Re: Will a film of the Silmarion be made?

AC <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: On 3 Dec 2003 19:16:05 GMT, 
: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
:> For Beren and Luthien a lot of the backstory really is not that
:> relevant.  There is a bad guy in the north, and he has a treasure
:> that he stole from the Elves.  That is all you really need to
:> know about Morgoth and the Silmarills.  Beren is human, Luthien
:> is an elf, and Thingol is a jealous and protective father with an
:> eye for nice jewelry.  That is all very straightforward.  Melian
:> being a Maia is not really that important, and would not really
:> need any explanation anyway.   Sauron is just one of the bad guys,
:> the sons of Feanor are just some jerks (explaining their connection
:> to the Silmarills may be more trouble than its worth), and Finrod
:> is a good guy indebted to Beren's father.  Lots of action and
:> magic, giant wolves, a central love story, prominent female characters,
:> and an ultimately happy ending : Beren and Luthien are alive,
:> they have the Silmaril, and everybody is happy.

: I agree completely that Beren and Luthien is by far the most easily filmed,
: and constitutes the most self-contained portion of the Silmarillion.

: Still, I think one could do the Turin saga.  It doesn't rely much more
: heavily on the backstory than does Beren and Luthien.  Turin is also a good
: modern anti-hero.  The only big issue with the Turin saga is the incest,
: which might make some audiences go "Woh!".  I don't know if modern audiences
: could get past that, though it was really no fault of Hurin's children.

It would definitely be a much darker story than Beren and Luthien.
I think a possible stumbling point would be Hurin.  Do you
explain why and how Hurin was captured, and why Morgoth is
so interested in Hurin?  If you do introduce Hurin, do you
just leave him in Morgoth's clutches at the end?  Turin's
family story is rather complicated, and would probably have
to be modified to make it understandable in a film.  The family 
dynamics in Beren and Luthien are so classic that they need no 
introduction.


: But the more I think about it, the more I think the Akkabeleth, or at least
: the portion from Ar-Pharazon's rise to power to the Last Alliance, might
: itself make a very good film.  Unlike LotR, the Akkabeleth is more of an
: brief historical survey than an out-and-out narrative.  Thus, as long as the
: script-writers and director didn't muck with the basic outline, they'd have
: a lot more freedom.  Plus it would tie in very well with the LotR films,
: filling out the backstory.

The problem with this story is it is not clear where to start or
where to end, or on which characters to focus.  I do not think the 
Last Alliance would be a good ending.  That would require you to 
somehow introduce Gil-galad and all the Elves who really have no 
part in the rest of the story.  There are a hundred or so years 
between the Fall of Numenor and the Last Alliance.  Trying to show 
that in a film is not easy, and ignoring it may look a little ridiculous.
Where to start is an even tougher question.  A brief, somewhat
vague origin story for Numenor would not be too hard to do, but
when do you start introducing characters?   Obviously Ar-Pharazon would 
be a central character, but would he be a good starting point?   

The writers would definitely have a lot of freedom.  

Stephen