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We’re gearing up for our fifth annual De Vries Cousin Drama Camp. This summer’s film is Macbeth, and my sister and I have been adapting a script, an amalgam of “No Fear Shakespeare,” Noel De Vries, and good old Bill (as the playwright says in Nicholas Nickleby.)

I already know what I want to do Summer 2010: The Mennyms, by Sylvia Waugh. If you have not read this amazing British tale, do so without delay. It delighted my ten-year-old imagination, and remains a favorite today. Ten pages into the script, I cannot wait to see my siblings and cousins as the beloved Mennym family! (Um, Marie, I really have been working on Macbeth. I can’t understand how ten pages of Mennym script got onto my laptop…)

We initially wanted to film E. Nesbit’s The Enchanted Castle next year. But that story had its drawbacks. For one thing, we don’t live near any castles.

It got me thinking, though, about all the novels our family loves, and would love to see made into films. We can’t make all of them ourselves, obviously, though that’s the only way they’ll be made to our complete satisfaction. But if the right people were involved… None of your loose adaptations, mind. No film at all is better than something you cry over at nights. But a fantasy list…

My Dream List (live file, of course)

The Blue Castle (L.M. Montgomery)
The Enchanted Castle (E. Nesbit)
The Star of Kazan (Eva Ibbotson)
Meet the Austins (Madeleine L’Engle)
The Brothers Karamasov (Dostoyevsky)

I know there’s a Yul Brynner VHS of Brothers out there somewhere, completely inaccessible to poor people like me. But I’d love to see a dramatic thriller with a ReliantK soundtrack. Intriguing, no?

What are your fantasy films?

6 comments:

Christy said...

I've heard Maggie talk about Macbeth many times. I love the idea if the cousin camp that you all do. And the Enchanted Castle would be such a good thing to perform! I wish you guys could do it! :[ I really enjoyed The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Maggie DeVries said...

The Star of Kazan would make such a good movie. It just has to go to the right directors :]

Anonymous said...

I've started the Mennyms twice and just cannot do it. Living dolls just don't do it for me. What is the attraction, Noel?

Noël De Vries said...

I admit, it can be slow getting into The Mennyms. I'm chopping some backstory for the screenplay. But once you're finally in, you're in. At least, I am!

Perhaps as a 10y/o I just loved being a part of their family ... and twelve years later, I still do.

Holly said...

Austenland, by Shannon Hale. I liked the book fairly well, but I think it could be wonderful in movie form. Actually, now that I think of it, I believe she said she started it as a script...

I'm with you and Maggie on The Star of Kazan.

Noël De Vries said...

Mmm, Austenland would be fun. And there's always an audience for Austen-related films!