I'm
still recommending Michael Cunningham's "The
Hours" and "Interpreter of Maladies"
by Jhumpa Lahiri. The memories of
both novels walk along with me for over two months
now.
I don't read much. The shoot (an internal one so
far) is the mortal enemy of any kind of mental concentration
not related to the next day's agenda. Anyway, there
are two books that have managed to open their way
through such a solid wall as this. The first one
is "Asylum" by Patrick McGrath.
It's definitely the novel that has arisen in me
the greatest desire to turn it into a feature film
-wasn't it because someone (Paramount) had the idea
before I did. Mondadori informs me that Jonathan
Demme is now in charge of directing the project.
Jonathan
has been shooting for two months in Paris a remake
of modernist classic "Charade"
by Donen. Since I'm about to start shooting
"Masurca Fogo" with Pina Bausch
in Paris, I decide to pay a visit to the set
for the new "Charade." Jonathan is still
the same warm and affectionate friend I met at the
Rio Festival back in 1985. He introduces
me to Mark Wahlberg (astonishment), who plays the
role Cary Grant mastered 40 years ago, and
to Tandee Newton, in the character of Audrey
Hepburn. Demme tells me that his will be a very
open remake. It figures!
Miss Newton captures me in the no more that
three shots I witness, while his mate, old Marky
Mark with his underwear showing out of his pants,
is still a mystery to me -why is this mean-looking
guy with his incipient double-chin stealing the
best roles from Matt Damon and the other
actors from his generation?
Demme tells me that he finally couldn't take over
the "Asylum" project and that Paramount
is still looking for a director -this makes me think
of making a phone call, as Jonathan suggests. In
any case, I'm heart and soul on "Hable con
ella" so I don't have much time to get involved
in this "Asylum." But I feel just like
John Huston (Clint Eastwood) in "White
Hunter, Black Heart", a situation in which
the hunt of a rare white elephant is much more important
than the pre-production and shoot of such a glorious
film as "The African Queen" was.
I haven't lost a single ounce of passion about shooting
"Hable…," but Patrick McGrath's novel
just keeps on coming back to mind again and again.
Picture a "Madame Bovary" with
a gothic touch to it and slight reminiscences of
the cruelest Hitchcock. McGrath has managed
to write a deep, intense and original bestseller,
with zero pity for the ferocious reader and with
the female character movies lack for over fifty
years now.
And
speaking about books to be released on screen next
season and so as to increase the exhausting summer
heat, let me also recommend "El adversario",
by journalist Emmanuel Carrere. The affair
turned into a kind of "In Cold Blood"
novel was on the papers some eight years ago: In
January 1993, Jean Claude Romand killed his
wife, children and parents and unsuccessfully attempted
to commit suicide. He pretended he had been working
for the WHO (World Health Organization) for
18 years when, in fact, he had not even finished
his medicine studies. Just when he was about to
be uncovered, he preferred to kill everyone whose
look he wouldn't be able to face no more.
The book tells about those 18 years of imposture
with an alarming simplicity. Daniel Auteil
is the actor in charge of adding rings under the
character's eyes. As for the director, that's still
in the air much to my and Alejandro Amenábar's
envy.
