Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

More on "Good Omens" the Movie and Coraline

Posted by Hemos on from the go-and-purchase dept.

In a recent e-mail exchange I had with Neil Gaiman he confirmed that Terry Gilliam is the director for the adapation of Good Omens to the screen. On a side note, Gaiman has been working on Coraline and will be doing a signing of the book in the Barnes and Noble in Union Square, NYC on Thursday the 11th. That's today. Update: 07/11 13:15 GMT by CT : I just wanted to say 'Curse Your Terry Gilliam'! Ever since I read Good Omens, I wished I was a film director just so I could direct that book. I guess Terry will do a good job too ;)

58 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. The good omen is slashdot? by ObviousGuy · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's not a good omen...

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
    1. Re:The good omen is slashdot? by red5 · · Score: 2

      Something tells me that book has a lotof spelling and grammar errors.

      --
      I know I'm going to hell, I'm just trying to get good seats.
  2. Re:This sounds good, but by Angry+Toad · · Score: 5, Informative

    Excuse me? Terry is primarily a director, responsible for cinematic masterpieces like Brazil, Time Bandits, Twelve Monkeys, and the (underrated, IMHO) Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Perhaps you're thinking of Terry Pratchett, who co-wrote the book with Gaiman?

  3. Good Omens link by MartinB · · Score: 4, Informative

    Perhaps you meant here, or perhaps here.

    --

    The only thing you can accurately describe as "Scotch" is a sticky tape made by 3M. And it's

    1. Re:Good Omens link by MartinB · · Score: 3, Informative

      or indeed perhaps here, which will show that Gilliam screenwriting and directing Good Omens is old news indeed.

      --

      The only thing you can accurately describe as "Scotch" is a sticky tape made by 3M. And it's

  4. HHG by zebs · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Hmm, according to amazon Good Omens is a direct desendant of Hitchhikers guide... now when is that movie ever gonna get finished?!

    Either way its good to see a Terry Pratchett book being made into a film, hopefully it'll get some Discworld books made into films too.
    I imagine that'd be pretty cool if you combined it with LoTR style effects and cinematography.

    1. Re:HHG by MartinB · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Clearly whoever wrote that hasn't read one or either of those books.

      ISTR PTerry saying that Mort had been optioned, and certainly Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters have already been turned into (reasonably good) animated films.

      --

      The only thing you can accurately describe as "Scotch" is a sticky tape made by 3M. And it's

    2. Re:HHG by BabyDave · · Score: 2, Informative
      Interesting - his usual story is that Mort would have been made years ago, but some Hollywood exec person said that
      "the American public aren't ready for Death as a sympathetic character."
      [This was said about 18 months before "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" was released. Now, who was the best character in that ...?]
    3. Re:HHG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Mort isn't fashionable UK movie material--there's no part in it for Hugh or Emma"

      Nonsense. Hugh would play Death and Emma would play Albert.

    4. Re:HHG by Triv · · Score: 2

      Well...I've read both and there is a connection to me - both books employ a certain style of Humor: irreverant, tangential and, well blatantly british. I think what the above poster is referring to is a certain edition of "Good Omens" that has "A Direct Descendant of the Hitchhiker's Guide!" plastered on the cover as a marketing ploy. I believe there is a profound connection of some kind, but the abovementioned tagline kinda explodes this for the sake of sales. "Like the Guide? Try this!"

      Triv

    5. Re:HHG by hether · · Score: 2

      Pratchett's Bromelaid Trilogy about the gnomes is being made into a movie by Dreamworks!!

      From scifi.com

      Bromeliad Still Blossoms

      DreamWorks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg told SCI FI Wire that work progresses on the much-anticipated animated- film adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad Trilogy of novels, despite reports that the project had been put on the back burner. Joe Stillman (Shrek) is writing the script for the film, which is slated for release in 2005 or later, Katzenberg said in an interview while promoting DreamWorks' upcoming animated movie Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

      "Andrew Adamson, who directed Shrek 1 and is supervising Shrek 2, that's his next project," Katzenberg said. The Bromeliad Trilogy tells the story of a group of four-inch-tall gnomes, who venture into the real world, which thinks they no longer exist. The first book, Trucks, deals with the gnomes as they leave their department-store home when it is threatened with demolition.

