This is from Mike Fleming at deadline.com
Hot off an $18 million opening-weekend gross of Sinister that was six times its $3 million budget, Jason Blum‘s Blumhouse has teamed with Sinister director and co-writer Scott Derrickson on a screen adaptation of the Stephen King novella Breathing Method. They’ve secured an option on King’s work from the author, and the script will be written by Scott Teems. They haven’t yet set it for financing.The full article, including a short synopsis, is at deadline.com
thanks to Bryant Burnette
It won't be easy to make a commercially viable movie out of that story, but I wish 'em well; it's one of my favorite things Kind has written, so I've been hoping for a good movie for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteOh dear gosh. That was my first response when i read this entry.
ReplyDeleteMy reason for saying it is best summed up by Steve Spignesi in "Essential Stephen King" when he says it's the one story in "Different Seasons" that's never been made into a movie, and it's easy to see why.
He gives away the plot at this point which I won't, however I will say the whole challenge involves making your way around a certain image. If done correctly, we might have another indelible image of cinema on our hands. Either way, I'm sure it's going to be hard to forget.
ChrisC
The problem is ... apart from that one scene, there are no scares in the entire story. So, coming from a flavor-of-the-moment team like this one, who will be expected to replicate "Sinister"-like scares, it doesn't feel like the right move. I hear good things about their new movie, but the fact is, they'll either have to make radical changes to the plot, or they'll have to turn in a screenplay that has essentially zero scares until it gets to the big grand-guignol moment.
DeleteSounds like a recipe for a movie that never gets made to me. Add it to the ever-growing list.
Well, I don't know. The idea of centering a film around one big scare isn't impossible.
DeleteI creates the possibility for one of those quiet horror films centered around mood, atmosphere and character rather than easy shock effects.
It could be done provided the filmmakers focus on both character and story, with a some help from lighting and sets. The key would be create a sense of unease and the builds to a final climax, or go the converse and set up what appears to be a mini-social drama that shifts gears into horror. Thus effectively pulling the rug out from under the audiences feet.
The kind of film I'm thinking in terms of here is the original 50s Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The problem is working in a film culture devoted to shock effect.
For more on this, see David Mamet's essential essay collection Bambi vs Godzilla.
ChrisC
Oh. Yeah, sorry; I've totally failed to make myself clear.
DeleteWhat you describe absolutely CAN be done, which is why in the theoretical sense, a great movie could be made from "The Breathing Method." I just don't think the climate is right in Hollywood right now for that type of approach to horror. I think executives would read that story and wonder where the story was. Try telling THEM it's all in the tone; they'll ask you what "tone" is.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it, though.
It will take incredible character development in the script, by the director, and by the actress chosen to play the lead to make this a compelling movie. Otherwise, it's a dull affair with a climax that most people probably won't care about because of the lack of any real plot leading up to it.
ReplyDeleteI don't criticize the novella for having a thin plot. It was a great character study. And sometimes, character studies make good movies. It's just much harder to do.
I liked "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," so these filmmakers MIGHT be capable of pulling it off. I'm just very skeptical that they'll be given the money to properly do so. Even if the budget is tiny, the studio will expect the movie to be capable of breaking out somewhat, like "Sinister" and "Emily Rose" did. And I'm not sure the material is there in the novella for that to happen.
DeleteAll of that smells like massive plot changes to me, which might be okay; then again, it might not be.
Time will tell!
I'm not so sure I agree with the idea that "Breathing Method doesn't have material similar to "Sinister" or "Emily Rose."
ReplyDeleteGranted, those too films are more cinematic than King's story, which is more literary, but then so is the Godfather, and here's a question, would the Godfather have a chance in today's Tinseltown?
As for breaking out, one of the ironies (this from Mamet again) of the greatest common denominator audience demographic is that it's also the smallest audience number the box office can generate. By going for the common denominator, the studios seemed to have chosen a very limited percentage of people to generate revenue.
I don't know what that says for the films chances though, besides the films main set piece is pretty intense, yet I wonder how different it is from, say, Stuart Gordan's Re-Animator.
BTW Reverend, speaking of Sinister and Rose, I hope you got that CT article I posted alright.
ChrisC
"The Godfather" was based on a massive successful best-seller; I think it'd do okay, although it would be seen more as a prestige picture than as a mainstream picture.
DeleteAs far as "The Breathing Method" goes, am I forgetting something? I don't remember that there are ANY scenes of horror except for the birth scene. I might be misremembering it, though, so set me straight if settin' needs to happen.
Well, I'm just thinking in terms of genre, not visuals is all.
DeleteChrisC
Okay, wow. This is probably the one story that I thought was totally unfilmable. I commend them for giving it a shot, but the possible outcome worries me. It would be this slow, boring (to them) character movie for most of the runtime and then the ending would just come completely out of left field. I and a lot of other fans like that shit, but financiers would probably make them change A LOT of stuff in the story to make it appealing to a wide audience. We'll see, I guess...
ReplyDeleteAbout that article... Way to give away the ending! Sheesh.
Michele, your comment made me realize something I hadn't thought of before now: given that the story's only big horror moment is -- to put it mildly -- a plot twist, how on Earth could a trailer be cut for a movie version? It would either have to hint at the plot twist, or ignore it altogether, and if it ignored it, it would look like a movie about a bunch of old farts sitting around telling each other stories. That'd sell about nineteen tickets.
DeleteI think you're probably right; the only way this movie gets made is if there are story changes so deep that it becomes, in effect, a new story altogether. I'm not into that idea.
Here's the sad truth: When making a movie on a one thought storyline, the script writers end up writing a whole new story. Hince: Lawnmowerman has nothing to do with the story -- because there wasn't much to work with in the source matereal.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go so far as to call "The Breathing Method" a one-note story, the same way "The Lawnmower Man" is. But I take your meaning, and I think you will probably end up being right in that they are likely to take that scenario and distort it into some sort of ... I dunno, something that will have horror throughout the entire story.
DeleteAnd that COULD theoretically end up being good, but I won't hold my breath in anticipation of it.
A better scenario: turn it into a movie that serves as a de facto anthology film. In other words, rather than deal with just the one story told by the doctor, have there be two or three tales told my club members. Heck, one of them could even be "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands," since it takes place in the same club. That approach could work, and it would allow the central story to remain unchanged.
Somebody should be paying me for these ideas!
By the way, I have a small pile of papers from the Lawnmowerman lawsuit -- I am not sure how I came upon them !
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes, Indy! That's quite a possession!
DeleteWhat Bryant said. When I heard that I was like, "Huh? Whuuuh?"
ReplyDeleteChrisC
Here's one final thought, and it goes back to the novella. That whole story is like looking at a painting that on the surface looks simple until you take a closer look and discover that it's more complex than first appeared.
ReplyDeleteOn closer inspection, the picture contains one or two elements that seem...odd. Not right away, maybe just something that strikes an off key note. The more you look however, you realize it's not an isolated incident but a pattern woven into the picture. One that can only bee seen by those who pay attention.
The more you study the pattern the more disturbing it gets until you see a kind of sick joke at the center of it all, and what looked placid and normal to begin with now is sinister and foreboding.
That at least is the note the filmmakers should try to strike with this idea.
With all that in mind, how come I was never contacted by the maker's of Room 237 as an interview subject damn it!
ChrisC