Portland’s cerebral-cinema auteur Todd Haynes tells WW that he’s in talks to produce a television adaptation of the James M. Cain novel Mildred Pierce .
"I read the book recently," Haynes said in an interview this afternoon (timed to a rare public appearance at the NW Film Center this month for Cinema Project’s Expanded Frames series). "And it’s so different from the Joan Crawford film."
That would be the legendary 1945 two-hankie weepie by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca ) that won Joan Crawford her only Oscar for Best Actress.
Haynes said he doesn’t know who he’ll cast in his update, which he’s writing with Old Joy scripter Jonathan Raymond. But he plans to move the setting back a decade to the 1930s, when the book was set. "It seems so fitting," Haynes said, "because it’s really about the Depression-era economy. It feels particularly prescient right now."
Look for more Haynes scuttlebutt (and his thoughts on another ball-busting lady, Sarah Palin) in an upcoming print edition of WW .
Video: A Clip from the original Mildred Pierce.
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Nice.
See more on Mildred Pierce at the link below:
http://www.legendaryjoancrawford.com/mildredpierce.html
Great.It is a wonderful book.I was always fasinated how the writers of the movie changed things around..but it works with a great cast and director and Jack Warner and Jerry Wald!Please don’t mess it up! Good luck!
Now it makes sense that it was in the 30s because Veda acted like roaring 20s were still going on and momma wanted to keep it that way for her.
The best website that really documents all things Joan is http://www.joancrawfordbest.com It’s even better than legendary. It’s got Joan’s event timeline broken down like twitter.