Downton Withdrawal? Meet the FitzOsbornes!

Our motion picture related post got us thinking about the silver screen. Now that Downton Abbey is on hiatus, might we suggest the Montmaray Journals, which we think would be perfect as the next big period drama. Exiled royalty, a vengeful (and borderline insane) servant, debutante parties, the onset of WWII, and an opinionated great-aunt that could give Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess a run for her money, the FitzOsbornes have it all as they zip in and out of world events with dignity, humor, and style.

We’ve decided to do some wishful casting for The Montmaray Journals, but despite all the Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Downton Abbey we watch, our knowledge of actors is fairly limited. So please chime in with your own fan casts!

Sophie FitzOsborne: Saoirse Ronan (aka the girl from Atonement)

Veronica: Jessica Brown Findlay (aka Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey)

Toby: Eddie Redmayne (aka Marius from Les Mis)

Henry: Ramona Marquez (aka Karen from Outnumbered)

Simon: Skandar Keynes (aka Edmund from Narnia)

Daniel: Arthur Darvill (aka Rory from Doctor Who)

Rebecca: Siobhan Finneran (aka O’Brien from Downton Abbey)

Aunt Charlotte: toss up between Catherine Tate (aka Donna from Doctor Who) and Penelope Wilton (aka Harriet Jones! from Doctor Who)

The Colonel: toss up between Hugh Laurie (aka House) and Benedict Cumberbatch (aka Sherlock)

Rupert: Tommy Knight (aka Sarah Jane Smith’s son from Doctor Who)

Julia: Jenna Louise Coleman (aka Oswin Oswald/Clara/??? from Doctor Who)

Anthony: Thomas Howes (aka William from Downton Abbey)

(Yeah, it’s basically one big Doctor Who party, with some Downton thrown in as well. Conclusion: we watch way too much television.)

Update: Author Michelle Cooper has actually thought this through before. See her picks and many more here.

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Books We Actually Want To See As Movies…

Usually we prefer books to stay books, because the movie versions rarely turn out as good as what we’ve envisioned in our heads (set design aside…) But there are always exceptions to the rule, and we think these books would be brilliant as films:

1) Team Human by Justine Larbalestrier and Sarah Rees Brennan

Twi-hard fans and Twi-hard avoiders will adore this clever and comic take on high school with vampires. Subverting a genre has never been so fun. (Even the cover looks like a movie poster!)

2) Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Kids in a dangerous rocket ship. What could go wrong?

3) Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

This is a teen action-spy movie waiting to happen. Plus, everything goes down on prom night.

4) Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch

This graphic novel would make a quirky animated film. A quirky animated cartoon film. With the panels drawn in for good measure!

5) The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

If George Lucas/Disney is bringing us Star Wars Episode 7 and more, why not go all out? This is the ultimate homage. We’re thinking live action with Kellen’s doodles. (But please don’t let George write the script!)

What are some books you’d like to see as movies?

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What happens when it snows…

“There’s no point in being grown up if you can’t be childish sometimes,” said the Fourth Doctor, so when Winter Storm Saturn rolled into town, I took his advice to heart:

Snow Dalek says, “Refrigerate! Refrigerate!”

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The Wind in the Willows: BBC edition

credit: Paul Bransom

I love love love BBC radio plays (recently heard Copenhagen by Michael Frayn) and lo and behold: a grand, jubilant, and charming version of The Wind in the Willows, read by British actors and set to the BBC radio orchestra. Fantastic, a new take on an old classic!

Click here for the link. Enjoy!

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Peter Has Us Star-Caught!

“When I was a boy I wished I could fly. Out the window and over the trees….then loop the loop and up to the stars. Eventually of course, we dream other dreams. We change. We grow up. It always happens. Nothing is forever. That’s the rule. Everything ends. And so our story begins…”

Lisa and I had the thrill of catching Peter and the Starcatcher at the Brooks Atkinson theater the day it closed (we braved the cold to put our names in the ticket lottery–without success–but yay for lottery loser tickets!) Other than that the plot has something to do with Peter Pan and that the show has received rave reviews and not a few Tonys, we had no idea what to expect. Would it be a homage? A play? A musical?

As it turns out, it’s a bit of everything.

Better yet, it’s a play for children and adults in touch with their inner child. While the dialogue and the jokes zip along faster than the Wasp (commandeered by pirates, of course) in hot pursuit of the S.S. Neverland, the set and “special effects” are magically low-tech. At the start of the show, we are asked to imagine “a grown cat in flight”, but it’s not long before our imaginations are rewarded by an ordinary length of rope that morphs into a tiny cabin porthole, narrow passageways, flapping saloon doors, whatever the scene calls for, really. It was like playing pretend and having only the stuff in your garage to make your creativity soar.

The cast was flawless as well, playing their roles with panache and then melding back into the company (a precisely, synchronous unit) to bulk out two very different crews, a gang of pirates, a jungle tribe, and transformed mermaids. (Did we mention there’s only one female in the whole cast? Those mermaids, not a pretty sight.) Still, standouts include Molly, an intelligent, competitive Starcatcher-in-training who befriends three orphan boys, Mrs. Bumbrake, her fussy but neglectful nanny (played by a man, a la British pantomime), and the comic duo of Black Stache and Smee.

