Water for Elephants: the film

Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants is currently being filmed (Richard LaGravenese wrote the screenplay), with an April 2011 release date scheduled according to IMDB. Reese Witherspoon is playing Marlena, Robert Pattinson is Jacob Jankowski as a young man, Hal Holbrook is the elderly Jacob, and Christoph Waltz is August.

Having read the book, how likely are you to go see the movie version?

Do these actors fit your idea of the book characters? If not, then who would you have chosen?

What scenes are essential to you? Which might you leave out? Would you change the ending?

Want to see more? Water for Elephants book publisher Algonquin Books has much more information about the film, including photos (see Sara Gruen hang around with an elephant, literally!) and news from the set.

Casting about: The Catcher in the Rye

While it’s highly unlikely that The Catcher in the Rye will ever be made into a film (allegedly, J.D. Salinger was so unhappy with an early film adaptation of one of his short stories, he refused all future attempts to secure film rights to his work — an IFILM article even suggests that his will prohibits his heirs from selling the film rights), we can still speculate…

Do you think it’s possible to make a film adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye that’s a worthy companion to the book? Which actors can you imagine playing Holden Caulfield? Are there any particular characters or scenes you think would definitely make the film or end up on the cutting room floor?

Casting about: The Monk Downstairs

So if you were going to film The Monk Downstairs, who would you cast in the starring roles? Are there any characters from the book that you’d cut for the film version? What scenes might you consider cutting? How would you handle the one-sided epistolary “conversation” between Mike and Brother James?