SCREEN PRINT
How often are writers accurately portrayed on screen? From first-draft bestsellers to journalists who never file copy, not that often, but Michael Renouf picks some that are closer to reality.
Genius (2016)
Thomas Wolfe (Jude Law) had been turned down by nearly every editor in town, but then he meet Max Perkins (Colin Firth) who has an eye for talented scribblers – he also publishes Hemingway and Fitzgerald – who could see what all the others missed: Wolfe was a genius, though inclined to be too wordy, on the page and off.
Law puts in a fine performance as the over-exuberant author and the two men form a firm friendship which becomes strained when Max has to edit Of Time and the River. Wolfe finds it very hard to accept any changes to his book and feels every paragraph, sentence and even word is necessary, but at over 5,000 pages long Max cannot publish it in the form presented to him and the two men have to cut great swathes of his storytelling.
This true tale shows not only the writer’s perspective but also highlights the skills of one of the unseen giants of New York publishing, and what editors endure to bring one person’s script to the public.
Julie and Julia (2009)
Many films are based on a true story but how many are based on two and a blog? Julie and Julia falls into that very narrow category, telling the parallel stories of American cook Julia Child and blogger Julie Powell.
Bubbly Child (Meryl Streep) moves to Paris in 1949 with her husband, and embraces the lifestyle and cuisine, so much so that she enrols in cooking school and ends up being involved in the writing of a cookbook.