In light of recent attempts by James Franco, do you think this novel can (or should) be adapted to film? How would you do it?
>the novel's main appeal is its prose
>"let's make a movie out of it"
gee I wonder how that would go
>>69789847
Most of the prose is just descriptions of the landscape anyway.
>>69789847
American pyscho was also written with the intent of being prose yet they managed to adapt it, nothing is unfilmable, especially not a gritty western which is all you have to take into account, not the actual fucking way it's written you clod.
Get Paul Thomas Anderson to direct it. That's my advice.
>>69790199
This
Also, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis for the score
>that half hour long test footage that James Franco shot
It's honestly the most amateur shit I've ever seen. It unironically looks and sounds worse than a high school project.
I'm not against the adaptation of this, especially with the names thrown around in the past like Ridley Scott and Michael Haneke, but please for good of christ don't let Franco do this.
>>69790490
This. It was so fucking awful. I like Franco, but he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near this.
>>69789847
The prose evoked some pretty amazing imagery, which I think a competent director could really bring to life. I think the two things that could really make a Blood Meridian adaptation stand out would be the beauty with which its filmed and the performance of whoever plays The Judge. Nailing those two things would go a long way toward a 10/10 adaptation.
>>69789113
Part of the whole point of the novel is how nondescript "the kid" is. Casting an actor as him would ruin it. Which is why it can't be filmed.
>>69789113
>How would you do it?
I'd get James Franco to star. James Franco can play every character.
I'd also replace the dialogue with Franco's poetry.
>>69790765
I think Vincent D'Onofrio is just about as perfect a Judge that can be cast as of right now. Think of a more upbeat and smiley version of Kingpin.
>>69789113
No it shouldn't be made. You can't match the book's imagery and no studio would match the violence either. That's before you even tackle the problems of casting and the money that would need to be injected into production for a period movie of this scale.
>>69789113
There is no way that a 1:1 adaptation of BM could come out in today's culture
>Native Americans are murdering savages
>wanton murder of Hispanics
>main villain is both a child molester and homosexual
>>69789113
Hire PTA or Inarritu to direct
Cast Daniel Day-Lewis as Judge Holden
>>69791032
>>69791049
Haneke's proposition was that it be made into a mini-series. I don't think there's anything in the novel that HBO wouldn't touch.
>>69791111
Holden needs to be fucking big, and DDL would probably give himself a heart attack eating up to scale.
A film version would need to have an almost otherworldly quality to it in order to do the source material justice. Haven't watched a lot of PTA stuff, so I don't know if that's his thing.
Suttree would've made an excellent film twenty years ago - Has /tv/ read that one?
>>69791114
It's too cinematic for TV. Someone adapting Blood Meridian and not putting it on a big screen would be criminal. There's also a growing trend of bad writing creeping into television series now that it's seen as a viable option to film - entire episodes for filler to stretch out viewership. I don't think Blood Meridian can be adapted but if it ever is, I'd prefer it to be a 3 hour epic that I can see in a cinema.
>>69789847
you're a pussy
>>69789113
I wouldn't trust anyone but the coens to adapt anything mccarthy related.
BM is in my top 5 favourite novels but one of the problems I imagine it would run into in making it into a film is its portrayal of indigenous people.
I imagine the Apache, Comanche and Yakima nations (I think it's those three) might complain at their portrayal in a new film of the book.
>>69791639
Abos complain about literally anything that pertains to them. The bitchiest race on this planet, by far.
>>69789113
i think the best way to adapt any novel these days is through a 6-12 episode hbo tv series. who would i get to do it? Cary fucking Fukunaga with McCarthy himself handling script duties.
>>69791769
This is the best possible eventuality we could ideally hope for, which means we'll never see anything close to it happening.
>>69791667
They make up about 3-4% of the United States so they have to complain to get heard.
>>69790102
>comparing Blood Meridian to American Psycho
Get a load of this pleb
>>69792013
This, American Psycho is much better than anything that hack McCarthy has written.
>>69792058
I like American Psycho but it's pulp trash compared to Blood Meridian.
>>69790199
As much as I think that would be cool, I doubt he'd do it. He already did a period piece with TWBB. And he adapted Inherent Vice, which was a tough experience for him.
Personally, I think someone like Todd Field should do it. He originally wanted to but it got lost in the fold. He's greta with characters and film dynamics.
If not him though, I'd go with Jon Glazer.
>>69790344
Duh.
>>69791835
indeed. i'm okay with not seeing a film or tv adaptation of the novel. i've reread it twice and look forward to doing so again in a couple of years. i think Suttree would make a great tv series as well, but no one is really calling out for that one. i personally dug The Counselor, warts and all, but i wouldn't be amiss if McCarthy veered away from any more tv/film work.
>>69792155
>Blood Meridian is good
Fuck off America, stop trying to propagate this myth. 5 fantastic lines does not make up for the remainder of that piece of shit
>>69792815
Name 5 books that you think are good.
>>69791114
I dunno, swinging babies around by their ankles and bashing them into rocks might be pushing it.
>>69793294
That's only a small anecdote. Obviously they don't have to include absolutely everything. The depictions of the scalpings and beheadings and rotting limbs and whatnot would be perfectly safe on something like HBO.
>>69792155
Thats where you're fucking wrong
>>69790490
BAN FRANCO
BAN FRANCO
BAN FRANCO
..and seth rogen
>>69791639
the problem is that the comanches were really like how they were portrayed in the book. they built an empire(or as close as stone age nomads can come to having an empire) by brutalizing everyone in the southern great plains into submission. they even beat spain and forced their colonists to abandon texas, which led eventually to the U.S. conquest of the southwest
>>69790490
>mfw the guy who owns the rights to the screen adaptation has said he would rather die than hand them over to Franco after watching him direct movies
