Screening Room
September 18, 2012
How to Write a Movie About a Writer 9
by Michael McGrath
Films rely on our familiarity with Hollywood-established Literary Personality tropes: needy yet reclusive, lecherous yet noble, wise yet drug-addled. You know, writers.
July 12, 2012
The Not-So-Silver Screen: Writers Acting in Film 26
by Mindy Hung
He tries his best, but let’s face it: SALMAN RUSHDIE, fatwa survivor, ex-husband of Padma Lakshmi, plays an obstetrician who is not using enough gel while operating an ultrasound machine. Disbelief has not been suspended if the audience starts yelling, “Use more gel, Rushdie! Use more gel!”
June 18, 2012
Shadow of a Doubt: Franz Kafka and TV’s ‘The Killing’ 16
by Kristopher Jansma
When I first began to watch The Killing two months ago, I told a friend who’d been watching since day one. His reaction was vehement. “Goddamn FUCK THE KILLING. I keep watching it and it keeps NOT GOING ANYWHERE. And yet I cannot stop watching.”
June 4, 2012
Ten Books to Read When Mad Men is Over 19
by Hannah Gersen
Mad Men is about to disappear from our lives once again, leaving us to grapple alone with our complicated nostalgia for an era when men were men, women were secretaries, and alcoholism was glamorous. These books give a closer look at the era.
May 10, 2012
On The Road, On The Screen 9
by M. M. Owen
A large part of On The Road’s powerful and ongoing appeal undoubtedly stems from the lyricism of its language — as opposed to its linearity, or even narrative coherence. Translating this to the screen could quite simply be impossible. Indeed, one suspects it is the reason that, up till now, so many screenwriters have failed in turning Kerouac’s text into visual form.
February 24, 2012
Source Material: Breaking Down the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay 14
by Patrick Brown
If the publishing industry really does collapse, as some predict it will, it won’t be the big houses or the independent bookstores that will be most affected, it will be Hollywood. This year’s crop of Oscar contenders begs the question “Can there be a cinema without books?”