In this morning's calendar section of the LA Times, there's a cover story about Leonardo DiCaprio's acting career...the writer is pointing out that he seems stuck in the "handsome, tortured guy" mode. As proof, he lists his recent roles in Inception, Shutter Island, the Departed, Blood Diamond, etc., and then names the upcoming movie roles that are in development. On the list: Brave New World. Who would he play? Mond? Certainly not Marx or Helmholtz or Foster. He's too old now to play John the Savage. The only role I can imagine him playing is Mond.
Earlier this summer, one of our bloggers (Luzangela on July 21) posted a link to an old Brave New World film -- I've never seen it. It seems very dated and very remote in its connection to the themes of the novel.
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So there making a "Brave New World" movie? When will it be released? I have a feeling that it won't be as excellent as the book... the book REALLY set the bar high. It would be hard to make a movie based on one of the greatest novels ever. To be honest, when I read the first page of "Brave New World", I dreaded reading the rest. It seemed boring. But after chapter 1, I found the book to be very interesting, and kind of scary. Not Stephen King scary, just... a reality check. We have become so dependent on technological advances, it is really disturbing. I hadn't realized this until I finished the summer reading. Could our world turn into Huxley's predestined utopia? I hope not.
ReplyDeleteThis summer has been a real eye-opener for me.
http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/brave_new_world.html
ReplyDeleteI like Ridley Scott.
Thanks for the link!
ReplyDeleteOh, Ford, that article says Leo wants to play John the Savage. Huxley describes John as a young man, and I don't know...DiCaprio isn't young-young any more. I'm going to go put that link into my original post because the article brings up both Orwell and Postman.
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember that post. The comments said the Brave New World film focused mostly on sex, and basically changed the original story. How lame. This adaptation looks promising to be a film with a plot close to the book's story. Also, I wonder why they're changing Lenina's last name to Disney.
ReplyDeleteNever you underestimate the power of cosmetics, Mrs. Fletcher. Never, I say!
ReplyDeleteOh, I missed that Cheyenne! Good catch. Well, my guess would be a nod toward the corporate/consumer themes. Superficiality? Ford isn't quite the big deal that it once was but Disney surely still keeps cranking it out.
ReplyDeleteDoes Disney seem formulaic to you kids? It does to me. Huxley was concerned with the assembly line -- that new method of production that Ford introduced that took the individual out of the equation. Disney seems like that to me. Every big animated story they produce seems roughly the same.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be more plausible that they changed Lenina's name simply because everybody knows who Disney is? They'd make the connection much faster.
ReplyDeleteAw, that's such a unnecessary change in detail! But I do understand why they would decide to do that. Even so, that's an awkward way to call out Disney under the circumstances of why they chose that company name in particular.
ReplyDeleteHmm. What connection are you talking about?
ReplyDeleteLenina and Fanny have the same last name (Crowne) because there's only ten thousand names to split among two thousand million people.
ONLY 2 thousand million people! Wow, the Nine Years War must have been brutal.
I think Raul is talking about the names of the characters and how their names signify their personalities. But by that reasoning, in what way is Lenina related to Disney?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Mrs. Fletcher. All of the Disney movies are roughly the same, but at the same time very different. They all have different stories, but in the end they all say dreams can come true if you pursue them.
ReplyDeleteI mean the connection on who the characters were named after, historically speaking. Not everyone will know the historical background of the names.
ReplyDeleteDo you mean Lenin(a), Marx, Trotsky and Ford?
ReplyDeleteI still am confused as to how the name Lenina Disney would make me think of anything other than Walt Disney, Disneyland, DisneyWorld, Disney Radio, Disney Channel, Disney Store, Downtown Disney and all the other Disney franchises I can't think of right now. I stand by my initial musings on this: it's a corporate identity, it's tied to consumer culture, and Lenina is shallow like that. So it makes sense, I guess. Raul, are we agreeing with one another? I can't tell.
But you know, Cheyenne is right: Disney is a distracting name. It calls to mind things we don't need to be thinking about during the course of the story. "Crowne" is perfectly serviceable in this regard. Why call attention to Disney? It raises issues that are new.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what they plan to do with the "sign of the T" and all that Model T stuff associated with Ford/Lord, the cross, the T...the Model T is so remote in popular imagination, all of that imagery might not work anymore.
Mrs. Fletcher, I'm saying the following: People that watch the movie might not understand the origin of the names. Bernard Marx, for example. I recognized immediately from whom both names were taken. But Lenina Crowne? I know from whom the first name was taken, but not the surname. So rather than have people wondering who she's named after the producers of the movie must have decided to change her surname to something everyone will know. I don't know if the producers meant her new surname to be a metaphor of her personality. In fact, now that I think about it, I doubt the producers said, "Hey, let's give her a name that represents consumer culture!"
ReplyDeleteYou said it yourself, Disney is something everyone will recognize. People would think, "Ok, so she's named after Disney, great. Moving on now."
I understand you, Raul, but I'm not satisfied. Why BOTHER giving her this name if it doesn't mean anything? They are up to something. Stuff like that is not just random or without purpose.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing they're trying to make the film more relevant to today... I wouldn't be surprised if they changed a last name to something like Gates.
ReplyDelete