EarlyWord is the home of GalleyChat, monthly online discussions where library staff share excitement about upcoming books. More information here.
Summaries of chats and announcements are posted to the right. Use them to add to your own TBR piles and for collection development.
Links on the far right of the site offer information useful to readers advisors.
Hope to see you during our next chat,
GalleyChatters
One of the titles on the Booker long list, Skippy Dies, is being adapted as a movie script by Neil Jordan, who also plans to direct, reports the movie news site, Deadline. The book, which the Telegraph called a “… glorious comedy” has been a strong seller in the UK. It arrives here at the end of the month.
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Halle Berry has signed to star in Shoe Addicts Anonymous, a movie based on the bestseller by Beth Harbison (St. Martins, 2007), according to the movie news site Deadline. It will be directed by Paul Weiland (Made of Honor). No shooting dates have been announced, but Deadline says it will begin before Berry opens on Broadway in The Mountaintop this Fall.
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Hugo Cabret, the live-action 3-D movie directed by Martin Scorsese and currently shooting in London, has added Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island) and Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) to the cast that includes Jude Law, Ben Kingsley and Sacha Baron Cohen, according to TheWrap. Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) plays Hugo. Based on the Caldecott award winning The invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick (Scholastic, 2007), the movie is currently scheduled to open on Dec. 9, 2011.
With her new movie, Salt, hitting theaters this weekend, it seems Angelina Jolie is all over the newsstands.
But, will she be all over the movie Cleopatra, based on the forthcoming bio by Stacy Schiff (Little, Brown, Nov)?
Perhaps the oddly similar poses on the covers of that bio and the forthcoming Jolie bio by Andrew Morton (St. Martin’s, Aug) are prophetic?
Entertainment Weekly‘s Hollywood Insider blog asked Jolie about the rumors. She replied,
I would be honored. I’m fascinated by her. I love history, and I love that part of the world, but we haven’t gotten the script yet so we we’ll see if there is something that’s good enough, and then we’ll try to make it. I’m not sure I could top Elizabeth Taylor. I don’t know that anybody could be better [playing Cleopatra] than Elizabeth Taylor. I love her. She’s always been one of my favorites.
Meanwhile, the UK Telegraph claims Jolie is also in the running to play Elizabeth Taylor in a movie based on the bio, Furious Love, which they say Mike Nicholls wants to direct. Seems unlikely, but then, he did have experience directing the real Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf. Liz Smith called the story, which also appeared on ETOnline, “curious” in her column on WowoWow yesterday.
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The English-language film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has just been scheduled for release on December 21, 2011, reports the movie news site Deadline, which also comments, “…with the Swedish film version having made $100+M worldwide so far this year, many quarters are predicting that Sony Pictures will screw up the Hollywood version.”
The leads have not yet been cast, but “the studio continues talking with Daniel Craig to play publisher Mikael Blomkvist” and several actresses are rumored to be in the running for the role of Lisbeth Salander:
Noomi Rapace, who has been praised for her work in the Swedish-language version, is not in the running. She has made it clear in interviews that she does not want to revisit the character. Kristen Stewart, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson have all been rumored for the part, too, but they are not included in Deadline’s list.
The film of The Exra Man, based on the book by Jonathan Ames debuted in NYC last night. The movie stars Kevin Klein, Paul Dano, John C. Reilly and Katie Holmes and opens on July 30th.
In an unusual move, it is also available now on Pay per View or On Demand.
We recently updated all our movie listings, including Upcoming Movies — with Tie-ins; check it out for new titles and related tie-ins.
Official Movie Site: TheExtraManMovie.com
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Jonathan Ames is also the creator of the HBO series Bored to Death, about a writer turned private detective who happens to also be named Jonathan Ames. It begins its second season on September 20.
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The movie Beastly, based on the YA novel by Alex Flinn has been moved from its original opening date of July 30th to March 18th, to make room for another teen movie Charlie St. Cloud, is based on The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud, by Ben Sherwood.
Here’s a wonderful twist; the leads of each movie, Zac Efron in St. Cloud and Venessa Hudgens in Beastly, are romantically involved.
Why the move? Even a source as knowledgeable as MTV expresses surprise, saying, “…the inner workings of the film business are a mystery to most of those on the outside looking in. Sometimes, even the individuals closest to the projects are left in the dark.”
The book business is also left in the dark, with a movie tie-in of Beastly on the shelves and no movie to tie in to.
