From sldye at bluegrass.org Mon Nov 1 09:33:50 2004 From: sldye at bluegrass.org (Steve L. Dye) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 09:33:50 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <5C70CAA729D41844A2B73C99847FDEB60884F7@batman.Bluegrass.Board> On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the lead role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM To: Walker Percy List Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are By DAVE KEHR Published: October 27, 2004 The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking for a movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of John Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a mire of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have doomed a project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that was to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and Lily Tomlin. "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets paid off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that made the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the ultimate accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of Dunces" is set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a "1919 shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first adult address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- which was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens after its well-received New York Film Festival premiere. The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but introduces some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young British actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger brother (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of gold coins. "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit more," Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All the Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for something slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same execution but bloody it up a bit." It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did not originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at the University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid them a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life events, and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the draft. We talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and the film evolved from that." "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' or like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books when I was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. That's what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script with its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something based on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he grew up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by sitting on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I want to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place I've never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay my 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only a great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the stories of good liars." But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an America increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New Orleans raptures. "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy From karey at kareyperkins.com Mon Nov 1 11:46:23 2004 From: karey at kareyperkins.com (karey at kareyperkins.com) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 11:46:23 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] The fabric of life... References: <5C70CAA729D41844A2B73C99847FDEB60884F7@batman.Bluegrass.Board> Message-ID: <000901c4c032$52b4e0a0$0301000a@AFAC955012> When Percy has Tom More say, in the beginning of Love in the Ruins (correct me if I'm wrong on that) "The fabric of life is wearing thin..." -- is that his own or did he get it someplace else? Anyone know? Karey -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Robert_Pauley at oxy.com Mon Nov 1 18:23:24 2004 From: Robert_Pauley at oxy.com (Robert_Pauley at oxy.com) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 15:23:24 -0800 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart Message-ID: <1E4B441CB5CF9D408D318BC697F086F5014B03C8@olawexc7.naoxy.com> Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" film project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately at rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the lead role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM To: Walker Percy List Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are By DAVE KEHR Published: October 27, 2004 The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking for a movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of John Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a mire of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have doomed a project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that was to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and Lily Tomlin. "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets paid off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that made the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the ultimate accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of Dunces" is set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a "1919 shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first adult address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- which was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens after its well-received New York Film Festival premiere. The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but introduces some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young British actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger brother (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of gold coins. "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit more," Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All the Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for something slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same execution but bloody it up a bit." It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did not originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at the University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid them a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life events, and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the draft. We talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and the film evolved from that." "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' or like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books when I was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. That's what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script with its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something based on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he grew up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by sitting on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I want to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place I've never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay my 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only a great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the stories of good liars." But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an America increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New Orleans raptures. "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy From dabeck at iupui.edu Mon Nov 1 19:24:51 2004 From: dabeck at iupui.edu (David Alan Beck) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 19:24:51 -0500 (EST) Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In-Reply-To: <1E4B441CB5CF9D408D318BC697F086F5014B03C8@olawexc7.naoxy.com> Message-ID: I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay to Lancelot? -David On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" film > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately at > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the lead > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > To: Walker Percy List > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > By DAVE KEHR > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > for a > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of John > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > mire > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > doomed a > project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that > was > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > Lily > Tomlin. > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets paid > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > made > the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the > ultimate > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of Dunces" > is > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > "1919 > shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first > adult > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > Winston-Salem. > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > which > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens after > its > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > introduces > some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young British > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger brother > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > gold > coins. > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > more," > Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All > the > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > something > slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same execution > but > bloody it up a bit." > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did not > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at the > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > them > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > events, > and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the draft. > We > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > the > film evolved from that." > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' or > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > when I > was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > That's > what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script > with > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > based > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > grew > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > sitting > on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > want > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > I've > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > my > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only a > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > stories of good liars." > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > America > increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > Orleans raptures. > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe From Robert_Pauley at oxy.com Mon Nov 1 19:56:00 2004 From: Robert_Pauley at oxy.com (Robert_Pauley at oxy.com) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 16:56:00 -0800 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart Message-ID: <1E4B441CB5CF9D408D318BC697F086F5014B03C9@olawexc7.naoxy.com> Perhaps. But only Percy projects I know of under development in recent past are Moviegoer, Second Coming and LG. Moviegoer has been in and out of development for 30 years. Script I read 10 years ago was quite good. Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts were attached to Terence Malick as director at one point. -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 4:25 PM To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay to Lancelot? -David On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" film > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately at > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the lead > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > To: Walker Percy List > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > By DAVE KEHR > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > for a > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of John > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > mire > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > doomed a > project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that > was > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > Lily > Tomlin. > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets paid > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > made > the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the > ultimate > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of Dunces" > is > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > "1919 > shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first > adult > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > Winston-Salem. > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > which > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens after > its > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > introduces > some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young British > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger brother > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > gold > coins. > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > more," > Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All > the > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > something > slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same execution > but > bloody it up a bit." > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did not > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at the > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > them > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > events, > and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the draft. > We > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > the > film evolved from that." > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' or > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > when I > was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > That's > what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script > with > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > based > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > grew > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > sitting > on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > want > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > I've > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > my > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only a > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > stories of good liars." > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > America > increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > Orleans raptures. > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy From dabeck at iupui.edu Mon Nov 1 20:02:57 2004 From: dabeck at iupui.edu (David Alan Beck) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 20:02:57 -0500 (EST) Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In-Reply-To: <1E4B441CB5CF9D408D318BC697F086F5014B03C9@olawexc7.naoxy.com> Message-ID: Please save us from Julia Roberts. How about Naomi Watts? On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Perhaps. But only Percy projects I know of under development in recent > past are Moviegoer, Second Coming and LG. Moviegoer has been in and out > of development for 30 years. Script I read 10 years ago was quite good. > Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts were attached to Terence Malick as > director at one point. