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East of Eden remake in the works?
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. During the AMAD run I caught a few Elia Kazan films that blew me away (like PANIC IN THE STREETS), but of his stuff I had, of course, seen EAST OF EDEN thanks to being one of only a few films to star icon James Dean. I don't think there's much wrong with the movie, but Universal is ramping up another adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel to be directed by JOHN ADAMS helmer Tom Hooper and scripted by Christopher Hampton (ATONEMENT, DANGEROUS LIAISONS. Now, I loved John Adams... great show and I also quite liked ATONEMENT, so I have no problem with the pairing. It's going to be difficult for Hooper to find Dean's like, though. I'm not very familiar with Steinbeck, I'm sorry to say, so I have no idea how faithful the 1955 movie was. Hooper promises a dark film full of sex and violence as well as a celebration of love and optimism, so maybe it could be a bit harder than the original film. You may remember hearing rumblings about this movie a while back, still at Universal, but with Ron Howard directing. It will be an Imagine Entertainment movie, but Howard chose not to sit in the chair this time out. What do you folks think?
Readers Talkback
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Hey Hollywood, 'nuff with the remakes already! A lot of us have been waiting for a movie version of Harry Harrison's novel for YEARS...
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Yeah, that would be cool.
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...just because it's a pretty easy book to read. If you enjoy reading books, and have never read Steinbeck at all, I think Eden is a great place to start. It's the first book of his I ever read and, having finished a few others of his, I feel he has a distinctly descriptive and naturalistic style that pulls me in effortlessly.
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...that's the alternative history/dinosaur book, about Earth split between regular humans, and the evolved sentient lizards that use biotechnology. Naturally they go to war. 'Twas the start of a great trilogy!
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Hey all. East of Eden is my favorite novel ever and I am psyched that Hollywood is looking to remake the film. The Dean film in 1955 basically focused on the last 1/3 of the novel, while the miniseries from the early-mid 1980s was much more faithful to the film, albeit sanitized for broadcast TV. The story is very powerful and, personally, I think a cinematic treatment is warranted.
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but I have very little faith in Hollywood to do anything right, frankly.
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That would be sweet.
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East of Eden is a great novel and they'll finally be able to make a film version with a real whore house. Sweet! I wonder how they'll handle the Lee character? He's the Chinese house servant who other people make fun of constantly for being Chinese, even though he's way smarter than all of the white people. I hope the movie follows the book as close as possible.
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whether "Panic In The Streets" inspired Morrisseys lyrics for the Smiths "Panic"...I mean we know he was a James Dean nut, so it makes sense that after watching East Of Eden he would look at other Kazan flicks. I'll have to get on this one...
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Jan. 14, 2009, 8:54 a.m. CST
Movie was mostly ONLY about the LAST 90 PAGES of the book....
by Randfilms
The book is frigging giant. They go through several generations and is sooo rich. So if they do a remake, there is A LOT that the new movie could include. This would and could be cool.
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from FNL? anyone?
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I always thought they should make the first half of the book, which to my knowledge, has never been filmed. No CW actors please!
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I saw the headline and came into the talkback ready to lambast the decision to remake this movie. Then I saw who is involved and realized that they are taking this project very seriously. The John Adams crew with the DL/Atonement scripter? I'm officially intrigued. Bring it on.
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but this movie would have to be about 8 hours long, as the book is about 700 pages and fucking brilliant... I love Steinbeck and he is master of the Depression era...I hope we get this and I hope it stays true to the novel.
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...and hardly overlap characters or story lines...central are the two Cain and Abel type brothers of course...
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...a "remake". EAST of EDEN is a book, so this is a new film adaptation of EAST of EDEN. When a theater launches a new production of HAMLET nobody says that it's a HAMLET "remake".
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It's kind of a bitch standing in for an icon. Even though the movie only covers the second half of the book I still think the story has already been properly told.
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The dude might have a passing resemblance to Dean, but none of the danger, none of the charisma, none of the raw emotion.
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She's pretty much the most vile, despicable incarnation of pure evil in female form ever committed to the page. Like someone else noted, the Kazan version only covers about the final 1/3 of Steinbeck's sprawling multi-generational novel. A faithful movie would have to be about 6 hours long, so I'm skeptical it can be done...
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And you all know I'm right.
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Who can forget Rosie O'Donnell in all that S & M gear?
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ZZZZZZZZ
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His books are some of the most depressing and hopeless pieces of bilge that I've ever read. Apocalypse Now is a romantic comedy compared to a Steinbeck book. He was a very sad, unhappy man. I did like most of Of Mice and Men, but only a masochist would end that story by having the friend of the lovable buffoon be forced to shoot him. Terrible.
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dean reincarnated
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I'm sorry did everyone get tired of suggesting Joseph Gordon Levitt for everything?
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As stated above, the movie only covered the last third of the book. Cal (Dean's character) isn't the main focus of the novel, it's Adam Trask's story (the Raymond Massey character). I remember the 1981 mini-series did a pretty good job conveying the novel which I had read out of curiosity after seeing the Dean movie. Unfortunately, it's been so long since I've seen it anywhere, the only specific thing I can recall about the mini is that Lee Holdridge wrote a pretty good score although not in the class of Rosenman's iconic themes.
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Fantastic writer. I particuraly liked Cannery Row.
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...would make the best film I think too...short, tight, beautiful and intense.
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James Dean is a Gay God
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Since the original, while good, is only half the book, and has since become a James Dean movie. <br><br> The filmmakers shouldn't worry themselves on "filling James Dean's shoes" but instead simply conveying the characters that Steinbeck created. <br><br> For anyone who hasn't read the book, definitely check it out. Very cinematic.
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What a strange criticism of the man. The critiques I usually hear of Steinbeck address his abilities as a writer, which, aside from his novels of moment, weren't as great as they're propped up to be. Judging by his journals (at least the ones available to read), he wasn't ceaselessly happy OR unhappy, and similar in temperament to Samuel Hamilton in East of Eden. (Which fits, because that character is his grandfather, by Steinbeck's admission.) But I suppose only unhappy people can have or record difficult times, eh? (When he accepted his Nobel, Steinbeck railed against the destructive fear he saw driving the 20th Century and said, "[T]he writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit--for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love.") Moreover, calling an artist unhappy is to judge him or her by a false standard: as if "happiness" as a personality trait is always desirable. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing another hundred pages of East of Eden adapted for the screen. Maybe Robert Duvall as Caleb Trask? I wish James Coburn was still around.
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Please don't do this guys. And please not James Franco. He's definitely no James Dean.
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Or is that something else brilliant?
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Seriously.
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...was it loosely based upon this novel?
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The 1955 movie is really different than the book. The book is one of the best stories I've ever read. I don't think anything less than a mini-series could capture the scope of the book.
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hooray for Rosie O'Donnell in a dominatrix outfit!
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