Monday, March 1, 2010

My Outlander Movie or Series Ramblings

Just read this blurb in an interview with Jim Caviezel about "that other Outlander"... and found it interesting that he would say this:

Outlander is...kind of like Braveheart and Highlander mixed - and really not.”

Wow. Interesting Scottish references to this sci-fi alien vs. viking film with the same name as the book series we're all reading which is about Scotland and therefore conjures up visions of, uh, well.. Braveheart.. and uh, Highlander.

OK so moving on - I just posted this comment to Sirena regarding my humorous pipe dreams about Channing Tatum playing Jamie Fraser:

Word on the street has been that Randall Wallace would be writing the screenplay (he wrote Braveheart)...but lately the talk is mini-series related... so we'll see what happens.

Did you happen to see Dear John? Channing Tatum is the star of the movie and I recently read an interview where he said Randall Wallace wrote him a letter... and has since become his mentor. Ask Jenn, Shannon and Tracey - I spent days on end absolutely convinced that RW wanted Channing to play Jamie. We went to see the movie and I thought "Wow - if this guy could pull off a Scottish accent, I'd be happy as a clam. He's that good in the film". But.. alas... that's just another one of my little Outlander dreams...

So I read another article today and realized Channing Tatum has mentioned he's reading a Randall Wallace-written book entitled "Love and Honor" about the eve of the Revolutionary War. Hmmm.
So I suppose a) I'm dead wrong on RW possibly wanting CT to play Jamie Fraser and b) Randall is farting around with his own historical fiction instead of working on a proper screenplay or better yet storyline for a cable series for Outlander... and I have to wonder if c) he ganked the idea for his 2004-published book from Diana, Herself! Mmmppphhm! (Dinna worry - I promise I'm kidding as I truly adore Randall Wallace and will absolutely buy this book when I finish the Outlander series. I don't care if I'm the only person on the planet who loved The Man in the Iron Mask, which Mr. Randall wrote the screenplay for - as well as directed.)

OK so lastly - a post from Diana's "Voyages of the Artemis" blog. The post is from 2008 - and readers like Karen and Laura already know this all and will most likely be like "Oh Carol, aren't you cute with your 2 year old information" LOL! But some of you more recent Outlander groupies - like me - might want to see some of the film adaptation info that came from the mouth of Herself. Enjoy! (And PS - ask Tracey - I have maintained since Day 1 that Keira Knightly is my ultimate Claire if she'd just eat a few Pork roll, Egg and Cheese sandwiches and throw bad a bunch of chocolate shakes. LORDDDDD that girl is skinny! I think I'll have to stick with Rachel Weisz.)

13 comments:

  1. You are not alone, Carol! I like Man in the Iron Mask too!

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  2. Love that movie, Jo. If it comes on, I canna look away; I must watch it until the end.

    PS - Thanks to Karen for the link-only suggestion!

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  3. Channing Tatum may be a shot in the dark but...LAWD a girl can dream.

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  4. Keira Knightly definitely needs to pack on a few pounds to rightly portray Claire's back-side!

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  5. The info about the movie from Diana's blog may be more than a year old, but it's STILL the most thorough and most up-to-date information we have. So, I think it makes a lot of sense to point people to it.

    I can totally understand why Diana doesn't want to be involved with either the casting or the writing of an OUTLANDER movie. I'm pretty skeptical myself, because so many adaptations of popular books make really bad movies. But I guess we'll just have to "wait and see" (to borrow one of Herself's favorite expressions <g>).

    Karen

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  6. ooo- Channing tatum is the hotness but sometimes he can barely manage a passable american accent - and he IS american, lol!
    I can kind of see why DG wants to stay above the fray- there's no way she pleass everyone. But I think some of the success of the Twi series stems in part from Stephenie Meyer being what seemed like really closely involved with the movie.
    I love the idea of keira knightly, but the emaciated frame doesna do it. Facewise though totally! I love Rachel Weisz, and I think I love Anna Friel too! I caught a bit of Braveheart the other day and so much of william wallace and the brave scots in the movie reminded me of Jamie, personality wise! sigh.
    Sometimes I wish they would do the whole thing into a sprawling miniseries, tip to tail. With Carol writing or scoring the music to the right scenes of course!

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  7. LOL Sirena I am laughing heartily out loud at your faith in me. I'm not worthy. :) Right with ya on the Channing Tatum thing. He definitely would have to not only handle but master the Scottish accent. He was verra good in Dear John and to be honest - I don't know that I've seen him in anything else!

    Holly - YUP. Hot. Definitely hot.

    Laura - agreed. LOVE Keira Knightly (sp?) but she's just too thin for the role. Maybe she'd be willing to gain tho.

    Karen - I thought that, too, about the info on DG's blog. Verra thorough compared to anything else out there. Totally agreed on the film adaptation. I am on the fence and sometimes lean very much toward "No! Don't do it! Don't ruin it!" As a Twilight fan I know how it feels to forget how good it felt to read the book once the movie has overshadowed that feeling.

    All - I will say this. If they do make a movie or series - a) let it be a series...and b) let Diana have a hand in it (even if she says she doesna want to right now.) She is 1,000% right about making a 2-3 hour film - it canna be done properly - as far as our standards go. Making a series would capture the story so much better. And it would be scheduled. None of this "well maybe there will be a 4th movie but who knows.." (ahem Breaking Dawn, ahem... and don't even get me STARTED on the god forsaken rumors of a 4th Twilight film being in 3D).

    But you know what? I think I need it to be brought the screen. I really do. I guess because it keeps the story alive, long after you've read it (for the first time.)

    Karen's right y'all... we just have to wait and see!

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  8. For me, Claire has always been Kate Winslet. Yes, i know she's at the age where she's too old for young Claire and too young for old Claire, but she's still who I see in my mind--no one even comes close.

    I also recently had a vision of someone who would have been a GREAT Jenny back in the day: Winona Ryder. She's obviously too old for young Jenny now, but perhaps could do Jenny if they ever get to the point where they're filming Voyager or Drums...

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  9. Winona RYder is good, Tracey. She'd need to be VERRA feisty, though.

    I always picture Claire as Emma Samms.

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  10. Did you ever see Little Women? I had a LOT of problems with the 1990s movie version, but Winona was a pretty good Jo--VERRA feisty indeed.

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  11. I keep hearing her in Bram Stoker's Dracula saying "Take me away from all this death!"

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  12. I think the wrestler Drew McIntyre may make a perfect Jamie. Check him out!

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  13. I have to admit, I think a mini-series would do more justice to Outlander than a movie... at around 900 pages (per book) a movie would cut out so many essential events and characters. I'd prefer to see it done well in a mini-series. Thoughts?

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