A Word From ~ Aldous Huxley

<>=<>=<>

"In fact," said Mustapha Mond, "you're claiming the right to be unhappy." 

"All right then," said the Savage defiantly, "I'm claiming the right to be unhappy." 

Page To Film :: Brave New World

Welcome once more bibliophiles and film buffs alike to the latest installment in my ongoing and completely irrelevant project, Page To Film!

Today's adaptation casting is for none other than the classic Dystopian novel by Aldous Huxley, "Brave New World" (only took five years ...).

I remember reading BNW my senior year in high-school and just being blown away by what I still believe to be Huxley's prophetic vision of the future.

The struggle of the main characters to choose between the pain and complexities of a life of meaning or else sacrifice their humanity for a counterfeit existence of stability captivated my naturally cynical heart. 

The foreboding conclusion still haunts me with each re-read and it remains in the top 10 of my most favorite books of all time.

While I am aware that a potential re-make is on the table and those currently rumored to be attached are Ridley Scott(!) and Leonardo DiCaprio (meh...), I will construct this casting as if no such project exists and will reflect only my own casting opinions and not that which I think would be most appealing to Hollywood.

<<>> Cast <<>>
{warning: mild spoilers below}

(Reservation and Post-Reservation)

John the Savage

Tom Hardy

If there's one word to describe John, it's intensity.
You need an actor who could really swing from John's highs to lows convincingly - whether whipping himself in moral self-cleansing, whispering Shakespearean sonnets in admiration, or verbally warring with Mond, there has to be always a slow burning fire behind John's eyes, a restrained passion waiting to be provoked into a fierce blaze.
Were either Kenneth Branagh or Christian Bale a bit younger, they would have been my first choices. As it is though, I settled on Hardy because he seems to be the most easily believable in the role, more than able to convincingly portray the wide spectrum of emotions John feels as the tormented advocate of humanity.
Plus Hardy cleans up real nice even while maintaining a rough, restrained countenance that I imagine a "savage" such as John would have. 

Lenina Crowe

Emily Blunt

Two Reasons why Emily Blunt should be Lenina:
1. She's gorgeous 2. She can act
Longer explanation: Emily has always struck me as someone who can really sell a complex female character. Lenina is not an especially likable character but with such abnormal "quirks" such as dating only one man at a time, you sympathize with her and pity her life of shallow pleasures and self-inflicted ignorance. That being said, I hate the idea of a helpless, victim Lenina; she has to be played as being powerful, but with a power of seduction which she uses not out of ambition, but of fear/defense.
I think Ms. Blunt would be the best choice and would ground the character who too easily could be (badly) played by a swoony, doe-eyed broad with immpressive measurements but no acting chops.

 Bernard Marx

Giovanni Ribisi

Bernard's character always was the hardest for me to reconcile as a reader.
Maybe it was because I identified with him more than I liked - a restless outsider in the beginning who questions the status quo, and later as a man who, as his 15 minutes of fame dial down to nothingness, desperately courts the favor of a society he once felt mistreated him.
I felt almost betrayed by his about-face - duped by the superficial questioning that so quickly turned to pandering when he had the prestige and accolades to satisfy his ego.
Ribisi seems a good choice to work that angle of fluctuating sense of inferiority/superiority. I also wanted Bernard to be more slight in stature and less intimidating - playing off the rumor in the book that he was actually a mistake, an Alpha with the physical characteristics of Beta due to some chemical-conditioning oversight before his "decanting" or birth.

 Helmholtz Watson

Henry Cavill

"Did you ever feel as though you had something inside you that was only waiting for you to give it a chance to come out? Some sort of extra power that you aren’t using..."
 Helmholtz Watson is the Man's Man of BNW society and yet, like Bernard, he has begun to question its validity.
Unlike Bernard however, Helmholtz's convictions are not tied up in the conditions of his acceptance - while Bernard questions a society that has ignored him, Helmholtz questions a society that has welcomed him with open arms, indulged his every pleasure, and yet left him empty.
I like the idea of Cavill as Helmholtz because he is very much an "Alpha" in looks and presence (amirite ladies? ^-^) but he also has an intelligent air about him and would be believable as an inhumanly perfect, dogmatically resistant, budding intellectual.

Mustapha Mond
Ben Kingsley

In this day and age, only the great Sir Ben Kingsley could do all proper justice to a film portrayal of Mustapha Mond. Although both understanding and sympathetic, it is Mond who is ultimately the enabler of the BNW society, the censor of humanity, and supreme controller of the world.
Having satisfied the masses with diversion and security at the cost of all personal freedoms, Mond acknowledges the shallow and meaningless existence of those who live under the dominion of the caste society of BNW. He argues however that such a sacrifice of individuality must be made to preserve the human race and achieve stability. I'm convinced that Kingsley would be nothing short of brilliant in this role - the role of a benevolently restrictive leader would suit him like a glove.

