Sunday, April 26, 2009

Can Almodovar Become an Even Bigger Sellout??

Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown will be adapted for American television. It is going to be turned into "a suburban drama about a group of women who have known each other for a long time." To add insult to injury, the show will be written by the author of Grey's Anatomy. Who is producing this stupidity? Well, who do you think? Fox TV Studios, of course.

Almodovar has, of course, made a painful turn towards extreme Hollywoodization, producing such vapid monstrosities as All About My Mother and Talk to Her (I stopped watching Almodovar after this movie because it was too painful. I shudder to think what he might have created since).

We could, however, still think about Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown as an admirable work of art. Now Almodovar decided to sell out completely and turned one of his best films to Fox. The idea of Almodovar's movie as a new version of the idiotic Desperate Housewives is truly terrifying.

Is it a symptom of my undying idealism that I still find it hard to believe that Almodovar would do something this vile? I've seen his inane Talk to Her, why should I be surprised by anything he does? Still, this piece of news causes me actual physical pain. Is there some kind of a protest people could organize against this rubbish?

Another question is: why is he doing this? For money? Doesn't he have tons of money already? It's not like he is a starving artist who needs to sell his manuscripts to toilet-paper makers.

The sources for the news:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/04/24/almodovar_series/index.html

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i360cdd62fc9ca5a8db5e24f4b2b51779

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Almodovar and Hollywood is a long love story. A film lime Women on the Verge... is full of Hollywood references, and post-modern scholars were delighted to analyze all of them... The adaptation of one of Almodovar's movie is the US is not surprising. What surprises me is that Almodovar never actually made a Hollywood movie in the US.

Hopefully the adaptation of Women on the Verge wont be another insipid take on the US suburbs, another poor contribution to an overexposed yet STILL profoundly transmogrified subject: the suburban woman. If it turns out to be another Desperate Housewives I scream.

As for Almodovar, even though I watched his entire filmography and I kind of enjoy Talk to her (acting, mostly) I have stopped "caring" after What have I done to deserve this.

Clarissa said...

What have I done to deserve this is a great film. Don't you like it? I think it's beautiful.

Almodovar and Hollywood used to be a love story. Then, at some point, Almodovar decided to become Hollywood and started producing copies of Hollywood films. Trying to turn into the object of your desire isn't love anymore. It's an unhealthy obsession.

Now Almodovar has debased himself so much that he turned to television of all things. American television!! I can't stop being angry.

Anonymous said...

You are right about the difference between being influenced by Hollywood cinematic industry (the melodrama, really) and filming a Hollywood drama, or selling off a movie as a Hollywood drama. My favourite Almodovar's movies are What have I done... and Pepi, Luci, Bom..., two corrosive comedies that I watch over and over again tirelessly. Now these the Hollywood industry cannot adapt!

Clarissa said...

The most ridiculous thing in this entire project is that they would try to turn Almodovar's film into yet another story about suburban housewives. "Suburban" and "Almodovar" are the words that somehow don't go together for me. Of course, I don't know Almodovar all that well, so maybe that's the problem.

Clarissa said...

Decided to watch "Pepi, Luci, Bom" as per your recommendation but of course they don't have it in our library.

Should I watch "Volver"? Is this film worth putting myself through the torture of seeing the perennially vapid Penelope Cruz?

Anonymous said...

If you did not like Talk to her, Volver will make you cringe.

Pepi, Lucy, Bom can hardly be found in a Liberal Arts College Library, probably because it would simply be too "outrageous" to expose yound minds to such a film.

Clarissa said...

Have you seen "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"? How could anybody waste Javier Bardem's incredible talent in such a way???

Clarissa said...

But, of course, what can we expect from Woody Allen? There is hardly anybody I hate as much as this chauvinistic idiot.