      Katzenberg added that DreamWorks has a heavy slate of animation projects destined for release in 2004. "We have Shrek 2 in May, Sharkslayer in July and Wallace & Gromit at Thanksgiving." When asked about Shrek 2, Katzenberg declined to reveal anything about the plot, adding simply, "Really funny. Really, really, really funny."

      --

      Most people would die sooner than think; in fact, they do.
  5. The right director confirmed! by Saint+Fnordius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Choosing Terry Gilliam to do Good Omens is perfect. His style and dark humour complement Pratchett and Gaiman's wierd little epic. Although Terry Gilliam is American, he is one of the few directors I'd trust to do this with the right British touch (not too much, but not too little as well).

    Now we can hope for an intelligent comedy that doesn't resort to butt (fart) jokes.

    1. Re:The right director confirmed! by Angry+Toad · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There's a great deal of information on the Good Omens movie at a Terry Gilliam fansite called Dreams. Apparently they're actually playing down the comedic aspects of the book. This seems like kind of a smart idea to me - the book done as a faux-serious metaphysical drama, combined with Gilliam's warped worldmaking talents, could really work. A straight-up adaption of the book's (mostly conceptual, descriptive) jokes might fall flat...

    2. Re:The right director confirmed! by c.derby · · Score: 2, Informative

      "...Terry Gilliam is American..."

      He was born in Minneapolis but is now a British citizen.

      http://us.imdb.com/Name?Gilliam,+Terry

      --
      -- derby
    3. Re:The right director confirmed! by squaretorus · · Score: 2

      As long as we have guys dressed as women I'll be happy! Its not a warped world without 'em!

    4. Re:The right director confirmed! by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 2

      Yeah, well 60 plus years from now when I'm barking on 100 years old, I hope I'm still alive to wear diapers.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  6. Humor in Good Omens by dpilot · · Score: 3, Funny

    I pushed the Good Omens on my son last year, and in conversations realized something...

    Much of the humor is rooted in the 70's. He enjoyed the book, and much of the humor is not rooted in the 70's. But he wasn't culturally equipped to enjoy it as much as I did.

    OTOH, he did get into Bohemian Rhapsody after that.

    --
    The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
  7. Old News by h4mmer5tein · · Score: 5, Informative

    Dont mean to put a damper on things but this is old news. Good Omens has been in pre-production for 3 years now and Terry Gilliam was always going to direct it. The Hold ups have been with money and financing, not the production team or cast list. Last I saw Terry was waiting to see if the finance would be tied up in time to shoot Good Omens or wether it would get moved down the list a way while he shot Tideland.

    1. Re:Old News by filth+grinder · · Score: 5, Informative

      You are right, this is old news. In fact, here is an excerpt from a Neil Gaim interview a couple of months ago where he talks about the hold up:

      Dan Epstein: Good Omens will never happen right?
      Neil Gaiman: Oh, Good Omens may happen. The whole thing about movies is that you never say it might or might not happen until the first day of shooting, and then it's happening. And even then you've got your fingers crossed. There is a great script by him and Tony Grisoni. They got the budget down to $65 million and they raised about 50 million dollars from abroad. All the investors wanted was for an American entity to go in on the final $15 million and guarantee an American distribution deal. There is the problem?they can't find one. There's no American with the balls enough to agree to fund it and have a Terry Gilliam movie. They are scared of him but he's funny, wise and brilliant. Not only that, but he made Twelve Monkeys and The Fisher King which demonstrated that he could easily bring in a movie on time and under budget. Currently the last e-mail that I heard from Gilliam is that Tony Grisoni is doing a rewrite to try and get the budget down to $45 million.

      Dan Epstein: I wish I had $15 million to give to Terry Gilliam to make the movie.

      Neil Gaiman: You know what? So do I. That's the single most frustrating thing. You want to walk around Hollywood asking everyone where are their balls. So it's not dead until the option is not renewed and the option just came up and it was renewed again. I got the check. You never know what happens with a picture until you're sitting there eating popcorn at the premiere.

      The rest of the interview can be seen here

      To answer something else, Gilliam is a writer, he wrote Brazil and his other movies (except 12 Monkeys, he co-wrote the script for Fear and Loathing). He was also a writer for Month Python. So, he does know how to adapt novels to film.

    2. Re:Old News by Zathrus · · Score: 2

      There may very well be a feature length adaptation of HHGTTG sitting on a shelf somewhere. In fact, I bet there's dozens. In script form.

