Re: Will a film of the Silmarion be made?

"AC" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote

> 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.

I think it relies a bit more on backstory to be effective. Without
including Hurin, it becomes difficult to understand who Turin is and why
he gets so much special treatment: why he is allowed into Elf-kingdoms
(most moviegoers, even having no idea who Thingol is or what is special
about Doriath, would find this unusual - it's pretty universal in
fantasies and fairy-tales that Elves and Faeries don't let just any
mortal, even a hero, wander in and take up residence), why Morgoth and
Glaurung have it in for him and weave such twisted plots against him,
etc. Include Hurin, and then you have that much more to fill in, and a
very long movie indeed.

But the real problem is a practical one: lovers of literature may think
it's a wonderful and moving tale, but the studio suits would take one
look at it and conclude that it's just too darned depressing even to
consider letting the ending stand the way it does. No audience other
than Tolkien purists - and how many people have even read The
Silmarillion anyway? - would put up with it. Some hack would insist on
changing the story so that Turin rescues and weds Finduilas and somehow
saves his sister at the same time, who recognizes him so that nothing
"improper" happens, and everyone lives happily ever after. And so the
already limited target audience will want nothing to do with it. Of
course, it's theoretically possible to film the story without making
this change, and I agree it would make a wonderful movie, but I don't
think anyone could ever get funding for it.

I don't recall who suggested Beren and Luthien: the Opera, but I think
Narn i Hin Hurin: the Opera might even be a surer bet. Operas can be as
depressing as you like, and having incest and double suicides and so
forth just adds to the box office draw. Just as long as it's not got a
"Ring" in it. ;-)

> : 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.

Now *that's* a problem with backstory. I think the concept of the
Numenoreans would be very difficult to carry without a lot of
explanation as to just who they were and how they got to be the way they
were. The story of the Fall is meaningless if you don't see the state
they're falling from - if you just see them as being very powerful and
gifted supermen who are that way because, well, they're just better than
you or me. And how do you really *show* that without telling most of the
story of the First Age? I don't think you can just tell the audience
"Hey, these guys earned their blessings the hard way" - I think you need
to show the audience that somehow if you expect them to take it to
heart.

> Plus it would tie in very well with the LotR films, filling out the
backstory.

I'm not sure if anyone who had just seen the films and not read the
books would have any idea how it tied in. After all, the films don't
have Appendices. Hard for me to judge, of course, since I went in
knowing all the backstory, but I can't imagine anyone who hadn't read
the books walking out of the Fellowship movie knowing anything at all
about Isildur or Elendil other than that they were Aragorn's ancestors
and that they fought a big battle long ago in which Sauron lost the
Ring. I don't even recall the terms Dunedain or Numenorean being used at
any point in the films, unless PJ left in that part of Bilbo's dialogue
in Rivendell.

-- 
Bruce Tucker
[EMAIL PROTECTED]