Brent L

Check out the site, it's pretty interesting even though there isn't much at all on it right now.

Alright, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is looking forward to this one. Not since Eternal Sunshine has the plot of a film interested me more than this one. Yes, I know that saying that it might be "Eternal Sunshine meets Adaptation" is saying way too much this early, but still, I can't help but to be excited about this film. We need more films like this today if you ask me. Something more original and different than most of the stuff that we see week after week.

It stars Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah, Emma Thompson, and Tony Hale. It's directed by Marc Foster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, Stay) and is written by Zach Helm. This is Zach Helm's first major screenplay, but because of the concept he's being compared to Charlie Kaufman's work. I've talked to a few people who have read the screenplay, and they all have loved it.

PLOT:

Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS Agent whose world is turned upside-down when he begins to hear his life being chronicled by a narrator only he can hear. The Narrator, Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson), a nearly forgotten author of tragic novels, is struggling to complete her latest and best book, unaware that her protagonist is alive and uncontrollably guided by her words. Fiction and reality collide when the bewildered and hilariously resistant Harold hears the Narrator say that events have been set in motion that will lead to his imminent death.

Desperate to escape his fate, Harold seeks help from eccentric English professor Dr. Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman) and finds unexpected comfort in a burgeoning romance with a defiant audit subject, Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Unluckily for Harold, Kay's impatient publishers have unleashed a stern assistant named Penny Escher (Queen Latifah) to help the author finish her book and finish off Harold Crick.

Here is a scan from the latest Giant magazine issue:

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/8748/stf0014ld.jpg

And here are a couple pictures:



And for you guys with a MySpace account, I created a MySpace Group for the movie - Click Here

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that Zach Helm is currently directing a different flick that he also wrote the screenplay for, called Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium that also sounds really interesting. That one stars Jason Bateman, Dustin Hoffman, and Natalie Portman, so I guess Arrested Development stars and Dustin Hoffman are attracted to his work. Here is the plot for that one:

Molly Mahoney (Portman) is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243 year-old eccentric who owns the store (Hoffman), bequeaths the store to her, a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once remarkable Emporium.

PopcornTreeCt

Ehh, I don't think that plot sounds all the great. Eternal Sunshine and Adaptation are a lot less clever than they think they are. We'll see though, I'm willing to give anything original a chance, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Marc Foster is a good director though.

FinkPish

Really? I think it sounds great. I liked both Eternal Sunshine and Adaptation, and if this is in a similar vein, then I'm down.

I'm honestly curious, if Eternal Sunshine and Adaptation aren't that clever, what do you consider to be more clever?

NatrlBornThrllr

I adore Charlie Kaufman.
I think Marc Forster is a great up-and-comer.
This screenplay sounds interesting.
I've been looking forward to this movie for a year or so.

...and the casting of Will Ferrell and Queen Latifah has me scared to fucking death.

-JP

Jackskeleton

Saw it at a test screening. It was pretty interesting to say the least. The ending is very much unpredictible The relationship between the characters is pretty well placed and as odd as you may think, Queen Latifah and Will Ferrell's characters have very little interaction. He really plays it straight for this film.

Oh yeah, Tony Hale plays the same role as he did in Arrested Development. Maggie Gyllenhaal did a lot for eye candy in the film

Ayre

Maggie Gyllenhaal is a great casting.

Queen Latifah. She has an unmistakable quality to her. Unfortunately, casting her is often an unqualified mistake.

Dustin Hoffman. People complain about Deniro. He should be at the top of the list on the thread about bad career choices. From Tootsie to Ishtar.

Hasn't Dustin Hoffman become a movie killer?

A good script and Maggie G are the only things that can save this movie.

Brent L

Thanks a lot for that.

What do you usually think of Charlie Kaufman's work?

Corvin

This was filmed around my school, so I'll be seeing it just for that. If it's actually good, all the better.

fmian

Does the usually moronic Will Ferrell perform well in this? Jim Carrey has turned around since his early days but I just don't 'want' to enjoy watching Ferrell.

OldBoy

i know, look what she did for "Chicago" . too bad, that wasn't a success.

i know, "Tootsie" is in no way considered a good, classic movie.

Ayre

Scott ... From Tootsie (meaning good) to Ishtar(meaning bad).

"casting her is often an unqualified mistake."

OFTEN OFTEN .... Learn to read.

You can always find exceptions, but the difficulty lies in defining the rules.

Not only was your sarcasm weak it was misplaced. Maybe if you weren't so condescending your mistakes wouldn't look so foolish.

Charlie Goose

I think both look very interesting. Hopefully, Ferrell can live up to the promise he showed in Elf and Old School. He certainly bombed out with the kiddie soccer movie and fucking Bewitched.

DonnachaOne

It's like "a Charlie Kaufman movie" meets "a Charlie Kaufman movie"? Oh, the irony.



Don't say things like that, Donald.

bralph

Hurray for Buster Bluth! Can't wait for more adventures of the arm-armed man! Does he have the claw, or the fake hand?

Michael Corvin

Just read about this in Giant as well and am looking forward to it.

The Will Ferrel casting seems a bit out of place though.

Brent L

Well, I saw the trailer for this one when I went to see My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and I really thought it looked great. Have any of you seen it yet? Check out the official site to give it a watch.

I'd love to find a downloadable version of it.

clemente

I read a little bit about the movie before they started filming but hadn't seen or heard much since and then I saw the trailer over the weekend....well it sounded a lot better when I was reading about. The idea maybe more clever than the movie turns out to be, but I'd probably be willing to give it a shot...maybe.

gmal2003

Sounds interesting, the trailer is OK. Ill probably check it out in November.

Decker

This feels like Kaufman-lite. You get the idea that they're trying something "edgy & quirky", but the fact is that it really isn't that original. Any of us has at one time or another thought about having some sort of internal narration running in our head, and this is just an expansion of that concept. Raise your hand if you had ever thought about the concepts of "Being John Malkovich" or "Adaptation" before those scripts were written.

ChefWinduAZ

I saw the trailer this weekend also and I thought it looked pretty good.

CKMorpheus

Trailer is up on Apple.com

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_p...erthanfiction/

MaK10

there are plenty of good images, but here are some spy pics from a friend that was an extra whenthey were filming it a year and a half ago in chicago on the UIC campus

http://www.steaknbj.com/forum/t380-w...-pictures.html

dpz301

seems pretty interesting. i'll have to watch the trailer later.

movieking

I bought this stock on HSX a couple of years ago, and now I can't remember my password

Star Wars Guy

I watched the trailer last night. It looks entertaining, and that's all I ask of any movie.