Subject
Re: Lolita film on video? (fwd)
Date
Body
EDITOR's NOTE. In order to answer Tom Braun's query below, I queried
Stephen Schiff, author of the script for the new Lyne LOLITA film. His
response follows.
On a related matter: A message of 17 April commenting on the new
film inadvertently omitted the name of the sender --Stephen Frick
<sfrick@mgm.com>
-----------------------------------
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 16:32:44 -0700
> From: "Thomas E. Braun" <cawriter@sprynet.com>
> To: NABOKV-L
>
> For reasons unclear to me, there is no U.S. distributor for theatrical
> release of the "Lolita" film remake. Are there any plans to release it
> on videocassette? If so, please advise us who are interested. Thanks.
>
> Tom Braun
> cawriter@sprynet.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
----------
> From: Donald Barton Johnson <chtodel@humanitas.ucsb.edu>
> To: stephen schiff <schiff@echonyc.com>
> Subject: Lolita film on video? (fwd)
> Date: Monday, April 21, 1997 12:46 PM
>
> Dear Stephen Schiff,
> I didn't want to run the item below without checking it out for
> fear of starting a groundless rumor. It doesn't sound plausible to me. Is
> there any statement you would care to make?
> Best ,
TO:> D. Barton Johnson, Editor NABOKOV-L
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Donald Barton Johnson,
Thank you for asking. You're right, it's not plausible. We're still in the
thick of negotiations to get the film distributed, and I don't think anyone
is yet considering what to do about a video release.
It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that the Chicago Tribune article sent
along by Alphonse Vinh (and for which I am grateful to him) is so slovenly
and riddled with errors as to make me shudder for his (and sometimes my
own) profession. To cite only the more obvious examples:
The "Tribune" writer says that the film was finished more than a year ago
and has not found distribution since. But what was finished more than a
year ago was its shooting; the editing was finished only last month.
The "Tribune" writer quotes Alfred Appel as saying that the filmmakers are
claiming to be recutting the film. We never had to recut the film because
we received the required R rating upon first showing it to the MPAA. I
have no idea what other recutting he is envisaging.
The "Tribune" writer imagines that Tom Stoppard wrote a version of the
screenplay. This oddly common fantasy has no basis in fact.
It is no doubt enjoyable to speculate about how vulnerable our film is to
prosecution under the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. Those who
actually see the film, however, will immediately recognize that it does not
violate that Act.
Sue Lyon was, like Dominique Swain, fifteen years old when she portrayed
Lolita, not, as the "Tribune" would have it, a year younger.
Readers of the interview that Suellen Stringer-Hye conducted with me for
"Zembla," and which the "Tribune" writer quotes from without crediting her
or the website, can judge for themselves whether I "admitted defeat" when I
said that "the ornate curlicues of Nabokov's prose, which are so much fun
to dip and slide with on the page, simply don't work in a movie; in the
mouth of a flesh-and-blood actor they often sound pretentious or precious
or absurd."
Stephen Schiff, author of the script for the new Lyne LOLITA film. His
response follows.
On a related matter: A message of 17 April commenting on the new
film inadvertently omitted the name of the sender --Stephen Frick
<sfrick@mgm.com>
-----------------------------------
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 18 Apr 1997 16:32:44 -0700
> From: "Thomas E. Braun" <cawriter@sprynet.com>
> To: NABOKV-L
>
> For reasons unclear to me, there is no U.S. distributor for theatrical
> release of the "Lolita" film remake. Are there any plans to release it
> on videocassette? If so, please advise us who are interested. Thanks.
>
> Tom Braun
> cawriter@sprynet.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
----------
> From: Donald Barton Johnson <chtodel@humanitas.ucsb.edu>
> To: stephen schiff <schiff@echonyc.com>
> Subject: Lolita film on video? (fwd)
> Date: Monday, April 21, 1997 12:46 PM
>
> Dear Stephen Schiff,
> I didn't want to run the item below without checking it out for
> fear of starting a groundless rumor. It doesn't sound plausible to me. Is
> there any statement you would care to make?
> Best ,
TO:> D. Barton Johnson, Editor NABOKOV-L
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Donald Barton Johnson,
Thank you for asking. You're right, it's not plausible. We're still in the
thick of negotiations to get the film distributed, and I don't think anyone
is yet considering what to do about a video release.
It is, perhaps, worth mentioning that the Chicago Tribune article sent
along by Alphonse Vinh (and for which I am grateful to him) is so slovenly
and riddled with errors as to make me shudder for his (and sometimes my
own) profession. To cite only the more obvious examples:
The "Tribune" writer says that the film was finished more than a year ago
and has not found distribution since. But what was finished more than a
year ago was its shooting; the editing was finished only last month.
The "Tribune" writer quotes Alfred Appel as saying that the filmmakers are
claiming to be recutting the film. We never had to recut the film because
we received the required R rating upon first showing it to the MPAA. I
have no idea what other recutting he is envisaging.
The "Tribune" writer imagines that Tom Stoppard wrote a version of the
screenplay. This oddly common fantasy has no basis in fact.
It is no doubt enjoyable to speculate about how vulnerable our film is to
prosecution under the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996. Those who
actually see the film, however, will immediately recognize that it does not
violate that Act.
Sue Lyon was, like Dominique Swain, fifteen years old when she portrayed
Lolita, not, as the "Tribune" would have it, a year younger.
Readers of the interview that Suellen Stringer-Hye conducted with me for
"Zembla," and which the "Tribune" writer quotes from without crediting her
or the website, can judge for themselves whether I "admitted defeat" when I
said that "the ornate curlicues of Nabokov's prose, which are so much fun
to dip and slide with on the page, simply don't work in a movie; in the
mouth of a flesh-and-blood actor they often sound pretentious or precious
or absurd."