Fanny Crowe
Amanda Seyfried

Fanny is the archetypal "it" girl within the BNW society.
Beautiful, superficial, and completely satisfied with her role as sexual object, Fanny is concerned for her friend Lenina when she is not promiscuous enough and cautions her against being too "anti-social". Seyfried plays shallow well (see: Mean Girls) and would be a smart choice for a sexy futuristic gal-pal.

Linda
Mia Farrow

Mia was one of the first persons to come to mind when I imagined what Linda might look like. Although I know in the book she is described as fat and ugly, I rather liked the idea of a more fragile Linda - one who, due to her hard life after being lost and abandoned, is considerably older in looks than her former lover back home. I like the idea of her sticking out like a sore thumb not so much because she is unspeakably ugly, but because her looks have degraded in a manner no one in the "non-savage" society would recognize as normal and so would label such proof of natural aging as "disgusting". And of course it goes without saying, Ms. Farrow is an incredibly talented actress and would do excellently.

The Director - aka Thomas "Tomakin"
Liam Neeson

Director of the Hatchery and Conditioning Center in London, Thomas is a bigwig in the BNW society. I can't help but think that Neeson would just nail the rigid, bullying bureaucrat schtick and oh how satisfying would be his downfall when his shameful secret is uncovered for the whole of society. And I love this pick even more when I imagine how he would handle his character in relation to the character of Linda.


>>>>+<<<<


<> Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more! <>

Page to Film :: A Room With A View

Hello there and welcome to the latest installment of my fantasy film casting pet project! If you're new here, I like to imagine and cast for my favorite books if they were to be made (or remade) into a film version.

Today we have a new favorite of mine: E.M. Forester's A Room with a View. 

I first read Forester's A Passage to India and was just mesmerized by how easily I could just completely submerge myself into his written world; the people, the places, descriptions...everything just breathed with authenticity...there was hardly any disbelief to suspend.

So I was quite prepared to enjoy A Room with a View and - not surprisingly - I did so very much. :)

Set in the Edwardian Era, the story follows the travels and romantic misadventures of Lucy Honeychurch as she tries to tread safely into the waters of an adulthood within traditional society while also nursing unconventional ideals and curiosities.

<><><><><>

My Casting choices are as follows:

{p.s. my cast is a tad "old" for the story, but I just can't change it - they're too perfect! ;D)

 <><><><><>

 Lucy Honeychurch

A young Englishwomen who is unsure of herself 

and the world she is ever so hesitatingly curious to experience.

Elisabeth Moss

Charlotte Bartlett
Lucy's traditionalist spinster cousin who chaperones 
her on their trip to Italy.

Dame Judi Dench

Vicar Beebe
A friendly neighbor to the Honeychurch, Mr. Beebe leases his cottage to 
the Emerson's and tries to facilitate their acceptance within the community.

Stanley Tucci

Miss Lavish
A mediocre armchair novelist, Miss Lavish makes friends with Lucy and 
Cousin Charlotte while traveling in Italy and yet only adds to the mischief of the trip.

Penelope Wilton 

Mr. Emerson
An old, antisocial freethinker, Mr. Emerson is a rough-around-the-edges Englishman who has no patience for the ridiculous conventions of traditional English life.

Ian McKellen

George Emerson
Meeting Lucy and her cousin while traveling with his father in Italy, George is as deviant as his father in opinion and scandalously honest by conservative English standards.

Mark Duplass

Cecil Vyse
A comically pretentious, yet fashionable young Londoner, Cecil is smitten by Lucy in Rome and follows her back to Surrey where he proposes to her for the third time.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Freddy Honeychurch
Lucy's younger, cheeky brother who makes sport of all 
involved in the awkward situation.

Andrew Garfield

Mrs. Honeychurch
Lucy's loving but cautious mother.

Sinead Cusack

<><><><><>

I know there are many who would cry foul to this casting round up (especially since a much younger yet still brilliant Judi Dench held the role of Miss Lavish in the 1985 film adaption ) but flawed as it might be, these were the faces that fit when I read the book.
Anywho, there be my dream cast. Care to share yours? :)

Day of The Prez

"I never did give anybody hell. 

I just told them the truth and they thought it was hell."

<> Harry S. Truman <>

Truman was a boss, ladies and gents.

...

True story.

{half way through McCullough's biagraphy and -loving- it!}

The Better Ones & An Ending

As it has been nearly forever and a day since I have last visited here with intention to post, I thought I should finish the year out responsibly. Thankfully, a few rolls of recently developed film from my summer pet project {actual film photography via my vintage/refurbished minolta XG 1 camera}, I have a bit more meat this time than the typical literary blurb and corresponding image. 

Be gently dear reader...I am still as of yet a freshling to this film venture...

