Well, with Curtis Hanson directing, and the cast this baby has... I just have to turn my eyes towards it and pay attention. I mean.... What a cool cast! Well, here's the Scrubbing Bubble with a peekaboo at it...
I'm writing because I have the screenplay for the film "Wonder Boys" and I loved it so much and have so much to say about it that I've written a review for it. I'm sending it to you because your sight is the best place to have it read to get others excited about this upcoming film starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, and Frances McDormand.
First off, I've been reading about the productions problems that have been plaguing this film as of late and I thought some information about what the film's about and what people have to look forward to might be interesting too.
I'll start off by saying that when Oscar time comes around, I believe "Wonder Boys" will be a heavy contender, especially in the acting categories. Michael Douglas hasn't had a role this juicy since "Wall Street". In the film, he plays Grady Tripp, a creative writing teacher at a Pittsburgh college, who over the course of one weekend, watches as his life falls to pieces.
The author of the novel, Michael Chabon, owes a debt to Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". As we all know, Fear and Loathing concerns a writer and his lawyer, who over the course of a few days, consume a suitcase full of drugs on the road to self realization. They also, in the film, pick up a hitchiking kid, played by Tobey Maguire. In "Wonder Boys", we've got a writer and his editor (Downey Jr.), who consume a suitcase full of drugs on the road to self realization along with a kid named James Leer, who in the film is being played by Tobey Maguire. I just thought it was interesting that no one had mentioned that yet.
The similarities between the two pieces ends there. Steven Kloves' December '97 draft of "Wonder Boys" is funny, moving, and sad. Without blowing the story and giving away spoilers we'll just say that the title refers not only to Grady Tripp's magnum opus of an unfinished novel, but also to Tripp himself, along with Crabtree (Downey Jr.) and James Leer. This isn't the kind of movie you can pitch to a Hollywood studio in fifteen words or less. "Wonder Boys" is a story driven by its characters, not by it's plot.
It's plot is really just a series of vignettes. Some are absolutely hilarious (Grady's trunk filling up with dead animals and a tuba over the course of the film), and others are just plain strange (James Leers' theft of a coat Marilyn Monroe wore on her wedding day with Joe Dimaggio). The real pleasure is the relationships between the characters. Downey's Crabtree is a degenerate homosexual who moves from a fling with a transvestite to becoming completely infatuated with James Leer. Crabtree provides a lot of comic relief. Also interesting is the sexual tension between Grady and Hannah Green, a creative writing student who rents a room from him. She's being played by the always wonderful Katie Holmes. Although the role is small there's a lot of room here for her to create a really wonderful character. Hannah is an amazingly assured young woman and in the hands of an actress as good as Holmes, this secondary role might really resonate.
So that's my feeling. I don't want to give away much, because one of the script's pleasures is how each escapade builds to the next one. The end is absolutely perfect and moving. Just when you think Grady is at the lowest point he can go he gets his shot at redemption.
Great script. With Curtis Hanson directing and the stellar cast attatched, "Wonder Boys" is sure to be a winner.
The Scrubbing Bubble