      Once shooting begins, it's unlikely to stop. And you're going to have something to put out, even if only on direct-to-video.

      A feature length adaptation already shot and sitting on a shelf? Not bloody likely.

    3. Re:Old News by Patrick13 · · Score: 2

      There's also an interview with Gilliam dated Sept. 2001 that says (on the second page) that "Terry Gilliam is currently working on an adaptation of 'Good Omens' by Terry Pratchett."

      Sep 2001 - July 2002 = 10 months.... old news I say...

      --
      ::.. check out some Cell Phone Reviews
    4. Re:Old News by daeley · · Score: 2

      That was Nike, not Adidas, but I didn't know Terry G. did that! How cool!

      You can also see all the ads, including the followup, at www.nikefootball.com (warning: heavy Flash use).

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  8. But what about the footnotes? by reddfoxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If you have actually read this book you would know that the footnotes are often the best and funniest parts of a all around good tale about the biblical apocalypse. How will any director mention the different misprint versions of the bible that the angel and sonetimes bookstore owner has collected?

    I'm actually very interested to see if this thing pans out. I just hope that the history of the british monetary system actually makes it into the movie

  9. Eat Fud by invid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Terry Gilliam is one of the most brilliant directors out there (and he is definitely "out there"). I consider Brazil to be one of the best films of all time. Terry is very willing to be dark. In fact, over the past 2 decades it seems that he's been trying to distance himself from his Monty Python past. None of his recent films can be considered comedies. The last film with any substantial comedic element was The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which was his last pythonesque film.

    It will be great to see Terry doing a dark comedy again.

    PS, is anyone else out there upset that his plan to do The Watchmen fell through? That would have been a fantastic film!

    --
    The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
    1. Re:Eat Fud by Andy_R · · Score: 2

      Well, if Good Omens is a 'big hit' with a Gillam/Gaiman partnership in the credits, I'm sure the Watchmen movie will be a much stronger possibility

      --
      A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
    2. Re:Eat Fud by mberman · · Score: 3, Insightful
      over the past 2 decades it seems that he's been trying to distance himself from his Monty Python past. None of his recent films can be considered comedies.

      Umm, what? Two decades ago would be 1982. In that year, he wrote some of the sketches Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl and the year after, he directed Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. Doesn't sound too distant to me. But, let's give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you meant "18 years" when you said "two decades". In the last 18 years, he's done Brazil, Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. You mentioned Munchausen already, but, really, if you didn't think all the rest (with the exception of Fisher King) where comedies, well, then, you didn't understand them. They may not be as outright silly as Python, but they're still comedies, and with Twelve Monkeys, it even approaches Pythonesque silliness in some places. Saying Brazil isn't a comedy is like saying Fight Club isn't a comedy. If you didn't think it was funny, you didn't get it...

      --

      This is a self-referential sig

    3. Re:Eat Fud by dswensen · · Score: 3, Insightful
      PS, is anyone else out there upset that his plan to do The Watchmen fell through? That would have been a fantastic film!

      No, because I feel the great strength of Watchmen is in how perfectly suited it is to its medium. I think Watchmen is a damn near perfect example of what a graphic novel ought to be. And I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that most of what I love about Watchmen would not survive the transition to film. Hollywood has never hesitated to take a chainsaw to a good story.

      I seriously hope Watchmen never becomes a movie.

    4. Re:Eat Fud by invid · · Score: 2

      Certainly, there were funny parts in all of Terry's films. When I say they weren't comedies, I'm saying that they are not primarily comedies. There are some very funny scenes in Hamlet (particularly after he kills Polonius), but I wouldn't call Hamlet a comedy. Similarly, while Brazil has some funny scenes, and could well be considered one large joke, with the protagonist being the butt of it, I still wouldn't call it a comedy. There are too many other aspects of the film to place it stricly in the comedy category.

      When I think of a film being called a comedy I think it's primary purpose is to make you laugh. I think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Memento.

      --
      The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
    5. Re:Eat Fud by invid · · Score: 2

      I am sad to admit that I have not seen that one.

      --
      The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
    6. Re:Eat Fud by invid · · Score: 2

      Most directors couldn't do justice to The Watchmen, but Terry Gilliam might be up to the task.

