 I read in a newspaper recently that if you are an actor, London is now the place to be. Your career is made by soaking up the furious flashes of the assembled international press and having a selfie taken with a tearful member of your adoring audience whilst standing on the red carpet of a Leicester Square première. Move over, Hollywood! The film industry has also apparently partially relocated to the British capital due to the wealth of creative talent concentrated in a decidedly resourceful metropolis which is always ready to reinvent itself without entirely letting go of its past. There will of course be a red carpet at the 58th BFI London Film Festival which takes place this year over 12 days (8-19 October). The figures first: 247 fiction and documentary features, including 17 World Premieres, 9 International Premieres, 38 European Premieres and 19 Archive films including 2 Restoration World Premieres, and 148 live action and animated shorts! Some of the best industry professionals will attend, including of course the stars, which will bring their very own aura of glamour to the proceedings.  Still from Biophilia Live directed by Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland Copyright © 2014 Image courtesy of Wellhart - One Little Indian The programme of the festival is simply mind-blowing - and features a Sonic Gala showing Peter Strickland and Nick Fenton’s concert film Björk: Biophilia Live. I mean, BJÖRK!!! Watch the trailer HERE.  The opening gala will be the European Premiere of The Imitation Game, with British stars Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch in attendance. This movie about computer pioneer Alan Turing promises to be fantastic – I have watched THE TRAILER! What a cast! – with an outstanding performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing.  The closing gala will be the European premiere of Fury, starring American star Brad Pitt as a sergeant commanding a Sherman tank on a mission behind enemy lines. Watch the trailer HERE.  I will add another movie I cannot wait to see: Mr Turner, for which the excellent Timothy Spall was crowned Best Actor at this year's Cannes Film Festival... Watch the trailer HERE. Cinema has always found inspiration from the world of literature, and that particular trend seems to be growing every year. This year’s BFI London Film Festival has a strong group of literary adaptations covering a variety of genres, subjects and periods including WW1 drama, murder mystery, soul searching biopic, urban crime drama, female-centric comedy drama and depression-era melodrama.  This year’s Centrepiece gala on Thursday 14th October is Testament of Youth by James Kent with Dominic West and Emily Watson supporting rising stars Kit Harrington and Colin Morgan. This is an adaptation of Vera Brittain’s WW1 memoir. Watch the trailer HERE.  There will also be Wild by Jean-Marc Vallé. Writer Nick Hornby and actress Reese Witherspoon will attend the screening on Monday 13th October. The film is an adaptation of the bestselling 2012 memoir by Cheryl Strayed about her 1,100-mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail. Watch the trailer HERE.  Another anticipated adaptation is Serena, with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. Ron Rash’s 2008 novel is set in depression-era North Carolina. Watch the trailer HERE.  The Drop, a crime drama with James Gandolfini and Tom Hardy, was written by Dennis Lehane who has adapted his own 2009 short-story Animal Rescue. Watch the trailer HERE.  The Blue Room is the adaptation of a 1964 mystery novel written by Belgian author Georges Simenon. It is directed by acclaimed director and actor Mathieu Amalric. It is part thriller, love story and tragedy. Watch the trailer HERE.  Not a literary adaptation per se, Robert Altman's Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean is the 1982 adaptation of Ed Graczyk’s play about a 1975 reunion in honour of the 20th anniversary of James Dean’s death and features a group of women who were members of the James Dean fan club. This has an all-female cast including Cher, Kathy Bates, Karen Black and Sandy Dennis. Watch the (non-official!) trailer HERE.  X+Y is the only movie adapted from a documentary (BAFTA winner Beautiful Young Minds) at the festival. It follows Nathan, a teenage maths genius with autism. Watch the trailer HERE. Now, as a novelist myself, I would lie if I said that I do not dream sometimes of having my books adapted for cinema. I am a very visual writer anyway, and I use pictures of actual places, buildings, objects and landscapes as inspiration. I have an intimate relationship with what every scene looks like – I have some kind of storyboard in my head!
My characters all have physical traits taken from actual people: actors, musicians, individuals I have briefly met or seen in the street or a venue. In I Am a Muse, Constance is a red-haired Dita Von Teese lookalike; in The Book of Thoth, I have written Adam Tuckfield with actor Cillian Murphy in mind, whereas flapper and jazz journalist Maeve is an effervescent mix of Louise Brooks, Clara Bow and Helena Bonham Carter (don’t ask!). I am pretty sure every fiction writer secretly hankers for their books to be adapted for the cinema – although by a director who would “get them” and be sympathetic to their little idiosyncrasies! All photos on this blog courtesy of the official press site for the LFF! Comments are closed.
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August 2024
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