What must they leave in and what could they take out?
Must have:
Diana
the Surprise
Sinking the Diutchman that I can neither spell nor pronounce in the antipodes with HMS Leopard; Aubrey and the gunner firing the stern chasers with cigars.
Aubrey going over the side of the Nutmeg with a crowbar to pry a ball off the rudder.
Marturin’s bell
Stephen killing the French spies in Paris
Stephen giving the bodies of Wray and whats his name to the guy to disect.
Could leave out:
Sarah and Emily
Mrs. Mapes
The financial difficulties.
The stock market scam
Those mids that become liked and then cop it.
Pandeen
Martin
What do you think?
I want to see the chelengk in action… and the bit where Stephen removes the pistol ball from his own chest.
I think we’ll see a realistic portrayal of Stephen’s drug use about the same time as a black lesbian atheist becomes President of the United States. Sad but true.
And I’m torn about the sinking of the Waakzaamheit… doing that properly would tax any special effects expert to their utmost… but I could also see some idiot saying “Yeah, dude, we can do that with, like, CGI and stuff, no sweat”, and the results would not be pleasant.
Turn a fire hose on the guys firing the stern chasers.
Show the models from the 1954 “Horatio Hornblower” and turn the firehose of the Waakzaamheit model when the forestay parts or whatever…(If I didn’t get that right…this is port, it’s my left hand, is it not?)
I guess you could film a 1/4 scale model broaching in very heavy seas and digitize it. How did they do The Perfect Storm?
The Waakzaamheit action would be great to see, as would the whole Desolation Island story arc. The thing is, the action in the book emphasized the long chase that eventually led up to the gunfire in those heavy seas, and I wonder if a movie would be able to properly present that time period.
I think that special effects on the order of the Perfect Storm would be wonderful. After spending years looking at Geoff Hunt’s jacket art the ships in the movie are going to have to look as good. The Sophie is described in such detail in the first book that the movie version will have to measure up – elm tree pump and all.
A few other things to include in the movie:
Stephen’s journal-keeping
Preventer backstays
Jack’s personal long nines
Stephen performing brain surgery
Stephen’s approach to cleanliness
At least one dinner in the Gunroom
I believe he did use his pants to wipe the instrument, but the spectacle of his coming to diinner with his hands and clothes caked with blood is one that would seem to be a necessary element in portraying him properly.
I’ll also register something I hope I will NOT see in any new sailing-era movie, and that is cannon that do not fling themselves backward when fired. I don’t recall ever seeing this portrayed as O’Brian describes it, with the gun posing a real danger to the crews.
