Where did the film THE BOOK OF ELI come from?

I'll be honest. I was watching football on Sunday, and out of nowhere I see the trailer for a new post-apocalyptic film with a lone warrior walking down a desolate road. Sword slung over one shoulder, shotgun over the other, and that beat up trench coat the superhero cape of the post-apoc warrior.

I likey.

Then I saw it starred Denzel. What? Awesome.

Then I saw that Gary Oldman was in it. Excuse me? Even more awesome. Mila Kunis is in the film as well.

But being the bookish fellow that I am, whenever I see an interesting movie trailer and I can't identify the source of the work, I get curious because, could something that doesn't look half-bad actually be conceived in a Hollywood studio boardroom?

So I did some research. The film is helmed by the directing duo -- and identical twins -- Hughes brothers, whose last film was 2001's From Hell. Interesting. They are also known from their debut hit, Menace II Society.

The screenplay, originally written by Gary Whitta, was rewritten by Anthony Peckham in 2008, and they began filming in New Mexico in 2009. The work does not look to be based on any existing book or comic book.

The basic plot is that Denzel's character wanders across a wasted landscape, protecting a mythical book that could mean the redemption of all mankind. I don't know more than that, and I don't think I want to.

Sure, this will be hard to get to see in the theater with a new baby at home ("go to the movies while you still can" was the second most recommended thing after "get some sleep" from everyone), but I very much want to see this as I'm a big fan of the post-apoc genre of books, comics, and films ever since seeing the Mad Max films in my youth.

It'll be interesting to see if a comic book publisher inks a deal to bring Book of Eli comics soon. This is probably already a done deal or in the works.

It's a long road...

[addition: very cool trailer I just found, here]

New Edition: James George Franco arrives just in time for the holidays.

Hi Friends,

I wanted to report the birth of my wonderful son, James George, whom arrived on 12/11/09 at 1:44 a.m. weighing in at 7 lb. 2 oz.

Things are going well, I'm out of the office for a few weeks, then back some time after Christmas.

Too tired to go into lengthy posting right now, but I'll be back at some point. The little guy is doing well and so is his mommy.

One neat surprise was this wonderful Maurice Sendak theme at Columbia Presbyterian hospital. I snapped this one pic, but they had many wonderful images in the main lobby and I just loved it -- saw it as a great sign that books will be a big part of James' life.

Back to my duties. And yes, I mean that quite literally. I'll write again when I can.
Keep reading~

Check out the LEGO mashup.

In continual support of the amazing LEGO Star Wars: Visual Companion, they'd just added more LEGO fun on the site with this new mashup game. Check it out here. Now have some fun.

In other news, I saw THE ROAD at the Sunshine Theater last week and it was simply amazing. The film captured the desperate tone of the book precisely, with each moment of anxiety on the long road traveled brought to clarity on screen. It is a world of grayness, a harsh world, but one realized in this film. Bravo.

Very busy with new job and pending arrival of our baby boy. I will do my best to keep the few and faithful readers of Bookrastination informed. Forgive any prolonged absence, for I realize I am already a slacker. This site should be called Slackrastination. Ha.