Saturday, May 06, 2006
Something Truly Peculiar
Special thanks to A Motley Vision's Mahonri Stewart for bringing the adaptation of Mormon playwright Eric Samuelson's Peculiarities to my attention. From his post:
...[Samuelson's] play "Peculiarities" played at the Villa Theater and is now being made into a motion picture...Also, from Samuelson's mouth:
...we're shooting the movie right now...Cue Media is behind the production, and trailers can be seen here. (Scroll down a little to see.)
Now, to be sure, (politics aside), I think Samuelson is terrific. I'd seen one of his plays (I believe it was "The Way We're Wired") a couple years back, and I thought it was terrific. But what little I've seen of this play-to-film adaptation just isn't working for me. The film work seems to be shoddy at best, and, though he may have some good actors, something is just awkward about the whole gig...editing, lighting, setup, etc. I can't seem to find anything else current on the production (it's not listed on imdb.com, to the best of my knowledge), though it's rumored in this July, 2004 interview that Richard Dutcher was slated to direct. I kind of doubt that is still the case, but I guess we'll find out. Here is another older article.
One clarification. I said I love Samuelson, but that's through limited exposure. Having read about this project makes me a little more "iffy." His lended use with the f- and s-bomb makes me question. And he makes Neil LaBute sound like a good thing that has happened to Mormon culture. I find this hardly agreeable.
posted by Rhapsidiomite @ 6:23 PM
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2 Comments:
I actually didn't know about the trailers-- thanks for pointing them out.
All said and done, although I thought Peculiarities was uncomfortably probing, the production I saw of it had great actors, but it wasn't my favorite of Eric's work. I would have much preferred to see Gadianton or Family get the film treatment before Peculiarities. Or, if they dared take on a period piece (and had the resources to do so), The Seating of Senator Smoot.
But I agee with you, the actual quality of the film looks like it has some things to be desired. It looks like they took a hand held camera and filmed it with that, without any other kind of film gear (you always get that echoey sound inside when you film that way). And, in all likelihood, that's probably what happened, which isn't too surprising, considering this film is probably way low budget. I don't see Excel or Halestorm picking up any of Eric's story. Eric likes controversy a bit too much to attract that crowd.
-- Mahonri
Glad to make your acquaintance, and glad to hear it.
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