“Forgotten Hollywood”- Mockingbird’s Scout Grows Up…

Posted on February 4, 2015 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here…

   Harper Lee (below) and her publisher announced Tuesday that this summer they’ll release the 88-year-old author’s second novel, Go Set the Watchmen, a kind of sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird,with publisher HarperCollins planning a first printing of two million copies. Completed first in the mid-1950s,  the original manuscript for Go Set a Watchman had been considered lost until the author’s lawyer Tonja Carter rediscovered it and persuaded Lee to have it published. The shockwaves were felt almost as much in Hollywood as they were in the book world.

harper-lee   cover_tokill

   The movies love a sequel. And, the chance to follow up one of the finest American films half a century later would be most desired. If Lee agrees to sell the movie rights of her new work, it can be expected to be one of the most eagerly sought novels for optioning to the big screen. Particularly since Lee said Tuesday that Go Set the Watchman follows her young heroine, Scout, into adulthood, it’s sure to be feverishly pursued by producers. It’s likely to spark a bidding war well before it lands on book shelves on July 14th. Such an opportunity could draw in a host of high-profile producers. Oprah Winfrey, for one, has called To Kill a Mockingbird her favorite book.

   Starring Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, and featuring a young Robert Duvall as Boo Radley, To Kill a Mockingbird has regularly been ranked among the greatest American movies. It won three Oscars, including Best Actor for Peck and Best-Adapted Screenplay for Horton Foote. In 1995, it was added to the National Film Registry; and in 2003, the American Film Institute listed Peck’s Atticus Finch as the greatest movie hero of the twentieth century.

   Duvall expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of reading the sequel. He also showed his appreciation for the film as a pivotal point in his career. Mary Badham, who was received an Oscar nod at age ten for her performance as Scout, only acted in a handful of films after To Kill a Mockingbird. Almost forty years after her last film, she came out of retirement to appear in the 2005 Indie drama, Out Very Own. Badham didn’t respond to requests for comment over Lee’s announcement.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2015 at 12:02 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.


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