Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion of Walker Percy

["Karl M. Terrell" <kterrell AT sheastokes.com>]

* * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * *

I saw a good stage production of the Moviegoer in Atlanta a few years
ago, by Tom Key.  I enjoyed it immensely, but I think those in the
audience not totally familiar with Percy were confused by the end of it.
Tom also had the stage rights to Lost in the Cosmos, and I think staged
a production, but I never saw it.

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com [mailto:Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com] 
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 8:47 PM
To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls
apart


No fear. She's long since out of the picture. Naomi seems fine. I'm
partial to Kirsten Dunst. -----Original Message-----
From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 5:03 PM
To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls
apart



Please save us from Julia Roberts. How about Naomi Watts?

On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com wrote:

> Perhaps. But only Percy projects I know of under development in recent

> past are Moviegoer, Second Coming and LG. Moviegoer has been in and
out
> of development for 30 years. Script I read 10 years ago was quite
good.
> Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts were attached to Terence Malick as 
> director at one point.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan
Beck
> Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 4:25 PM
> To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion
> Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls 
> apart
> 
> 
> 
> I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha
most
> of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay

> to Lancelot?
> -David
> 
> On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley AT oxy.com wrote:
> 
> > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option
rights
> > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the 
> > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy"
> film
> > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a
Percy
> > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and 
> > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the 
> > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing
($1-5
> > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately
> at
> > rrpjr AT netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions.
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> > [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye
> > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM
> > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion'
> > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls

> > apart
> > 
> > 
> > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of
Percy's
> > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The

> > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew
Barrymore)
> > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the
> lead
> > role as Tom More...:)  This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few
years.
> > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles...
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> > [mailto:percy-l-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick
> > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM
> > To: Walker Percy List
> > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls
apart
> > 
> > <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/movies/27gree.html>
> > 
> > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are
> > By DAVE KEHR
> > 
> > Published: October 27, 2004
> > 
> > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year
looking
> > for a
> > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home.
> > 
> > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of
> John
> > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in
a
> > mire
> > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have 
> > doomed a project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for 
> > a cast
that
> > was
> > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis
and
> > Lily
> > Tomlin.
> > 
> > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets
> paid
> > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George 
> > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that

> > made the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received 
> > the ultimate
> > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection.
> > 
> > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of
> Dunces"
> > is
> > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a 
> > "1919 shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his

> > first adult
> > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and
> > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of
North
> > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in

> > Winston-Salem.
> > 
> > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit

> > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last
year-
> > which
> > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by 
> > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens
> after
> > its
> > well-received New York Film Festival premiere.
> > 
> > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but 
> > introduces some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed 
> > in and
around
> > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young
> British
> > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger
> brother
> > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit
the
> > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache
of
> > gold
> > coins.
> > 
> > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit 
> > more," Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington"

> > and
"All
> > the
> > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for 
> > something slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that 
> > same
> execution
> > but
> > bloody it up a bit."
> > 
> > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did
> not
> > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the
legendary
> > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at
> the
> > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the
veteran
> > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions
to
> > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream.
> > 
> > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we
paid
> > them
> > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered.
"
> > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life 
> > events, and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English 
> > teacher who
also
> > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George

> > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the
> draft.
> > We
> > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft,
and
> > the
> > film evolved from that."
> > 
> > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre 
> > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to
make
> > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure
Island,'
> or
> > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books

> > when I was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with 
> > a
lantern
> > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. 
> > That's what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read 
> > the
script
> > with
> > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the
fanciful,
> > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of
fairy
> > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take
something
> > based
> > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it."
> > 
> > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world
he
> > grew
> > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by 
> > sitting on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said.
> > 
> > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said,
"I
> > want
> > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a
place
> > I've
> > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can
pay
> > my
> > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that 
> > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that
only
> a
> > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to
the
> > stories of good liars."
> > 
> > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an 
> > America increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television?
> > 
> > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New

> > Orleans raptures.
> > 
> > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!"
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --
> > 
> > An archive of all list discussion is available at 
> > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> > 
> > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> > 
> > --
> > 
> > An archive of all list discussion is available at 
> > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> > 
> > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> > --
> > 
> > An archive of all list discussion is available at
> http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> > 
> > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> David Beck                                         
> 
> If you treat an individual as he is, he will  
> remain as he is.  But if you treat him as     
> if he were what he ought to be and what       
> he could be, he will become what he           
> ought and could be.                           
>                                               
> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe                    
> 
> --
> 
> An archive of all list discussion is available at 
> http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> 
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> --
> 
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
> 
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
> 
> 
> 


David Beck                                         

If you treat an individual as he is, he will  
remain as he is.  But if you treat him as     
if he were what he ought to be and what       
he could be, he will become what he           
ought and could be.                           
                                              
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe                    

--

An archive of all list discussion is available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail

Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
--

An archive of all list discussion is available at
http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail

Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy


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