Mo' Better Mowgli

As I'm not much of a fan of anthropomorphized animals, I'm not sure what to make of this news that Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is being turned into a live action film by the BBC. A version of the novel was made back in 1994 in which Jason Scott Lee, Carey Elwes (Oh my Wesley!) and Sam Neill appeared, but I don't remember it even being in theaters.

Speaking of tigers, anyone know what's up with The Life of Pi adaptation?

What Do Horatio Hornblower and Elizabeth Bennett Have In Common?

"Villagers" in a Florida community have taken up whist, a game played by Phileas Fogg, Elizabeth Bennett, Horatio Hornblower and Scarlett O’Hara, writes The Villages Daily Sun. If you're a whist neophyte, the pieces goes on to explain how it works:

Players are paired, male and female for the first round. The winning couple moves on, the man to one table, the woman to another. The male from the losing team moves over a chair, to become the partner of the woman arriving at the table. His former partner becomes the partner for the man who moves to the table.

“Sometimes you cross again,” Davis said.

After each round, which takes about five minutes, the coordinator rings a bell to signal the rotation.

No wonder it was such a popular game--it's the perfect opportunity for a little flirting and witty repartee! For further reading on the card game, wikipedia has a list of literary references to whist.

High-larity Ensues...

Check out The Egalitarian Bookworm for her side-splitting take on Becoming Jane. (...if you haven't seen the flick yet, consider this a spoiler alert.)

Coming Soon...

Here's the poster for Paramount's adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner, which premeires on November 2. Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Stranger Than Fiction) directs this heartbreaking tale of friendship and redemption.

Source: Rotten Tomatos

Waist Not, Want Not

Today Modish steered me in the direction of Louise Black, the designer of these cool-but-bizarre Victorian corsets.

Curious News

If you've seen Becoming Jane yet, you'll be intrigued to know that the young woman who plays Jane's namesake at the end of the film (actress Sophie Vavasseur), will also be starring as Little Nell in a forthcoming adaptation of Dicken's The Old Curiosity Shop. Toby Jones (a.k.a. Truman Capote) and Gina McKee (a.k.a. Irene Forsyte) also star.

Merry Janes

PBS has a cute and clever video promo for their upcoming Jane Austen extravanza. (They like to boast the fact that never before in TV history have all six Austen novels been broadcast as a complete collection.) We'll happily let them gloat.

Will Forrest Do Fahrenheit?

My friend Meg, who hates Tom Hanks, is sure to love this tidbit from Ain't It Cool News: Hanks is rumored to be playing the lead in an upcoming adaptation of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

Sopranos' Christopher to Star in Lovely Bones

His character on the Sopranos failed to make it in the movie biz, but actor Michael Imperioli has landed a role in Peter Jackson's adaptation of Lovely Bones. As Detective Len Fenerman, he'll star alongside Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci, and Ryan Gosling. Filming begins in October. More here.

Prof Pens Guide to Understanding Adaptations

Film Adaptation and Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ by University of Delaware professor Tom Leitch tackles the problems faced when translating a book-to-film. “People often say that the movie was much different from the story on which it was based,” Leitch said. “The fact is that many moviegoers do not understand the problems involved in making a movie out of a book or any other work of literature” (emphasis mine). More here.