Prose to Celluloid

CGHayes@aol.com
Mon, 08 Jun 1998 14:29:42 -0400 (EDT)

In places, the Catcher in the Rye reminds me of the paintings of Edward
Hopper, the whole general atmosphere gives this impression of calm scenes and
empty streets. And with making a film out of it, you would lose that
atmosphere you get from the prose, unless it is done correctly of course. With
the example of L.A. Confidential, the great atmosphere of the book isn't lost
with the adaptation to film, so The Catcher in the Rye could only be made with
such accuracy.
		For some reason I feel that you would need a young director to pull it off,
someone who relates to Holden. I feel a cross between Richard Linklater and
Woody Allen would be able to pull it off, to get that personal feel to it. But
a more important question, who would adapt the screenplay? You have got to
have a perfect screenplay otherwise it's a waste of time. Possibly someone
like William Goldman maybe? All the writers I can think of are directors who
just write for themselves. This is completly open to discussion.
		Someone to play Holden is one of the most difficult questions. Holden is 17
while all the new young actors are about 20. I would have thought someone like
Edward Norton would be great as Holden, or even, a younger Vince Vaughn. But I
think DiCaprio would have been great, before he became less exclusive with R+J
and Titanic. Now he's too much of a star to pull it off correctly. What about
Ethan Hawke? But they're all too old, you would have to find a new face in the
crowd, someone fresh, someone very talented.

		-Christian.