New DeLillo 2003?
"Richard Romeo" <[email protected]> Mon, 24 Jun 2002 18:52:29 +0000
| Newsgroups | gmane.culture.literature.thomas-pynchon |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
(come on Mr. P, put down that margarita and get to work! ;) have to admit this sounds interesting according to Daily Variety, May 22, 2002: FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA, who has toiled for years on "Megalopolis," his ambitious, long-delayed film about an urban renewal project in New York, was surprised to learn it could bump up against "Cosmopolis," a new novel about New York by Don DeLillo. The novels have very different protagonists. "Cosmopolis," under contract to Scribner, is a surreal account of a Dana Giacchetto-like financier who's staked his company's fortunes on a disastrous bet on the currency exchange. Story takes place over the course of one day as he crosses from the East Side to West Side of Manhattan in a tricked-out limo, encountering various women and violent anti-capitalist protesters while being stalked by a former employee. Gersh is shopping the novel to filmmakers. "Megalopolis" centers on the city officials involved in rebuilding New York after a disastrous incident. But Coppola told Daily Variety the term "Cosmopolis" --- which refers to Alexander the Great's effort to unite the East and West and the rise of a vast impersonal city ruled by bureaucracy --- resonates with his own project. "He's fiddling around with some of the same things I'm fiddling around with," he said. "Megalopolis," budgeted at roughly $ 65 million, has met with a long series of setbacks. It went into pre-production last summer with a handful of celebrity readings and some 30 minutes of second-unit footage, but was put on hold after Sept. 11. Coppola said pre-production will begin again in the fall. DeLillo has had his share of setbacks in Hollywood. His celebrated 1997 novel "Underworld" was optioned by Scott Rudin, but the option lapsed. It's now under option to producer-director Robert Greenwald, who's in discussions to turn it into a limited series. "White Noise," which may be his best-known novel, is being developed at Disney by Barry Sonnenfeld. But to date, none of his novels has successfully made the transition to the screen. Perhaps "Megalopolis" and "Cosmopolis" would both pick up steam if Coppola optioned DeLillo's book and merged the two projects? _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com