Book-Based Holiday Movies ~ Catching Fire, Saving Mr. Banks, and The Desolation of Smaug

Wow, for book-lovers this Christmas has a wealth of great movies! Publishers are capitalizing on the publicity with new editions, so read the books first and then go to the movies!



From Publishers Weekly

Fans – and box-office bean-counters – are gearing up for the November 22 release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The Lionsgate film, based on the second book in Suzanne Collins’s blockbuster young adult series, marks the return of the love triangle comprising Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), and Gale (Liam Hemsworth). Following their unprecedented triumph in the games, Katniss and Peeta are targeted by the Capitol and forced to compete once more, this time in the 25-year anniversary games known as the Quarter Quell. Additions to the cast include Philip Seymour Hoffman as head gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, and Sam Claflin, who plays tribute Finnick Odair, an ally to Katniss and Peeta.
. . . Off screen and on the page, the reach of the Hunger Games series remains formidable. Scholastic is greeting the forthcoming cinematic release with a tie-in edition of the novel featuring cover art from the film, an illustrated movie companion, as well as a boxed set containing paperback editions of the entire series. According to Scholastic, there are more than 65 million copies of the original three books in the Hunger Games trilogy in print and digital formats in the U.S.: more than 28 million copies of The Hunger Games, more than 19 million copies of Catching Fire, and more than 18 million copies of Mockingjay. Scholastic’s Hunger Games Facebook page has upwards of 4.8 million fans.

From Variety

There wasn’t anything as sweet as a spoonful of sugar behind the scenes of “Mary Poppins,” and it’s this little-known backstory that provides the spine for “Saving Mr. Banks,” which bows in limited release Dec. 13.
In the movie, (author P.L.) Travers battles Walt Disney after learning he wants to seize the rights to the book, her most prized creation. Even when she reluctantly agrees to leave London to spend two weeks in creative meetings at the Disney lot in Burbank, she lectures the crew and threatens not to sign the contract every time she doesn’t get her way.
Director John Lee Hancock (“The Blind Side”) says (Emma) Thompson told him early on that Travers was the most difficult character she had ever played. “At every turn, she’s different than you think she’s going to be,” Hancock says. “At one point, she seems old and brittle, and at another point, she seems sensual.”
. . . “Saving Mr. Banks” is garnering Thompson Oscar buzz for the first time in almost 20 years. “I’m praying that she gets nominated, for selfish reasons, because I’d love to play with her in the audience,” says her friend (and Oscar host) Ellen DeGeneres, who in 1997 featured Thompson in an episode of her former sitcom. “She deserves to be nominated, because she’s so brilliant. How often does a role come up to play a 54-year-old woman like that?”
Thompson recalls being around 7 when she first saw “Mary Poppins,” but has no memory of the actual theatrical experience. She just remembers how she felt. “I was profoundly moved by the songs,” the actress says. “ ‘Feed the Birds’ made me infinitely sad and melancholy as a child. ‘Let’s Go Fly a Kite’ made me cry

From LA Times Hero Complex

“The Desolation of Smaug” is Part 2 in Jackson’s new Tolkien trilogy, and the film picks up where last year’s box-office hit “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” left off, with hobbit Bilbo (Martin Freeman), wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Thorin’s company continuing on their quest to help the dwarfs reclaim the treasure buried under the Lonely Mountain.
Like its predecessor, “The Desolation of Smaug” was shot in 3-D at 48 frames per second and will be released in 2-D, High Frame Rate 3-D, other 3-D formats and IMAX.

Mixed Reviews for Lavish Great Gatsby

I haven't seen The Great Gatsby yet, but my husband and my two older children really enjoyed it. And yes, they were all quite familiar with the book.

Having said all that, here are some review excerpts - a mixed bag, indeed! But I don't see that as negative - on the contrary. Movies are art based on books but never word for word. That's why there can be two movies based on True Grit, each amazing and true to the book by Charles Portis, but with different endings. That's why there can be five versions of Pride and Prejudice, or countless versions of Sherlock Holmes. No director can please all of the people - he merely films his vision of the material.



From Muse

The Great Gatsby is very successful in conveying the seedy glitz of New York City in the roaring 20s, which is the setting for Fitzgerald’s classic novel. Anyone who has read the book and saw the film can attest to the fact that it stayed very true to the plot: Nick Carraway (Maguire), a shy, would-be writer is drawn to Long Island by the lure of Wall Street and its promise of riches. He becomes fascinated with his neighbour, Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), an enigmatic millionaire with a taste for hosting extravagant parties.
Through Carraway’s relationships with his beautiful cousin Daisy (Mulligan), her cheating husband Tom Buchanan (Edgerton), and Gatsby himself, he bears witness to the sordid going-ons of the super rich of Long Island.

