Father Geek here with one more, well actually 2 reports from this year's film event in Edinburgh, Scotland... we get right to it for you...
Russell Banks was at the Edinburgh Book Festival this week, and mentioned some new screen adaptations he is working on.
He's developing a teleplay of his novel "Cloudsplitter" for HBO and Martin Scorsese (I presume Scorsese is involved either as producer or director).
He's also just finished a screenplay of "On The Road" which has now been green-lit and financed, with Coppola to direct. Apparently Coppola bought the rights in 1969 and Paul Schrader, Barry Gifford, Roman Coppola and Francis Ford himself have all tried and failed to create a filmable script from Kerouac's text. For whatever reason, Banks' screenplay has lit the fuse. Both he and Coppola want a 'young Willem Dafoe' to star.
He confessed he's caught the movie bug - he was delighted with Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter" and Paul Schrader's "Affliction" - and that he is now adapting two other novels he wrote ("Rule Of The Bone" and "Continental Drift") - for the big screen.
CortezTheKiller
Father Geek back... now here's a brief look at VOLCANO HIGH, which I love, loads of fun...
Been reading the reviews of the Edinburgh Film Festival on your site and noticed that no-one seems to have picked up on Volcano High yet.
I went to see the late night screening on Saturday night, concerned that after a few pints I might have problems staying awake (I slumbered straight through the last late nighter I went to - X-files movie a while back).
Anyway, I needn't have worried. From the pre-credit sequence (including a nice little nod to The Matrix involving a teacher, a delinquent pupil and a stick of chalk), the credits themselves (rawwwwk!) and pretty much everything that followed, I was totally hooked.
Bit of background - This South Korean film draws from the traditional story elements of the old-style Kung Fu films - lots of good V.s evil stuff - but hauls them kicking and screaming into the post-Matrix world with some wonderfully over-the-top stylistic cinematography.
The plot involves the various factions of Volcano High School (the Kendo Club, the Football team, the assistant principle, etc) as they battle for the source of ultimate power - the Secret Manuscript. Enter our hero (the intended target of that stick of chalk in the opening scene) who only wants to keep his nose clean and win the girl. Cue lots of brilliantly executed fight sequences! With Kung Fu and telekinesis! In the rain!
Don't know what kind of release schedule this is likely to get. Hopefully it'll get at least a limited distribution, Battle Royale style, 'cos it's definitely one you'll want to see on a big screen with a big sound system.
Seek it out.
John.
