screenplay challenges : from life and books to movie treatments and graphic novels
Happy to had finished the second part of Baudolino’s adaptation trilogy, work started on 09/20/14. Other than Umberto Eco’s inspiration, I could not have been able to do it without Google maps and searches on history, religion, philosophy and art. To post images related to the narrative, I had scavenged the artwork of talented graphic Read More …
Baudolino dozes off while looking at the griffons, one of which…flies off the tent’s cover and, after circling the courtyard, lowers itself by Baudolino who gets on its back. They fly over the Nile, desert land, the shore of Mediterranean, then inland. Baudolino rejoices at the sight of a fortress with tall towers and minarets, Read More …
On the deck of the Greek trading ship, a group of tradesmen sit crouched and argue. Neither the Muslim nor the Venetian merchant seem impressed by Ardzrouni’s and The Poet’s meteorite stones. A Buddhist monk next to them meditates impassibly. Laying down on a rug, Baudolino turns his head away from the merchant’s group, annoyed. Read More …
In the book, the description of the fight between the Huns and the defenders of Pndapetzim is fun. However, there isn’t much description of the landscape and where the fight happens. In the movie, the Huns are Magogs and the defenders are the “creatures” led by the pilgrims. To describe the fight and its timing, Read More …
Baudolino keeps going to the lake, waiting for Hypatia; but she doesn’t come. His worries are growing on whether Hypatia participates in the honey celebrations with the fecundators or not. Returning to the city in one evening, he sees candle lights and hears voices through the open door of a hut. Inside, Kyot feeds mushrooms Read More …
Umberto Eco writes on 29 pages, most of them discussions about religion and philosophy, the love story of Baudolino and Hypatia. She is the disciple of Hypatia of Alexandria, historically known as a “martyr for philosophy”. The fictional Hypatia believes that God needs a “redemption”. Actually, she says that it’s on us to accept that Read More …
Towards the end of Umberto Eco’s book Baudolino, the Huns attack the border of Prester John’s Kingdom. History sources locate the Huns in Central Asia; thus, the Kingdom must have been South of it, probably Ethiopia. One Wikipedia source describes the Huns as having “sort of a shapeless lump, not a head, with pin-holes rather Read More …
The first part of the book, until Frederick drowns, has roots in historical reality. The second part though is populated with mythic places and creatures. In my movie, I had divided this second part into two: a “real” pilgrim through places of religious and philosophical thought, rendered with “real” characters, and the arrival at the Read More …
The pilgrims come out of the thick fog climbing a narrow trail on the hillside of the valley. The Tibet mountain peaks bordering the valley and those they left behind are covered by snow. The cold weather left behind, the pilgrims stop to warm-up their faces in the setting sun and rejoice the sight of Read More …
It takes Saladin nine years to conquer Aleppo after surviving an assassination plot. Thus, in 1183 he controls the valleys of Egypt, Tigris and Euphrates and is about 600 miles from Jerusalem. The Templar Reynald angers him by attempting to destroy a Muslim shrine in Egypt and sacking a caravan that, legend say, included Saladin’s Read More …