Movies To Watch Out For

Out in November (not that type of 'Out'): Ang Lee's Life of Pi is adapted from Yann Martel's 2001 bestseller, looks like an Aesopian fable with cutting-edge 3D technology. I never got down to reading the book (the premise seemed worryingly sanctimonious), and now I don't have to.

 Baz Luhrmann's 3D adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby is now scheduled to open next May (2013) for a summer season. Starring the always interesting Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan (I'm not sure about the fit),the movie was originally scheduled to open this Christmas 2012 but was pushed back to allow more time for postproduction. I've been looking forward to Ms Luhrmann's version of the story, not only because of the Prada (women) and Brooks Brothers (men) costumes but because this is one of my most loved books, and I liked the Mia Farrow in the 1974 movie. 

Not properly a movie, but still of immense interest to me is HBO’s upcoming TV movie The Girl which stars Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren. This will purportedly chronicle the making of The Birds, director Alfred Hitchcock's iconic birds gone wild movie that made Ms Hedren, now 82, a star in 1963. Of course I hope that the opening scene where Ms Hedren is in a boat wearing a mink coat when a seagull attacks her, as well as the scene when she is trapped in a phonebooth as angry birds lay siege to a small town, as well as the climax where she is locked in a room full of birds of prey tearing her to shreds as she screams and struggles will be recreated, because one does so want to see Ms Miller shrieking with terror. Of course this spectacle can also be very enjoyable with either Gwyneth Paltrow or Nicole Kidman. Why don't they do it with all three and make it a mini series?