Back in July of 2009, we reported that Beloved Pictures was planning to bring C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce to the big screen. Since then there has been little news about this adaptation, but now Mpower Pictures has teamed up with Beloved, moving the project forward. It’s going to be interesting to see how this movie takes shape as it continues toward production.
From Variety:
Mpower Pictures (“The Stoning of Soraya M.”) and Beloved Pictures are teaming to co-produce C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novel “The Great Divorce.” Veteran producer and Mpower CEO Steve McEveety will lead the production team. Childrens’ book author N.D. Wilson (“Leepike Ridge,” “100 Cupboards”) is attached to write.
Lewis, who wrote the “Chronicles of Narnia” books and often wove Christian themes into his works, published “The Great Divorce” in 1945. Story centers on a man who learns that the sprawling, dim metropolis where he’s been living is actually Hell; he hops on a bus headed for the outskirts of Elsewhere, only to discover that the one place worse than Hell, for a self-absorbed ad executive, just might be Heaven.
Mpower was created by McEveety in 2007 after he’d been a longtime exec at Mel Gibson’s Icon Prods. He produced “The Passion of the Christ” and “We Were Soldiers” and exec produced “Braveheart” and “What Women Want.”
Mpower president of production John Shepherd brought in the project. The Beloved Pictures team includes CEO Michael Ludlum, president Caleb Applegate and VP and Bob Abramoff.
This is great news!! I wonder which Lewis book is next to be motionpicturized!
btw…Whatever became of that Screwtape Letters film adaption?
I think it would cool to see the Screwtape Letters, as the next book of his, made into a movie!
I love “The Great Divorce”, but I really don’t see how you make a movie out of it. By ignoring most of the book, I assume. “The Great Divorce” is the best example I’ve seen of how “ordinary” people damn themselves through tiny sins. A great read, but not very dramatic. Would anything be left but the title?
And the famous self-absorbed ad executive character, of course. He was my favorite in the book. And not remotely a cliche or anything.
Seriously, when you pretty much have to start a project like this from scratch (1: Throw away book, 2: ???? 3: Profit) the first thing I look for is what the writing team will default to. Pulling the selfish businessman character out of every other Hollywood movie in the past 50 years is not an encouraging start for the way their minds are gravitating. Is this really the best they could come up with when adapting this highly original book about unexpected sins of everyday people? Maybe they can replace the artist with neo-Nazis, the actor with a bumbling boy-man husband, the lusty guy with an eighty-pound anoxeric girl who knows martial arts and really kicks butt, and George MacDonald with, oh, I don’t know, someone all we Hollywood execs are into, maybe the Dalai Lama.
I kid because I love. It’s a great book. But for movie material, I’d far rather see “Pilgrim’s Regress.” It covers a lot of the same ground but has some drama.
Thanks, Paul, for bringing this to our attention. ‘The Great Divorce’ is my favorite Lewis book. I get such strong visual images when I read it. I especially like George McDonald. Lewis thought highly of McDonald. McDonald’s entire works are available on the web. ‘The Great Divorce’ will be difficult to adapt, but there is such potential. The theology may not please everyone, but the book is a great read and makes some great points. I wish the production company well.
it’s not gonna be as good 4 children is it?? i mean as compared 2 narnia