Books to Movies — Signs of Life
So many books get signed for movies, so few actually make it. Below are updates on several that are showing life.
Incredibly Close Somewhat Closer
Director Stephen Daldry and producer Scott Rudin have been working on a film version of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for the last five years. As the movie news site, Deadline, nicely understates, the book is “not the easiest film adaptation.” Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks have been “circling the project,” Deadline 8/22.
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On The Road Shooting
For the tabloid press, it was big news when Robert Pattinson stopped by a Montreal movie set to “snuggle” with his Twilight co-star, Kristen Stewart. For Kerouac fans, the big news is that the film is On The Road, which is finally moving ahead, 31 years after Francis Ford Coppola acquired the rights. The director is Walter Selles (Motorcycle Diaries), with Coppola as executive producer.
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Mr. Popper Signed
Deadline announced that Jim Carrey has signed to star in the film version of the 1938 children’s classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguin, after “everyone from Jack Black to Owen Wilson to Ben Stiller…has circled the project.” The director is Mark Waters (Mean Girls, The Spiderwick Chronicles). Liberties are being taken with the script; Mr. Popper is described as a “high-powered businessman,” rather than a house painter (Deadline, 8/20/10). According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is on the “fast track” and will begin production in NY in October.
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Hugo Cabret Scheduled
This one has moved at lightning speed. Optioned in 2007, Martin Scorsese’s first foray into 3-D (and into children’s films), Hugo Cabret, based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, is currently filming and is now scheduled for release next year, on Dec. 9, 2011. It stars Jude Law, Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer and Michael Stuhlbarg.