The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009)

[Mr Sausage]

The review in the NY Times Book Review was more enjoyable.

Well that's the first time I've ever heard anyone apply the word "tedious" to any part of Lolita.

It's very fashionable these days to dismiss Nabokov (and Roth and Updike and Mailer most other major mid-century male writers).

I would have thought Lolita was firmly canonical enough to avoid such fashionable dismissal. It was a shitty review anyway; if mentioning Sophocles (whose plays are apparently over-earnest) and Dostoevsky did anything besides foster the illusion that the reviewer was smart, I could not see it.

[Antoine Doinel]

It turns out the "creative differences" were actually "intense dislike".

[Cold Bishop]

Cutting his hair and fighting with wardrobe??? God forbid he be allowed to create his own character.

Dissapointing, since intense dislikes like these involving great actors and great (if the LOTR-Kong run hasn't completely ruined the guy capable of Heavenly Creatures) directors have a tendency to produce the best results.

[Antoine Doinel]

Set photos.

[eez28]

So this article which is about The Hobbit, mentions that this wont be out till '09. Why would this movie take that long to come out? It's not like some effects ridden 3+hr fantasy flick.

[Antoine Doinel]

Ryan Gosling puts to rest the rumors around his departure from the film:

Last year, he signed up for The Lovely Bones, Peter Jackson's adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel. Gosling was due to play the grieving father of a murdered 14-year-old girl, only to be dismissed two days before production started. The first time I met him, in Toronto in early September, he was weeks away from heading off to Philadelphia for The Lovely Bones shoot. As much effort as he'd put into ageing himself for the role, with added bulk and a thick, well-tended beard, he was still surprised at having been cast.

"They called me, and I just couldn't see myself as the father of this girl, you know?" says Gosling, who was just 26 when Jackson hired him. "I called Peter and said, 'You must be nuts. I love the story, but me as the dad? You're crazy.' And they were like, 'That's the way that we see it.' So who was I to argue because they want the parents to be young?"

When he reported for duty, it didn't take long for him and Jackson to realise he wasn't a good fit (Mark Wahlberg replaced him). "It was always an issue for me. I always felt too young for the role. It's psychological, I guess, but for me that just felt impossible. We did everything we could to get it to that point, but at the end of the day, I couldn't accept it. Within myself, I just didn't feel right."

Does that mean it was his decision to leave? "No, it was mutual. I mean, it wasn't dramatic, it just became clear that it would be better with someone else. I feel like it's a better movie with Mark Wahlberg in it. You have to know what you can't do, too. The problem is, when you're just starting out, you're trying to convince everybody that you can do anything, because you need a job. You train yourself to think that way. And then when you get to a point where you don't have to hustle for jobs any more, you have to sort of reprogram yourself and think, 'Well, what can't I do?' Because the truth is that they'll catch you. They'll put you in anything."

Will the experience make him reassess how he approaches offers? "Yeah, I think so. It was nice to be believed in that much, but it was also an important realisation for me: not to let your ego get involved. It's OK to be too young for a role."

[Antoine Doinel]

The film has been delayed from early 2009 to fall 2009. Perhaps for awards consideration?

[Jeff]

The film has been delayed from early 2009 to fall 2009. Perhaps for awards consideration?

I think that it's probably because of this.

[Antoine Doinel]

Brian Eno is scoring the film.

[flyonthewall2983]

That alone has upped my interest in this.

[Antoine Doinel]

Two stills have been released. The film opens December 11.

[domino harvey]

ONTD compiles some stills and AICN reports

[Antoine Doinel]

Paramount's big Oscar hopeful gets the most boring teaser poster ever.

[flyonthewall2983]

Isn't DreamWorks independent of Paramount now?

[Jeff]

Isn't DreamWorks independent of Paramount now?

Yes, but Paramount got custody of The Lovely Bones in the divorce.

[puxzkkx]

I'm most interested in seeing how the Ruth role turns out

[flyonthewall2983]

Trailer.

[Antoine Doinel]

What a dull trailer. The special effects in particular look sorta corny, and it's too bad the studio decided to use the most generic drama film trailer music for the second half. I would've been nice to hear some of Brian Eno's score instead.

[Jeff]

I certainly hope all that CGI is in service of something. Obviously, Ramsay would have gone a very different route.

Hard to tell from the trailer what the net effect of placing Marky Mark in a central role will be. The cinematography looks great, and here's an early prediction for an unrecognizable Stanley Tucci showing up in the Best Supporting Actor race.

[Gator]

Pretty unremarkable trailer, glossy & bombastic as most of these usually are. So she's dead & there's a killer that needs catching. *yawn* I can hardly contain my enthusiasm.

[Charlie Rane]

What a dull trailer. The special effects in particular look sorta corny, and it's too bad the studio decided to use the most generic drama film trailer music for the second half. I would've been nice to hear some of Brian Eno's score instead.

It kinda looks like the 4th dimension from Heavenly Creatures on crack. I'm sure Jackson will use the surreal imagery for strong emotional storytelling like he did in the past.

Also did that little green planet thing reminded anyone of Super Mario Galaxy? I'm wonder if Jackson played it, being the video game fan that he is.

[Magic Hate Ball]

Paramount's big Oscar hopeful gets the most boring teaser poster ever.

It's like they saw the opening credits and said "Now there's an idea!".

[puxzkkx]

The trailer looks blah. Hopefully Jackson can tap into Heavenly Creatures territory, though - because of course most trailers are misleading. I'll see this anyway cause I read the book and I really liked Ronan in Atonement. I'm really interested in seeing the performances of the new NZ actresses Rose McIver and Carolyn Dando (esp. the latter who has the most interesting role in the book) as well.

[Finch]

Awful score and too many spoilers; with the preview for The Road, this is a joint contender for the year's worst trailer. Either PJ has no say in the marketing of the film (which, with his clout I find hard to believe) or he doesn't care that Dreamworks are doing a bang up job of making this look as unappealing as possible.

[rs98762001]

Awful score and too many spoilers; with the preview for The Road, this is a joint contender for the year's worst trailer. Either PJ has no say in the marketing of the film (which, with his clout I find hard to believe) or he doesn't care that Dreamworks are doing a bang up job of making this look as unappealing as possible.

Considering he's sitting there smugly introducing the trailer I would say he's pretty supportive of it. Anyway, there is a direct correlation between Jackson's weight and his work. Fat PJ = awesome. Skinny PJ = sucks. So The Lovely Bones is clearly doomed.