BOYS DONT CRY director tries sci-fi
February 1st, 2002
Kimberly Peirce, who directed the extraordinary BOYS DONT CRY, is in final negotiations to direct an adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction novel Childhood's End for Universal Pictures/Beacon Pictures. A screenwriter is expected to come aboard shortly to adapt the project. Published in 1987, Clarke's novel features giant spaceships that suddenly appear over every major city on Earth. The arrival of the mysterious aliens, known as the Overlords, ushers in a half-decade of unprecedented peace and prosperity during which poverty, disease and prejudice are nearly eliminated. Not all is what it seems, though, as this "golden era" is the precursor to a new evolution for mankind, bringing about the end of the human race as we know it.
Considering the amazing film Peirce made with BOYS DONT CRY -- a real, true human drama (one of the few films that can be called that) -- youd think shed get back to work bringing us up close, in her naturalistic style, to something that compels and shocks and saddens. Im only disappointed in filmmakers choices when they moved me or showed me something astounding. And no film -- absolutely none -- could compare to how I felt after I saw BOYS DONT CRY. Just put it this way: Ive cried twice at the movies: once when I saw ELEPHANT MAN and then with BOYS DONT CRY. The tears at BOYS were mostly hidden from the people I was with (I was a little kid when I saw ELEPHANT and blubbered like a true idiot). I was so exhausted and worked over after BOYS that I wanted to go out and get drunk and forget how cruel the world was. A lot of it was Hillary Swanks tragic performance as Teena Brandon, but Peirce had a hand, in her script and her direction. BOYS left me depressed and moody; it reminded me of the vast stupidity of some people and that sort of bumptious, busybody violence others feel in the face of someone different. I still havent watched it again. Maybe Ill work up the strength one day.
I say all this to ask the question: why sci-fi? The story doesnt sound like ATTACK OF THE GIANT SPIDERS! But youd expect something more small-scale dramatic, something that fits in the directors handheld blur style of directing, as her next gig.
So be it.
Well just have to wait and see.
-- Darwin Mayflower (darwinmayflower@yahoo.com)
Considering the amazing film Peirce made with BOYS DONT CRY -- a real, true human drama (one of the few films that can be called that) -- youd think shed get back to work bringing us up close, in her naturalistic style, to something that compels and shocks and saddens. Im only disappointed in filmmakers choices when they moved me or showed me something astounding. And no film -- absolutely none -- could compare to how I felt after I saw BOYS DONT CRY. Just put it this way: Ive cried twice at the movies: once when I saw ELEPHANT MAN and then with BOYS DONT CRY. The tears at BOYS were mostly hidden from the people I was with (I was a little kid when I saw ELEPHANT and blubbered like a true idiot). I was so exhausted and worked over after BOYS that I wanted to go out and get drunk and forget how cruel the world was. A lot of it was Hillary Swanks tragic performance as Teena Brandon, but Peirce had a hand, in her script and her direction. BOYS left me depressed and moody; it reminded me of the vast stupidity of some people and that sort of bumptious, busybody violence others feel in the face of someone different. I still havent watched it again. Maybe Ill work up the strength one day.
I say all this to ask the question: why sci-fi? The story doesnt sound like ATTACK OF THE GIANT SPIDERS! But youd expect something more small-scale dramatic, something that fits in the directors handheld blur style of directing, as her next gig.
So be it.
Well just have to wait and see.
-- Darwin Mayflower (darwinmayflower@yahoo.com)
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