Many recent comments have raised this question.
Please don’t use this thread as a chance to bash Jackson or Adamson. We’ve got enough of that going elsewhere, and frankly, I’m fairly pleased with both directors and I’m tired of focusing on the negatives.
But if both Middle-Earth and Narnia were coming to the big screen AGAIN… who would you pick to direct them? What directors have the right sensibilities to elevate these transcendant works of literature to transcendant works for the screen?
While we’re at it, if you have any creative ideas about re-making OTHER great films with the participation of alternate directors, what would you like to see?
Narnia – M. Night Shyamlan or Wes Anderson
LOTR – David Fincher or Bryan Singer
Star Wars – Quinten Tarrantino
The Matrix – Darren Aranofsky
I change my answer to Joss Whedon for both films. Serenity is possibly the most underrated cinematic pearl of all time.
Narnia — Alfonso Cuaron
LOTR — Kurosawa. I’d love to have seen what a blend of half Peter Jackson/half Tarkovsky would do with it. Is blending directors allowed?
Methinks we need someone along the lines of a Hayao Miyazaki.
Mike! Great pick for Cuaron, I’ve just finished reading The Magician’s Nephew for the hundredth time and I immediately thought of him to direct it.
For LOTR, I’m convinced PJ was the man for the job. Now, for the Silmarillion. . . either John Boorman or Terence Malick.
I also thought of Cuaron.
But how about Dave McKean? The visuals I’ve seen from “MirrorMask” are simply incredible, and may be the closest I’ve seen in bringing out a magical world. (Haven’t seen the film, and I don’t know if MirrorMask is a good film, tho).
Sad to say, I would have wanted Jim Henson to attempt this as well.
I also wouldn’t have been opposed to having Richard Attenborough giving it at try. Filming _Shadowlands_ and being familiar with Doug Gresham gives him a sensibility to the material that most directors do not have.
In hindsight, in both cases, I’d just call in bomb threats until the project was cancelled.
Oh, heavens, no, not Richard Attenborough. He’s a charming guy and all, but he absolutely lacks the sensitivity required to do a proper adaptation — just compare his version of Shadowlands to the original.
There is also the problem that has affected every single one of Attenborough’s films for the past decade and more, namely that he has an awfully consistent knack for taking interesting true-life stories and zeroing in on the most banal, cliched, love-story aspects. Just look at Chaplin, Shadowlands, In Love and War, Grey Owl, etc. I worry that he’d find a way to go all mushy with the Narnia stories, too.
Well, of that list I’ve only seen _Shadowlands_; I own it, like it, as did my wife, as did the cabbie who ran the C.S.Lewis tour in Oxford, who vouches for its authenticity. I’ve not seen the original.
As for those other projects, Attenborough was not the screenwriter of them–therefore I do not know how strong your case would be if he had a better screenwriter (and in The Grey Owl’s case a better cast). I would think that he brings an Oxford English sensibility that’s unparalleled in today’s cinema.
wow, Cuaron would be a great pick!
My thought was Shamylan for LOTR, interested to see what he would do at epic length… then again, Jackson has got the battle scenes down unlike any I’ve seen except Ridley Scott, who is too much of a visualist to get around the actual drama (could I pick different directors for different sections?)
I haven’t seen Narnia yet (just got through exams, so I’m a little behind) so I can’t give an opinion yet, but how about Jean-Pierre Jeunet who did “Amelie” and “City of Lost Children”… too twisted? too French? (Wes Anderson was also a good choice… he’d get the feel perfectly)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet did a wonderful job with the battle scenes in A Very Long Engagement. I’d love to see his take on LOTR. On a completely different note…if Tom Bombadil was to be in the film, I’d be keen to see what Robin Williams would make of the role.
Miyazaki for the win!