Here’s something you won’t hear me say very often ‐ thank you, Hollywood. David Gordon Green has long been my go-to choice when naming my favorite contemporary filmmaker, what with his stunning works like George Washington, All the Real Girls, Snow Angels, even his crack at a thriller, Undertow. DGG’s first four features were all finely tuned dramas that, while all different, seemed to fit into one vision ‐ one clear, dramatic, character-driven vision.
And then came Pineapple Express. While I am a fan of DGG’s stoner comedy, there’s a part of me that hates it, because his success with that film led directly to his ability to make the dismal Your Highness, and a continued spiral into films that seem to rely on cheap comedic conceits for the giggles (marijuana! medieval thingies! James Franco!). Next up, The Sitter, a Jonah Hill-starring affair that, at worst, looks like a direct rip-off of Adventures in Babysitting. Are my expectations low? Yes. And that does not make me happy to type.
But there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. Columbia Pictures is reportedly in final negotiations to buy the rights to Evan Mandery’s novel “Q,” which was published just this last August. Should the deal go through, Green would write and direct the adaptation, which is blissfully described as “an unconventional love story.” Swoon.
Though I have not yet read the book, based on this news, I will be picking it up post-haste. The book centers on a man who “is visited by a future version of himself and told not to marry the love of his life. He agrees and spends the rest of his life trying to undo that fateful choice and find the only woman he ever loved, even as he is visited by other future selves, all trying to redirect his life.” Readers never get to know the name of our hero, but the love of his life? She’s referred to as “Q,” a nickname based on her real name ‐ Quentina Elizabeth Deveril. And those future selves aren’t just interested in redirecting the hero’s love life, but every element of his existence, from his career to his hobbies, even his diet.
Not excited enough just yet? THR reports that “the tone is described as It’s A Wonderful Life with a combination of romance, comedy and drama.”
Until DGG gets back into character-based dramedies, why don’t you give this excerpt from Mandery’s novel a spin? I’ll just be over here, jumping up and down with joy. [ComingSoon, THR]
