Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Movie: A Great and Terrible Beauty

Fuse #8 via Bookshelves of Doom has discovered that Mel Gibson may be filming Libba Bray's YA novel, A Great and Terrible Beauty. Ummm...Braveheart meets The Patriot meets Mad Max in Victorian England?

I listened to AGATB but ultimately decided I had not enjoyed the book, maybe it was the narrator. I've watched girls grab the sequel at book fairs though so I know it has a fan base. Maybe I need to read the sequel -- if I find the time.

I agree, AGATB has a fabulous cover.



BTW, did you know Mel had an uncredited role in the movie FairyTale: A True Story? I loved that movie. I do not remember Mel.

I also just discovered (I love the way things pop out at me on IMDB.com) another actor, Anton Lesser, had a small role in that movie. Lesser is the amazing, fantastic enthralling narrator for the recorded versions of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart trilogy.

9 comments:

Michele said...

He's also done the abridged (as I've just belatedly discovered - thought it was the unabridged) audio book version of Paradise Lost, which as we both know, was a source of inspiration for Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series. This I know because I'm currently listening to said audio book whilst reading PL...

Camille said...

Looking at Amazon, I see he has recorded tons of the classics. I could listen to him read ANYTHING. British actors are just so amazing.

tanita✿davis said...

I hope Gibson doesn't ruin the movie deal for Libba Bray. He's just not too popular at the moment...

I didn't much care for the book much either. Great characterization, but it seemed that some plot threads were picked up and discarded without really being explored - Colonialism, for instance, is one such topic.

Of course, this could all have gone to my head because I read it during grad school, but the sequel didn't do much for me either.

Little Willow said...

I really enjoyed Beauty, and I liked the sequel even more. Looking forward to the last volume in the trilogy.

Also, for more great Victorian fantasies of this ilk, try the Ghosts of Albion series by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson. The first full-length novel, Accursed, came out last fall. The next, Witchery, is due in September.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if the movie has been cast yet? I am the girl on the cover of the last two books of Libba Bray's trilogy. I am an actress as well and I want to know how to audition for this movie.

Camille said...

IMDB does not have any specifics listed yet.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0833962/

Anonymous said...

woah!....you actually did the cover?...are you a model or did they just choose you! Who did the cover for the first book. I imagined Gemma just like that...and i thought the girl on the first and last book were the same

Anonymous said...

number one, i've got to say, those books were GREAT. i loved them. im still in the middle of the third book, but still it seems to stand up to the other just as well, maybe better. but i want to know if this movie is really going to happen. if so, i'll be first in line to see it.

10 bucks it kills harry potter.

Anonymous said...

I love these books! I've almost finished the third and I can't say I agree with the missing plot threads and such. I'm a literature major w/a minor in the Victorian age and, well...It was awesome in those aspects! Which is hard to come by these days.Very authentic yet showing how modern the girls really are in their world. I hope they actually do make this movie b/c on imdb.com it says it's supposed to come out this year yet, they haven't casted yet.

P.S. to the girl who says this will kill harry potter, bet accepted.

(For this is a largely female oriented book. containing romance, emotion, and well, girly things. Plus it is written by a woman which in and of it's self will discourage boys to read it, and let's face facts, If only one half of the population will likely read this book, your GREATLY decreasing your numbers. Plus, while this book has won numerous awards and such, it does not have the hipe or fan base harry potter has even now that all the books have been released! I myself only heard about it when my co-worker mentioned her daughter liked it. And I work at a publishing company!!! People constantly say this book and that book will blow harry out of the water when, in reality the odds are greatly against them. I must say it is a very large feat.)