Howard Hughes Ponders the Perplexing World (Pt. One)

[greygirlbeast]

When I was finished with the Beowulf novelization, at the tail-end of the ms., after the glossary, I wrote:

Author’s note: If a teacher or professor has assigned you Beowulf, this novelization doesn’t count. Not even close. For readers who would like to learn more about Norse mythology, I strongly recommend John Lindow’s Norse Mythology: A Guide

Comments

[robyn_ma]

You may or may not have addressed this before - and if it's covered in a foreword or something to the book, please note that I haven't had an opportunity to pick the book up yet - but were you granted access to some of the Beowulf footage, or even the finished film, before or during writing the novelization? I've always wondered how much a studio gives a writer to work with, particularly in an unusual case like Beowulf. I imagine with some screenplays, simply the script is enough, whereas with something as strongly visual as Beowulf looks to be, a writer would benefit from seeing some exclusive stills or footage in order to describe creatures, locales, etc. with some degree of fidelity.

[greygirlbeast]

You may or may not have addressed this before - and if it's covered in a foreword or something to the book, please note that I haven't had an opportunity to pick the book up yet - but were you granted access to some of the Beowulf footage, or even the finished film, before or during writing the novelization?

I had the screenplay, plus early drafts of the screenplay Neil passed along to me, and about twenty pieces of pre-production art. And that was all.

[jtglover]

"1408" is a fine weird story, "damned" in the Fortean sense, and I think you might enjoy it. Part of the problem (as I saw it) with adapting that story is that it doesn't offer much in terms of explanation -- which just doesn't fly in mainstream cinema. For that reason, I could not bring myself to see that movie after watching the trailer. It looked like every crappy survival horror movie that's made it to the silver screen in the last ten years, which is a sad thing.

[subtlesttrap]

Well good thing I snagged the 1st edition of Tales of Pain and Wonder when I had the chance 4 years ago, it is still easily one of the most beautiful books ever published. I'm so glad I've reserved a 2008 edition and I'm thrilled it will include "Mercury" because it is one of the few CRK pieces I've never read. Speaking of the highly collectable nature of CRK short fiction collections I just noticed that that From Weird and Distant Shores is selling between $240-$500. It makes me so proud to have a great CRK collection!