Hey folks, Harry here... Ol Holden here has a tale to tell about one Austinite here in my very town working on a film adaptation of a book that many ignorant souls have blamed for evils in this world as well as banned from school libraries and such. Well, it seems that the man behind BADLANDS, THIN RED LINE and DAYS OF HEAVEN might be working up on a new project called THE CATCHER IN THE RYE. I'm looking into it right now, but you must know that Malick is one of the most secretive filmmakers around. He plays things extremely close to the vest, if'n you get my meaning... Here's the word...
Harry,
A friend of mine who works at FOX told me last night that FOX Searchlight Pictures is developing a very "hush hush" project. The word on the street at FSP is that Terrence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line) is primed to write and direct a screen adaptation of J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher In The Rye." Apparently there is no script and no dates but that Mr. Malick with helm the project. I was wondering if this were true, why would Fox Searchlight Films take on this challenge? I am personally against making a film of this book but I have to say that Mr. Malick is someone I would trust. Love the website, Harry. Because it always has the best news in film just like this! You know WAY more peeps than I do, so I'm sure you could find out more.
Thank you,
Holden Caufield
It is true that Salinger has long professed a desire to never see his work translated to screen. However, it is possible that a filmmaker like Malick could comfort and put aside many of the fears of adaptation by 1) showing Salinger his previous work and 2) Giving Salinger input into the process. We'll have to wait and see if this is true, I'm pushing buttons at Searchlight to see what I can find out, but if its hush hush, we might not get anywhere till they want us all to know.
