CharlesD
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2000
- Messages
- 1,493
Filming is now under way for a film adaptation of Patrick O'Brian's The Far Side of the World.
Aubrey is played by Russel Crowe, and Maturin by Paul Bettany. I don't see Crowe as Aubrey, but by all accounts Crowe takes his parts very seriously, even going so far as to take violin lessons for this part.
The budget for this film is reported to be $135,000,000! Peter Weir is directing, and filming is currently under way (under weigh?
) in Mexico including life sized replicas of H.MS. Surprise in huge water tanks.
Apparently the American privateer of the book has been changed to a French one. To use an overused phrase, it would not be "politically correct" to make the Americans the bad guys I guess. Also I suppose that given that 95% of the audience knows little if anything of the Napoleonic Wars and making the connection to the War of 1812 would not be worth the effort. Plus everybody hates the French!*
I haven't run into any PO'B fans here on HTF, but there must be some, for all love. I am curious to think what everyone thinks about the project. I always have though that the Aubrey/Maturin books could make great "Merchant/Ivory" type films, but would also benefit from a huge budget to do the ships and battle scenes right.
With Peter Wier at the helm maybe that's just we'll get! (I can hope anyway) I just hope that its done right, I hope they pay attention to the details: that the cannon recoil, the cannon balls don't explode, that the right sails are used at the right time, that Aubrey (or worse yet Maturin) isn't turned into an "action hero" I hope that keep some of the original dialog and forms of speech and that they keep some of O'Brian's sly (and not so sly) humor, and above all that they capture the essence of the two main characters.
Perhaps, if the producer isn't a "mumping great villain", this will be a great film, a literary adaptation along the lines of what Peter Jackson has done with The Lord of the Rings.
*"joke"
Aubrey is played by Russel Crowe, and Maturin by Paul Bettany. I don't see Crowe as Aubrey, but by all accounts Crowe takes his parts very seriously, even going so far as to take violin lessons for this part.
The budget for this film is reported to be $135,000,000! Peter Weir is directing, and filming is currently under way (under weigh?
) in Mexico including life sized replicas of H.MS. Surprise in huge water tanks. Apparently the American privateer of the book has been changed to a French one. To use an overused phrase, it would not be "politically correct" to make the Americans the bad guys I guess. Also I suppose that given that 95% of the audience knows little if anything of the Napoleonic Wars and making the connection to the War of 1812 would not be worth the effort. Plus everybody hates the French!*
I haven't run into any PO'B fans here on HTF, but there must be some, for all love. I am curious to think what everyone thinks about the project. I always have though that the Aubrey/Maturin books could make great "Merchant/Ivory" type films, but would also benefit from a huge budget to do the ships and battle scenes right.
With Peter Wier at the helm maybe that's just we'll get! (I can hope anyway) I just hope that its done right, I hope they pay attention to the details: that the cannon recoil, the cannon balls don't explode, that the right sails are used at the right time, that Aubrey (or worse yet Maturin) isn't turned into an "action hero" I hope that keep some of the original dialog and forms of speech and that they keep some of O'Brian's sly (and not so sly) humor, and above all that they capture the essence of the two main characters.
Perhaps, if the producer isn't a "mumping great villain", this will be a great film, a literary adaptation along the lines of what Peter Jackson has done with The Lord of the Rings.
*"joke"
