Essays

Hey, everyone. I generally don’t weigh in on film adaptations in progress. I’m usually full of fear that they’ll go badly wrong. Not this time. Here’s part of what I sent to Steve Sommers, last fall, when I first read his screenplay:

“The script is a spot-on, blow-out-the-walls, edge-of-your-chair, emotionally moving, thrill-packed, dazzlingly fresh, in-your-face, stunningly structured, absolute masterpiece that reinvents the tentpole picture by giving it meaning beyond spectacle and heart that should make it the biggest damn date movie ever.”

I babbled on at greater length, and my enthusiasm is not in the least diminished now that the casting is underway. Steve is going for superb actors who might not be quite how you pictured some of the characters, but there is so much talent in the cast that they are going to add tremendous weight to the picture. I couldn’t be more pleased.

There have been some changes, as there always are, but none of them gave me a moment’s pause. He has condensed the book in as smart a way as it is possible to condense it, combined some characters, and stayed true to the essence of the story. He understands the novel on all levels and knows these characters nearly as well as I know them. I trust him as I never thought I would trust a filmmaker.  Not many A-list directors can also write great screenplays, and of those who can, I’m not aware of any who, as director, has screwed up his own wonderful script. If Steve manages to do that, I promise you I will beat him senseless. He’s bigger than me, and I’ll have to sneak up on him, and I might need chloroform, but I will be relentless. 

So if you like Odd, if he’s special to you as he is to me, let’s be happy. He–and his first film–is in extremely good hands.