[eiga.com 映画ニュース] 「ショーシャンクの空に」のフランク・ダラボン監督が6
月24日の第35回サターン賞授賞式で、米SciFiWireの取材に答え、10年間以上も映画化に向けて着手しているレイ・ブラッドベリ原作の「華氏
451」の企画が暗礁に乗り上げ、ハリウッドでは難しい状況であるとこぼし、映画化実現に向け起死回生のチャンスはキャスティング次第であると明かした。
原作「華氏451度」は、題名が本の自然発火する温度を意味し、本の所持や読書が禁じられた架空の近未来を描いたブラッドベリの1953年発表の
SF小説の名作。それを映画化したオリジナル版映画「華氏451」(66)は、フランスの映画監督フランソワ・トリュフォーの初のカラー作品で、唯一の英
語で作られたイギリス映画。本を燃やす仕事をしている消防士モンターグ(オスカー・ウェルナー)が、妻リンダに瓜二つの若い女クラリス(ジュリー・クリス
ティが2役)と知り合い、読書好きなクラリスの影響で、彼がはじめて本を読むという話だ。
「『華氏451』の映画化に向け努力しているが、キャスティング頼みといったところだ。諦めたくないし、企画を死なせたくない」とダラボン監督。名
前は明かされていないが、ある俳優が主演候補に挙がっていてその契約が決定すれば、超大作とはいかないまでも前作のホラー映画「ミスト」(07)以上の予
算は確保できると見込んでいるようだ。「ミスト」はベストセラー作家スティーブン・キングの原作だが、ダラボン監督が映画化を発表した01年、主演に決
まったトム・ハンクス(「グリーンマイル」)が降板したため低予算映画になった経緯がある。
ダラボン監督が映画化を急いでいるのは、現在88歳という原作者レイ・ブラッドベリ氏が生きているうちに、少なくとも撮影を開始したいと考えている
からで、「もちろん、彼(ブラッドベリ)が明日いなくなるとは思っていない。でも、彼が若返るわけではないし、僕の気持ちとして彼に楽しんでもらえるよう
早く製作を進めたいんだ」と明かしている。
因みに、フランク・ダラボンは、ブラッドベリの「刺青の男」の映画化も目論んでいる模様。
ダラボンは製作、監督はザック・スナイダーとも言われている。
そんな訳で「死のロングウォーク」の映画化は、しばらく先になりそうである。
てなことを書いていたら、「スティーヴン・キングの話」で「死のロングウォーク」に関するエントリー『ダラボン「映画 The Long Walk はミストみたいに低予算で作るよ」』を発見したので、そちらを参照していただきたい。
Frank Darabont Contemplates King and Bradbury
この記事はキング関連の様々な話題に触れているので興味深い。
これも記録のため全文を引用する。
Frank Darabont showed up at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards to receive
the award for Best DVD Special Edition release of his masterful horror
epic The Mist. Could you tell that I liked that movie? Well, I
freaking loved it and the extras-packed DVD was more than deserving of
the honor. Have you guys seen it in black and white on Blu-ray? It's
awesome, it feels like a movie from the '50s with CG. So after the
paparazzi were done snapping pictures, I took him aside to not only get
dorky over the film, but discuss his upcoming projects as well. I found
him to be a warm and gregarious person and the fact that he was such a
cool, relaxed guy has now made him my favorite modern director.
ShockTillYouDrop.com: First of all I have to tell you that I loved
"The Mist." It was seriously the best horror film of 2007, hands down.
Frank Darabont: Well, thank you, so glad you liked it. We shot
in six weeks, dude. We shot it cheap, we shot it fast, and it was
definitely a different kind of filmmaking experience for me which I
embraced and I really enjoyed. But at the end you won't know what the
result will be, but hearing that you dug it means a lot to me.
Shock: Yeah, and I've got to give you kudos for that ending, too.
Darabont: Oh, thank you. That's one of the reasons we shot it so
quickly and cheaply, because of that ending. I wound up making it for
about half the budget that I had been offered which came with the
caveat that I changed the ending, and I didn't know what another ending
would have been, frankly. And I think trying to adjust it would have
felt like a total sell-out to me. Honestly, its the ending I had in
mind, and whether you love the ending or hate the ending, I stand by
it. I think cinema is an art form, it's all expression. I thought
"Okay, lets make it for half that budget and keep that ending, so I can
make the movie I set out to make". Otherwise I'm just a hired monkey.
Shock: What is it exactly about Stephen King's material that keeps attracting you?
Darabont: Stephen King's writing. He's such a great storyteller.
Oh, by the way, his next book just landed on my desk today. The xeroxed
manuscript of this book he's been writing for the last year. It's
called "Under the Dome." I'm like four chapters into it, it's awesome.
It's really, really good. It's a thrill to get early looks at Steve's
work like that. I always feel honored.
Shock: I know you've been working on the adaptation of King's "The Long Walk," how's that progressing?
Darabont: "The Long Walk" is a bit on my back burner at the
moment. I won't spend too many more years before I make it, it's going
to be coming up I think pretty shortly. But I'll be making it, I'm
sure, even more cheaply than "The Mist" because I don't want to blow
the material out of proportion. It's such a very simple, weird, almost
art film-like approach to telling a story. So let's do it honestly,
let's do it that way. Let's not turn it into "The Running Man." So
we'll make it down and dirty and cheap and hopefully good.
Shock: You've also been circling a remake of "Fahrenheit 451." What's the status on that one?
Darabont: That's my other great priority, to try and get the
greenlight on that and that's been a bit of a struggle. Hollywood
doesn't trust smart material. If you show them a really smart script. I
actually had a studio head read that script and say: "Wow, that's the
best and smartest script that I've read since running this studio but I
can't possibly greenlight it." I asked why and he says "How am I going
to get 13-year-olds to show up at the theater?" And I said "Well, lets
make a good movie and I bet that will take care of itself." But that
argument cut absolutely no ice. The movie was basically too smart for
this person, too metaphorical, etc., etc. It's a bit of a battle you've
got to fight. When you're faced with it, how do you overcome that
prejudice?
Shock: Well, that's the problem with movies today, they seem to be
dumbed down on purpose. Bradbury's language and stories are very lush
and old-fashioned and he never goes with the cookie-cutter plot. How
different is adapting Bradbury than King?
Darabont: Fundamentally, the job is really the same one, it's
just you're listening to a different voice. The author's voice is so
vital in the process. Trying to interpret their intentions is really
the job. They're both great, great, great storytellers. As long as
you're just listening to the voice as honestly as you can you can't go
too far off. They're obviously different kinds of storytellers but, at
the core of it, not really. They both write from the heart. They are
both heart-writers and their characters are the important things to
them. So maybe different shading or flavorings, but basically the same
kind of storytellers, I think.
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