Thursday, July 05, 2007

seriously?


I’m not sure if you have heard this yet or not, but apparently there will soon be…

Blue Like Jazz: the Movie

Seriously.

Donald Miller posted about it recently on his website. Can anyone explain to me how this is anything more than simply capitalizing on the popularity of Blue Like Jazz? Am I being overly cynical here, or is it not just people squeezing a few more dollars out the book before the buzz completely wears off?

I guess I understand. The christian movie industry is just that: an industry, a business. And their job is to make money. So in that respect, it makes sense.

But this cannot be a good idea, can it?

…unless, of course, they cast Kirk Cameron in the leading role as "Don". Then this would quite possibly be the best idea in the history of American film-making.

In case you still think I’m joking…here is an excerpt from Miller’s site:

“Steve Taylor and Ben Pearson have been in Portland for the past week and we’ve pretty much completed the screenplay for Blue Like Jazz the movie. We’ve been working on the script for about a year, either with me flying to Nashville for a week at a time to sit around a table and hash out the story, or with Steve and Ben coming to Portland to stay at my house. When studios became more excited about the screenplay, we felt the need to wrap it up, and in the last few days we’ve pretty much done so.”

“To say we’ve given the book a Hollywood treatment is an understatement. The book itself would be, of course, difficult to turn into a movie, and so we took creative liberties. But in my opinion, the movie will be infinitely better than the book. Essentially we’ve taken the major, real life characters from the book, and gave them a story all their own. The end result is provocative and humorous and in my opinion quite moving. I can’t wait for people to see the film.”

“We think production will be able to start next year, and the film will be shot on location in Portland.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Danger: This is what happens when you drink your own bathwater and/or start believing what people say about you.

Infinitely better than the book. That's usually how it turns out when books become movies. You know, like, um, well there was that one. . .uh, ok, yeah.

Anonymous said...

let's not forget "Meggado" or "Facing the Giants". Those are great examples of Christian cinematic genius. If only Kirk Cameron would play Don, then we could get Casper Van Dean to play Pastor Rick. Oh I can see the marketing now!
Tim II
PS - I'm sending this comment from an iPhone @ the Apple store. Very addictive.

Anonymous said...

Oh, Lord. I'm not sure what to think about this. I'm going to try and avoid thinking about it. I'm going to pretend this will be a good idea. I'm going to hope they get Zach Braff's help. I'm going to pray that Kirk Cameron somehow finds his way in through a cameo...like a Starbucks worker or something. That would make my day.

Seriously though: what the heck? Everything Don wrote on his website was said by the people who made "left behind." I think it could actually turn into something cool, but it would mean getting the right people involved. As of right now, I'm highly skeptical. I suppose we'll see soon enough.