SILENCE director takes on black comedy.
October 23rd, 2000
It was reported today that Jonathan Demme (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) was in final negotiations to direct INTOLERABLE CRUELTY. You might remember the script (which was rewritten by the Coen brothers) came in at number five on my top ten unproduced cripts list (I guess it's not going to be unproduced for long).
I'm overjoyed that the script has finally found a home (and Demme can handle the material, as anyone who's seen his romp SOMETHING WILD knows). But I'm concerned with a few things: Demme apparently wants to cast Tea Leoni (DEEP IMPACT) as the wife; Hugh Grant (SMALL TIME CROOKS) as the scheming lawyer); and Geoffrey Rush (SHINE) in the role the trades called "the third lead" (I'm not sure which role it will be since he could fit almost any male character in the script).
I think the original actress in the role of the wife works much better: Julia Roberts. She can cop a 'tude and we still love her. And I think the role of Miles (the lawyer) should be handed to a semi-unknown like the effortlessly charming Jesse L. Martin (now on LAW & ORDER).
The Hollywood Reporter also reported that Jake Hogan and Barbara Benedek had rewritten the Coen's script (which was already a rewrite of a draft by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone).
This is what really sends shivers up my spine. Someone rewriting the Coens? That's like Mariano Rivera giving up a home run in the bottom of the ninth. It happens...
So will INTOLERABLE CRUELTY rise above its problems and spark and shine the way the Coens script did...or will Hollywood once again befoul the work of great writers, a la ENTRAPMENT?
Time will tell.
(If some funky-cool insider can send me the rewritten script so I can do a comparison -- I'd be very grateful.)
-- Darwin Mayflower.
(Source: Hollywood Reporter)
I'm overjoyed that the script has finally found a home (and Demme can handle the material, as anyone who's seen his romp SOMETHING WILD knows). But I'm concerned with a few things: Demme apparently wants to cast Tea Leoni (DEEP IMPACT) as the wife; Hugh Grant (SMALL TIME CROOKS) as the scheming lawyer); and Geoffrey Rush (SHINE) in the role the trades called "the third lead" (I'm not sure which role it will be since he could fit almost any male character in the script).
I think the original actress in the role of the wife works much better: Julia Roberts. She can cop a 'tude and we still love her. And I think the role of Miles (the lawyer) should be handed to a semi-unknown like the effortlessly charming Jesse L. Martin (now on LAW & ORDER).
The Hollywood Reporter also reported that Jake Hogan and Barbara Benedek had rewritten the Coen's script (which was already a rewrite of a draft by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone).
This is what really sends shivers up my spine. Someone rewriting the Coens? That's like Mariano Rivera giving up a home run in the bottom of the ninth. It happens...
So will INTOLERABLE CRUELTY rise above its problems and spark and shine the way the Coens script did...or will Hollywood once again befoul the work of great writers, a la ENTRAPMENT?
Time will tell.
(If some funky-cool insider can send me the rewritten script so I can do a comparison -- I'd be very grateful.)
-- Darwin Mayflower.
(Source: Hollywood Reporter)
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