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 4:25 PM > To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > > I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most > of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay > to > Lancelot? > -David > > On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > > > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" > film > > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately > at > > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > > apart > > > > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the > lead > > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > > To: Walker Percy List > > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > > By DAVE KEHR > > > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > > for a > > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of > John > > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > > mire > > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > > doomed a > > project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that > > was > > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > > Lily > > Tomlin. > > > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets > paid > > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > > made > > the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the > > ultimate > > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of > Dunces" > > is > > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > > "1919 > > shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first > > adult > > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > > Winston-Salem. > > > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > > which > > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens > after > > its > > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > > introduces > > some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around > > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young > British > > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger > brother > > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > > gold > > coins. > > > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > > more," > > Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All > > the > > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > > something > > slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same > execution > > but > > bloody it up a bit." > > > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did > not > > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at > the > > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > > them > > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > > events, > > and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also > > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the > draft. > > We > > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > > the > > film evolved from that." > > > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' > or > > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > > when I > > was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern > > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > > That's > > what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script > > with > > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > > based > > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > > grew > > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > > sitting > > on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > > want > > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > > I've > > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > > my > > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only > a > > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > > stories of good liars." > > > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > > America > > increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > > Orleans raptures. > > > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > > > > > > > David Beck > > If you treat an individual as he is, he will > remain as he is. But if you treat him as > if he were what he ought to be and what > he could be, he will become what he > ought and could be. > > Johann Wolfgang von Goethe > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe From Robert_Pauley at oxy.com Mon Nov 1 20:47:12 2004 From: Robert_Pauley at oxy.com (Robert_Pauley at oxy.com) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 17:47:12 -0800 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart Message-ID: <1E4B441CB5CF9D408D318BC697F086F5014B03CA@olawexc7.naoxy.com> No fear. She's long since out of the picture. Naomi seems fine. I'm partial to Kirsten Dunst. -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 5:03 PM To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart Please save us from Julia Roberts. How about Naomi Watts? On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Perhaps. But only Percy projects I know of under development in recent > past are Moviegoer, Second Coming and LG. Moviegoer has been in and out > of development for 30 years. Script I read 10 years ago was quite good. > Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts were attached to Terence Malick as > director at one point. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 4:25 PM > To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > > I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most > of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay > to > Lancelot? > -David > > On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > > > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" > film > > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately > at > > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > > apart > > > > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the > lead > > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > > To: Walker Percy List > > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > > By DAVE KEHR > > > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > > for a > > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of > John > > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > > mire > > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > > doomed a > > project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that > > was > > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > > Lily > > Tomlin. > > > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets > paid > > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > > made > > the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the > > ultimate > > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of > Dunces" > > is > > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > > "1919 > > shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first > > adult > > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > > Winston-Salem. > > > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > > which > > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens > after > > its > > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > > introduces > > some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around > > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young > British > > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger > brother > > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > > gold > > coins. > > > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > > more," > > Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All > > the > > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > > something > > slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same > execution > > but > > bloody it up a bit." > > > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did > not > > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at > the > > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > > them > > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > > events, > > and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also > > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the > draft. > > We > > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > > the > > film evolved from that." > > > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' > or > > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > > when I > > was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern > > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > > That's > > what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script > > with > > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > > based > > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > > grew > > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > > sitting > > on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > > want > > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > > I've > > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > > my > > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only > a > > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > > stories of good liars." > > > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > > America > > increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > > Orleans raptures. > > > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > > > > > > > David Beck > > If you treat an individual as he is, he will > remain as he is. But if you treat him as > if he were what he ought to be and what > he could be, he will become what he > ought and could be. > > Johann Wolfgang von Goethe > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy From rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com Mon Nov 1 23:32:53 2004 From: rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com (RHONDA MCDONNELL) Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2004 21:32:53 -0700 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart References: Message-ID: I did a screen play of Lancelot for a grad class, but botched it pretty badly. I'd like to get back to it someday, if I could ever finish the never-ending dss. ----- Original Message ----- From: David Alan Beck To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 5:24 PM Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay to Lancelot? -David On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" film > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately at > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the lead > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > To: Walker Percy List > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > By DAVE KEHR > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > for a > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of John > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > mire > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > doomed a > project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that > was > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > Lily > Tomlin. > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets paid > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > made > the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the > ultimate > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of Dunces" > is > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > "1919 > shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first > adult > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > Winston-Salem. > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > which > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens after > its > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > introduces > some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young British > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger brother > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > gold > coins. > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > more," > Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All > the > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > something > slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same execution > but > bloody it up a bit." > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did not > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at the > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > them > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > events, > and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the draft. > We > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > the > film evolved from that." > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' or > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > when I > was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > That's > what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script > with > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > based > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > grew > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > sitting > on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > want > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > I've > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > my > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only a > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > stories of good liars." > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > America > increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > Orleans raptures. > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kterrell at sheastokes.com Tue Nov 2 13:23:16 2004 From: kterrell at sheastokes.com (Karl M. Terrell) Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:23:16 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart Message-ID: <7A5E4A01592B87438BF92B2CC0CA9DC20C8741@at01.sheamcnitt.com> * * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * * I saw a good stage production of the Moviegoer in Atlanta a few years ago, by Tom Key. I enjoyed it immensely, but I think those in the audience not totally familiar with Percy were confused by the end of it. Tom also had the stage rights to Lost in the Cosmos, and I think staged a production, but I never saw it. -----Original Message----- From: Robert_Pauley at oxy.com [mailto:Robert_Pauley at oxy.com] Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 8:47 PM To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart No fear. She's long since out of the picture. Naomi seems fine. I'm partial to Kirsten Dunst. -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 5:03 PM To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart Please save us from Julia Roberts. How about Naomi Watts? On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Perhaps. But only Percy projects I know of under development in recent > past are Moviegoer, Second Coming and LG. Moviegoer has been in and out > of development for 30 years. Script I read 10 years ago was quite good. > Tim Robbins and Julia Roberts were attached to Terence Malick as > director at one point. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 4:25 PM > To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > > I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most > of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay > to Lancelot? > -David > > On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > > > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" > film > > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately > at > > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > > apart > > > > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the > lead > > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > > To: Walker Percy List > > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > > By DAVE KEHR > > > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > > for a > > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of > John > > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > > mire > > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > > doomed a project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for > > a cast that > > was > > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > > Lily > > Tomlin. > > > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets > paid > > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > > made the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received > > the ultimate > > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of > Dunces" > > is > > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > > "1919 shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his > > first adult > > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > > Winston-Salem. > > > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > > which > > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens > after > > its > > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > > introduces some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed > > in and around > > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young > British > > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger > brother > > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > > gold > > coins. > > > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > > more," Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" > > and "All > > the > > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > > something slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that > > same > execution > > but > > bloody it up a bit." > > > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did > not > > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at > the > > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > > them > > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > > events, and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English > > teacher who also > > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the > draft. > > We > > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > > the > > film evolved from that." > > > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' > or > > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > > when I was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with > > a lantern > > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > > That's what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read > > the script > > with > > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > > based > > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > > grew > > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > > sitting on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > > want > > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > > I've > > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > > my > > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only > a > > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > > stories of good liars." > > > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > > America increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > > Orleans raptures. > > > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > > > > > > > David Beck > > If you treat an individual as he is, he will > remain as he is. But if you treat him as > if he were what he ought to be and what > he could be, he will become what he > ought and could be. > > Johann Wolfgang von Goethe > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy ************************************************************************************************ PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. This message, and its attachments, may contain information that falls under the attorney-client and/or work product privileges. Receipt of this message by an unintended recipient does not constitute a waiver by the sender of any and all applicable privileges. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail and any attachments, or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, downloading, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, permanently delete the e-mail and any attachments immediately, and destroy all copies. ************************************************************************************************ From sldye at bluegrass.org Tue Nov 2 13:40:58 2004 From: sldye at bluegrass.org (Steve L. Dye) Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:40:58 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <5C70CAA729D41844A2B73C99847FDEB608850F@batman.Bluegrass.Board> It has been interesting reading the messages regarding possible film versions of Percy's work. There appears to be some interest in such endeavors. I don't know that The Last Gentleman or The Moviegoer would generate much box office "buzz",(I think they would be extremely difficult to transfer to film) but The Second Coming is such a wonderful "love story" (for lack of a better description) that it could be done - and make some money. Lancelot certainly has the "melodrama" and "passion" for the big screen, but I would almost guarantee that it would come across as almost a parody of Percy's intentions. But what do I know? It IS fascinating to "ponder", as we say here in the south. And for me, Lancelot has always been the one Percy book I had the most difficulty responding to. Lancelot might have made it back in the 40s or 50s with someone like Susan Hayward or Barbara Stanwyk and Fred McMurray...or do I have it confused with The Postman Always Rings Twice?????" :) Or Double Indemnity??? -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Beck Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 7:25 PM To: Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart I think Lancelot would be a good film, but, then again, I think tha most of his books would make good movies. Didn't someone write a screenplay to Lancelot? -David On Mon, 1 Nov 2004 Robert_Pauley at oxy.com wrote: > Many have tried, mostly with The Moviegoer. We held film option rights > for The Last Gentleman for a few years. We did not encounter the > "entanglements" alluded to in recent post on aborted "Confederacy" film > project but instead general chariness among studios regarding a Percy > adaptation. We have a good script that balances cinematic needs and > loyalty to Percy's story and faith, and remain interested in the > project. Should anybody have any leads toward private financing ($1-5 > million) of film of this great novel feel free to email me privately at > rrpjr at netzero.net. Regards, R. Pauley, Providence Productions. > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Steve L. Dye > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 6:34 AM > To: 'Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion' > Subject: RE: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls > apart > > > On a related subject, I have had the fantasy that a couple of Percy's > books might be turned into films some day.....my picks would be "The > Second Coming" (Harrison Ford and maybe Anne Heche or Drew Barrymore) > and "Love in the Ruins" with Jack Nicholson playing himself in the lead > role as Tom More...:) This fantasy, obviously, goes back a few years. > Both Harrison and Jack have now aged out of the roles... > > -----Original Message----- > From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org > [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Wade Riddick > Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2004 7:38 PM > To: Walker Percy List > Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart > > > > In the Grip of the South, Where the Film Tales Are > By DAVE KEHR > > Published: October 27, 2004 > > The director David Gordon Green went to New Orleans last year looking > for a > movie, which eluded him. But he found a home. > > As luck would have it, Mr. Green's much-anticipated film version of John > Kennedy Toole's cult novel, "A Confederacy of Dunces," collapsed in a > mire > of legal, financial and personal entanglements that appear to have > doomed a > project written by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer, for a cast that > was > to include Will Farrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Olympia Dukakis and > Lily > Tomlin. > > "I think it's shelved until either somebody dies or everybody gets paid > off," said Mr. Green, a 29-year-old whose 2000 debut film, "George > Washington," was a dreamlike portrait of childhood in the South that > made > the tour of the world's film festivals and has since received the > ultimate > accolade: a deluxe DVD edition from the Criterion Collection. > > While scouting locations in New Orleans, where "A Confederacy of Dunces" > is > set and was to be filmed, however, Mr. Green bought what he calls a > "1919 > shotgun doublewide" house that, once fixed up, will become his first > adult > address. An Arkansas native, he has been living out of suitcases and > sleeping on couches since "George Washington" lifted him out of North > Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts in > Winston-Salem. > > Besides sinking roots in New Orleans, Mr. Green also managed to edit > "Undertow" - his third feature, after "All the Real Girls" last year- > which > was shot in the summer of 2003 and was released last week by > Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's United Artists unit on a handful of screens after > its > well-received New York Film Festival premiere. > > The picture continues Mr. Green's exploration of the South, but > introduces > some new elements to his languid, lyrical style. Filmed in and around > Savannah, Ga., the film follows a teenager (played by the young British > actor Jamie Bell, from "Billy Elliott'') and his fragile younger brother > (Devon Alan) as they flee the evil uncle (Josh Lucas) who has slit the > throat of their father (Dermot Mulroney) in a dispute over a cache of > gold > coins. > > "I wanted to go a little heavier in this one and show a little bit > more," > Mr. Green said, comparing "Undertow" with "George Washington" and "All > the > Real Girls." "With the first two movies I was very much going for > something > slow and poetic. And here, I wanted to take some of that same execution > but > bloody it up a bit." > > It is also the first time that Mr. Green worked from a script he did not > originate. "Undertow" came out of a program conducted by the legendary > filmmaker Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line") at the > University of Texas in Austin. Mr. Malick and his partner, the veteran > producer Ed Pressman, formed a company called Sunflower Productions to > develop screenplays outside the Hollywood mainstream. > > "We had a coterie of young writers out of the university, and we paid > them > a little bit of money to try screenplays," Mr. Pressman remembered. " > 'Undertow' was something Terry had the idea for based on true life > events, > and he gave it to Joe Conway" - a high school English teacher who also > played on Mr. Malick's amateur basketball team. "We had seen 'George > Washington' before it was released, and so Terry showed David the draft. > We > talked about it for a long time, and then David did his own draft, and > the > film evolved from that." > > "It was a script that worked within certain formulas and genre > conventions," Mr. Green recalled. "What we were going for was to make > something like an off-kilter 'Huckleberry Finn' or 'Treasure Island,' or > like the Hardy Boys books. I remember having a box full of old books > when I > was 12, the kind that have a cover illustration of kids with a lantern > looking down a cave - these awesome, odd mysteries and adventures. > That's > what I really wanted this to feel like, and so when I read the script > with > its true-crime horror I wondered how we could bring out the fanciful, > hyperreal boy's adventure in it, almost to bring out elements of fairy > tales, like 'Hansel and Gretel.' So a lot of it was to take something > based > on actual incidents and bring a fanciful frame to it." > > By living and filming in the South, Mr. Green celebrates the world he > grew > up in. "I'm inspired less by specific movies and books than I am by > sitting > on a porch listening to somebody,'' he said. > > "Given the choice for an evening's entertainment,'' Mr. Green said, "I > want > to go and listen to some old man I don't know, who comes from a place > I've > never heard of and has a story to tell that I don't believe. I can pay > my > 10 bucks and see a movie anytime, but how often do you get that > face-to-face encounter, with those accents and exaggerations that only a > great liar can conjure? And I think this movie was my reaction to the > stories of good liars." > > But how easy is it to find those eccentric, individual voices in an > America > increasingly standardized by Wal-Marts and cable television? > > "It's easy in my neighborhood," Mr. Green said, returning to his New > Orleans raptures. > > "In fact, it's hard to get away from them. It really is!" > > > > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > > David Beck If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is. But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and what he could be, he will become what he ought and could be. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe -- An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy From wriddick at usa.net Tue Nov 9 15:14:03 2004 From: wriddick at usa.net (Wade Riddick) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 14:14:03 -0600 Subject: [percy-l] Production of _A Confederacy of Dunces_ falls apart In-Reply-To: <15c.421f6cae.2eb3b485@aol.com> Message-ID: A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 504 bytes Desc: not available URL: From me at lastgentleman.com Fri Nov 12 21:25:41 2004 From: me at lastgentleman.com (Mark Maier) Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 21:25:41 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Berry Morgan Message-ID: <000001c4c928$1712a830$93c92b44@MTMDesktop> I recently picked up a copy of Berry Morgan's first novel Pursuit based on the recommendation of Percy on the dust jacket. I've since been able to locate her second book, but I am having difficulty finding any information about Morgan. Is anyone out there familiar with her work? She's mentioned in both the Tolson and the Samway biographies but only in passing. There is a profile of her in Contemporary Authors but it is pretty brief. Thanks, Mark --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.782 / Virus Database: 528 - Release Date: 10/22/2004 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Nikkibar at aol.com Sat Nov 13 01:05:17 2004 From: Nikkibar at aol.com (Nikkibar at aol.com) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 01:05:17 EST Subject: [percy-l] Berry Morgan Message-ID: <1ee.2e7c1a79.2ec6fe1d@aol.com> Berry Morgan was a fine writer and a great friend of Walker. He read her work and most of his friends in Covington who met her on her occasional visits to Covington with her family read her books and short magazine pieces as they appeared. I probably have most of the canon in the library but that is upstairs and at the other end of the house. I'll try to check what I have, but daylight is required. She published with some frequency in the New Yorker as I recall and Google could probably give you a bibliography. Her work is excellent and well worth the effort to obtain and read. Nikki Barranger Nikki -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From me at lastgentleman.com Thu Nov 18 21:55:02 2004 From: me at lastgentleman.com (Mark Maier) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 21:55:02 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Books Reviewed by Percy Message-ID: <000001c4cde3$2b70f5b0$93c92b44@MTMDesktop> Lately I've seem to keep stumbling upon books blurbed by Percy that I'd never heard of previously. Pursuit, Ellen Foster, Anywhere But Here. Are there others out there that I haven't found yet? Mark --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.782 / Virus Database: 528 - Release Date: 10/22/2004 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jdp at scn.org Thu Nov 18 22:20:13 2004 From: jdp at scn.org (Jonathan Potter) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:20:13 -0800 (PST) Subject: [percy-l] Books Reviewed by Percy In-Reply-To: <000001c4cde3$2b70f5b0$93c92b44@MTMDesktop> Message-ID: Dead Languages and The Emperor of the Air are two that I've come across. Jonathan Potter Spokane WA On Thu, 18 Nov 2004, Mark Maier wrote: [NON-Text Body part not included] From wpercy2 at ibiblio.org Sat Nov 20 09:48:46 2004 From: wpercy2 at ibiblio.org (Henry P. Mills) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 08:48:46 -0600 Subject: [percy-l] Books Reviewed by Percy In-Reply-To: <000001c4cde3$2b70f5b0$93c92b44@MTMDesktop> Message-ID: Mark, I can?t speak to Percy ?blurbs,? but here is a list of works with Percy introductions that I compiled awhile back. Perhaps it will be of further interest. Regards, Henry Mills -- Works with Introductions by Walker Percy http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/wpcomplete.html Percy, William Alexander (1885-1942). Lanterns on the Levee: Recollections of a Planter's Son. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1973 rpr. Toole, John Kennedy. A Confederacy of Dunces. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1980. Ellis, Frederick Stephen. St. Tammany Parish: L'autre Cote du Lac. Gretna, LA: Pelican, 1981. Percy, William Alexander. Sewanee. New York: Frederic C. Beil, 1982. [Rpr. from Lanterns above.] Gulledge, Jo. "William Alexander Percy and The Fugitives: An Exchange of Letters," Southern Review (Baton Rouge), Vol. 21, No. 2, April, 1985, pp. 415-427. Hobson, Linda Whitney. Walker Percy: A Comprehensive Descriptive Bibliography. N.O.: Faust, 1988. Horgan, Paul. The Richard Trilogy. Middletown: Wesleyan UP, 1990. Kisor, Henry. What's That Pig Outdoors?: A Memoir of Deafness. New York: Hill and Wang, 1990. Gretlund, Jan Norby and Karl-Heinz Westarp, eds. Walker Percy: Novelist and Philosopher. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991. > From: "Mark Maier" > Reply-To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" > > Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 21:55:02 -0500 > To: > Subject: [percy-l] Books Reviewed by Percy > > > Lately I've seem to keep stumbling upon books blurbed by Percy that I'd never > heard of previously. Pursuit, Ellen Foster, Anywhere But Here. Are there > others out there that I haven't found yet? > > Mark > > > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.782 / Virus Database: 528 - Release Date: 10/22/2004 > > > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From Tpmonaghan at aol.com Sat Nov 20 09:59:09 2004 From: Tpmonaghan at aol.com (Tpmonaghan at aol.com) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 09:59:09 EST Subject: [percy-l] request Message-ID: Many years ago....in the late 80s or the 90s I was in a doctor's waiting room, reading assorted magazines and there was a magazine...called American Public Health or Health or something...I can't remember the title and it had a review of Lost in the Cosmos. The reviewer as I recall hadn't read the book apparently because he reviewed it seriously as a self help book. It was truly a great moment of unintended humor. Does anyone on the list know anything of this review? Thank you. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kterrell at sheastokes.com Sat Nov 20 12:32:51 2004 From: kterrell at sheastokes.com (Karl M. Terrell) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:32:51 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] request Message-ID: <7A5E4A01592B87438BF92B2CC0CA9DC20C8756@at01.sheamcnitt.com> * * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * * Reminds me of the way I came across Lost in the Cosmos, sometime around 1990. I was already a fan of Percy, but unaware of this book. One day I was browsing a book store and wandered into the self-help section ... and there it was. Another moment of unintended humor (or maybe Percy did intend such a moment). -----Original Message----- From: Tpmonaghan at aol.com [mailto:Tpmonaghan at aol.com] Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 9:59 AM To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [percy-l] request Many years ago....in the late 80s or the 90s I was in a doctor's waiting room, reading assorted magazines and there was a magazine...called American Public Health or Health or something...I can't remember the title and it had a review of Lost in the Cosmos. The reviewer as I recall hadn't read the book apparently because he reviewed it seriously as a self help book. It was truly a great moment of unintended humor. Does anyone on the list know anything of this review? Thank you. ************************************************************************************************ PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. This message, and its attachments, may contain information that falls under the attorney-client and/or work product privileges. Receipt of this message by an unintended recipient does not constitute a waiver by the sender of any and all applicable privileges. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail and any attachments, or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, downloading, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, permanently delete the e-mail and any attachments immediately, and destroy all copies. ************************************************************************************************ From juliorivas at gmail.com Sat Nov 20 13:24:07 2004 From: juliorivas at gmail.com (J Rivas-Pita) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 14:24:07 -0400 Subject: [percy-l] request In-Reply-To: <7A5E4A01592B87438BF92B2CC0CA9DC20C8756@at01.sheamcnitt.com> References: <7A5E4A01592B87438BF92B2CC0CA9DC20C8756@at01.sheamcnitt.com> Message-ID: Dear friends, I'm a Percy lover living in Caracas, Venezuela, where it is very, very difficult to find his books. I was introduced to Percy's work by Brian J. Mahan's "Forgetting Ourselves on Purpose", a book I warmly recommend to you all. By the way, I'd like to ask a big, BIG favor of any one of you who could help me by scanning and e-mailing me some excerpts from "Lost in the Cosmos" (I can't order it through Amazon.com because since the strict exchange controls in Venezuela my credit card is no longer valid abroad :( The chapters or summaries I`m most interested in are: The Preliminary Short-Quizz Chapter 11 -The Depressed Self Chapter 8 - The Promiscuous Self Chapter 12 - A Semiotic Primer of the Self My e-mail: juliorivas at gmail.com Many, MANY thanks in advance to any of you who is willing to take all that trouble for this marooned-in-Caracas self :) With all best wishes, Julio On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:32:51 -0500, Karl M. Terrell wrote: > * * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * * > > Reminds me of the way I came across Lost in the Cosmos, sometime around > 1990. I was already a fan of Percy, but unaware of this book. One day > I was browsing a book store and wandered into the self-help section ... > and there it was. Another moment of unintended humor (or maybe Percy > did intend such a moment). > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Tpmonaghan at aol.com [mailto:Tpmonaghan at aol.com] > Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 9:59 AM > To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org > Subject: [percy-l] request > > Many years ago....in the late 80s or the 90s I was in a > doctor's waiting room, reading assorted magazines and there was a > magazine...called American Public Health or Health or something...I > can't remember the title and it had a review of Lost in the Cosmos. The > reviewer as I recall hadn't read the book apparently because he reviewed > it seriously as a self help book. It was truly a great moment of > unintended humor. > > Does anyone on the list know anything of this review? > > Thank you. > > > ************************************************************************************************ > PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION > The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. This message, and its attachments, may contain information that falls under the attorney-client and/or work product privileges. Receipt of this message by an unintended recipient does not constitute a waiver by the sender of any and all applicable privileges. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail and any attachments, or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, downloading, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, permanently delete the e-mail and any attachments immediately, and destroy all copies. > ************************************************************************************************ > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- Be Happy! (Fr. Benito Ballesteros, OSB, 1924-1996) S? feliz! (P. Benito Ballesteros, OSB, 1924-1996) From Nikkibar at aol.com Sat Nov 20 16:24:40 2004 From: Nikkibar at aol.com (Nikkibar at aol.com) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:24:40 EST Subject: [percy-l] Books Reviewed by Percy Message-ID: <1da.2fdba37c.2ed11018@aol.com> Another book that Walker was wonderfully fond of but probably never blurbed as it came out before he became famous himself is Canticle for Leibowicz by Walter Miller, Jr. Nikki Barranger -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From me at lastgentleman.com Sun Nov 21 20:18:05 2004 From: me at lastgentleman.com (Mark Maier) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 20:18:05 -0500 Subject: [percy-l] Another Book Blurbed by Percy In-Reply-To: <20041121170131.A4BE24831F@metalab.unc.edu> Message-ID: <000001c4d031$1efb3110$93c92b44@MTMDesktop> I recently came across Truth: Four Stories I Am Finally Old Enough to Tell by Ellen Douglas which has a blurb from Percy (as well as from Shelby Foote and Richard Ford). I don't believe this book was published in Percy's lifetime, but at any rate .... Mark -----Original Message----- From: percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:percy-l-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of percy-l-request at lists.ibiblio.org Sent: Sunday, November 21, 2004 12:02 PM To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org Subject: Percy-L Digest, Vol 22, Issue 9 Send Percy-L mailing list submissions to percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to percy-l-request at lists.ibiblio.org You can reach the person managing the list at percy-l-owner at lists.ibiblio.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of Percy-L digest..." Today's Topics: 1. RE: request (Karl M. Terrell) 2. Re: request (J Rivas-Pita) 3. Re: Books Reviewed by Percy (Nikkibar at aol.com) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:32:51 -0500 From: "Karl M. Terrell" Subject: RE: [percy-l] request To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" Message-ID: <7A5E4A01592B87438BF92B2CC0CA9DC20C8756 at at01.sheamcnitt.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" * * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * * Reminds me of the way I came across Lost in the Cosmos, sometime around 1990. I was already a fan of Percy, but unaware of this book. One day I was browsing a book store and wandered into the self-help section ... and there it was. Another moment of unintended humor (or maybe Percy did intend such a moment). -----Original Message----- From: Tpmonaghan at aol.com [mailto:Tpmonaghan at aol.com] Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 9:59 AM To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [percy-l] request Many years ago....in the late 80s or the 90s I was in a doctor's waiting room, reading assorted magazines and there was a magazine...called American Public Health or Health or something...I can't remember the title and it had a review of Lost in the Cosmos. The reviewer as I recall hadn't read the book apparently because he reviewed it seriously as a self help book. It was truly a great moment of unintended humor. Does anyone on the list know anything of this review? Thank you. ************************************************************************ ************************ PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. This message, and its attachments, may contain information that falls under the attorney-client and/or work product privileges. Receipt of this message by an unintended recipient does not constitute a waiver by the sender of any and all applicable privileges. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail and any attachments, or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, downloading, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, permanently delete the e-mail and any attachments immediately, and destroy all copies. ************************************************************************ ************************ ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 14:24:07 -0400 From: J Rivas-Pita Subject: Re: [percy-l] request To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion" Message-ID: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Dear friends, I'm a Percy lover living in Caracas, Venezuela, where it is very, very difficult to find his books. I was introduced to Percy's work by Brian J. Mahan's "Forgetting Ourselves on Purpose", a book I warmly recommend to you all. By the way, I'd like to ask a big, BIG favor of any one of you who could help me by scanning and e-mailing me some excerpts from "Lost in the Cosmos" (I can't order it through Amazon.com because since the strict exchange controls in Venezuela my credit card is no longer valid abroad :( The chapters or summaries I`m most interested in are: The Preliminary Short-Quizz Chapter 11 -The Depressed Self Chapter 8 - The Promiscuous Self Chapter 12 - A Semiotic Primer of the Self My e-mail: juliorivas at gmail.com Many, MANY thanks in advance to any of you who is willing to take all that trouble for this marooned-in-Caracas self :) With all best wishes, Julio On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:32:51 -0500, Karl M. Terrell wrote: > * * This communication is CONFIDENTIAL * * > > Reminds me of the way I came across Lost in the Cosmos, sometime > around 1990. I was already a fan of Percy, but unaware of this book. > One day I was browsing a book store and wandered into the self-help > section ... and there it was. Another moment of unintended humor (or > maybe Percy did intend such a moment). > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Tpmonaghan at aol.com [mailto:Tpmonaghan at aol.com] > Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 9:59 AM > To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org > Subject: [percy-l] request > > Many years ago....in the late 80s or the 90s I was in a > doctor's waiting room, reading assorted magazines and there was a > magazine...called American Public Health or Health or something...I > can't remember the title and it had a review of Lost in the Cosmos. > The reviewer as I recall hadn't read the book apparently because he > reviewed it seriously as a self help book. It was truly a great > moment of unintended humor. > > Does anyone on the list know anything of this review? > > Thank you. > > > ********************************************************************** > ************************** > PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION > The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is only for the use of the recipient(s) named above. This message, and its attachments, may contain information that falls under the attorney-client and/or work product privileges. Receipt of this message by an unintended recipient does not constitute a waiver by the sender of any and all applicable privileges. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail and any attachments, or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipients, you are hereby notified that any use, dissemination, distribution, downloading, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail, permanently delete the e-mail and any attachments immediately, and destroy all copies. > ************************************************************************ ************************ > > -- > > An archive of all list discussion is available at > http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail > > Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy > -- Be Happy! (Fr. Benito Ballesteros, OSB, 1924-1996) S? feliz! (P. Benito Ballesteros, OSB, 1924-1996) ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:24:40 EST From: Nikkibar at aol.com Subject: Re: [percy-l] Books Reviewed by Percy To: percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org Message-ID: <1da.2fdba37c.2ed11018 at aol.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Another book that Walker was wonderfully fond of but probably never blurbed as it came out before he became famous himself is Canticle for Leibowicz by Walter Miller, Jr. Nikki Barranger -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/percy-l/attachments/20041120/6df9325f /attachment-0001.htm ------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Percy-L mailing list Percy-L at lists.ibiblio.org http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/percy-l End of Percy-L Digest, Vol 22, Issue 9 ************************************** --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.782 / Virus Database: 528 - Release Date: 10/22/2004 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.782 / Virus Database: 528 - Release Date: 10/22/2004