Marcus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief received huge plaudits when it was released eight years ago, but it’s taken until now for a movie version to gear up, with Downton Abbey director Brian Percival at the helm.
Now the cast has come together, with THR reporting that Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson are both set to star, with Ben Schnetzer (Happy Town) and Nico Liersch also in the cast and French-Canadian actress Sophie Nelisse playing the title character.
The Book Thief ‘centers on Liesel (Nelisse), a spirited young girl who witnesses the horrors of Nazi Germany while in the care of foster parents (Rush and Watson). The girl arrives with a stolen book and begins collecting other tomes, learning to read while her stepparents harbor a Jewish refugee (Schnetzer) under the stairs.
‘Rush’s character first takes on the young girl for money but soon comes to love her. Watson’s character is described as being very tough on Liesel, but her kindness occasionally shows through.’
The novel is narrated by the Grim Reaper, but it’s not known if that will be true of the film too. Shooting starts this month in Berlin.
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Now that 30 Rock has ended in the States, Tina Fey has some more time on her hands. She’s already mentioned the idea of turning her script for Mean Girls into a musical and now she’s is in talks to star in and produce the Universal Pictures comedy The Nest, with Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore in negotiations to take the helm.
The Berlin Film Festival is one of the most important movie gatherings in the world, not just for the festival itself but also for the film market, where all sorts of films seek funding and distribution. It’s also home to the Teddy Award, which since its inception in 1987 has emerged has one of the most prestigious LGBT movie awards in the world.
Films include the much hyped Interior Leather Bar, James Franco and Travis Mathews’ film about recreating 40-minutes of gay S&M that were allegedly cut from the 1980 Al Pacino movie, Cruising. There’s also Angela Christlieb’s Naked Opera, about a wealthy but terminally ill man, Marc, who travels the world to places where Mozart’s Don Giovanni is being staged and takes on a young male lover in each city.
Daniel Young’s Paul Bowles: The Case Door Is Always Open casts its light on a lesser known Beat generation writer, the titular Bowles, who was publicity shy and gay, but married a lesbian and decided to move permanently to Tangiers. There’s also the premiere of a restoration of 1967’s Portrait Of Jason, seen as one of the first unapologetic looks at a gay man, following the life of black, gay, self-declared hustler.