By An adaptation of The Giver has basically been in demand since the book was published, but it’s been a long hard struggle to get to the point where we’re seeing images of the film. That means that my imagination has had decades to develop a very specific personal vision of what the world of The Giver looks like. This isn’t it. How could they not develop a movie that looks exactly like what I thought of when I read the book as a child. DAMN YOU, HOLLYWOOD!
If we put aside my personal preference there’s some worries here that derive both from the images and from the quotes in the Entertainment Weekly story. First, this first-look looks a bit like it’s trying to play into the Young Adult craze with ridiculously handsome leads and trendy takes on the characters. I suppose the Taylor Swift casting should have tipped me off in the first place. The addition of a love story and an older Jonas character makes it pretty obvious they want those tween girls in the theater.
Then there’s this Jeff Bridges, who stars as the titular Giver, quote: “The movie will not be an exact duplication of the book. It’s taking a lot of licenses.” That’s a bit disconcerting considering the book is structured and developed so wonderfully, but maybe they had to be made in order to make it work on the big screen. Part of these “licenses” is making Meryl Streep’s character, the village elder, a bigger part of the story and more Streep has never been a bad thing.
[via Entertainment Weekly]