Just as Suffragette has been given its world premiere this weekend in Telluride, a new U.K. trailer has been launched:
Inspiring scenes and music. Some good screen time for Meryl, considering her part is not much more than a few minutes. With the mostly positive reactions thus far, I am very much looking forward to this picture.
...a candid blog devoted to the incomparable American actress, Meryl Streep.
waking up to early rave reviews from Telluride, this trailer is much much intriguing and gritty.love it.
ReplyDeleteOkay Jeff- I have finished reading The Good House---- WARNING TO ALL-- SPOILERS BELOW--
ReplyDeleteIt was different than I expected- for some reason I thought it was more of a romance- if the movie follows the book the DeNiro part is smaller than I thought (fine by me).. The best thing about the book imo is Hildy's unique voice- she's certainly a delicious character. You were right in saying that she's a strange combination of perceptive and aware but clueless/in denial at the same time. And extremely funny. I could really see Meryl doing a wonderful job with her. The problem is that the book is in 1st person- so much of what's good about it comes from Hildy's personal descriptions of events and often humorous justification of her actions. I loved all of the New England town gossip stuff but there's not a ton of outward action until the last fourth. What makes the book great throughout is because Hildy is narrating it for us- I just don't know how they're going to capture that onscreen without her narration going through the whole thing or constantly breaking the fourth wall. The alcoholism thing could potentially lead to some pretty sweet meta stuff toward the end- where the audience doesn't know what's real and what isn't because of the hallucinations and the fact that Hildy is an unreliable narrator. That could potentially be amazing if well done. I'm no expert in screenwriting, but it now makes sense to me why this would be a hard one to adapt for the screen... how do you show all of Hildy's rationalizations without hearing her thoughts all the time?... it almost reminds me of something like Eat Pray Love - a book I loved because it was written like a diary and so much of the "action" was just the author's thoughts-but I didn't think it translated as well on screen for the same reason- too much of what was good in the book went on in the author's head. So I don't know. Let me know what you think- I agree it is intriguing because Hildy herself is a great role- and a movie of it could be great if done the right way. I love the Hours but I don't know if I trust Cunningham after the Evening disaster. I do hope it somehow works out though because the potential is there- and the cinematography could be so beautiful.
I strongly agree with so much of what you've said here. Hildy is a great character, but the exposition of her internal dialogue would be such a tricky endeavor. But there is SO much opportunity for greatness. I have to imagine that Michael Cunningham has/had a vision for how it would look on paper. With the alcoholism, rationalizations, interactions with Rebecca, paranoia about Peter at the end, the lost child, if done correctly, it almost has threads of being a thriller.
DeleteIf they don't focus too heavily on the humor my brain can't help but think how amazing it would be if this story appealed to David Fincher. Picturing the intensity and suspense that could be drawn out from the story while simultaneously providing Meryl multiple opportunities to SHOW us what Hildy is thinking just seems so enticing.
IMDb pro has the short description of the story as: Life for New England realtor Hildy Good begins to unravel when she hooks up with an old flame of hers from New York. Based on Ann Leary' 'The Good House.' Are they having Frank Getchell be from New York now? Maybe because De Niro seems so New York? Maybe they're going to focus more on the romance than the rest of the plot? That would be disappointing to me, because this just seems like such a fantastic chance for a great role AND great movie for Meryl to be involved with. It just comes down to the adaptation. Could you imagine if it really were Fincher?!
Lastly, forgetting the fact that Meryl is attached, what is your overall reaction to the book? Did you enjoy it?
I did enjoy it. It was a great read. Not one of the best books I've ever read but it was certainly enjoyable. Everything depends on the adaptation here. Really they could go a number of different ways with it tonally- they could emphasize the romance (seems like a waste to me since while sweet that's not what makes this book unique), they could go humorous and play up the small town gossip along with Hildy's funny commentary and rationalizations (seems difficult since so much of this lies in Hildy's head!), or they could go in a meta suspense direction by playing up Hildy as an unreliable narrator, the alcoholism, the delusions/denials, hallucinations, possible repercussions (lost child)... this in my opinion is the most interesting route to take and I would love seeing Meryl at the helm of something more suspenseful and thrilling. It would be great if they could incorporate multiple tones in the movie but that's where it gets tricky to adapt. So I don't know. Regardless I hope they don't make Frank from NY- doesn't really fit the story at all.. his entire character is basically based on the fact that he's a townie that's always lived there!
DeleteI read the book when the project was first announced. Great role for Streep but losing hope that his project will get off the ground. Feel like she will be taken a year or two break :(- Jamie
ReplyDeleteI'm worried you may be right.
DeleteFlorence Foster Jenkins privately screened in Toronto for buyers and it looks like Paramount pictures bought distribution right. They have not set a date for its release yet. I did check IMDB and now it is listed as releasing in the Netherlands January 2016.....? -Jamie
ReplyDelete