      --
      The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
  10. Re:This sounds good, but by alnapp · · Score: 2

    My BAd
    I just was "Terry" and got my Pratchetts and My Gilliams mixed up

    --
    Get the EULA T-shirt
  11. Problem is... by IxnayOnTheIxnay · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...the unread masses will poo-poo it as a Dogma ripoff, and it will unfortunately tank.

  12. Why on Earth by Rogerborg · · Score: 2

    Make an adaptation of this? It's a superb novel, but reduce it to what can be conveyed via a screenplay, and you have something with a simplistic plot, thin characters, flat dialogue, a few sparse pieces of visual humour, and over reliant on FX to fill the holes. I mean, what kind of idiot would pay to see... oh, hang on...

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    1. Re:Why on Earth by Rogerborg · · Score: 2
      • So, Citizen Kane is a thin character?

      Oooh, nice strawman.

      The subject under discussion is Good Omens, which, in case you haven't read it, relies very heavily on "tell, don't show" asides to flesh out the characters. It could, I suppose, be done with a voiceover, but simply taking the dialogue and direction from the novel and putting it in a screenplay would leave a very thin story, and if you change it, well, then you're not filming Good Omens, are you?

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    2. Re:Why on Earth by HiThere · · Score: 2

      Many books don't make good movies. I'm not analytical enough in that area to say why, but it seems that a Novella is about the right length to turn into a good movie.

      OTOH, frequently bad books make good movies. Well, sometimes, anyway. If the book is full of too much padding, the movie can strip it away.

      I hope it's a real smash film. What I really hope, though, is that the studio it comes out of isn't covered by the MPAA. I'd like to be able to see it, and I *won't* see any films that they cover. (It's quite hard to cause this to have any effect, however, since I never did watch many films.)

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  13. and to think... by night_flyer · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought you were refering to a forth part to "The Omen" series...

    --


    Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
    Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
  14. Re:Terry Gilliam by pbrice68 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Much to most everyone's surprise, it seems, is that Brazil is not a sci-fi movie, at all. It doesn't even take place in the future.

    It is/was a satire of our *current* bureacratic times. That's why there were so many "old" things.

    It is strange that everyone thinks of Brazil as sci-fi when there is nothing sci-fi about it. It's just a *very* cheeky fantasy/satire.

  15. Brazil by fishlet · · Score: 3, Informative

    I hope this isn't too far off topic... but if you want to see Terry Giliams flair for darkness & humor combined... go out and rent 'Brazil'. I think he's the man do to this movie right.

    --


    Blender And Linux Fan
  16. Novel and Parrot by Terry Gilliam by Mandelbrute · · Score: 2
    Terry is also a writer (Starship Titanic novelisation), but Python, Brazil etc have shown what he can do. Twelve Monkeys remains the only time travel film since the original "Time Machine" that even attempts to be self-consistant, and does it well. I hope this goes ahead this time, and some film actually gets shot. Terry Gilliam can certainly do this type of story well.

    Baron Munchausen could have been better (it ran out of money during filming and the finished result is somewhat less than planned) but I really liked it - and it turned out much better than some stuff that did get finished like "Waterworld".

    1. Re:Novel and Parrot by Terry Gilliam by Mandelbrute · · Score: 2
      Brad Pitt's performance left me wanting to beat him to a pulp.
      And this is a bad thing?

      I think he was pretty well cast for the obnoxious character he was playing. It was probably very similar to the way he played characters in a lot of other movies, but it worked. I'm certainly not a Brad Pit fan - Seven Years in Tibet (my god - Tibetans look exactly like Mexicans!) would probably have been better with someone else in it, but the writing was also crap. The action and exciting bits were removed for the Hollywood version of a true story, instead of the usual practice of adding more in.

      If Bruce Willis is part of the problem in the future ... then how the hell did he get there in the first place.
      By not dying as a kid. The loop gets closed, there's no strange alternate timelines. The whole point of a time travel story is to have those from one time affect another. Having a time travel story where no-one can effect anything (the unknowns, not the known facts that couldn't be changed in the movie) would be expressing that free will does not exist - which leads to the idea that we are not responsible for our own actions. Such a thing would most likely be as boring as the worst fantasy novels that have seen print (which express that premise).

    2. Re:Novel and Parrot by Terry Gilliam by macaddict · · Score: 2, Informative
      Terry is also a writer (Starship Titanic novelisation),

      That's the other Terry, Terry Jones. He also did the voice of the Parrot.

