They're turning Rosemary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth into a movie. It made a wonderful TV series years ago, with Anthony Higgins in the lead. I don't think that's available on DVD - anyway, I can't find it, although maybe now ...?
Meanwhile, what will this one be like? I can only hope that it's a whole lot better than, say, the abomination that was made of Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising. Checking out the cast list, I see that the role of Marcus Aquila has gone to an American actor, Channing Tatum - the guy who played "Duke" Orsino in "She's The Man" and Esca will be played, would you believe by "Billy Elliott" Jamie Bell, who is about 24 now. Well, there's no doubt Tatum looks like a Marcus. Whether he can act it or not we'll have to see. This fan will be difficult to please!
It's fascinating to see all the on-line blog comments by folk who haven't read the book but hope it will be an sword-and-sandal epic of the kind that has been appearing lately. Apparently, it's a small budget, so that's not likely.
I'm re-reading The Lantern Bearers, the third book in the series. It's not easy to get the Sutcliff books these days. They've put three of them under one cover - perhaps because of the movie? - but for the most part, you have to hunt for them on the bookshop shelves or order them.
Let's hope the movie is good enough that people start asking for the books and they re-print the lot!
This is interesting news! Can't wait to see what they do with it, though, like you, I'm not overly optimistic.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've now seen the trailer. I can cope with the American accents, because the Romans are, after all, foreigners, but when Marcus yells at Esca, "You're still my slave!" I moaned, "No-o-o..." In the novel,Marcus frees Esca before setting off because he can't ask a slave to go into danger for him.
ReplyDeleteIt looks good, anyway. Please, please, no more stuff-ups!
Great news. I'll look forward to seeing the results. I'm always surprised that Rosemary Sutcliffe isn't more popular. I do hope they don't destroy it. I'll have to go check out the trailer!
ReplyDeleteI find teens these days rarely read straight historical fiction, though this is not quite true in my library any more! :-) The thing I can't understand is why not one of the staff members with whom I have tried to share my excitement about introducing Sutcliff to a student, including English and history teachers, has ever heard of her - the greatest children's historical novelist of the 20th century and people old enough to have read her boks as kids haven't even HEARD of her let alone read her stuff!
ReplyDeleteI must do something about this early next year when my budget is renewed - maybe get some more of the books and promote - a historical novel festival...?
hey, is Rosemary Sutcliff a great writer like Stephen King (my favorite).. They are doing The Dark Tower series.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if you hve time i would like to hear your thoughts about singing
basics of singing.
Thank you, Jacadanda.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how you found your way to this post.:-) Stephen King is, indeed, a very good writer, though I like his non-fiction better than his fiction. However, I suspect you might not find Rosemary Sutcliff to your taste. She was a historical novelist, specialising in Roman Britain. And no, I have no thoughts on singing.
As I recall, book Marcus was about eighteen - I think that was the age we were given. And Esca seemed about the same age. So, if anything, film Marcus was OLDER than book Marcus, as was Anthony Higgins, who played the role in TV. With the right haircut, Tatum Channing did look like my idea of a Roman soldier, and he played the role well, I thought. My issues with the film were otherwise(see my review).
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