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Back in March, People magazine speculated on a dream cast for the movie of The Help. Now that the movie is shooting in Greenwood, Mississippi, People has to admit that none of their choices made it.
Comparisons, below. When we will see the results of the casting? So far, nothing more definite than “sometime next year.”
Role: Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan — Old Miss grad who returns home to Jackson, Miss. in the ’60’s and decides to enlist the local maids in writing a book that reveals what they really think of their employers.
People pick: Claire Danes
Role went to: Emma Stone.
Recently appeared in: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Role: Aibileen; the first maid to join the project. A strong and wise woman who has raised 17 of the local community’s children.
People pick: Oprah Winfrey
Role went to: Viola Davis
Known for: Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Doubt (2006)
Role: Hilly Holbrook, the local mean girl and Skeeter’s nemesis
People pick: Anne Hathaway
Role went to: Bryce Dallas Howard
Recently played: the villainous vampire Victoria in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2006)
Role: Minny, Aibilene’s good friend. Unable to hold her tongue, and, as a result, a job as a maid, she winds up working on the sly for Jackson newcomer Celia Foote, who is desperate to make her husband think she can cook and clean.
People pick: Mo’Nique
Role went to: Octavia Spencer
Recently appeared in: the TV series Ugly Betty
Role: Celia Foote
People pick: Scarlett Johansson
Role went to: Jessica Chastain
Recently appeared in: several TV series and a bit part in the recent Winter’s Bone
If you enjoy speculation on who should play whom in upcoming movies, check out the movie blog The Wrap‘s predictions of which actors would be convincing in the roles of John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards and Rielle Hunter (Meg Ryan??) in the film of The Politician.
People magazine’s photo of a clean-shaven Brad Pitt, reveals that the long-delayed film of Michael Lewis’s Moneyball has finally begun shooting in L.A. Pitt plays Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane.
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Heavy promotion is beginning for the Starz networks 8-part series based on Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth, which begins Friday, July 23rd. The cast includes Ian McShane (Waleran) and Donald Sutherland (Bartholomew).
Official Web Site: Starz.com.Pillars
Tie in:
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Opening today is the second Swedish language movie based on Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire.
The first movie in the series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was one of this year’s highest-grossing independent films, according to Variety, despite a limited opening. Although it was released on DVD this week, it is still playing in many theaters and is continues to roll out to more.
Reviews are divided, but all of them attest to the power of actress Noomi Rapace, who plays the girl of the title.
A.O Scott, NY Times — “The satisfactions it offers are those of above-average serial television…”
Betsy Sharkey, L.A. Times — “Excellent”
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly — B+
An American version of the series is in the works. While Carey Mulligan (An Education), Kristen Stewart, Natalie Portman, and Scarlett Johansson have all been rumored as the choice to play Lisbeth Sander, no decision has been announced yet. It was recently announced that Daniel Craig, the latest James Bond, will play Mikael Blomkvist.
The third Swedish language movie in the series is likely to be released here in the Fall.
In case, like me, you’ve been doing double-takes about the movie, The Kids Are All Right, opening this Friday; it is NOT based on the book of the same title that came out in September.
The movie is about a lesbian couple who take their kids to meet their biological father. It is based on an original screenplay.
The book is a memoir, written by four siblings, who were left on their own after the deaths of both parents.
There is one small movie connection, however; indie actress Parker Posey reviews the book on Amazon’s web site.
As far as we know, Kevin Bacon has nothing to do with either the book or the movie.
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The movie of Brian Selznick’s Caldecott Medal winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, began production this week in London. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jude Law has joined the cast of the live-action 3D movie being directed by Martin Scorsese.
Other cast members include Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley
The movie, which is being called simply Hugo Cabret, is expected to hit theaters in Dec., 2011.
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The full-length trailer for the next Harry Potter movie hit the Web on Monday.
HP and the deathly Hallows was filmed in two parts. The first arrive in theaters on November 19th; the second next July.
It is definitely dark. The NYT critic David Itzkoff writes on his blog, “…muggles, it is not for the children. (Let them see the new “Twilight” movie instead.) There are some scary moments, with imperiled young British actors; evil Lord Voldemort, who evokes Patrick Stewart after a plastic surgery disaster…”
The official Web site is here.
The movie of The Help, based on Kathryn Stockett best selling novel, is moving along. Actress Jessica Chastain’s publicist confirmed to the movie news blog TheWrap that she will play Celia Foote.
Chastain has apopeared in various TV series, including ER and Law and Order.