Ron Charles in Washington Post

Twelve hours after surviving the cultural desecration that is “The Great Gatsby,” it hit me: Baz Luhrmann’s movie version could be the next “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
. . . Every time Daisy speaks, yell, “Her voice is full of money!” and throw Monopoly bills at the screen.
When Gatsby tells Nick, “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can,” sing, “Let’s do the time warp again!”

The Jane Austen Book Club

Just ignore the critics. Go and enjoy the spectacle that is The Great Gatsby. It was a pleasant surprise, after reading some fairly critical reviews.
The costumes were breathtaking. I mean truly breathtaking. Along with the sets. I particularly liked the way they dressed the little house next door to Gatsby's mansion where Nick Carraway lived. Arts and Crafts decor done to perfection. Makes me want to see it again.

New York Times Movie Review

“Gatsby” is not gospel; it is grist for endless reinterpretation. Mr. Luhrmann’s reverence for the source material is evident. He sticks close to the details of the story and lifts dialogue and description directly from the novel’s pages. But he has also felt free to make that material his own, bending it according to his artistic sensibility and what he takes to be the mood of the times. The result is less a conventional movie adaptation than a splashy, trashy opera, a wayward, lavishly theatrical celebration of the emotional and material extravagance that Fitzgerald surveyed with fascinated ambivalence.

The Age

This thoroughly modern reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald's great 1925 American novella is radically different in size, shape and tone to its source material. It also contrasts starkly with its cinematic predecessors, all of which had their own issues.
. . . Ultimately, though, what brings this Gatsby crashing down to Earth isn't its blatant disregard for the nuances so prevalent in Fitzgerald's book (which Luhrmann says he hasn't physically read), nor its overly earnest cravings for attention.
Rather, it's the nagging feeling that after 142 minutes, this Gatsby feels as disposable as the socialite parasites who inhabit the great man's world. Luhrmann understandably wants his Gatsby to be great, but he has inadvertently reminded us of one very simple truth: the Great American Novel belongs precisely where it still lives on, 90 years after its inception – on the page.

200 Years of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice has been a bestseller now for 200 years as of this week. The book stands the test of time because it is enriched with motifs enough for ten such novels: likable characters, humorous or irritating caricatures, a villainous wolf in sheep's clothing, a good man who seems unforgivably rude and snobby, a heroine who comes of age as she falls in love, class differences, family devotion, rags to riches, despair turning to hope, a wealth of witty puns, and that old standby, the happy ending.



It has been the inspiration of countless other books, plays and movies, including You've Got Mail (author Nora Ephron was a Jane-ite) and Bridget Jones Diary.

From the BBC

As well as the BBC's 1995 TV version, starring Colin Firth as Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth, Pride and Prejudice was rejuvenated on the big screen in 2005 in Joe Wright's film starring Matthew McFadyen and Keira Knightley. It took more than £76 million at the global box office.

Firth revisited the Darcy persona in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), which was loosely based on the Austen story. Meanwhile, Gurinder Chadha's 2004 film Bride And Prejudice gave it a Bollywood-style spin.

. . . "Adaptation is interesting because it is always responding to the original novel and the way that we understand things now," she adds. When Colin Firth's Mr Darcy emerged from the lake in the BBC TV adaptation it was a moment that highlighted the way that adaptation was made for female viewers, says Dr Cobb.

"It's a moment that's become so well known. Colin Firth as Darcy is clearly meant to be looked at and admired by female viewers, and that is played out in Bridget Jones. It's become a post-modern joke by the time of the ITV series Lost in Austen."

If you finish the books and wear out the DVDs, you can move on to sequels and prequels.
Check out the fantastic fansite Republic of Pemberly.
Jane Austen Information Page
Everything about Pride and Prejudice Bits of Ivory Fan Fiction

Hmmm, I think I need to watch Mr. Darcy jumping into the lake again. :)

Les Miserables Movie Release Christmas Day

The film "Les Miserables" based on the novels of Victor Hugo will be released in the U.S. on Christmas Day.

Cast List and More on IMDB

Original Text by Hugo on Project Gutenberg

The movie is already earning kudos and award nominations:

Contact Music

Les Miserables has become the favourite to win Best Picture at the Oscars after being nominated for four prizes at the Golden Globes - a key barometer for the Academy Awards. Lead stars Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway received acting nods, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil are shortlisted for their song 'Suddenly', while the movie itself is shortlisted for Best Motion Picture (Comedy and Musical).

