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THE GIVER movie being made. Jeff Bridges to star?

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Jeff Bridges appears to have machinations on adapting the 1993 young adult science fiction novel The Giver. Variety reports that Bridges and producer Nikki Silver have purchased the rights to the Lois Lowry story and that Bridges may step in to play the title character.

Set in a distant future, the book tells of a society in which the entire range of human emotion has been eradicated by removing any trace of history. Only one individual in the society -- called "the Giver" -- is tasked with remembering the past in case it becomes necessary to make use of it. A twelve year-old boy, Jonas, is tasked to become the next Giver in line and has his whole world thrown into question when he begins tutelage with the previous, elderly Giver.

"I originally thought of the role of the Giver as a vehicle for my father, the late Lloyd Bridges," says the True Grit actor, who has been eyeing the project for some time, "however, at 61 years old I feel the time is right for me to do it."

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=79057

I loved the book and I think Bridge is awesome, so this is good news to me. I wonder if they will do the entire trilogy if this movie does well?
 
I agree that this is a great book and I do love Jeff Bridges, but this all depends on the script. I think a lot of screenwriters have difficulty adapting scifi books. Its also a young adult book which can be difficult as well. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to it.
 
A great book (though I think Lowry's Number the Stars is better; anyone who can make "the Holocaust: for kids!" work deserves high praise).
 
The Giver is one of those books that I never read, despite every other person my age reading it. If this movie gets made, I'll probably find an excuse to finally pick it up.
 
The Giver is one of those books that I never read, despite every other person my age reading it. If this movie gets made, I'll probably find an excuse to finally pick it up.

i read this book about a year ago && i loved it. pick it up.
 
It's by far my favorite book from my childhood, and still holds up as a great re-read as an adult, too. It seems well-suited to a cinematic adaptation too. Looking forward to following this!
 
I heard about this earlier today. The Giver was a great book that I think will make a really good movie. I'm curious how they're going to handle
the fact that Jonas, and all of the other people in the town can't see color.

As for making a trilogy of it, I doubt they will make the other two. Honestly, The Giver is only loosely connected to other two books. Gathering Blue is good, but it's from a completely different person's perspective in a different part of the world. And the third book, while there are loose references to Jonas, it's never explicitly said that the he and the elder dude (I forget his name) are the same person.

TL;DR - I think Jeff Bridges is a dead ringer for The Giver and I look forward to see thing movie. I doubt it will be a trilogy. Also, I'm curious who they will cast as Jonas.
 
I heard about this earlier today. The Giver was a great book that I think will make a really good movie. I'm curious how they're going to handle
the fact that Jonas, and all of the other people in the town can't see color.

I'm not sure that this needs to be in a spoiler tag, since it is such a big part of the story (it would be like spoiling Tron by saying that much of it takes place inside a computer) but just so that there are no complaints:

When I first read The Giver, I imagined a movie adaptation that would start out in black and white. As the protagonist began to occasionally see objects that were red, and then other colors, the audience would see more and more onscreen objects of various colors until by the final act the image would be entirely in color. I have no idea whether the filmmakers have anything like that in mind, but I would love it if they did.
 
That's actually the only drawback I can see; that people might think it's a rip-off.

But in any event, they can do something similar with the score, with music starting to come in when Jonas begins to reach that point in his development. Hell, it could affect all aspects of cinematography. It's be a fun thing to direct, if you were going to go deep into reflecting the main character arc. Lighting might be complicated to. As I recall, the sun was conspicuous by its absence...
 
I loved The Giver. I hope the film adaptation does the book justice. Jeff Bridges is a terrific choice for the role.
 
I had the same thoughts about the use of black and white vs colour when I read the book. But forget about that part, they also live in a world where no one can hear music. But somehow, I doubt they'll go soundtrack-less until the end. It'd be daring, but perhaps create a bit too heavy of a mood.
 
I think I was required to read "the Giver" twice in school.


The ending might be a bit of "What do you really think happened?" sort of deal.
 
I really cannot wait to see the film. Aging Jonas is a very intriguing decision. I'm curious to see how it plays out. I taught this book as a class novel to my 7th graders. It was a great experience and it really helped the kids grapple with big ideas like emotions, adolescence, societal expectations, and so on. I hope the film, as the article says, stays true to "the spirit of the story" - which is profoundly powerful.
 
I'm fine with making him older just from the practical perspective of making sure you have a good actor. The story itself is great. I think it's true to the spirit of that story. In the grand scheme of things, I think it's a moderate change.
 
More news, woohoo! While I'm a touch hesitant at the idea of aging Jonas (part of the charm of the book is that a young boy is suddenly indwelt with these far older, wiser, more encompassing memories), I'm willing to give it a chance.

Just as a thought, I figured it would be neat if the movie started out in black and white, and as Jonas learns new memories, things start to slowly appear in color. I doubt it will happen, but it was just something that I think would be neat to see.
 
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