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Bernie in the movies
Who would you have play Bernie Gunther in a movie series today? I'm surprised there aren't any plans for a Bernie Gunther movie. Maybe the whole "Nazi Germany" thing has film producers leery but still...
I wonder if Johnny Depp would work? Not that he isn't great in everything he plays, but he might be too glamorous for Bernie. Maybe Richard Kind, the friend in "Mad About You" and now plays in Leverage.
I wonder if Johnny Depp would work? Not that he isn't great in everything he plays, but he might be too glamorous for Bernie. Maybe Richard Kind, the friend in "Mad About You" and now plays in Leverage.
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If you've watched "Good", you'll see why i'm saying this.
More to the point, does anyone know if Philip Kerr has sold the screen rights to any of the Bernie Gunther books?
Not sure about Johnny Depp and really dislike Russell Crow. To be honest I would like to see a European actor. Before anyone had suggested Stellen Skaarsgard I thought about his son Alexander Skaarsgard (Generation Kill, True Blood), although he is a bit young looking. Or maybe Dominic West?
"And a good many of your novels have been sold to movie makers by Bob Bookman at CAA in Los Angeles."
"Lots sold, very few made. I've been lucky in the sense that I've actually been paid. The best kind of Hollywood experience to have. You get paid well and you don't suffer the ignominy of seeing what you've written reduced to a joke on screen. Which has happened to a couple of friends of mine. I've always regarded Hollywood as a bit of an arts council grant. It has enabled me to keep going. As far as Hollywood, I've learned the best thing really is to forget all about it."
"Does anybody own the film rights to the Bernie Gunther series?"
"They were bought a few years ago by a German film producer. Ever since, he's been looking for an international co-producer."
…..
RB: You frequently go to L.A. to see about film work—no one is making films from your work?
PK: The film rights are owned by a German film producer. Ironically, he is a film producer who originally had an association with FA Babelsburg, which in the ‘30s was managed by Goebbels. He is getting quite old now.
RB: How long has he held the rights?
PK: A good 15 years. He hasn’t done anything with it. We are optimistic that we can persuade him to take on a co-producer, at the very least.
RB: Do you know why he hasn’t done anything?
PK: Just he is getting on a bit. But none of this surprises me. Over the years I have sold so many things to Hollywood, none of which have got made. It never ceases to surprise me how much people will pay for things that never actually see the light of day.
RB. Would you like to see your stories made?
PK: Well, I would and I wouldn’t actually. I tell myself, would it ever be as good as Chinatown?
…..
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/philip-kerr
We agree Rutger Hauer would have been GREAT!
First time here, love the books. In the movies in my head when I read them, Bernie is played by Liam Neeson.
Aren't you missing the obvious choice? Sean Bean![/quote]
Damn right. Bean's gruff Yorkshire accent and Aryan looks would be perfect for BG
I wouldn´t mind seeing a proper German version, with German actors of course. I wonder what they could make of the Berlin 1938 ambiance? BTW, are the books translated into German? I would love to try Prague Fatale translated.
Whoevere makes the movie, it should be dark. Ridley-Scott-dark...
"HBO and Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman are in early talks to acquire the Berlin Noir novel series by Philip Kerr. The plan is to develop this as a series that focuses on the police detective character Bernie Gunther in 1930s Germany, with the political climate and run-up to WWII and then the Cold War as the backdrop. Deal isn’t done yet, but I’m told that it will close. Numerous studios and producers pursued the property as a feature, but the author decided to go for a prestige series. He’s gone through enough development hell on the feature front on past books and HBO can point to enough successes like Game of Thrones to show the merits of an episodic adaptation of novels with storylines that span around 20 years. Playtone just produced the critically lauded Jay Roach-directed Sarah Palin pic Game Change, and after producing with Jann Wenner the 25th Anniversary of the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame, Playtone is producing each annual induction ceremony that will air on HBO. CAA repped Kerr in the book deal."
source: http://www.deadline.com/2012/04/hbo-acquires-phillip-kerr-berlin-noir-novels-for-series/
An HBO series would be beyond fabulous! We'd love to see Hanks pick the books apart and film a long-running series in chronological order, starting in 1932 when Bernie was a still a cop (A Quiet Flame).
Thank you, Game of Thrones!!
We're starting a new discussion for this topic.
cheers, Ron
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Thomas Kretschmann. Bernie should be played by a German.
Re. comment above on whether the books have been translated. Several of the books are in my local, small town library in Germany and I have just finished reading "The one from the other" which is called "Das Janus Projekt". It works very well although I will try to get hold of the next one in my mother tongue.