Largely shot at Pinewood studios, Tom Hooper's Les Miserables cost around £38 million and featured the actors singing every song live on set. Speaking to the BBC after the Golden Globe nominations were announced, The Kings Speech director said, "I'm just pleased for the whole team who made Les Miserables. Making a musical is an intensively collaborative type of film-making, because it requires such an army of people. An army who aren't there on a conventional movie. The singing teachers who helped the cast, through to the onset pianists who played in the live duets with the singers."
Though musicals and comedies are often ignored by the Academy, Les Miserables has been installed as the 9/4 favourite to snatch the Best Picture Oscar away from the hands of Ben Affleck and Steven Spielberg in February. Hugh Jackman is now the third favourite to win Best Actor, though it would a huge shock should Daniel Day-Lewis not win the award for his turn as Abraham Lincoln. Anne Hathaway is favoured for an Oscar nomination, though the bookmakers still firmly believe Jennifer Lawrence will win Best Actress for Silver Linings Playbook.
Les Miserables hits theaters in the U.S on Christmas Day, with a UK release following on January 11, 2013.

About the original musical on the Les Mis Official Website

Les Misérables is now the longest running musical in the world and, in October 2010, celebrated its 25th anniversary with a theatrical first – three different productions of the same musical staged at the same time in one city – the star-studded concerts at The O2, the acclaimed new 25th Anniversary Production (which completed its sell-out UK Tour at London’s Barbican Theatre) and the original production, which continues its record breaking run at the Queen’s Theatre, London.

From Wikipedia:

It has music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, original French lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, with an English-language libretto by Herbert Kretzmer. Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of Jean Valjean, a burly French peasant of abnormal strength and potentially violent nature, and his never ending quest for redemption after serving 19 years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for starving relatives. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a kindly Bishop inspires him to, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Along the way, Valjean and a slew of characters he becomes entangled with get swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade.

The musical adaptation was originally conceived and produced in France, before its English language adaptation, which opened at the Barbican Centre in London, England, on 8 October 1985, where the production overcame bad notices through word of mouth, launching the beginning of what has turned out to be a global sensation.

. . . At the opening of the London production, critical reviews were negative, and literary scholars condemned the project for converting classic literature into a musical. Public opinion differed, the box office received record orders. The three-month engagement sold out, and reviews improved. The London production, as of late 2012, has run continuously since October 1985: the second longest-running musical in the world after The Fantasticks, the second longest-running West End show after The Mousetrap. It is the longest-running musical in the West End followed by The Phantom of the Opera.

The Hobbit Trilogy According to Peter Jackson

Director Peter Jackson announced yesterday that his film version of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit will be made into three movies instead of two. He seems to imply that the screenwriters will stretch-out the backstories of the main characters using material from The Simarillion. Needless to say, the idea of three movies squeezed from one book is rather controversial among fans, who see it as exploitation of Middle Earth's popularity, and at worst, price-gouging.

MTV ~ Are Three Movies Necessary?
Salon: Terrible Idea or Geek Opium?
Washington Post: The Internet Rejoices

From Peter Jackson Via E!Online

"It is only at the end of a shoot that you finally get the chance to sit down and have a look at the film you have made," the Oscar-winning filmmaker wrote on his Facebook page this morning. "Recently [collaborators] Fran [Walsh], Phil [co-screenwriter Philippa Boyens] and I did just this when we watched for the first time an early cut of the first movie—and a large chunk of the second."

Jackson continued: "We were really pleased with the way the story was coming together, in particular, the strength of the characters and the cast who have brought them to life. All of which gave rise to a simple question: Do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.'"

. . ."We know how much of the story of Bilbo Baggins, the Wizard Gandalf, the Dwarves of Erebor, the rise of the Necromancer, and the Battle of Dol Guldur will remain untold if we do not take this chance. The richness of the story of The Hobbit, as well as some of the related material in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, allows us to tell the full story of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and the part he played in the sometimes dangerous, but at all times exciting, history of Middle-earth."

Get More: Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Bookish Pics ~ Books in Movies

Some of my favorite book scenes in movies! Above is Severus Snape's (Alan Rickman) Beautiful Library at Spinner's End. From the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


Meg Ryan as Children's Bookstore Proprietress Kathleen Kelly
in You've Got Mail (with Parker Posey)




The hidden tower library in Name of the Rose


Chatsworth House Library Used as Set
For Mr. Darcy's Pemberly in Pride and Prejudice (1995)
(from sammel on Flickr)

Marian the Librarian (Shirley Jones)
Dancing in the River City Library
In The Music Man


Gandalf Researching the Ring of Power
at the Minas Tirith Library
In The Fellowship of the Ring