David Mamet, Disney, and 'The Diary of Anne Frank'?
Why the director is making a movie based on the 13-year-old Holocaust victim's journal
David Mamet is writing and directing a new movie based on The Diary of Anne Frank—"for Disney, no less," said Katey Rich in Cinema Blend. Sounds like a "joke," right? Unfortunately, "this production is very, very real." Mamet's script will be culled from the 13-year-old Holocaust victim's diary, and Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich's stage adaptation of it.
This match-up seems a bit strange, said Ben Child in the London Guardian, especially considering Mamet's "recent credits as writer and director include the 2008 sporting drama Redbelt, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as an idealistic ju-jitsu instructor." But Mamet's parents were of "Russian-Jewish extraction," so this choice isn't completely out of left field, and he reportedly hopes to "reframe" the story "as a rite-of-passage tale."
This movie could really pay off for Mamet, said Michelle Kerns in Examiner.com. We may be "entering the Golden Age of the Book-to-Movie Adaptation": Several movies adapted from books were nominated for Academy Awards this past year, and "2009 has already seen an impressive share of film adaptations" hit the big screen. "With theater attendance down and the economy still a bit queasy, bookish movies provide a ready-made and vocal audience—book fiends."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'The House under GOP rule has become a hostile workplace'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal is about more than bad bets
In The Spotlight The firestorm surrounding one of baseball's biggest stars threatens to upend a generational legacy and professional sports at large
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published