I will also say again, for the record, that I have been very blessed and am eternally grateful that the movies brought so many people to the books. That is a wonderful thing movies can do for books, and all authors dream about getting that opportunity. Very few actually get to experience it. I just wish, well . . . You can read below, and see exactly what I was wishing and worrying about, back in 2009!
The Book Thief Movie Script
Download File: https://miimms.com/2vIls0
Kronos: This is rather important if you want to preserve the possibility of a franchise, as Kronos is the master villain in the series. Having said that, I can see making a script that works with only a passing mention of Kronos, but at the very least, it should be Ares manipulating Luke, and there should be some question at the end of the book: Why would Ares do this? Was he working alone? This would at least leave some opening to introduce Kronos later.
Annabeth: She is meant to have a backstory with Luke. She is conflicted about her feelings toward Percy because of this. Their romance in the script is too obvious, too quick, and not nearly interesting enough. Where is the tension, the doubt, the conflict? And in terms of the series arc, getting them together in the first installment throws out four more books worth of character development. It would be much better if they kiss at the end, but it is still very unclear whether they are actually together. It should be more of a tease.
Liesel MemingerThe protagonist of the story is an adopted girl on the verge of adolescence, with blonde hair. Her eyes, however, are brown. She is fostered by the Hubermanns after her biological father "abandons" their family due to being a Communist, her brother dies, and her mother is forced to send her to a foster home to avoid Nazi persecution. Liesel is the "book thief" referred to in the title because Liesel is fascinated by the power of words. Liesel stole books from a gravedigger, a bonfire, and the mayor's wife, Ilsa Hermann.
A film adaptation was released on 8 November 2013.[7] It was directed by Brian Percival. Michael Petroni wrote the script. It stars Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson as Hans and Rosa Hubermann, Ben Schnetzer as Max Vandenburg, Nico Liersch as Rudy Steiner, and Sophie Nélisse as Liesel Meminger. John Williams wrote the music soundtrack.[8] Much of the movie was filmed in Görlitz, Germany.
Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nélisse) becomes a book thief while living in Germany during WWII. The young girl finds a welcome release in the written word, and shares her escape with those closest to her, including a Jewish refugee (Max Vandenburg) hiding in her home.
Death: I have seen a great many things. I've attended all of the world's worst disasters and worked for the greatest of villains, and I've seen the greatest wonders, but it's still like I said it was: No one lives forever.When I finally came for Liesel, I took selfish pleasure in the knowledge that she had lived her ninety years so wisely. By then, her stories had touched many souls, some of whom I came to know in passing. Max, whose friendship lasted almost as long as Liesel-almost.In her final thoughts, she saw the long list of lives that merged with hers: her three children, her grandchildren, her husband. Among them, lit like lanterns, were Hans and Rosa, her brother, and the boy whose hair remained the colour of lemons forever.I wanted to tell the book thief she was one of the few souls that made me wonder what it was to live. But in the end, there were no words, only peace.The only truth I truly know is that I am haunted by humans.
"When I got the part, it felt like I had to take the movie because I loved the script so much and loved my character, and I just wanted to send the message to other people," she said. "So I took the part and gave up gymnastics."
Just started reading this book (it was about time) and I already love it! I am generally disappointed by movie adaptations (I think the Lovely Bones was the worst!), but I enjoyed your review and will definitely be watching the movie in this case! ?
Genre: Drama/CrimePremise: An Australian heroin-addict prisoner escapes to Mumbai to disappear, before cozying up with the local mob to make ends meet, and falling in love with a fellow criminal.About: Shantaram is widely considered to be one of the top 10 books that have not been adapted into a movie or a TV show. After 20 years, all that TV streaming money finally resulted in an adaptation (starring Charlie Hunman, release date TBD). But I recently learned that Eric Roth did a feature screenplay adaptation of the book. Once I found that out, I had to read it!Writer: Eric Roth (based on the novel by Gregory David Roberts)Details: 146 pages
Sophie: I actually didn't read the book until after making the film. So, I really didn't feel any pressure since I didn't know much about the book, other than it was a bestseller. Sorry, Markus. But I think that was better because I could just read the script and do my best. I did read the book about two months ago and thought it was the most amazing book. I was really surprised when I met Markus for the first time in Berlin. I was shocked on how young he was, I was sure he was in his fifties.
