Friday, February 03, 2006

Camera Obscura - Cormac McCarthy Meets Coens

One of the finest writers who ever called Knoxville and Rockford home is Cormac McCarthy and his most recent novel, "No Country For Old Men" has been brought into film production by the Coen brothers, and so far actor Tommy Lee Jones is set to star in the film. The modern day crime story is set to begin production in May.

McCarthy has written a broad spectrum of stories, starting with his days publishing tales in the UT literary magazine The Phoenix, and even had a stint as a radio show host in his army days. Some of his stories are set in Appalachia, some are westerns, set in both the Wild West past and in the present. My personal favorites include the Knoxville-based novel "Suttree" and another book based on real events in Sevier County called "Child of God", a novel of a homeless middle-aged man living in a cave and collecting human bodies.

Some other movie news:

I remain impressed with the vast collection of movie trailers you can find at The MovieBox.net, which has both new and upcoming films by the ton, and new trailers are added daily.

One recent find there was a sci-fi film by director Kurt Wimmer, who made a little gem in 2002 called "Equilibrium." His newest brings actress Milla Jovovich into the sci-fi world in a role that has elements of "Resident Evil," (based on the videogame) "Aeon Flux", "The Matrix" and "Kill Bill." The movie is called "Ultraviolet" and she plays a geneticall-altered and trained government soldier who takes on the world to protect a small boy. Check out the trailer here. Don't be surprised if it becomes a videogame

A big-budget historic movie based on the life Marie Antoinette lushly filmed by filmmaker Sofia Coppola and starring Kirsten Dunst in the title role looks promising - the trailer is here - and co-stars include Jason Schwartzman, Asia Argento, Judy Davis and Marianne Faithfull.



The acclaimed Wener Herzog film of the true story of a man who thought he could live with grizzlies hits the Discovery Channel tonite in a three-hour version which includes a behind-the-scenes documentary of this offbeat story of a man whose illusions brought about his own "grisly" death.

3 comments:

  1. I had an office job with a great view in Knoxville's First Tennessee building (it may have been the other big one next door, but 1st TN sounds right) for a couple of months during my Knoxville years. There wasn't much to do but surf the internet and bring in books to read. I took the opportunity to read "Suttree" for the second time while there, and it was great to be able to look out my window over downtown while doing so.

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  2. I find it impossible now to view the downtown and the river's edge without hearing Suttree's/Cormac's voice, too.

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  3. And here I thought he was just 'All the Pretty Horses..'
    Great post..

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