Subject: (urth) Wolfe movies from short stories

From: Michael Straight <mfstraight at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:57:34 +0000

The bulk of Wolfe's writing is either short-stories/novellas or
multi-volume stories.  Even Wizard Knight  is way too long to do any
justice with a movie.  So if you really want a Wolfe movie, you should
be looking to his shorter stuff.

A lot (most?) of his short stuff is probably way too grim to be
greenlighted as a movie, at least in the USA, but if you leave that
aspect aside, here's a few stories I think you could get a good movie
out of:

When I Was Ming the Merciless
War Beneath The Tree
The Last Thrilling Wonder Story (would be panned as a rip-off of
Stranger than Fiction)
The HORARS of War (Blade Runner rip-off)
And When They Appear (complete re-write of the ending would be
mandatory, we'd just have to hope the screenwriter could come up with
something good).

Oh, and what's the name of the story about the three Disney robots at
the end of the world?

Any other ideas?

Rostrum

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From: Recursive Loop <recursive_loop at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:02:53 +0000

"The HORARS of War (Blade Runner rip-off)"

If this is the one I'm thinking off...wasn't it written well before either the P.K. Dick tale, the
Alan E. Nourse tale or the movie?

FPK3

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From: Recursive Loop <recursive_loop at yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:04:39 +0000

On the other hand, you might be saying (as you said in the previous title in your list) that it
would be perceived as a BR rip-off.

Would that be a problem? At least, if it were well done? I recall some adverts for "Children of
Men" that say it is the "Blade Runner of the 21st Century" (kind of silly given when BR takes
place...), so maybe the comparison would be a positive one.

FPK3

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From: Michael Straight <mfstraight at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:18:10 +0000

On 4/12/07, Recursive Loop <recursive_loop at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Would that be a problem? At least, if it were well done?

Yeah, I was talking about how it would be received.  The thing is,
it's not duplicating the feel of Blade Runner (in fact it might look
more like Predator or one of the last two Rambo movies) but the
central high concept: is the protagonist a replicant or not?

Then there could also be the Sixth Sense ripoff: The Other Dead Man.
Actually, that could be an awesome movie. Pitch it as 2001 meets the
Sixth Sense and you could probably get some serious $$$.

I'd also think you could get a really good movie out of Ming the
Mercilless, if you got a sufficiently creepy actor for Ming and framed
it as cutting back and forth between the interview with Ming and the
action in the experiment.  Hollywood would probably require adding a
third act where some of Ming's minons get free and rescue him and then
the hero psychologist (who was opposed to the experiment from the
beginning) defeats and kills him.

Rostrum

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From: Rex Lycanthrosaurus <lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:20:42 +0000

On Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:57:34 -0600, "Michael Straight"

> Oh, and what's the name of the story about the three Disney robots at

Not by Wolfe, but Howard Waldrop: "Heirs of the Perisphere."

As for movies, I think the first third of FIFTH HEAD would make a good
film, especially if directed by someone stylish like Christopher Nolan.
It would start with the murder of Maitre by persons unknown, and then a
prefect from Saint Croix could undertake to solve the case by looking at
various of Cave Canem's denizens, each of whom might have a motive for
killing Maitre: his two sons, his crippled scientist-sister, his robot
progenitor, a disgruntled employee (prostitute) of or visitor (john) to
the House at 666 Saltimbanque or even a visiting anthropologist from
Earth. I'd also eliminate for ease of backstory the abo-Saint Anne
connection and make the shapechangers native to Saint Croix. Only at the
end would we learn of the cloning connection and its ramifications.

-- 
  Rex Lycanthrosaurus
  lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm

-- 
http://www.fastmail.fm - The way an email service should be

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From: Michael Straight <mfstraight at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 16:38:14 +0000

> Not by Wolfe, but Howard Waldrop: "Heirs of the Perisphere."

Oh, yes.  Thanks.  I think I must've been conflating it in my head
with Three Fingers or something.

Rostrum

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From: Stuart Hamm <hammstu at sbcglobal.net>
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:39:40 +0000

My comments on GW movies and Music...
  I was strolling around the Bohemian Grove when someone noticed a copy of "Attending Daedalus" poking out of my gig bag (sorry for mis-attributing this book to Borski in an earlier post...got kids?..sleep much???...)
  Turns out it was Henry Kaiser who has done sound for some W Herzog films (Grizzly Man..)and some fine albums, and who is I'm sure the only Bohemian to explore different interpretations of GW's writing...
  Turns out there is a French production of "The Death of Dr Island" and so we tried to track the producers down to see if they needed music (Much of my work has been Bassed (pun intended) on Sf writers PK Dick, William Gibson and JG Ballard.)
  Alas, the music was already done but Henry and I have have plans to do a CD based on GW stories, themes and characters...
Cheers
   Stuart Hamm
Rex Lycanthrosaurus <lycanthrosaurus at fastmail.fm> wrote:

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