The movie is about the innocence of youth, as well as the travesties of war. Liesel is seen growing from an almost illiterate young girl, to a voracious book reading young woman. Her father Hans teaches her how to read. She goes on, in much later years, to be a prolific author at the encouragement of a young Jew and kindred spirit she befriends (Max), who the Hubermanns hide in their basement. Her life is full of love, which includes her devoted friend, Rudy, accordion music, words and books. And yet this same life is filled with hate, heartache and major loss due to the war.
Liesel also steals books in the movie and lies about it, hence the title, on three separate occasions. She is not punished for these crimes but rewarded by her father by keeping her secrets and reading the books with her.
The movie is inspired by The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean, a best seller expanded from an article in the New Yorker. It involves mankind's fascination for these extraordinary flowers, the blood that has been spilled in collecting them, their boundless illustration of Darwin's ideas about natural selection and a contemporary orchid hunter in Florida who is a strange, compelling man. Considered simply like that, the book might have inspired a National Geographic special.
So you see how the movie could have been a doc. But the title is a pun, referring both to Darwinian principle of adaptation and the ordeal of adapting a book into a screenplay. Although its soul is comic, and it indulges in shameless invention, it is also the most accurate film I have seen about this process -- exaggerated, yes, but true. We meet Charlie Kaufman and his (fictitious) twin brother Donald, both played by Nicolas Cage, who finds subtle ways so that we can always tell them apart. They're like the twins in the old joke, one pessimistic, one optimistic ("There must be a pony in here somewhere").
Charlie sweats blood over his screenplay. His copy of the book is thick with Post-It notes, the text painted with yellow and red high-lighters. He has highlighted about everything. In a sneaky way, a good part of the movie is just Charlie reading the book to us. Then he develops an erotic fixation with the author Susan (Meryl Streep), masturbating while imagining her bending tenderly to administer to him. He even flies to New York to meet her, but is paralyzed with shyness.
The thrust of the movie as a whole is melodramatic and pious too (the director and script writer are on the right side, have conventional values) but it is not Hollywoodized nor does it exploit the camps. The film shows death everywhere; the picturesque town our characters live in is bombed to smithereens. Its unspoken question: why do people allow others to enforce a desolate life upon them.
Which is of course true and probably works well in book format, but other than Liesel's growth from a young girl to a less young girl, the movie lacks requisite character arcs to build drama. Narration by a heaven-occupying voice of death is an interesting addition, but only serves to further underline human insignificance.
The chances of this little drama doing all that well in America are frankly somewhat slight. It has no real movie stars, as Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson aren't exactly box office draws and its lead, Sophie Nélisse, is a complete unknown. The film is based on a somewhat popular novel by Markus Zusak and 20th Century Fox is clearly hoping to pull those who read the book and/or used it in their book club discussions (be it for educational or recreational purposes) into the theaters starting this Friday. The film debuts in limited release on November 8 on just four screens, although I assume the picture will expand at least somewhat wide over the rest of the year, especially if it ends up an Oscar contender.
Marshall Thornton has an MFA from UCLA in screenwriting. He spent ten years writing spec scripts and has been a semi-finalist or better in the Nicholl, Samuel Goldwyn, American Accolades, One-In-Ten and Austin Film Festival contests. As a novelist, he writes the Lambda Award-winning Boystown Mysteries. The eight book series follows the cases of a gay detective in turbulent 1980s Chicago. Marshall has also been known to write the occasional romantic comedy. You can find him online at marshallthorntonauthor.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mrshllthornton 2ff7e9595c
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