Tom Tykwer Adapting Cloud Atlas Wachowskis pick up David Mitchell novel Source: FirstShowing.net
Fresh from The International, Tom Tykwer has revealed that he's setting to work adapting David Mitchell's Booker-nominated novel Cloud Atlas for the Wachowski Brothers.
Cloud Atlas is a time-shifting, kaleidoscopic novel - weaving six interlinking narratives, with diverse settings from the savagery of a Pacific Island in the 1850s to a dystopian Korea of the near future. As Tykwer puts it, it straddles genres "from Melvillean high-seas drama to California noir and dystopian fantasy."
In short it's both dazzling and suspiciously unfilmable, allthough Tykwer and the Wachowskis are up for the challenge. As Tykwer said, "I'm really completely excited about it, and I'm sitting down with the Wachowski Brothers and trying to adapt that for a screenplay. It's very interesting."
It's not clear if Tykwer or the Wachowskis will direct, but it's certainly a promising pairing - with V For Vendetta and The Matrix Trilogy behind them, the Wachowskis should make light work of visualising the dystopian and sci-fi elements, which only leaves five other wildly diverse stories to beat into two hours of cinematic sense...
David Mitchell is one of my favourite writers. His work is intelligent, layered and subtle and although none are direct sequels of each other, all of his novels occupy the same world. Eg. Black Swan Green, a novel which on the surface seems so far removed from Cloud Atlas both share characters. (Look them up on wikipedia for the full picture.) You don't have to have read one book to understand another, but it all adds to the magic. If not handled right, adapting a work such as this could tur... Read More
This must be the most exciting news I've heard in a loooooooooooooong time. If I remember correctly the last time I was so excited was when I've read that Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson were making Tintin. ... Read More
whoa, whoa, whoa - hold your horses - yes the Wankchowski's made a right balls up of the Matrix sequels, but they did alright producing V for Vendetta, and Speed-Racer was quite good if you took it at face value. But Tykwer's involvement is what gives me hope for this project - Run Lola Run was hugely enjoyable, and I loved Perfume (misogynisitic subtext aside) - it was a genuinely effective adaption of an 'unfilmable' book. Having said that, the convolutions required to fit the 6 distinct narr... Read More
I am so not excited about this project. I still can´t forgive them for Matrix II & III, horribly, horribly wasted opportunities and it even had me not watching the first one any more as a side effect. And I don´t think it´s unreasonable to ask the Wachowskis (as well as a bunch of other filmmakers) to stop making movies forever. It would be a major relief. Each year there´s an abundance of movies and only a fraction of them ist watchable/good. We do not need more bad film... Read More
Given that the Wankowski brothers have singularly failed to do anything worth watching since the first Matrix, I'll just hope someone paying their bills realises in time to make them sit in the corner and gives the project to a grown up interested in more than colours or self-involved 'philosophical' mind fartery. ... Read More
Why do I get the feeling they will totally f*** up one of the best books I read last year? It's described as "unfilmable" for a reason, so please don't be so arrogant. It was meant to be a book, otherwise Mitchell would have written it as a screenplay. ... Read More
