Play-to-movie adaptation update

I guess it takes a Pulitzer Prize or a Best Play Tony to get a play made into a movie these days. First, there's the news that August: Osage County will be made into a movie. No doubt several top notch actors will be dying to get a part. Then we get this brilliant poster design for the Doubt movie. The film has Oscars written all over it, and I'll be damned if it doesn't inspire some serious interest in straight plays on Broadway. Will a trickle down effect occur?

All in all, it's looking like an exciting time for the legit side of the Great White Way.

AICN gets an early look at Doubt

Like August: Osage County this year, John Patrick Shanley's Doubt was one of those plays where there was really no other way the Pulitzer Prize could go. I haven't heard much about the movie, but Ain't It Cool News got an early tip, and the report is overwhelmingly positive.

I thought Proof the movie was ruined by big-name but poorly thought out casting, and I'm going to have a hard time seeing someone other than Cherry Jones and Brían F. O'Byrne in the roles. But if you're going to pick film actors for a serious drama, you can't really go wrong with two of the better actors of the past half century: Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, especially when they're both perfect for the role (though Hoffman may be a tad too old). It also helps when you have arguably the best cinematographer of a generation in Roger Deakins (who at this point has reached Scorsese-level Oscar snubbing). The movie comes out December 5, and I'll be shocked if the film doesn't pick up at least a few nominations, if not Best Picture consideration.