Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" Heads to the Big Screen


The Huffington Post discusses it, here.

From the piece...

Until now, none of Rushdie's books had been made into movies and "Midnight's Children" seemed an unlikely candidate to go first. When Rushdie first met with director Deepa Mehta, they were supposed to discuss a more recent novel, "Shalimar the Clown." But Mehta, whose films include the Oscar-nominated "Water," also asked about the rights to "Midnight's Children." Rushdie, surprised by her interest, agreed.

"It was instinct," he said. "It was clear from talking to her how much the book meant to her."

He will share any blame or credit. Rushdie wrote the screenplay ("Deepa twisted my arm"), provided off-screen narration and consulted with Mehta closely on the production, which stars Satya Bhabba as Saleem. Writers traditionally stand aside once they grant film rights, but Rushdie notes a history of deep involvement, whether John Irving, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for "The Cider House Rules," or Paul Auster, who so enjoyed working with director Wayne Wang on an adaptation of his story "Smoke" that they ended up co-directing a follow-up, "Blue in the Face."


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