      Sara

    3. Re:Novel and Parrot by Terry Gilliam by cjpez · · Score: 2
      The whole point of a time travel story is to have those from one time affect another. Having a time travel story where no-one can effect anything ... would be expressing that free will does not exist - which leads to the idea that we are not responsible for our own actions. Such a thing would most likely be as boring as the worst fantasy novels that have seen print...
      Except that in 12 Monkeys, Bruce Willis couldn't do anything to affect the situation. He spent a big chunk of the movie trying to break out of his role and save the world, and keep all the bad things from happening, but in the end, he found out that he was just acting out exactly what had happened. The biological agents were still spread, humanity suffers, and he still has to watch himself get shot as a kid. Which is why the movie was so damn depressing. (Which is why I liked it, actually.)

      The only hope of changing things and actually making a difference comes at the very, very end, when the biological agent guy is sitting on the plane talking to the woman who's one of the "authority figure" people Bruce Willis had to deal with in the "future," although personally I think that it was a younger version of her, unaware of the dangers of the man sitting next to her, rather than her come back from the future to try and set things right.

      That was my take, anyway.

      --
      Al Qaeda has ninjas!
    4. Re:Novel and Parrot by Terry Gilliam by undercanopy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      think that it was a younger version of her, unaware of the dangers of the man sitting next to her, rather than her come back from the future to try and set things right
      No, they weren't trying to set things right. They knew that they couldn't alter the course of events because they happened. They wanted to get their hands on a sample of the pure virus/bacteria/whatever and be able to create a cure. They didn't want him to try and change things because they knew he couldn't. That's what was going to happen because it already had.

      --
      -- D-23994, Muff#2613
    5. Re:Novel and Parrot by Terry Gilliam by cjpez · · Score: 2

      Well, he *did* open up at least one of the vials . . . So there's one city down at least. But you're right; I *do* love movies that have the guts to kill off their main characters. (I can see it now: "12 Monkeys II: The Vengeance") . . .

      --
      Al Qaeda has ninjas!
  17. Good Omens by StrutterX · · Score: 3, Informative

    To get a lot of the jokes in Good Omens it helps if you have read any of Richmal Compton's Just William books.

    Read them to your kids; but do read a little bit. Your appreciation of the satire in Good Omens will increase.

    StrutterX

  18. come on, CT by tps12 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Please use the comment system like everyone else. That is not an "update," it is a topical comment.

    It's no wonder nobody respects the editors when they consider themselves too good for the discussion system used by the unwashed masses.

    What are you afraid of, being modded down? Being flamed? If you don't have the peas for it, post it AC.

    --

    Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
  19. Right on the cover by Tenebrious1 · · Score: 2

    Hmm, according to amazon [amazon.com] Good Omens [amazon.com] is a direct desendant of Hitchhikers guide...

    IIRC, the paperback book says something to that effect right on the front cover. Since I'm at work I can't check it out, but I remember reading it on the book and then thinking "what does this have to do with HHG?"

    --
    -- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
  20. Why Slashdotters Should Care About "Good Omens" by AAAWalrus · · Score: 5, Informative

    Due to a lack of any posts on this article, and a few ignorant posts that are here, it would seem that Slashdotters don't really know or care about "Good Omens" or what it is. Here's a post to clue you all in. (If you've actually read the book, stop reading. No really! Go read something about Donald Knuth or some rant about Microsoft. Shoo!)

    Good Omens is a book co-written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett in (I believe) the early 90's. Neil Gaiman is most famous for writing the Sandman comics (graphic novellas?). Terry Pratchett is most famous for writing the many books in the Discworld series. Basically, Gaiman writes dark and brooding stories, Pratchett writes intensely clever and funny stories. "Good Omens" is the brilliant collaboration of these two minds, producing a hilarious account of Armageddon. The book has been most compared to "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", and while they do share many common qualities, "Good Omens" is more readable and enjoyable to me.

    Why should you care? Because the book is THAT good, and Terry Gilliam is THAT good of a director, and the combination of the two could produce a movie that is THAT good. What's the last movie that came out in the theaters that is a genuine cult classic and will be for years to come? It's been a while. Several years. It's hard to come up with one, isn't it? Well, a movie based on "Good Omens" directed by Terry Gilliam has a lot of potential to be just that: a genuine quotable flick that we can watch dozens of times over and enjoy it each and every time.

