Nickelodeon Films has bought the rights to bring the first three “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books to the big screen.
Okay … a little worried there after what they did to Harriet the Spy. But …
They got Scott Rudin to produce and Barry Sonnenfield to direct and after what they did with The Addams Family movies, maybe they have the right Victorian touch to bring them to the screen properly.
But …
According to Ebert and Roeper, the number one person currently in negotiation to play Count Olaf?
I have to agree, this is very frightening. The greatest thing about his work is the way it’s written, so making a movie of it is a very bad idea. But what Nickelodeon and Jim Carrey will do to it…I don’t even want to think about it. Mr. Blue Sky, Lemony Snicket is the author of a series of children’s books called A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s really funny, and I’m not sure how to explain why it is funny; it just is.
I wouldn’t try to cheer people up by mentioning “The Addams Family” just now. The perversion of the spirit of that classic was ugly. I guess there is something over which even pure, unmitigated evil cannot prevail, and that’s a production company with a three-pic deal.
Where’d I leave that damn rope? Better yet, I’ll go hunt up the scythe.
I’m pretty sure JC has it locked up. All along I was thinking Johm Malkovic in the role.
I’d like to know how they are going to do Sunny.
A puppet?
A CGI character?
A baby with CGI work done on her mouth?
They are also going to do three films with each film covering about 3 or 4 books. Now if they just don’t let that Amanda girl play Violet maybe we can save the series.
I dunno, I can see Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Sort of.
Malkovich is too cerebral, and too, what’s the word, “competent” somehow. Count Olaf is the quintessential Movie Villain, in that he’s not successful. Somebody once pointed out that it’s essential for all movie villains to be not-terribly-competent, because if they were truly competent and never made mistakes, that wouldn’t leave any openings for the Hero to rescue himself. The Bad Guy always has to make at least one mistake, or else he has to hire underlings who make at least one mistake.
I can picture Jim Carrey hiring slightly incompetent underlings, but I can’t see John Malkovich putting up with that whole crew for a single minute.
He’s too “lethal” somehow. Carrey is more “accessible”.
But I agree that 99% of the books’ charm is the way they’re written, so even with Barry Sonnenfeld at the helm, I can’t see this ending happily for anyone except Nickelodeon and the author.
I wonder if there will be a “Lemony Snicket” character. He is becoming more and more directly involved with the story than just reporting it and he obviously had something to do with the start of the story.
I don’t think Lemony is ever going to show up in any of the books, but there will be a connection which shows why he has the interest he does in the story. I have my own theory about how he’s connected, which so far the books seem to be bearing out.
My 11-year-old son has all of the books and also Lemony Snicket’s “autobiography.” The “autobiography” is hilarious, but the best thing about it is the reversible cover.
SPOILER ALERT!
When you reverse the cover, the “autobiography” appears to become a book entitled “The Pony Party.” The back cover copy reads (if I remember correctly): “Everybody loves ponies! And everybody loves parties! So everybody has to love THE PONY PARTY!” The tone is absolutely perfect.
As for Jim Carrey: Well, that’s just sad. He is proof that you won’t go broke underestimating the taste of the U.S. public.
I don’t feel bad about it. Carey wasn’t responsible for the Grinch movie that stunk up the theaters, that was Opie and Glazer, the producer/director team. If he takes his meds and they put him under restraint, it might be pretty good.
It could have been worse, ya know. It could have been Robin Williams.
Oh, and second on the “Autobiography.” It’s a hoot (even though my 12-year-old didn’t get it). I had fun picking out the literary references.
I don’t know. If they had a director that was willing to apply the choke chain to Carrey, I don’t see any reason why he’d be so terrible for the role.
I mean, Count Olaf is supposed to be a narcissist, but as the audience can clearly see it – he’s stupid. Really stupid. And he wears stupid, transparent disguises, and says stupid things. He thinks he’s clever, and he gets away with it, for the sole reason that all other adults in the Series are stupider than stupid. I think Carrey can handle this.
I always pictured Olaf as being a little older, but I don’t see why Carrey couldn’t pull it off. (I could see how he could screw it up, too, but I’d give it the benefit of the doubt.)
What I love about the books is that they are actually told from a kid point of view and from a kid point of view the adult world and all the adults in it are clearly INSANE.
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