Like the best children’s books, this play (which is based on the book Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson) speaks to adults and kids on different levels. We were struck by the melancholy take on the Peter Pan theme–of those who grow up and the ones who don’t–especially because we’d just reread Code Name Verity, where Peter Pan has a role to play as well.

Even as the last pieces of what will become the Peter Pan mythology fall into place, the ending is bittersweet. After an adventurous, transformative journey of self-discovery and identity (literally, Peter doesn’t even get a name until the end of Act 1!), it’s the adults who determine Peter and Molly’s futures in the end. And though it’s not what they’d choose, it’s one they must and do accept, whereas I wanted their story to continue straight on till morning. But we were warned: Everything ends. New stories begin.

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Books on Stage

The good news: The Book Thief, one of my favorite books (despite its depressing-ness), is now a play.

The bad news: it’s playing in Chicago. Sans TARDIS, I can only hope it’s coming soon to Boston.

And speaking of books made into plays…did you know that Number the Stars is now a musical? Seriously. I can’t imagine any of those characters bursting into song, but maybe it’s less weird when they’re all singing together.

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Random Links of Questionable Merit

I’ve been meaning to write a real blog post for awhile, but time, schedules and my brain will not cooperate. Instead, I’ve curated some news that’s just…odd. Starting with the most gulp-worthy:

The Quileute Reservation copes with tourists brought by “Twilight,” from High Country News’ latest edition. It’s behind a paywall, but bookstores out west carry the magazine, and the title really says it all…

Next up in the less scary department, we have more modernized book covers. They’re just like the ones I blogged about before, except blurrier (the watery look does wonders for windswept clothing/hair).

And finally, something I can wholeheartedly endorse: chocolate Dalek cakes!

I think it’s time to plan a Doctor Who feast a la The Great Redwall Feast.

These cakes will go perfectly with my new disappearing TARDIS mug…now all I need is a Dalek to offer me tea.

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Avengers, Assemble! Kidlit Edition

The Avengers opened yesterday with great fanfare. Because it is a Joss Whedon project, I’ll admit to being just a bit more interested than usual. From what I gathered, superheroes (and their egos) must cooperate to save the world as we know it because the plot hinges on an advanced weapon (a blue box, but not the blue box) of unthinkable doom called the tesseract…

Calling Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which, anyone? Maybe Thor, the Avenger of the Legolas blond hair, was in cahoots with the Mrses, and it’s thanks to the Norse god of inclement weather that A Wrinkle in Time begins as famously as it does: it was a dark and stormy night.

Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which are already cast in the Agent Nick Fury (aka the man in charge) role, but which kidlit characters across two dimensions would you unite to don the cape and take down the forces of evil?

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The Not-So-Hungry Games

Is anyone else weirded out by the lack of food-scarfing in The Hunger Games movie? We see Katniss devour a roll in District 12 and some meat in the arena, but what happened to wolfing down the succulent Capitol fare? We even get a nice view of the train feast, yet Katniss just stares, starry-eyed, and never picks up a plate. Those eating scenes are some of the most powerful ones in the book–all that gluttony to contrast the Districts’ starvation diet. The language is so visceral, it’s practically tailor-made for film. What a waste…

The whole movie felt kind of remote. So much of the book relies on Katniss’ internal dialogue. Without that, we’re left with a laconic heroine who’s more cold-blooded than the Katniss in the book. Book-Katniss has the subtlety of a war hammer. Movie-Katniss is a fan of eye-narrowing and Downton Abbey style significant looks.

Ah well. The movie got Haymitch right, and the Capitol fashion is creepily extravagant (Seneca Crane’s beard!). Plus I liked watching Crane’s team manipulate the arena from the control room. It adds the extra layer of discomfort by making us complicit in the reality TV/twisted entertainment.

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Snail Mail Blog Alert!

A genuine Dr. Seuss letter

Every year, it seems, I send fewer and fewer handwritten letters. My output this past holiday season was abysmal, few enough to be counted on the fingers of one hand. So I was delighted to find the blog Letters of Note, which might be just the inspiration I need to take pen to paper.

The blog is self-described as posting “correspondence deserving of a wider audience” and includes scans of original letters, many of which were written by children’s authors. Here’s a quick sampling:

Harper Lee‘s heartfelt advice to a young fan of To Kill a Mockingbird

Douglas Adams‘ hilarious (and rather desperate) attempt to get Hitchhiker’s Guide made into a movie

J.R.R. Tolkien‘s letters to his sons, complete with illustrations

…and more from Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling, Dr. Seuss and Peanuts creator Charles Schulz

Bonus: for anyone who’s read Amelia Lost, here’s a copy of Amelia‘s “reluctance to marry” letter.

Extra bonus: read all about Dalek blueprints on official BBC Doctor Who letterhead!

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