Monday, August 17, 2009

they did what?

I guess this is old news, but since it’s news to me, I still find it relevant and rant-worthy. The ending of the film of adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife was changed due to test audience feedback. Apparently the focus groups who first screened the film thought the original ending was kind of a downer, so in true Hollywood fashion, the studio replaced it with something a little more happy endingy. The ending was re-written, re-shot, re-edited, and now, we have a completely dumbed down adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife to look forward to. Awesome. I’m thrilled to see a beautiful and powerful novel completely bastardized with a gift-wrapped ending. Said the director: “So we made the choice to say, ‘OK, we know what we need to do. We’re smarter now.’ It’s a process when you make a film. We hadn’t been dated or anything, so we felt like, ‘OK, let’s do the right thing. Let’s finish the movie properly.’” Grrrr. Team Niffenegger!!



My bitterness is only slightly assuaged by the trailer for The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel of the same name. From what I can tell from the preview and Jackson’s comments in interviews, the director is committed to making the film as faithful to the book as possible. A few scenes are just as I’d pictured them when reading the novel, almost disturbingly so. And Saorsie Ronan Continues to be one of the awesomest young actors working today.

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