    Again, what I'm saying is important here is that the *potential* is there for a really great movie that we could all love and enjoy, and we should all be pushing for it's release. Wouldn't it be much cooler if we built up hype about this potentially great movie rather than lamenting about how much George Lucas sucks and how he flushed Star Wars down the toilet?

  21. Terry & the Holy Grail? by dbc001 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was just looking at Terry Gilliam's filmography on IMDB and noticed that there are two Holy Grail movies. Can anyone explain the difference between "Monty Python & the Quest for the Holy Grail (1996) (VG)" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)". Also, has anyone read any of the books on Gilliam? Are they any good?

    -dbc

    1. Re:Terry & the Holy Grail? by the_psilo · · Score: 2, Informative

      (VG) at the end of an IMDB entry means it is a Video Game. I don't quite get why the "International Movie Database" lists video games as well, but I guess a number of actors have had voice roles in them, and there does seem to be some bleedover from Hollywood into games, as you noted.

      aloha
      psilo

  22. Re:Novel and Parrot by Terry Jones by Mandelbrute · · Score: 2

    Right you are - wrong Python. I have no excuse, the book is sitting on a shelf behind me!

  23. for the most current information on Neil Gaiman... by Bogatyr · · Score: 5, Informative

    I suggest consulting Gaiman's weblog which he tends to update at least daily. That way you get his writing without having to wait for the next book, comments, opinions, essays, little short stori es he throws in just because, cool things he's found, etc. a

  24. Coraline by KFury · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I had the good fortune to go to Gaiman's reading of Coraline last week in Berkeley (the day the book was released, he did a full 3-hour reading of the text to a packed cathedral of 800 people).

    Before he began, he confirmed that Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Monkeybone), who was in attendance, would be directing the movie version of Coraline, and that Michelle Pfeiffer was signed on to play the Mother/Other Mother roles.

    It's a great story, and is sort of a shift for Gaiman, targeting a broader aged audience, while remaining dark but more polished (no footnotes, and a more constant narrative tone). The reading was fabulous, and I could totally visualize the movie version.

    A friend of mine did a more thorough write-up of the reading for those interseted.

    --

    Kevin Fox
  25. Agnes Nutter, Witch. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The full title of this book is Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch

    There are quite a few jokes related to occultism or magic(k), like the literal demonization of (Aleister) Crowley.

    1. Re:Agnes Nutter, Witch. by whimdot · · Score: 4, Funny

      If they want a short title for the film they could try: "Apocalypse? Now?"

  26. Why the movie will be mediocre by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was going to entitle this "why the movie will suck," but I didn't want it to get automatically tagged as Flamebait.

    "Good Omens" was a brilliant book, and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett were the right people to write it. The problem is that the book has a religious theme, and while Gaiman and Pratchett pulled it off brilliantly, Hollywood just can't do religion. "The Last Temptation of Christ" was the last gasp of good, thoughtful religious movies (and I would put "The Omen" among these,too). Since then, we've had to put up with crap like "Stigmata" and "A Walk to Remember."

    The combination of subtlety and humor seen in "Good Omens" when dealing with the interactions between Aziraphale and Crowley, Crowley's communications with hell, Aziraphale's interactions with heaven, and Aziraphale's comments on the author of Revelations, etc. etc. What we're inevitably going to end up with is a dumbed down, simpflified version of the whole thing that's going to insult our collective intelligence.

    On the optimistic side, Terry Gilliam has a good track record, so I could give him the benefit of the doubt.

  27. Re:Terry Gilliam by Max+von+H. · · Score: 2

    Let's not forget Brazil is also, and mostly, an adaptation of Orwell's "1984". One of the best movies I've ever seen, and one of my all-time favourite books.

    If Gilliam gets his budget, I have confidence he'll do a great job with Pratchett's Good Omens. It's a perfect mix.

    Cheers,
    max

    --
    -- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
  28. Linklater directing Scanner, Soderbergh producing by chascarrillo · · Score: 2, Informative
    According to Ain't It Cool News, Richard Linklater is set to direct A Scanner Darkly. Disappointing, since Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney had optioned it and I was assuming that Soderbergh would be directing (instead, he and Clooney are producing). But hey, they're doing Solaris, so all is forgiven...

    I'd doubt that a studio would spend the money to option all of Dick's works considering that they're going for truly astounding amounts of money. A Scanner Darkly cost $2,000,000. Remember Impostor? That went for about $1,000,000.