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American Pastoral is getting some pretty scathing reviews out of Toronto (I saw one tweet that said it made The Human Stain look better in comparison), so that's one less Oscar contender to wonder about.

After a good string of actor-directed films expected to be shooed into big prize consideration that have fallen on their face, I wonder when prognosticators will finally adjust from so easily making that assumption

There's really no way it could have been made into a watchable film anyway. Shocked that a first-time director would even try.

I think it could be possible to make it good, though I think that McGregor is the absolute wrong choice. Ideally you'd want someone with a similar background to Roth.

Imagine a Todd Solondz adaptation of a Philip Roth book.

I've been wondering if several Roth books would benefit from serious restructuring when adapting them to film. Indignation worked well as a straightforward narrative, but the adaptations of American Pastoral and The Human Stain rely so heavily on the Nathan Zuckerman framing device, and that strikes me as more effective in novel form as opposed to film.

Werewolf by Night wrote:Imagine a Todd Solondz adaptation of a Philip Roth book.

Yeah, someone like him is the absolute right person to adapt Roth.