I had some good news this week. I’ve been putting together a proposal for an essay in an academic journal. Not really expecting anything back, I contacted two writers who I admire asking them for an interview and they agreed! I’m putting together questions right now, but I’ve also blogged about it over at PhD Life. If anyone has any experience of conducting interviews, I’d be really grateful for your advice.
Monthly Archives: May 2011
Sherlock Series 2 titles
Den of Geek is reporting that the new series titles for Sherlock are A Scandal in Belgravia (written by Steven Moffat), The Hounds of Baskerville (Mark Gatiss) and The Reichenbach Fall (oh dear, Stephen Thompson). We can expect to see them sometime in the autumn.
As you might recall, after a flurry of enthusiasm, I was left rather jaded by Sherlock. Teaching it this year to undergrads did nothing to endear the show further to me, but new episodes might. I am intrigued to know where the show goes next – how about you?
Recasting Nick Charles
Last week Thompson on Hollywood ran a non-story on Johnny Depp’s planned Thin Man remake. You might remember that I blogged about the potential for such a project last year. The only bit of new information that’s emerged since then isn’t exactly encouraging. It’s a given that the screenplay for this film needs to be urbane and sophisticated, right? The first three Thin Man movies were written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, after all.
Well, Johnny Depp and Rob Marshall have entrusted the project to… Jerry Stahl.
Author of Bad Boys II.
Oh dear.
The more I think about this, the more this film seems doomed. Wrong scriptwriter, wrong director and worst of all, wrong leading man. I’ll admit it, I’ve never been a Johnny Depp fan. For me, he’s one of those actors who’s all surface, rarely letting us in – always playing funny rather than being funny.
In my opinion, there’s only one actor working at the moment who might be able to match William Powell:
John Slattery
Think about it. He looks good in a suit, he drinks and smokes gracefully, he’s just the right age and he’s a ringer for Dashiell Hammett. Put a ‘tache on him and you’re in business.
Of course, the real sign that Depp and Marshall’s remake is in trouble is the lack of any credible Nora. Film stars just don’t look like Myrna Loy any more, and they rarely have the same knack for comedy. Can anyone think of “a lanky brunette with a wicked jaw” who might fit the bill? No, I didn’t think so.
The Comic Box 9/5/11
A few new (well, mainly second-hand) acquisitions:
Cover colours by Bruce Timm!
Sadly, not The Wire's Ed Burns. The other one.
For 10p, I had to...
More Moore for my collection!
Not Mignola, but Guy Davis is good too.
Looks VERY similar to BPRD...
My new favourite comic book character.
This is so good it deserves its own blog post.
Doodles
Matt Smith
Sherlock Holmes
Cab Calloway
Looking for Lew (part six)
When I visited my parents last week, my mum gave me this copy of The Moving Target.
Fontana Books, 1966
As you can see, it’s in a pretty sorry state. The cover is badly scuffed and creased, some of the pages are falling out and the fragile spine is held together by Sellotape. Despite all of this, it’s the prize of my collection.
You see, this was the book that got me into Ross Macdonald. This was the book that I found on my parents’ bookshelf all those years ago, and the book that introduced me to the private eye genre. I hadn’t read Chandler or Hammett back then. This is where it started, with this battered old film tie-in.
I was surprised and pleased that it’s survived. My parents have moved house twice since then, and now it’s with me. I was really touched when my mum presented it to me – she must have been following this irregular series of posts!
I think it’s a great cover too, with that pop art target image so much more imaginative than the design for The Drowning Pool tie-in.
(Last year, Existential Ennui wrote a great blog about this edition of The Moving Target, and here’s the link to my other Ross Macdonald covers.)
