they adopted and that was supposedly further backed up by the ever-so-viral proof that he and Katie had Suri so quickly but now Nicole is pregnant and rumors are afoot that Suri was in vitro from L.Ron Hubbard (of all people); can you say scientology is insane and maybe so is Cruise and maybe so am I for even thinking let alone writing about this . . . .) Well, in my perfect and completely unlikely fantasy world, they'll hold off on making the movie until Kidman can do it and that will mean Fiennes will go do something else and they'll have to sign a younger and more appropriate man in his place. My fingers are crossed.
Not surprisingly, The Reader is being made into a film. Nicole Kidman was to play Hanna and Ralph Fiennes to play Michael. It is fundamental to the entire story that Michael was 15 when Hanna was 30 - it actually wouldn't make sense otherwise. As a result, in the "present" in the book, Michael is around 35ish and Hanna 50. Kidman would be hard pressed to look world-weary-though-appealing and 50 since she is actually 40 and doesn't appear at all world-weary. Fiennes could not possibly look innocent and sweet, except unctiously so, let alone 35, since he is actually nearing 50. It would utterly change (read: ruin) the story if they alter the ages, especially switching who's older and who's younger.
Anyway, it's all moot at the moment because Kidman has withdrawn from the project due to her pregnancy. (I'm happy for her though puzzled in a gossipy and completely rude way; it supposedly was she who couldn't have children with Tom Cruise and that's why they adopted and that was supposedly further backed up by the ever-so-viral proof that he and Katie had Suri so quickly but now Nicole is pregnant and rumors are afoot that Suri was in vitro from L.Ron Hubbard (of all people); can you say scientology is insane and maybe so is Cruise and maybe so am I for even thinking let alone writing about this . . . .) Well, in my perfect and completely unlikely fantasy world, they'll hold off on making the movie until Kidman can do it and that will mean Fiennes will go do something else and they'll have to sign a younger and more appropriate man in his place. My fingers are crossed.
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