The Catcher in the Rye

[Caprice]

i want this book to be made a movie by the exact same people that made American Beauty
and
most of all,
a score composed from Thomas Newman




what'd'ya think?

[hitokiri]

who do u think would be good to play the role of holden?

[Animal Boything]

This is one of those things, like when comic book people talk about making Watchmen into a movie, that doesn't sit quite right with me because there would be so much lost in the translation. To me, The Catcher in the Rye defines its medium... it's a testament to the raw power of writing. The most they could hope for is to make a decent film out of a great book. The soul of that story is in the language, and most the language comes from inside the mind of a kid who mostly keeps to himself. It would be a bunch of long shots of him looking depressed with voice-over... and that's if they do a good job.

I'm not saying it should never be done... I guess there's potential there... but it's never gonna be as good as the book, so why go to the trouble?

If somebody wants to prove me wrong, more power to 'em. I'm really more of a movie person than a book person, and I think certain movies like Fight Club and Fear and Loathing surpassed their source material in many ways, but there's certain things that have never translated well, and I see this being one of them.

[Caprice]

Originally Posted by hitokiri

who do u think would be good to play the role of holden?

Id say a character no that makes his "debut" like Cillian Murphy did for 28 days later. Or, in my mind im thinking someone young. Like, they really are 17-18 year old range. But theres not alot of talented actors that young in hollywood. well, then again, i havent seen a movie in a theatre since sin city.

ah, just an idea. im not serious about this really. i mean, just an idea. im not going to write a letter to Paramount or universal.

i agree though, with animal, that this is a book just too good to be a movie. it would have to be made incredibly right, like, so right that a little off would make me sick that i saw it.

oh well

[samralh]

If I am not mistaken, a movie cannot be made of this book. JD Salinger had one of his short stories optioned and made into a movie (Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut) and he hated the adaptation so much that he has blocked any of his stories from being movies, even after his death.

Sure, someone could do an unauthorized adaptation and have there pants sued off or take some liberty like they did in Igby goes down. I think that is as close as it will probably get.

[Animal Boything]

Wes anderson's movies (especially The Royal Tenenbaums) seem to have a lot of Salinger influence, mostly in terms of themes and overall tone. I think that approach works a lot better than trying to use the actual stories, because like I said before that's not going to translate well to film.

[vacant]

Salinger wouldn't even let the book have a picture on the cover, so probably no chance of a film.
Isn't the book banned in American schools cos of the JFK/Reagan thing though?

[Caprice]

No, it was because of my English class that i read this book.

We got our books and i was dreading on reading this book. i had no idea what it was about, i didnt feel like reading some old story that couldve tooken place over 100 years ago from what i knew. i seriously thought this was a book from medieval times.
so,
i open the book and the first page gripped me, it gripped me like nothing else. this book showed me that you didnt have to start any story the conventional way, the cliche way, different is good.

i love this book. it changed my life.

[Animal Boything]

Originally Posted by vacant

Isn't the book banned in American schools cos of the JFK/Reagan thing though?

What the fuck? I would be interested to know exactly what "JFK/Reagan thing" you are talking about.

I read it in school too, but I know there's been a lot of controversy about teaching it for really dumb reasons... puritanical idiots flipping out over the vaguest mention of sex and a few very mild examples of coarse language. The kind of people who want to ban this book are the kind of people who would love to ban any book that doesn't have the words "holy" and "bible" in the title. If they were to read, say, Of Mice and Men, it would probably kill them.

[b.miller]

i thought it was banned with everything was somehow related to the movie Conspiracy Theory just because it was somehow related to the movie Conspiracy Theory... and people are fine with that ban.