Kingsley, Malone, Sands to star in A DOLL'S HOUSE film

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 12:28pm

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/156184-Ben-Kingsley-Jena-Malone-Julian-Sands-Cast-in-A-Dolls-House-Film-Adaptation

And apparently they're adding a male character. Since it's Hollywood, one would assume this is a love interest for Nora. Which is completely idiotic.

*shakes head*

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 12:31pm

Oh, never mind. I misread and thought Malone was playing Nora.
Updated On: 11/3/11 at 12:31 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 12:41pm

Nope, Mrs. Linde.

Curious to see who tackles Nora. Would've liked to have seen Nicole Kidman give this a go at some point, but she's a bit old to be opposite Malone...

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 12:45pm

It says the film's co-script writer, Michele Martin, will be Nora in this modernized take on the material.

Sounds like an expensive vanity project

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 12:59pm

I don't know Michele Martin. It's interesting to think whom else they might have cast. So many interesting choices. My first would have been Chloe Sevigny. Carey Mulligan might have been great. Melanie Laurent an intersting choice. I'd also like to see what Keira Knightley would do with Nora; she's radiant when she's silly, as Nora would require, and which I've only seen from her when being interviewed. She's generally quite grave on screen. Of course, Michelle Williams! Rebecca Hall!!!

I like Malone and Kingsley for Kristine and Rank. Ewan Macgregor or Alexander Skarsgard for Torvald?

Peter Sarsgard would make an excellent Krogstad.

Updated On: 11/3/11 at 12:59 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:05pm

Since they're updating it, I vote they update the title to "Big Momma's House."

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:39pm

and, of course, we need a 21st century Hollywood tagline:

Sometimes a gal just has to know when to shut a door.

Or a contemporary ending:

The door SLAMS.

Torald:

The most wonderful thing in the world?

Torvald shrugs, bemused.

Ext. Doorway - Night

Nora breathes in the cold night air.

INSERT

Torvald's photo appears on Nora's i-phone as her slender finger clicks DELETE.

FADE OUT.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:43pm

I've seen a number of memorable productions of a DOLLS HOUSE that have attempted to update the material.

One was an all black version set in the projects that played the entire show like an episode of GOOD TIMES. The other was a production that was done period except in the final scene, Nora came out in sweat pants, slammed the door and drove away in a Maserati (visible through a glass wall on the back of the stage).

I can't say either update was especially effective...

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:56pm

A modern day adaptation? That makes no sense to me. The story is significant because of the period in which it was written/takes place. A woman leaving her husband in 2011 isn't that interesting.

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:58pm

The WTF production this summer (with Lily Rabe, Lili Taylor, and Josh Hamilton) used a modern-setting, and I believe Nora actually did use an iPhone.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 1:58pm

What WOULD be interesting is if they combined this with the SAW franchise. Nora can leave at the end with Torvald's head in a box.

[wonkit]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 2:20pm

So now adaptation and updating includes adding characters? I'll pass on this one.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 2:44pm

"A modern day adaptation? That makes no sense to me. The story is significant because of the period in which it was written/takes place. A woman leaving her husband in 2011 isn't that interesting."

Playing devil's advocate, mostly just for sport...

By setting A Doll House now, thereby minimizing the groundbreaking drama of its climax, the deeper stuff of the play might have to come through (if it can be well executed): the extreme challenges any two people have in accepting each other for who they really are, rather than insisting on the partners they expect each other to be.

And whether this most wonderful thing in the world is achievable.

Something might definitely be lost, but there might be something gained as well.

* * *

I know, I know. It's unlikely. But it might be worth trying.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 2:45pm

Ah, missed that. Sounds all very bizarre... Does the house talk?

I could see this being pushed to the 1950s/early 1960s.... but beyond that, Nora's doorslam just doesn't quite pack the punch necessary to have a purpose.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 3:19pm

The biggest red flag is Julian Sands. I've been leery of anything he's in since 1987.

By setting A Doll House now, thereby minimizing the groundbreaking drama of its climax, the deeper stuff of the play might have to come through (if it can be well executed): the extreme challenges any two people have in accepting each other for who they really are, rather than insisting on the partners they expect each other to be.

Nothing fresh or new in that idea, either. What makes A Doll's House still work is the understanding that the period itself is the sole catalyst for any sense of drama or tension in the story. If there was anything to be mined in a woman's lack of position, voice, identity or power in a modern-day marriage, it was most recently napalmed by Kim Kardashian. I can't think of any response to Nora's dilemma today that wouldn't result in somethin akin to, "Why doesn't the stupid bitch just dump his ass?"

Unless the underlying goal is to pilot the series The Real Housewives of Oslo.

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 4:14pm

I was teaching the Ibsen play one semester and showed up the first day to find that, much to my dismay, the book store had stocked 120 copies of this:

http://www.amazon.com/Dolls-House-Rumer-Godden/dp/014030942X

A DOLL'S HOUSE, a novel for children by Rumer Godden

Maybe the screenwriter got the extra character from this book.

***

henrik, Chloe Sevigny is inspired casting.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 5:10pm

LOL at "The Real Housewives of Oslo."

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 6:34pm

I think that everything that really matters in Ibsen's play is perfectly clear to a contemporary audience. On the other hand, setting the story in the present day invites all sorts of unnecessary questions such as why doesn't Nora have more to do?

[darquegk]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 9:47pm

There's an interesting modern analysis of the play on Tvtropes that posits it less as about a woman's place in marriage, and more as the tale of a man who married the quintessential "manic pixie dream girl" designed especially for him, and of the slow realization on both their parts that she is not necessarily that at all.

Now THERE'S a movie I wouldn't mind seeing. But "A Dolls House?" It's been done, so many times!

[Moneyspider]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:11pm

In order to be set today, I'd think you'd have to have something like a conservative religious backdrop.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 11/3/11 at 11:34pm

I really don't see this working even a little in a modern setting. It will be as ridiculous as the recent remake of The Women.