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I haven't enjoyed anything del Toro has made in over a decade (although the production design of Crimson Peak was nice), so I don't have much faith in him adapting this. And Bradley Cooper is no Tyrone Power.

DiCaprio seemed like a better fit when this was first announced

Del Toro's talents and sensibilities would seem ill-suited to this story. He doesn't have a truly nasty bone in his body, and this is a heckuva nasty book.

whaleallright wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 4:45 am Del Toro's talents and sensibilities would seem ill-suited to this story. He doesn't have a truly nasty bone in his body, and this is a heckuva nasty book.

I very much agree with this and del Toro's statements about it's rating (He said something to the effect that it will be double 'R' or something.) makes me wonder just what he's planning on doing with this. I'm not all that familiar with the story but it cannot be that bad can it?

I mean, it ends with our protagonist reduced into

Spoiler

being a geek in a carnival freak show, biting apart live animals

So, actually, I don't understand claims that GDT isn't a good fit, because doesn't that sound exactly like the kind of ending that would occur in one of his films?

It's worth pointing out that Del Toro's cowriter on this is Kim Morgan, which is the bulk of my excitement for this.

Can someone explain the hoopla over Kim Morgan?

Up until like ten seconds ago I thought he’d co-written this with Kim Newman, which sounded awesome

Would it be too awful to get a little bit of Carter Burwell's Carol score when Blanchett and Mara appear on screen together?

Big Ben wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2019 5:09 amI very much agree with this and del Toro's statements about it's rating (He said something to the effect that it will be double 'R' or something.) makes me wonder just what he's planning on doing with this. I'm not all that familiar with the story but it cannot be that bad can it?

Put it like this: the fact that the 1947 film is so impressive even though they had to bowdlerise the book almost beyond recognition is one of its greatest achievements. A major supporting character was excised altogether, presumably because there was no way of portraying him without returning to pre-Code Freaks territory, and of course all the sometimes pretty graphic sexual material bit the dust too.

For instance, in the 1947 film, Stan Carlisle tries to swindle the wealthy Ezra Grindle by bringing his long-dead fiancée back to life (played by his associate Molly), a plan that goes awry when Molly gets a pang of conscience and reveals all. However, in the novel, the fraud is exposed when

Spoiler

Grindle sexually gropes Molly, and she reacts as you might expect.

In the commentary on Signal One's still forthcoming BD of the 1947 film, Johnny Mains and I draw quite a few comparisons between scenes in the film and equivalents in the book.

Just because he himself doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body doesn’t mean he can’t create or portray a story that has nasty and ugly overtones. That is one of the more sillier suggestions. Look through out his films and you’ll find awful, nasty characters and events. Anyway, I for one will be looking forward to this because Del Toro is one of those filmmakers that very much values the history and tradition of filmmaking.

I think there's a huge amount of scope for a more faithful adaptation of the novel, but it absolutely needs someone with Del Toro's poetic sensibility, as it could easily fall into the trap of crudely sensationalised exploitation.

I also think Bradley Cooper may be a more interesting casting choice than Leonardo DiCaprio, if only because Cooper naturally looks more like a dapper, ultra-slick con man.

FrauBlucher wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 1:16 pm Just because he himself doesn’t have a nasty bone in his body doesn’t mean he can’t create or portray a story that has nasty and ugly overtones. That is one of the more sillier suggestions. Look through out his films and you’ll find awful, nasty characters and events. Anyway, I for one will be looking forward to this because Del Toro is one of those filmmakers that very much values the history and tradition of filmmaking.

Oh, Del Toro is a big softy. There are plenty of nasty moments and characters in his films, but even the grimmest of his films are suffused with a fairy-tale hopefulness and a belief in big positive emotions like love, hope, faith, and the saving power of the imagination.

An acidic story like this is an unlikely project for him, to judge by his previous films. But you're right, there's no reason he can't do it. I've never been a del Toro fan, but I thought his last was easily his best and the closest he's come to making something great, so I'm hopeful. Like you say, he's a traditionalist and likely to reproduce the appropriate style and atmosphere of a noir.

Toni Collette joins the cast with Michael Shannon and Richard Jenkins "circling".

THR

Willem Dafoe has joined in the role intended for Shannon, as the carnival barker— sounds like perfect casting to me

Absolutely - I can easily see that. In fact, Dafoe would be perfect casting in quite a few roles.

Set pics lookin’ very Carol

Obviously setting up the Carol Cinematic Universe (CCU).

And some laugh-to-keep-from-crying bad film history from the Vanity Fair article where that image came was published:

Gross, why is he bringing back that early 00s diffused look to the cinematography

The Road to Perdition, peak late Spielberg look? Would guess it’s a callback to an earlier well-established Hollywood look, without going back too far. Seems very aware of itself as a movie; for a story about artifice it makes a kind of sense.

domino harvey wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 11:57 pm Gross, why is he bringing back that early 00s diffused look to the cinematography

it just looks like the new Matrix movie: shiny and dumb.

But the actual content looks fantastic. Willem Dafoe sounds just like Michael Rooker to me did anybody else think so? I also had no idea David Straithairn was still alive.