Re: filmed, splendor

--- In [email protected], Steve M <lists@...> wrote:
>
> I don't think I've ever agreed with Ralph Dumain here before, but on 
> this I agree completely.
> 
> None of Delany's books and stories are high-concept enough for 
> Hollywood. That is, there is no single plot you can summarize into 
> one sentence, like "super-strong androids want to be human and must 
> be stopped"--which gives you Blade Runner.
> 
> And yet I admit I would be intrigued by an anime version of The Star 
> Pit, if it were done by the creators of Cowboy Bebop. And if David 
> Cronenberg wanted to direct "Triton," I'd be intrigued, because his 
> cinematic obsession with the problematic relationship between the 
> body, bodily integrity, the self, gender, and how our mapping to the 
> social roles we play is always imprecise, intersects nicely with the 
> concerns of the book, and he would resist the temptation (and studio 
> pressure) to turn Bron into a likable hero and give her a happy 
> ending.
> 
> But more likely an option to film one of Delany's books would be 
> picked up by a hack like Brett Ratner or Soderburgh, or someone 
> totally unable to connect with the intricate and important ways that 
> intelligence, talent, race, gender, class and sexuality play through 
> all of Delany's novels (e.g., Spielberg or Carpenter). It is only by 
> directly addressing that specificity that you can get to the 
> universal.
> 
> Long before anyone even tries to make any film version of Delany, I 
> suspect someone in Hollywood will discover Octavia Butler, and we'll 
> see first "Fledgling", then the Parable Books (with some other title) 
> and then Clay's Ark, and then the Lilith's Brood series, all much 
> more translatable into Hollywood terms than anything in Delany's 
> canon.
>

Re: "None of Delany's books and stories are high-concept enough for
Hollywood. That is, there is no single plot you can summarize into
one sentence, like "super-strong androids want to be human and must
be stopped"--which gives you Blade Runner."

I disagree.  A Towers Trilogy miniseries could be very easy to sell,
particularly since it has plenty of youth appeal.  Clea and Alter
could be played perhaps by Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johanson (if SJ
would lose ten pounds and tone up her bod a bit); the boy hero
(forgive me, can't remember his name)'s "army experiences" -- so very
ahead of their time, one of Delany's master strokes -- would probably
make a great parable to current conditions in Iraq, particularly in
light of flicks like "Jacob's Ladder", "Jarhead", the remake of
"Manchurian Candidate".

In fact, all of Delany's 60's output would make for wonderful (and
quality) entertainment for young people interested in sf, especially
young women because there are so many strong female characters -- such
as in The Jewels of Aptor, Corona, & Babel-17.  It wasn't until
Dhalgren that he started writing for a more problematic-for-Hollywood
mature audience.



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