1. ComingSoon reports that the Cohen brothers’ next project will be another adaptation of True Grit, a 1969 novel by Charles Portis. The first adaptation, of course, is the classic film starring John Wayne, whose portrayal of the curmudgeon Rooster Cogburn earned him both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for best actor. (I’ve been watching John Wayne films since I was a little girl, and Cogburn is one of my favorite characters he’s portrayed.) The Cohens report that they’ll be sticking closer to the novel than the Wayne version, which presents some interesting possibilities when it comes to films that bring God-talk into open spaces. According to Wikipedia, the novel is dripping with God-talk, both literally (Mattie apparently constantly quotes biblical references) as well as in its themes. It seems that the Wayne film watered a lot of that down, so it’ll be interesting to see what the Cohens’ version does with all that.
2. ComingSoon also reports that Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman are attached to Important Artifacts, an adaptation of a novel that “takes the form of Sotheby's-like estate auction catalog, with 325 entries and photographs depicting items that reveal the private moments and the rise and fall of a four-year relationship between the fictitious couple Hal Morris (a 40ish photographer) and Lenore Doolan, (a New York Times food columnist in her late 20s).” That makes me think of the 1967 Audrey Hepbern/Albert Finney film Two for the Road, which also uses an unusual form to tell a story about a relationship. That film chronicled 12 years of the relationship and marriage between Mark and Jo Wallace in a non-linear medium, mixing scenes from earlier parts of their relationship with later times. No overt God-talk here except that I'm often challenged by films that take the seemingly ordinary moments that make up our lives and reveal their extraordinariness in retrospect, how the choices we make everyday determine the paths we tred.3. On the small screen side, ComingSoon reveals some interesting possibilities in NBC’s upcoming lineup, including two disaster miniseries: another calamity-from-the-skies Meteor and a weather-oriented adversity called The Storm. The other notable addition is a 13-week series called Merlin, which chronicles the early days of the wizard and a young Arthur. I’m not clear as to whether this is a continuing series (to be picked up if ratings are good?) or a closed story-arch. As I’ve said before on this blog, disaster films and high-fantasy are genres that often bring God-talk into open spaces.
4. Also, it looks like NBC will air all of the Kings episodes already in the can but its unlikely the series will see a second season if its ratings don’t improve. Which is a shame, because not only do I find this series a lush and guilty pleasure but it’s also bringing its share of God-talk into open spaces.
(Images: via Wikipedia)