The giver movie

[SimpleSimon]

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, one of the best books a teacher ever forced me to read, is being made into a movie....this is the official discussion thread for speculation, critique or wishful thinking regarding the 2011 release. I'll start things up....do you think they'll film it in black and white or not?

[sYn]

I have heard of the book but never read it. What is it about?

[SimpleSimon]

It is about a Utopian society in the future. When the children turn a certain age, they are assigned their vocations for the rest of their lives. The protagonist, Jonas, is given the responsibility of being the "Receiver." The Receiver telepathically receives all of the "bad" memories from the past through the Giver, who is an older man who was once a Receiver in his youth. That's the gist,....but as you can imagine, the plot thickens...

[sYn]

It sounds interesting, I would probably see the movie. I looked it up online but the movie is "in development" so no cast list is out. Who would you like to see in the movie?

As for it being filmed in black or white, not sure I think I would prefer seeing a movie like that in color.

[SimpleSimon]

Yeah I've been thinking lately about possible actors...for some reason I see Dennis Quaid as his father...I think that's just because lately Quaid has been leaning towards those roles. As for the main character, he's 15 or 16, so it should probably be a relative nobody...maybe Cameron Bright from Running Scared and Thank you for Smoking.

****************SPOILER**********************

Not sure if you know this, but in the book, everyone's eyes see black and white, I think it's some intentional thing they've engineered to erase racism....but the main kid begins to see color eventually. That's how they know he's special.

[sYn]

Good suggestions, I like Cameron Bright so in a movie like that he would probably do well in it. Oh I didn't know that about the book so it would make sense for them to also do it with the movie. I believe they did that with Schindler's List, I have that movie taped and I have only seen parts of it but didn't they do the movie in black & white and the only color was a rose?

[SimpleSimon]

I believe in Schindler's List it was a little girl's red coat that was color....signifying Oscar Schindler's sympathy with the Jews.

I think the best comparison I would like to see The Giver look like would be Pleasantville.....as the movie goes on, more and more turns to color, but some people never change, because they are too entrenched in the corrupt ways of the Dystopia.

[sYn]

Ah yes, you are right it was the coat.

That is a good comparison, I loved the movie Pleasantville. Everything was so dreary then slowly the characters realize everything is turning to color but people wouldn't embrace the change. I think The Giver movie is one I would probably like.

[SimpleSimon]

Yeah I'm excited about it. There's a lot of great fantasy books getting turned into movies (http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/fantasymovies.html) in the next couple of years....should keep me pretty busy for a while.

[sYn]

Someone told me about the Dark Tower series being developed into a movie, I read the entire series. Have you read them? I wonder what you think of if they will stay true to the ending of the book or change it alittle since alot of fans weren't happy with it.

[SimpleSimon]

Someone told me about the Dark Tower series being developed into a movie, I read the entire series. Have you read them? I wonder what you think of if they will stay true to the ending of the book or change it alittle since alot of fans weren't happy with it.

I have to be honest; I've only read the first three when they first came out, I'm yet to catch up with the newer installments, but I am very excited to see these films,....there's so many places I've driven through and been to in the American Southwest that would be perfect to capture the desolation and strangeness of The Dark Tower's world....this could be one of the most visually appealing film series since LoTR.

[sYn]

I know what you mean, it could be a huge success and there are so many different places they could film it. I was actually unsure whether I would like the series or not so I only bought the first 3 in a box set but I couldn't get enough of them so I bought the new ones in hardcover, which I rarely do.

[SimpleSimon]

That sounds like quite an endorsement....I better start saving up for the rest of the series.

Yeah there's a lot of exciting projects on that page (http://www.scifimoviepage.com/upcoming/previews/fantasymovies.html) I posted. I'm most excited for Dark Tower, the Shannara series, and The Alchemyst. Familiar with either of those?

[sYn]

The Alchemyst sounds vaguely familiar but I don't believe I have ever read that series and neither with Shannara.

[SimpleSimon]

Shannara is pretty famous (also is really good) because it basically revived a dying fantasy genre in the late 70's.

The Alchemyst series (Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel) is still ongoing, if it sounds familiar it's probably because I've mentioned it on boards before; I love it. The third of six books, The Sorceress (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Sorceress/Michael-Scott/e/9780385735292), just came out in the U.S.A.

[sYn]

Alchemyst sounds interesting, maybe I'll try it.

[SimpleSimon]

Yeah there's an online game (http://www.alchemystgame.com), too.

[Ill_do_it_oh_yeah]

AH! So excited about this! I loved that book when we read it last year! I'm so excited so many books are getting made into movies lately!