The jump from Suzanne Collins to John Steinbeck is not one without substantial qualitative differences, so let’s consider what follows a nice progression for Gary Ross and Jennifer Lawrence. The respective director and star of The Hunger Games are paired together once again, having been pegged to bring about both a new spin on that aforementioned author’s seminal East of Eden — which Universal and Imagine Entertainment are putting uncommon financial belief in, this being a two-part adaptation — and the screen version of Hannah Kent‘s Burial Rites, a novel of similarly dark character.
Applying a process typically reserved for franchises — e.g. the upcoming Hunger Games finale, Mockingjay — on something a little more high-caliber can’t help but raise a few questions regarding approach and intent, seemingly zero of which are actually answered in the reports at hand. (One suspects the stories of the Trasks and Hamiltons will receive special attention in either project, making for a one-family-per-film deal.) While we’ll have to wait and see if this proves a wise method in properly transposing Steinbeck to cinema — especially when inevitably compared to Elia Kazan‘s well-regarded interpretation, starring James Dean — the willingness to invest money and effort into such a thing, nowadays, is relatively encouraging. Lawrence, its only set player, is expected to portray Cathy Ames, a nefarious and ruthless mother to the two boys whose clash represents a main thrust of Eden‘s narrative; how she’d convincingly portray someone of an older age is another unanswered question, yet one we’re even less-qualified to answer.
While East of Eden won’t head into production until after Ross completes Peter and the Starcatchers — and after a rewrite of Paul Attanasio‘s draft — Burial Rites is even further off; as of this writing, no studio or production company are attached, though that should change rather quickly. Here’s how it’s described by Amazon:
“Set against Iceland’s stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.
Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes’s death looms, the farmer’s wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they’ve heard.
[Burial Rites] asks the question, how can one woman hope to endure when her life depends upon the stories told by others?”
Does East of Eden need more than one film to properly tell its story. Are Ross and Lawrence the right people to make it happen?