NY Times Article on History Boys Film

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 9/12/06 at 7:24am

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/movies/moviesspecial/10gold.html?_r=1&ref=moviesspecial&oref=slogin

A very interesting piece with minimal spoilers.

[mabel]

Posted: 9/12/06 at 8:39am

I read the article yesterday afternoon. It was indeed very interesting.

As much as I LOVE the play, I just don't see the movie doing particularly well. Even though they're releasing it in late November, suggesting an awards push, it doesn't seem to havea hell of a lot of buzz, unfortunately. Maybe they'll fare a bit better at the Golden Globes, with the Musical/Comedy categories??

From reading Nick Hytner's comments, you'd think it there were going to be very minimal changes/cuts, but I swear I read somewhere that it had been cut down to somehting like 1hr 40 min. That'd be quite a lot of cuts, I would say.

Whatever it is, it is. I'll be anxiously awaiting November 22nd no matter what!

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 9/12/06 at 8:58am

I'm on the fence. (on the movie, not the article )

The article was great! And quite long ,as well!

But I don't know if i see the film being a total success with the masses. Sorta like The Producers.

It fails outside of New York...

Bad analogy, but you get the idea

[MissNY]

Posted: 9/12/06 at 9:09am

I dont think it will do that well here either (meaning the US) but as the article points out, the target audience is England where Alan Bennett is a celebrity. To quote the article "Whatever the film earns abroad, he added, will be “a bonus.”" If those are their expectations when releasing, I think it will be considered a sucess.

[mabel]

Posted: 9/12/06 at 9:32am

I think you're right on that, MissNY. It would seem that it will fare much, much better in the UK with Bennett's celebrity there bringing in a fair number of people. I don't necessarily expect it to tank here, but I'd imagine it won't be nearly the success (awards-wise) that some articles were projecting at Tony time (with the film having the potential to make history with Griffiths winning both awards in the same season, etc).

It's a shame, but it doesn't seem like many films based on plays (and/or musicals) lately have been all that successful. Proof didn't really do particularly well, then the musical adaptations of RENT and The Producers.

Frankly, at this stage of the game, I don't particularly care how well it does (obviously I don't want it to be a colossal flop). I'd just like to see the actual product turn out well (though I still have some reservations, from what little I've seen, whether it will) and maybe get some decent critical notices.

[Aaron27]

Posted: 9/12/06 at 9:54am

English films seem to always be well reviewed over here. Unfortunately, they rarely open to full theater screens. I think it will be well received and do respectfully based on the amount of screens it's showed on