 

Here are the better of my first fruits:

{be sure to click on the images for full resolution}

'Til next year, friends...❤ 

<> the effigy <>

 | via |

...

God is more than a face

that waits

pulseless

behind Death's

torn

veil

...

Debussy, Rain, & a Misplaced Homesickness

Many apologies for being so negligent...the external has become a demanding mistress and keeps me away from my more pleasant pursuits of beauty and truth and goodness. 

><>><<><

However, while I might steal away for yet a moment, I have found for you a song.

Please enjoy Debussy and his lovely/perfect rainy-day accompanying masterpiece that is Arabesque no.1:

A Word From ~ Frederick Buechner

<><>><<><>

"We have seen more than we let on, even to ourselves.
Through some moment of beauty or pain, some sudden turning of our lives, through some horror of the twelve o'clock news, some dream, some breakfast on the first and last of all our days, 

we catch glimmers at least of what the saints are blinded by. 

Only then, unlike the saints, more pigs always than heroes, we tend to go on as though nothing has happened.

To go on as though something  has happened even though we are not sure what is was or just where we are supposed to go with it, is to enter that dimension of life that religion is a word for."

<><>><<><>

{via my recently finished copy of Buechner's "Alphabet of Grace"}

Please Enjoy ~ John Green

My favorite bit: 

"...The Ven Diagram of boys who don't like smart girls and boys you don't want to date is a circle."

Virtual fist bump to you, Mr. Green.
Interweb crush of the week, fo sho. ♥

A Word From ~ e.e.cummings

i will wade out
                        till my thighs are steeped in burning flowers
I will take the sun in my mouth
and leap into the ripe air
                                       Alive
                                                 with closed eyes
to dash against darkness

Being INTJ - A Disclaimer

Poking fun at myself again...^-^

Perspective

Just think how happy you would be if you lost everything you have right now... 

...and then got it back again.

<><><>
Frances Rodman

{the power of conviction...one of God's greatest gifts...}

I Am Not Where I Ought To Be

Discontent.
I am eaten away by this plague of comparison.
I move my hand between my forehead and that of the latest adversary to my true joy.
If I fall short - disappointment.
If I come out ahead - disappointment.

I am exhausted by life.
This barrage of faces and needs…
…constantly checking a word, a look,
For subtlety, context, connotation...

I am weary of caring.
Of doubt.

My heart,
Though never brash,
Was once sure in those things expressed.
Now it crawls humbly before the world,
Asking meekly for permission to form any harebrained thought.

Release comes in fits and spasms;
Like the tremors of the insane.
I purge my woes unevenly on the page
And after a sad look of recognition,
They are orphaned and buried.

I toe the lines set out for me without question.
Spread thin by the old mischievous inklings to rub against the grain...

I am tired.
I am tepid.
I am slow.

My limbs hang like shackles.
My wrists betray my frailty.

Sometimes...
In sparse moments of mental clarity...
I reach out to those beauties just beyond the lines of reality...
But they have forgotten my name.
I have been too long away.

In my play at responsibility
I have replaced the urgency for truth
With the stability of compromise.

I have worked so hard to be understood.
I have sacrificed much to avoid the hurtful tone of dismissal.

But to whom will I answer to when my heavy head lies loose and unhinged...?
What goodness will be found after I have let go the last whim...?

I wish…once more…to be bold…
To speak good in haste:
Without heed to convention,
Or need of sanction.

Fear and fear and doubt and compromise...
...I am not where I ought to be.

<><><>

{{simultaneously trying to be both a better person and writer. it is no small task...}}

War is older than Mankind...

...But it's younger than Grace...

<><><>

Joe Pug

Happy Memorial Day...

Just a 'lil bit a'nothin'

>>>>=<<<<

Fun video that came via my wonderful monthly frankie newsletter. ^-^

Enjoy!

In this world you will have trouble...

  
The world 

it can be so beautiful...

...but oh how quick it is to punish us 

when we think we know the depths 

of its cruelty...

Feline and Sir "So-Fine"

Just Sir Sean Connery inspecting a cat's paw...

----<><><>----

Happy Weekend, folks.

...<>><<>...

...

that I can be comforted by the hand that chokes me

is the great irony of sin

...

{somber ponderings on the human condition stirred up by the words of O'Connor, Lewis, et al.}

{perhaps I need to take time to reread the Anne of Green Gables series again...}

A(nother) Word From ~ Flannery O'Connor & The Friday that Brought Good

"The poet is traditionally a blind man, but the Christian poet, and storyteller as well, is like the blind man whom Christ touched, who looked then and saw men as if they were trees, but walking. This is the beginning of vision, and it is an invitation to deeper and stranger visions that we shall have to learn to accept if we want to realize a truly Christian literature.” 

 <> O'Connor <>

{today we remember...Acts 17:27-28}

Please Enjoy ~ Melody Gardot

...for no particular reason at all, darling...