"Eagle of the Ninth" given Hollywood treatment!

To my horror I've recently found out that "Eagle Of the Ninth" by Rosemary Sutcliff, one of my all time favourite books as a child, is going to be given the Hollywood treatment. Apparently the Director sees it as a kind of Western with Togas, arghh!
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts/fi...cle2539352.ece

It seems that the relatives of Sutcliffe or whoever holds the film rights, either dose not understand or care about maintaining the integrity of this book or perhaps that Hollywood money is considerably more appealing.

For those of you who have not read this childrens book, it's about the quest of a Roman Centurion Marcus Flavious Aquila who attempts to find out what became of his father's Legion who had marched into Caledonia never to return again. Disguised as a Greek Oculist he travels northwards into the mysterious land of the Picts and there befriends a Brigantian slave in an attempt to find his father or return the Legion's lost Eagle.

The story is based on a historical if not an actual disappearance of an entire Roman Legion, the Ninth Legion based at Eburacuum near York, which occurred around 123AD and continues to this day to be shrouded in mystery http://www.roman-britain.org/military/leg9hispana.htm

Seeing this trailer for the forthcoming release of this film about King Arthur, certainly does not give me much hope that the book will provide an accurate portray of Ancient times and will probably end up being another "Lord of the Rings" meets "Gladiator" meets "xena Warrior Princess" type movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKqlxs3P9Yg

Even the release of a film based on Aterix fills me with more enthusiasm, especially since it stars the lovely Claudia Cardinale who appeared in one of my all time favourite Westerns "Once Upon a Time in the West" although I am sure such a quality European made Western was not what the Director of the new film based on "Eagle of the Ninth" had in mind though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eneMU40IaGc

I am not saying that Hollywood cannot produce good movies they certainly can and have in the past, but the production quality of many of the modern films seems to have markedly declined inversely with the amount of money spent on them, whilst an understanding of historical context has always been a minor consideration.

I can only hope and not expect the result will be a good one.

I cannot think of many directors who would wish to be so limited by recreating something of the past that they would not be doing anything but bringing it to life. To some that may sound good, but to others, it would seem an anti-thesis to what it is to make art to simply be translating something from one medium to another. We feel as though we would want the movie directors to simply replicate what we originally enjoyed (A book, a myth, a story, a film), and that's a critical mistake on our parts - Everyone has a different outlook on something. Even in translations you can get a different experience reading a translation of Beowulf by author X vs Author Y.

While you may have a view of how a movie of Eagle of the Ninth should be made, you must remember that so too does the Director. This novel you love chose to write about a historical event shrouded in myth. What if someone who was a fan of a more closer-to-the-original myth felt that his depiction was wrong? That it was dumbing it down for children, or altering it to inject modern outlooks or views?

Maybe this Film isn't so creative (If it's the one I am thinking of, it doesn't seem too much different from the ones you've mentioned it seems to be slurring together), but would simply copying the book down to the fine print be any more creative?

To sum it all up, you're never going to get the past to come back and be felt the same way it had so long ago. Recreations, renovations, repetition, or a new experience will never be the same as the golden memories of the past were - They might be better, they might be worse, they might be about as enjoyable, but they will not be the same. And that's for the better - if new experiences or developments were merely a mirror reflection or true copy of the original, things would be stagnant and uninteresting.

You have a right to be frustrated with this guy's approach to your favorite story. I'm not meaning to impose upon that. I just want to state that I think we should not expect these directors to simply be ok with not trying to make another myth or story their own. Otherwise, it would be as though they aren't producing an art medium but are simply working on Commission. To expect these guys to heed history when they have no intention, or duty, to, is going to let us get frustrated and worked up over an issue we shouldn't let ourselves get worked up over.

If you are saying different people will have differing perspectives of a story, and therefore Directors will also have different approaches in making a film I would agree. My problem is that so often the result of that interpretation shows a lack of understanding of the historical context of that storyline and therefore a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the origin tale. In Hollywood too often movie Directors, like the actors that star in their films, are selected on the basis of networking rather than merit. Hollywood has become I kind of movie making machine in which large amounts of cash are thrown into one end and bad movies are churned out by the score. I do not know whether history is a particlar strong subject with the predominantly American target audience but you would not think it looking at some of the films that are produced.

Isnt that trailer from The Last Legion, sorry to informe you, but thats a very bad movie, i've seen it.

Originally Posted by Hattori

Isnt that trailer from The Last Legion, sorry to informe you, but thats a very bad movie, i've seen it.

Yes it is from that film "The Last Legion".

I did not know it was out yet, but would not go and see it anyway judging from this trailer.

The storyline and the acting look very poor indeed.