One of the hit novels of 2014, “The Goldfinch” by Donna Tartt gets a film adaptation produced by Amazon Studios (“Beautiful Boy”).
The coming of age story is about a boy who loses his Mom in a terrorist bombing at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and will see Theodore Decker (played by Ansel Elgort; “Baby Driver”) go through life, holding onto one thing from that fateful day… ‘The Goldfinch’ painting in which he stole.
As mentioned, the novel was a hit, scoring awards such as Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2014 as well as the Andrew Carnegie Medal for excellence in the same year. Now the film adaptation is headed up by John Crowley (BAFTA Award-winning “Brooklyn”) who brings the big (784 pages) book to the big screen.
With film adaptations of books, it always seems to be the case that the book is never followed correctly from the book, but Crowley believes he and the production team have done a good job in doing the book justice. Speaking to Yahoo Movies, he said, “I think we didn’t do so bad on the scoreboard of beloved characters in there so I’m optimistic that fans of the book won’t be outraged that we have done anything wrong.” He continued, “You sort of have to lean into what you loved about the book as a reader and carry that with you and hope that’s something that other people will respond to as well… You have to try and make the film.”
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The film will feature recognisable faces, including Nicole Kidman (“Australia” and “Big Little Lies”), Aneurin Barnard (“Dunkirk”), Finn Wolfhard (Netflix’s “Stranger Things”), Luke Wilson (“Old School”), Oakes Fegley, and Sarah Paulson (“12 Years A Slave”). The Cinematography will be done by the legendary Roger Deakin, who won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for the film “Blade Runner 2049,” and the screenplay is by Peter Straughan (BAFTA Award winner for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”).
Here is the synopsis:
Theodore “Theo” Decker was 13 years old when his mother was killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tragedy changes the course of his life, sending him on a stirring odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption, and even love. Through it all, he holds on to one tangible piece of hope from that terrible day…a painting of a tiny bird chained to its perch. The Goldfinch.
The film will be in theaters September 13th, but will make its world premiere first at the Toronto International Film Festival a few days earlier. Watch the new trailer below.